December 24, 2024 • 37 mins
🐾 Thinking about fostering a dog? You need to hear this first. 🐾 In this eye-opening episode of Straight Up Dog Talk, Em sits down with Caitlin, who bravely shares her heartbreaking experience fostering Ruby—a journey that revealed the darker side of rescue work.
Left unsupported by the rescue, Caitlin paid for all of Ruby’s care out of pocket, was given no help, and had to rehome Ruby herself. Her story sheds light on the importance of:
Researching rescues before agreeing to foster
Ensuring the rescue is a registered 501(c)(3)
Confirming they cover expenses and provide proper support
Knowing your rights and the return policy
📢 If you’ve ever considered fostering, this episode is a must-listen. It’s a powerful reminder that love isn’t always enough—advocacy, boundaries, and due diligence matter too.
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#dogfostering #rescuedogs #fosteringsupport #animalrescue #straightupdogtalk
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:45):
Welcome to straight up dog talk.I'm M and we're back again this
week with another amazing guest.This week we have Caitlin who's
here to tell us kind of a crazy story about what happened when
she decided to start fostering. How are you doing tonight,
Caitlin? I'm good, thank you.
How are you? I'm great.
I'm so excited to have you here tonight.
(01:06):
You have a very kind of unique story and experience when it
comes to the fostering world. But I also think that it's kind
of a story that will help spreada little bit of awareness to
some of the listeners and hopefully some people who are
interested in fostering and get them to maybe ask a few more
questions so that what happened to you doesn't happen to them.
(01:28):
But to start off, why don't you tell the listeners just a little
bit about you, your dogs, anything you want to share?
OK well my name is Caitlin. I currently work as a bartender
so I work night shift only and Ihave a lot of free time during
the day. So I figured why don't I make
the best of it and try to continue fostering.
I had fostered one dog already and adopted her.
(01:50):
I call her my foster win becausewe don't like to sort fail for
her. She's amazing.
So I have two dogs total and washoping to change another dog's
life and another human's life because Tater Tot has completely
changed my life for the better and I know the impact of having
a dog and how that can really improve someone's quality of
(02:11):
life. I completely agree.
Dogs are probably one of the most important parts of my
day-to-day life. They play a big role in my
happiness, my overall happiness,and they just bring me so much
joy. Whether it's my dogs or someone
else's dogs, I'm always happy tosee a dog.
I'm that person that's like, oh,there's a dog.
(02:33):
I think that we are so lucky to have dogs.
I don't think that people understand us, the crazy dog
people, right? They don't they don't understand
how much joy and love dogs can bring into our world.
So I love that you spun it and you use win a foster win because
really it is a win. You're bringing somebody into
your home and giving them a new life.
(02:56):
So I think that that's that's anawesome way to look at it.
And also you have such a positive outlook on not just
helping the dog, but helping theperson too.
I think that that's really great.
So let's talk about Ruby. Why don't you tell the listeners
about Ruby and the how just the whole story, because it is kind
of a wild story. I'm going to let you tell it
(03:18):
because there's a lot to it, OK?I'll start from the beginning.
The part that most people don't know is I hit a little bit of a
rough patch. I had a few people let me down,
so I was feeling a little down and I wanted to foster again
because it's very rewarding, as I said.
And I saw Ruby on a Facebook post.
There was only one photo of her at the time.
(03:40):
And looking at that photo, she looked short, small.
She was very underweight. She was cute, white with floppy
ears. I thought she would look perfect
with my two other dogs, right? My dogs don't have floppy ears.
They're brown and black. And she was perfect to me.
I was like, I think she'll taught as long as she's small.
So I reached out to them. She was on the euthanasia list
(04:03):
and I had about a day to commit.And of course, in this gloomy
moment of my life, I was, and this was the perfect way to feel
better, keep myself occupied, doa little good, I'll commit,
let's do it. Unfortunately, they didn't have
a sponsor for her to be fostered.
So they set me up with a rescue that's actually based in New
Jersey. And this is a foster only
(04:25):
rescue. They have no actual building.
I'm living in North Carolina. So to me knowing now, this is a
huge red flag because if anything happens, there's
absolutely no backup support. The two ladies running the
rescue lived up in New Jersey. They couldn't come help me if
anything happened. There was nowhere for the dog to
go back to if I could no longer foster.
