Puppy Fostering

I have not had puppies for a long time.  The last puppy I had in my own care for an extended amount of time 10th grade when my parents brought a Bernese Mountain Dog home.  My mom had wanted a Berner ever since she lived in Vail, but we always ended up with strays and rescues.  When our older dog died in my early High School years, they decided to compromise by getting a rescue (older BC mix) and a puppy Berner.

This brother and sister pair, named Bramble and Sitka, were coming from Texas on a transport with a wonderful man by the name of Doug.  He has an air conditioned Stock trailer, and this time around he had 40+ dogs.  There was a family from down-valley who was ready to foster-to-adopt these two, but at the last minute they decided they really wanted to see them before committing so I got asked to pick them up.  Two puppies, and only for a few nights...how easy and fun it sounded!

Doug was supposed to arrive in Denver around 4, and be up to the Vail Valley around 6.  Over the course of the drive, he got delayed having to walk so many dogs and did not end up arriving until 11:30 at night.  Doug was so tired he could barely talk, and I had to turn on my headlights on to shine some light on the trailer and make sure I had the right dogs!  I verified the names on their collars, but was still a little unsure if they were really puppies or tiny goats as they smelled EXACTLY like a petting zoo.  Fritz woke up a little bewildered at the racket that bathing two small, furry and unwilling creatures can create.  By 12:40 AM both puppies were clean, put to bed in a crate next to my bed, and I was exhausted.

The next day the family came over to the house to meet the duo.  They have a college-aged son who is home for the summer, and is so excited to help take care of them.  Bramble and Sitka put on quite the show, climbing in their laps and playing with a ripped-up tennis ball.  They did great just hanging around in the yard, chasing after my two dogs.  It ended up being a blast but everything I had been saying to Fritz all these years about how much work puppies were was totally confirmed!  They ended up taking them home that night!