Skipper

Skipper was actually a foster dog of my friends little sister. I got her into the whole foster thing after she decided to spend a summer in London to work rather then go home to the boonies in our home town. All her room-mates were gone for the summer and she wanted a dog to keep her company. She got paired with a giant mastiff who was the biggest baby in the entire world. It was hilarious to see because she was this tiny girl with this huge, power, male mastiff peeking at strangers from behind her legs. He was incredibly attached to her and she was great with him. He ended up being adopted out to a family who already had a large dog and the two dogs got along fine. That was until the older dog suffered from a sudden seizure and came out of it only to attack the much larger mastiff. After that they couldn't trust to have a second dog in the home so my friends sister ended up getting her oversized baby back. What that all meant was her current foster dog - a cute little black and white mutt - needed a new home so she could properly help the now timid-with-dogs mastiff. 

Did I mention at the time I only lived two blocks away? We met in my apartments front yard, which for the record was pretty awesome. There was this lllong grassy area where the friendly and well-behaved apartment dogs gathered to play chase. There was also an old fenced-in playground area with all the equipment gone which was like a little dog park just for our building. Callie and Skipper got along great. They ran and played and I decided it would be a good situation for Callie. And although he had a kind of silly name, he was pretty cute. Flash to a few hours later....  I took the two dogs for a super long walk which made me a little late for work so I stuck them in the apartment and left in a hurry. In the excitement I had forgotten to tell Ryan what I was doing and he was due home soon. Two hours later I get a call at work with no hello, just "What is this white and black thing I'm staring at?" which confused me for a second or two. I then tried apologising and ended up just blaming it on our friends little sister. Of course he couldn't be mad at her! (and it worked, hehe).  

Skipper was a cool little dog. When we got him, he and Callie were about the same size. He was a bit more outgoing then Cal when it came to strangers but he was scared of the weirdest things. One day I was putting a little ketchup onto my plate and all of a sudden Skipper ran from the kitchen into the living room where I found him hiding in the dog bed. I had no idea what caused it , because seriously, who has ever heard of a dog being scared of ketchup? I eventually put two and two together and brought him the ketchup bottle and tried the "Look see its not scary!!" which of course scared him more. So I let him sniff it and then gave him a treat with a bit of ketchup on it. Although wary, he ate it, and seemed to be fine afterwards. I also remember a time I went to give the two dogs a slice of steak that I was making. Cal gobbled it down - she's a morbidly obese dog in waiting - but Skipper turned his head and ran the other way. It was meat!! Real meat, not the crap they call meat in dog food, but legitimate real life, carnivore sustaining, meat! He was a bit of a weirdo but we loved him. Maybe he decided to join PETA and not tell me.

Love this picture. I could barely get Skip to sit still and Cal wouldn't leave me alone!

Finally we met a great family who just loved him. He was with us for a few months when the family came and met Skip, took him for a walk, and decided they wanted him. By that time Cal was a few inches taller then him - she has grown quite a bit and it was all in her legs, something she didn't quite get the hang of for a lllong time. They were pretty attached and I was a bit worried how Cal would react when he left. It was her first foster dog and that can be difficult for humans and dogs alike. I made the new family promise to keep in touch. About a month later, when they were settled and bonded, we decided to meet at the dog park. Skip - who was now named Jack - noticed Callie first and came barrelling over the see her. He was attached to her hip, which she didn't appreciate because she had to hit the little girls room, but they soon were running and playing like long lost friends. Maybe ten minutes in they finally came over to us to take a little break and that's when Skip/Jack saw me. He froze at first and just kind of stared, so I bent down. Epic mistake - that's when he decided to launch head first into my arms, knocking me into the mud. I could only just sit in the mud while he did jumped around and wiggled all over me. Finally he noticed Ryan which gave me a chance to stand up. We kept up meetings while we lived in London and Skip would great us similarly, but thankfully a bit less powerfully, each time. I think it gave Cal a nice chance to see her old foster brother and kind of understand he was still alive and well. It was a perfect introduction  to the foster life for Callie, who has since been a great role model for other fosters.