(04:45):
But I didn't want to back out, so I committed to it anyway.
And I was just thinking, we'll figure it out, let's just give
it a shot, What could go wrong? Turns out a lot.
Famous last words, right babe? What could go wrong?
Famous. Last word yes, absolutely.
I was connected with the rescue and I spoke with the two ladies.
It was a group phone call. They asked me if I would be able
(05:08):
to pay for her food and toys andpurchase a crate for her.
I already spent a lot of money at Tractor Supply, so I have
coupons for Tractor Supply. I get the crate.
I have food already but as I said I thought she was a much
smaller dog. I didn't think she would be
eating too much. I get everything prepared in the
house. They agreed to cover vet bills
(05:28):
which down the road they ended up not being able to cover and
she was heartworm positive. And she still needed other shots
to be around my dogs as well. Just for my own comfort level
because my dogs have had medicalissues in the past.
I wanted her to also have all the shots necessary, get her
looked at by a vet, so none of that had been done.
I go to pick her up and I was expecting a short dog, very
(05:53):
calm, probably shy because I'm still new to this.
My two dogs are both very reserved and shy around
strangers. They're very hesitant to meet
you and Ruby was the complete opposite.
I walk up to her and compared tomy dog, she looks like a
miniature pony. She's tall, she jumped in my
face, she licked me, she was like hey, she was jumping all
(06:13):
over the place, running to my car, dragging me behind her on
the leash like let's go for a ride.
She was so excited and full of life.
This was not what I was expecting from the photo of a
little tiny dog that was severely underweight.
Turns out she had already gainedweight since that photo was
taken. She was already at a healthy
weight by the time I got her andshe was full of energy.
(06:36):
I knew immediately when I saw her that Tater top would not get
along with her. He likes dogs his size and
smaller. That's what he gets along with.
I know that time and time again he gets along with dogs that are
female and about his size range.She was so much taller than him.
But again, here I am. I already committed.
What am I supposed to do? Say?
(06:57):
Oh, sorry, just kidding. I'm not taking her.
I just try not to panic. Get in the car.
I'm gonna, you know, wing it, right?
I already committed. I don't know what else to do.
So I get home and I sell the rescue, the ladies up in New
Jersey, the situation, and they're like, well, hopefully
you know, eventually it'll all work out for you and they'll all
(07:17):
get along. And I'm trying not to panic but
I knew deep down it was not going to work out too well.
It's so hard when you're lookingat dogs online like that.
That's why it's so difficult. And we've talked about this on
other episodes, especially with the we're rehoming this litter
of puppies or the dog looks likethis or whatever.
And they don't give size or dimensions or weight or anything
(07:41):
thing because a camera angle canchange everything, right?
Like you can't tell how big or small a dog is based on just a
photo. Right, and her weight listed on
the post was 34 lbs. She was closer to 50 or 60 by
the time I got her. Yeah, that's a big.
(08:01):
Difference. He plumped up quickly and she
was much taller. Camera It was angled downwards
at her so I thought she was about the size of Todd and at 34
lbs she would weigh. Obviously she needed to gain
weight from that photo, which I was understanding, but she would
have been about the size of my other dog, Sweet Pea.
I thought they would be the perfect trio.
(08:23):
I mean, you were definitely going for the range of color
there, right? You had like the aesthetic
going. Sure, I get it.
I totally get it. And I mean, that's the thing.
There are people that have a certain kind of dog in every
color because they like the breed, they want the range of
colors. It's an aesthetic and it's OK.
It doesn't work for everybody, but it works for some people.
(08:45):
And unfortunately, now we've found out that Ruby is not a
good fit because she's going to be too spunky for Todd.
And so now you have her and she's heartworm positive and she
needs other vaccinations. So what did you do?
So we came home and I have an extra bedroom in my house that I
rent. So she had her own room and she
(09:07):
had her own crate that she was crafty enough to break out of
multiple times. She didn't like to be left
alone, what dog does, but obviously I'm in the crate
rotate situation so she does have to be left alone for parts
of the time during the day and when I'm at work at night.
We did need to use a lot of CBD because being heartworm positive
she needed to be calm. And as I've explained, Ruby is
(09:28):
the complete opposite. So I reached out to the rescue
asking about getting her heartworm treatment done knowing
that it's very difficult for me to keep her calm.
