Fostering is new to me and I'm wading into it slowly. This first one, with Keaton, is only going to be for two weeks until he gets his appointment with the vet to have some oddly growing extra teeth removed after which he'll be put into general adoption at Toronto Animal Services South.

When we show up at Toronto Animal Services with Smitten, I've forgotten how young Keaton is. I'd gotten it into my head that Keaton was an adult male black German Shepherd but I find out quickly enough that he's only a juvenile at eight months. He was brought into a vet clinic by his previous owner for a neuter and vacs and then the owner never returned for him, deciding she didn't want him after all. The clinic hung onto him for four weeks to see if they could find someone to adopt him but there were no takers and so he ended up at TAS-S healthy, snipped and ready to go into adoption - until his extra teeth were found. Then it was decided that the teeth had to be extracted before he would be placed in a new home.

When I bring him outside to meet Smitty, she sniffs him then gives him a you've-got-to-be-kidding look and turns away.

I take him to the dog park where he's carefully introduced one at a time to the half dozen dogs there. He's a bit anxious, some hackling, but then quickly relaxes and does some social sniffing. I get the sense he hasn't met a lot of other dogs so I'm going to try to do a good amount of socializing with him over the time he's with me. He doesn't end up playing with them much but maybe that's because it's all a bit too overwhelming for him.


We leave the park and on the drive back to my house, Smitten growls at Keaton a couple times when he gets too close to her.

Back at home, Smitten is still not terribly impressed with the intruder. There are a couple of minor incidences and that's enough for Keaton to know that she doesn't want him to bother her. Keaton makes more of an effort to stay out of her face for a while. Again, a good indication that he's reading her signals appropriately.

I haven't taken care of a pup in a very long time. Keaton can't seem to settle. I know he's tired but it seems he only ever lies down for a few minutes then gets excited about something and has to go exploring. I follow him around the house off and on for the afternoon and he doesn't do anything that needs correcting.

The few times I don't follow him around, though, he

1. collects socks to chew on.
2. empties the garbage can.
3. eats half a bag of buns which were on the counter.
4. pees on the carpet going up the stairs, the only carpet nailed down in the house. (Each time I've brought a new dog home, there's been a moment when I ask myself, Why did I sign up for this?, and this was definitely the moment)

Being a pup, Keaton likes to test his boundaries. He soon realizes that even though Smitten growls a fierce growl, she doesn't back it up with anything harsher so he starts to bug her again. He picks up her ball and waves it in her face. He runs by her and bumps her as he passes by. He walks up to her and mouths her jowls. He basically makes a nuisance of himself around her, trying to get her to play. I think this is going to end badly because she's obviously losing patience with him. But then something clicks.

They tussle over the ball and then with each other and then they're off. They run full tilt through the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the back addition, out the door to the patio. Smitten leaps off the edge of the patio down the five steps and lands and keeps running. Keaton, a half stride behind her, copies her and leaps off the patio as well and lands but his front legs give out on landing and he does a faceplant but it doesn't stop him and he recovers and chases Smitten to the end of the backyard where they tussle for a moment and then run back the way they came. I'm half thinking I should stop them for the preservation of the house but what fun would that be? So, they riproar back and forth through the length of the house and the long backyard five or six times before they suddenly realize they're tired and stop for a drink and some panting.

I'll let you know if we all survive the two weeks.


For adoption information on Keaton and other dogs (and cats and other animals), please visit Toronto Animal Services.