On March 10, 2021, the NBRAN coordinator for Colorado reached out to the foster pool to see if anyone could take two older Brittanys. The catch is that time was of the essence as we needed to be able to take them in before the predicted snowmageddon. They were outside dogs and their previous owner passed away leaving them with nothing and no one. A Good Samaritan who knew of them and their situation had reached out to the rescue to get them the help that they need. Despite having limited space, we decided to take them in so they never have to sleep in the cold again.
Their new names are King and Prince. King is liver and white and is about 7 years old. Prince is orange and white and is about 12 years old. Upon receiving them, it became clear that King is very attached to Prince and has likely spent his entire life with him. We are treating them as a bonded pair unless something changes. Both of them are very stressed out; drooling, panting heavily, and just overall nervous. After about half an hour of exploring our backyard, we slowly introduced them into our group.
Knowing our group, we started with Rosie. Both of the boys are still intact so it made more sense to start with a female. They followed Rosie around with great interest. Rosie being who she is, told them where to go multiple times when they were being too forward with her. All in all, the introduction went well. We proceeded to introduce the rest one at a time starting with Brody, then Lugh (our other foster), and finally Rio. Prince even became a bit smitten with Rio.
Following the introductions, we let them hang out while we discussed what the next steps for them need to be. Immediately, they need to be bathed. As one can imagine, they were filthy having been outdoor dogs up to this point. In the near term, they need to be seen by a vet and checked out, they need vaccinations, they need to be neutered, and Prince is likely to need dental work. They will also need to be seen by our volunteer groomer as their coats are long, scraggly, and matted in places.
Once our strategy session was complete, it was time to bring them into the house for the first time. Based on what we were told by the Good Samaritan, they had spent very little time in a house. We, therefore, expect them to not have much in the way of potty training. We were prepared and have male wraps at the ready for each of them. King willingly came over and let us put his on. Prince on the other hand was very wary of me. Daisy ended up having to coax him over and suit him up so we could go inside. At this point, we are not surprised to see him being wary of a man, we have seen this many times and are fully prepared to help him through it.
Once inside, they of course started trying to mark things just as expected. Male wraps and common sense for the win. They explored the house while we got dinner ready. Unfortunately, they were still too stressed out to eat. We decided that we would leave their food in their crates overnight to give them a chance to eat it then.
After dinner, they needed to be bathed. We simply could not leave them filthy and stinky. King went first because he was the least stressed of the two. He was very easy to bathe. The force air dryer was too much for him to handle though so towel drying was the best we could do. Prince, on the other hand, was not so easy to bathe. Between his age and stress, he was shaking so badly that he could not maintain enough traction with the tub floor which caused him to go into a state of learned helplessness (we have found that anytime he becomes scared, his impulse is to go limp and lay there doing nothing). Essentially he got his bath laying down. I did my best to clean him up in a laying position. He let me manipulate him to get clean what needed to be clean. Rinsing was the most difficult part because the drain runs a bit slow and he kept laying in the soapy water. His bath probably took twice as long as it should have but he needed it badly. I didn't even want to try the force air dryer with him so he was towel-dried as well.
They cuddled together on a dog bed until bedtime. They were still shivering from their damp coats so we warmed up their crate bedding in the dryer and set up a space heater near their crates so they would be warm for the night. Their crates are in our room so we can keep a close eye on them. They slept until around 3 am and then became restless. We figured correctly that they need to go outside to the bathroom. Being outdoor dogs, they are not used to having to hold themselves all night. Other than that, they slept through the night and didn't soil their crates. Prince did not eat his food overnight but King ate half of his. We did manage to get them to eat breakfast by adding wet food to the kibble. Prince needed some extra help in the form of a half teaspoon of bacon grease.
For two outside dogs, they want nothing more than to be loved and comfortable. We are happy to give them that while we get them sorted and ready for their forever home.
We are fostering these dogs on behalf of the National Brittany Rescue and Adoption Network. If you would like to donate to them to help with vet expenses, feeding dogs, etc, please visit https://nbran.org/donate Donations made to NBRAN are tax-deductible and help them save more dogs.
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More updates to come. They are scheduled to be groomed on March 14, 2021. Vet appointments are being scheduled as soon as they can get them in.