She needed training. She was very leash reactive and
she was not food motivated. Both of my dogs were very food
motivated and that's how I trainmy dogs.
I had no idea what to do with a dog that was yanking me down the
(09:51):
road and would not take food from my hand.
When I reached out to them, the heartworm treatment information,
they told me they just wanted toput her on a heartworm
preventative medication, which Iwas not familiar.
This was an option. You put them on doxycycline and
then you put them on preventative medication.
You have to keep them pretty calm for about a year and hope
(10:15):
that all of the heartworms will be dying off on their own and
then get her tested after that year.
And for a dog who they told me originally was six or seven
years old, turns out she was 2. How do you keep a 2 year old dog
full of life that calm for a year?
I just felt like it would reallyimpact her quality of life.
It was stressing me out beyond belief because I would take her
(10:36):
to a store and she ran up to everyone.
She thought the whole entire world was her friend.
It was her gigantic playground. She would run laps through my
house. I have a townhouse, it's two
floors. She would run down the stairs,
run to the couch, run back up the stairs, run down the stairs,
jump on the couch. She did zoomies multiple times a
day and they told me, well just keep her calm.
(10:59):
And for the heartworm medication, we actually can't
afford it. Do you want to just purchase it
yourself as a donation to the rescue instead?
Obviously I did not, but I did not want to just leave her
untreated. So I did ask if we could get her
to the vet and they told me it was really no big deal.
If she was at the shelter she probably was seen by a vet, but
she had a giant patch on her legthat was a bulge patch.
(11:21):
She had allergies, she had licked it and bid at it so much
she had an infection. So I had to get her antibiotics,
all of which I paid for. But thankfully I used my social
media to make a go fund me. So I did have help paying for
those vet bills, getting her therest of her shots to make sure
that no diseases would be transferred between my dogs and
her. And then the rescue actually
(11:43):
forgot about us for about a month or two.
Finally reached back out to me to check in and said hey, sorry
this fell off the rails. And by that point I'm a little
embarrassed to say, but I was very angry with them and pretty
much fed up with their lack of help and lack of keeping to
their word. I mean at least cover the vet
bills. I'm already doing the food and
she ate more than and my dogs combined.
(12:05):
See, this is the part that just gets me is that they just
completely, they're gone. And you and I had talked a lot
during this time because we talked about the slow kill
method and I looked it up and I consulted a vet and we kind of
went back and forth and we were both kind of hesitant about that
because there's not really any guarantee the worms are going to
(12:26):
die off. You just kind of put them on the
preventative, keep them on the preventative from that point on,
and you hope that the worms die.But they can live indefinitely
even if they're on preventative because they're already in
there, right? So you have no idea.
They're growing now. They're damaging the heart and
you have this dog that's, like you said, her quality of life is
(12:48):
completely and totally afflictedat this point.
So now you've got the Go Fund megoing, which is great.
I'm glad that you had support. We're able to get through that
through that part. But you had decided that you
maybe want to find her a home way to get this treated and
things start shifting around in your life.
So now what happens? Now the rescue is back in
(13:11):
contact with me and they're not able to help the vet bills and I
told them, hey, no problem, I'm going to make a go fund me and
I'll work on that. Can you post her on social
media? Because I've been posting her,
I've been tagging the rescue. Can you please help me find her
a home? I don't want to be doing this by
myself. I was pretty overwhelmed at this
point. I mean, honestly, one person
(13:33):
with three dogs, that is a lot along with the crate rotation
and then the financial strain. And my dogs are energetic.
She's energetic. I'm getting a little beaten down
and discouraged. And the two ladies I'm in
contact with told me they don't know who runs their social media
account but they're going to tryto get her posted.
Can you send me photos and a bioabout the dog?
(13:54):
And I sent it to them multiple times.
I kept seeing their accounts were active on social media.
Ruby never got posted. And I have a friend on Instagram
who sent me a post pizza restaurant who posted adoptable
dogs on their pizza box. And I haven't told many people
this because I don't even know if this is allowed.
But I started doing DoorDash on my nights off and taping Flyers
(14:17):
of Ruby to people's food along with hanging her Flyers up in
every Tractor Supply pet store. As I've said, I'm about
bartenders. Every person who came in the bar
had to see photos of her. I sent photos of her to everyone
I know and said, hey, can you pass these along?
