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and put the plate next to the tub of icky food. I went in the house to get a camera

Do you know this expression, "foster failure"? It's meant as a humorous term, meaning someone who was fostering a dog - one who was being prepared for adoption by a shelter or rescue group - but who fell in love with the dog and decided to adopt the dog herself. And no, I'm not yet a foster failure, though many of my friends think it's about to happen, because I've been fostering a litter of the most adorable puppies for almost a month. I tell them all, "Blech! I hate puppies! Who in their right mind would want a puppy?" - another joke.

so I could keep the pups straight. The collars were also a useful tool for the shelter vet tech

I feel HORRIBLE. I hurt a puppy – on accident, true. But still. I honestly feel sick. The six puppies I'm fostering (until they are old enough and healthy enough to be brought back to the shelter to be put up for adoption) were running around my backyard; I had just cleaned out their pen, and was bringing a freshly cleaned and filled pan of water to the pen. I looked around, making sure my path to the pen was clear of puppies; they tend to run toward human feet. I was about six steps from the pen when my shoe made contact with a puppy. I heard a puppy shriek as I leaped/dodged as best as I could, flinging the water and the pan clear, but when I turned around, the puppy I had made contact with was still shrieking and was holding up one hind leg. My heart sunk.

I've been fostering a litter of six puppies, who are probably only about five weeks old. And I think I have lost my mind. I'm tired, my sleep schedule is all off, I haven't walked myself or my own dogs for a week, I've been eating at weird times (and not with my husband), and I feel alternately so full of love for and weepy about these little guys (they are all boys!) . . . and it's only been a week. Talk about that new-mom feeling!

monitored Cole long enough to see that he awoke and was going to be fine

so we had mosquitoes in the house

agility

and chased them in dozens of places. But only in that one place did he catch a squirrel so unaware

My old Border Collie Rupert used to herd in his sleep. Which was funny, because he was a failed sheepdog who never showed a sign of wanting to herd any animal when he was awake. But when he dreamed, his ankles flexed in a galloping rhythm and his lips curled and his eyes rolled around as he herded sheep. I'm sure of it.

Is there anything as good as the perfect playmate for your young, playful dog? One who is about the same size and weight and has the same style of play as your dog? I'm dog-sitting my son's dog, Cole, for three whole weeks while he travels out of the country for his sport. Cole is a coonhound/Lab-mix, just about at the one-year mark - grown-up enough to not offend my now-seven-year-old Otto with his very presence on the planet, but young enough to still crave daily sessions of play.

it became evident that the dog was not comfortable with the child. Because I strongly feel that dogs who live with kids ought to be especially forgiving of human behavior and sincerely like kids