I probably annoyed a ton of people, but I'm now known as the
(14:37):
dog lady, which is also fun. I love that.
Had no other choice because I knew I couldn't keep her.
I knew I wanted better for her and I wanted to get back to life
with my dogs because everybody was getting less time because I
was spread thin and I just had to do whatever I could to get
her face out there and that was all I could think of.
(14:58):
I think that that's actually really creative going out and
advertising yourself as a small business.
You pass out Flyers, you pass out business cards, you get your
name out there. So being able to DoorDash and
just be like, here's a little flyer, I'm sticking with your
food and I'm a bartender. Let me show you all these photos
or here have a flyer. I mean, I'm sure that that that
(15:21):
probably helped get you some exposure really kind of, you
know, get people aware that you are the dog lady, right?
So now I'm sure at some point you're going to have somebody
come to you and be like, hey, you were that Lady that passed
out those Flyers with the dog you were trying to find a home
for. I'm looking for a dog now.
(15:41):
Can you help me? I'm sure it'll come full circle
at that point. And when it does, I want to know
because that will be a really. Neat.
Experience, I think for you to to have and to share.
So you've done all this stuff trying to find her a home, but
it actually kind of twisted up on you and worked out in a way
that you didn't expect. You did find her home, but it
(16:02):
wasn't in the way that you were expecting.
So why don't you tell everybody how Ruby found a home?
Ruby did find a home with a friend of mine who was helping
dog sit her. Actually I had to go to
Connecticut where I'm from in January.
I had a family emergency and he works at the airport.
I forgot to mention this part. He also hung Flyers of her all
(16:23):
over Charlotte International Airport so shout out to him for
that. They did not work because she
stole his heart. So he started dog sitting her
while I'm in Connecticut. I came back and was very
stressed out, ended up getting sick so he said hey don't worry
about it she could stay here until you feel better.
I'm feeling better. I finally come to pick up the
(16:44):
dog. I take her back to my house for
probably less than 24 hours and he asked for her back.
He said I really miss having heraround.
Now it's really lonely in the house, and she could just stay
here. I'll just get her through the
heartworm treatments and then we'll work on finding her a home
after she's finished with that. And I mean, it only took a few
(17:05):
weeks after that before he finally said to me, you know, I
think I'm just going to keep her.
I don't want to be without her. I'll be so sad without her.
Which I kind of figured would happen because everybody gets
attached to the dogs, right? That's why they call them Foster
Fails because once the dog is inyour house and you get it used
to having them there, how can you part with them?
(17:25):
They're part of your life. And they do bring so much joy.
And he works nights like I do, so it's very easy for him to
take her out during the day. They go hiking, they go to dog
parks. He has a dog park at his
apartment building. She's made new friends now.
That's the life I wanted for herthat I couldn't do.
So it was a relief for me even when he was dog sitting because
(17:46):
she got that one-on-one attention.
And he also had someone else because he's not from Charlotte,
so he doesn't have a lot of friends in this area.
So they both really actually needed each other.
And it just was such a blessing,a blessing in disguise.
I love so much that that's how it turned out.
I remember when you were going through this and you had gone
home and you're like, OK, well, my friend watched her and now I
(18:10):
think that he might keep her andand then over.
The course of that. Week we talked and you were
like, yeah, he's gonna keep her.Now you've connected these two
together and you made this little family.
So you did have another foster win, right?
Because you went from fostering her to having somebody help you
foster her and then having a foster win because he decided
(18:31):
you know what? She's taking my heart and I love
having her here. And so you did exactly what you
set out to do. But on top of that, now you get
to be a part of her recovery because he does decide to get
the heartworm taken care of for her, correct?
And that was actually sponsored by Tater Tot, my first dog's
(18:52):
rescue. They're in Connecticut.
It's called Lucky Dog Refuge. And as soon as I started the
social media page, they had actually found me on TikTok,
which was really cool because wewere in the process of moving
out of Connecticut. So they have followed me for the
last three years and Tater Tot and they followed along on Sweet
Peace Journey. And they reached out and they
(19:14):
offered to sponsor the heartwormtreatment even though Ruby's
original rescue said it was not necessary and to do the slow Co
method. Tater Tots Rescue advised me it
is really important to do the treatment.
It's not safe to let the heartworms stay around the heart
and we will pay for that along with getting her microchip,
which I am forever grateful for.It just shows how much they
(19:36):
really care about all the dogs in their care and even the dogs
that are no longer in their care.
I thought that was so awesome and it was a huge relief because
I know those bet Bells can be high.
But Ruby is living her best lifenow.
It still gives me goose because I at a time that I felt so alone
and not supported and like I hadmade a huge mistake just trying
(19:57):
to do something good, they reached out to me and I can't
express how grateful I was because sometimes we just need.
A little bit of support to keep you going.
That makes sense. So everyone on social media who
encouraged me and who donated, they really pushed me to keep
going because there were so manydays I just didn't know what to
do with myself. I was like, I can't do this.
(20:18):
There's no way I'll find her a home.
I've exhausted all my options, running low on money.
I'm only one person and my mom helps dog sit my two dogs, but I
can't push too much on her. When I took on this big
responsibility and I told her itwas going to work out and I'll
figure it out and here I was crumbling all down.
Everything was just crashing in on me.
(20:39):
I'm really grateful for all the support and I think it's a big
learning lesson that you do haveto do a lot of research, but you
also really can't always do it alone and sometimes you need to
get some help and it's OK to askfor help.
It's OK to ask for help. And I'm really glad that you
were just really transparent about that whole thing there
because what you went through was an exceptionally difficult
(21:00):
situation. You had a rescue that was not
helping you. You were paying for things that
you shouldn't have had to pay for.
You were being completely ignored.
And fortunately, you know, you were able to reach out to the
community and on social media and find that support and find
people to help you network and to get Ruby's information out
(21:21):
there and, you know, reconnect with Tater Tots Rescue and get
them involved. What a beautiful story that not
only this rescue that you rescued a dog from now has
rescued another dog that you were trying to rescue, and now
your friend has Ruby in his home.
And it's just really like this whole chaotic, beautiful mess.
(21:43):
But it is so hard to go through stuff like this, even if it's
your own dogs and they get sick and the medical bills start
piling up. And it's a big decision.
And unfortunately, there are toomany people out there.
They don't don't follow through with that decision.
I mean, technically, Ruby was not even technically your dog.
(22:04):
You agreed to give her a place to stay until she could find her
forever home. And you're over here mentally
and emotionally struggling because you didn't have the
support that you were told you were going to have to make sure
that she gets the life that she deserves.
And I think that it is absolutely incredible that you
did not give up and that you persisted and that it turned out
(22:25):
so beautifully. I really admire what you have
done and I just think that is such a beautiful story.
But it's also kind of a cautionary tale too, right?
Because your feelings and your mental stability and emotional
stability, all of that matters too.
I'm sure Ruby, the whole time was just like, I'm living the
best life. Maybe she didn't like that she
(22:46):
had to be alone, or maybe she didn't like the bedroom or she
didn't like that she had to be calm during the heartworm
treatments and things like that.But dogs get over that kind of
stuff a lot quicker than we do. And the cool thing about this is
I would love to hear down the road 6 months, a year from now
how Ruby is doing. Because this is just the
(23:06):
beginning of Ruby's story. I think a lot of people get tied
up in the fact that, oh, I rescued this dog, my dog is a
rescue dog. Well, six years later, that dog
is not just a rescue dog anymore.
That dog has been through thingsand experienced things and is
part of your family. And the rescue part is just
teeny tiny part of that story. So I think if anything, you can
(23:28):
come out of this knowing that this whole experience, this
total chaos and calamity and heart wrenching thing that you
went through with her, it's justa tiny part of her life.
And now she's getting to live the life that you wanted her to
live. And how cool is that?
It's amazing. She gets ice cream every day.
She really came out on top and Ihonestly didn't think it would
(23:52):
happen. So I'm very grateful and as I've
said before, I'm not sure if I want to test my luck and Foster
I hope one day, but I want to beso much more financially stable.
I want to have a lot more money saved up because if this ever
happens again, I don't want to have to also stress the
financials on top of it. But as I said, I made a
commitment and I just couldn't let down that dog and I couldn't
(24:16):
give up on vet care and make a bigger mess for myself
financially or emotionally lateron.
If I skimped on something to save a few dollars here or
there. It put me in a bad situation.
And I know hindsight is 2020 this could have all been
avoided. But my family told me almost
every week, just drop the dog off at a shelter.
(24:37):
No one's going to know, just drop it off.
I couldn't do it. I could not do it.
I was determined. I had people at the bar say the
same thing. Well, it's not your fault the
rescue let you down. Just drop it off.
I mean, I have to go to bed at and I have to be able to put my
head on a pillow and sleep at night.
I couldn't do that. So I don't know.
I should have done more research.
It was my fault. I could say that, but.
(24:59):
I mean, it wasn't really your fault, you know, like you,
you're just getting into this and not knowing that she didn't
have a rescue to sponsor her andall that kind of stuff.
Like these are the these are thereasons that we're having these
conversations because there's somany people out there that have
no idea how the rescue word world works at all.
So if we don't talk about it, then people aren't going to
(25:22):
know. And I mean, you implemented
things into your daily life so that she could stay with you
because you knew that her and Tot were not going to get along.
So you found a way to keep her separated so that she could have
one-on-one time with you and still stay with you until you
could figure things out. You know, I have told this story
(25:42):
way, way back at the beginning of the year.
I think it's in like episode #22where I had my, my first three
dogs and my two female dogs did not get along.
And that's I had to do, I had tokeep them separate.
And so when it got worse after Ihad just had my surgery.
So here I am, post surgery, going through this emotional
(26:04):
turmoil and all of this guilt about, you know, how we have to
keep the docks separate. How, you know, she, Izzy can be
outside or she can be in the living room with whoever is in
the living room. And Cajun and Fiona will stay in
the bedroom with me. And then Cajun and Fiona will go
in their kennels. And then Izzy will go in her
kennel. And then Cajun and Fiona will go
and do what Izzy was doing. And then Izzy can come out and
(26:25):
hang out with me, right? So you find these ways to make
it work. But in the end, it didn't turn
out well for me. Unfortunately, Izzy had to be
euthanized because she almost killed Fiona.
And I was the same way. It was the same way as you.
I was like, I will make this happen.
I want her to, you know, have a good life.
I want her to be here and be part of the family, hired
(26:47):
special trainers and did everything that I could do.
And unfortunately, you know, notevery story has a good ending.
So despite the fact that you feel like, you know, there's
some hindsight that was there and it was maybe not a great
situation, you learned something.
It turned out OK, OK, and now you know more for the next time,
which I bet there will be a nexttime.
(27:09):
Maybe not right away, but I havea feeling that with that kind of
personality and your level of determination, you will be ready
to do it again someday. And maybe you'll have another
foster win. Maybe you'll get your your white
dog to go with your brown dog and your black dog.
Or maybe you'll just continue tofind ways to be the Segway
between this is the foster home and now you're in your forever
(27:31):
home. I hope so.
I think eventually I don't thinkI could stay away because I see
all the dogs online still and I'm like, I think this one would
be a good fit. But then I remember, let's bring
it back. We're still recovering here
because like you said, the emotional toll it takes, the
guilt, the stress, sleepless nights, trying to rotate, feel
(27:53):
guilty again, trying to plan almost every minute of every
day. Just feeling so guilty if I have
to leave the house because when I get back home, I know I got to
let these ones out first and that one is still waiting and
then I got to let the other one out.
It was extremely stressful the entire time.
And I think that that's the partof dog ownership that we don't
talk about enough, right? Because even now that you're
(28:14):
just back to your own two dogs, you probably still feel guilty
when you leave, and you probablystill try to hurry home so that
they can have their potty breaks.
And you probably still feel guilty if you decide that you
don't feel like going for a walkthat day.
Or maybe playtime is a little bit less because it's too hot
outside. Or maybe you just need a break
(28:35):
for you personally to lay in bedand relax for a day.
Because I'm sorry, but bartending is a hard job.
I've been a bartender before. It's not an easy job.
We've got people talking to you,you're slinging drinks, you're
collecting money, people are impatient, loud.
There's a lot going on in that environment.
And sometimes when you come homefrom a job like that, you just
(28:57):
want to cuddle up with your dogsand hang out.
And unfortunately, dogs have needs too, and you can't just
ignore them and not take care ofthem.
But that's kind of the whole part of it, right?
So just remember as a dog owner,and this is for everyone, not
just for you, that your happiness, your level of
emotional stability and yourselfpreservation is what makes your
(29:20):
dog's life there. Because if you're not happy,
your dog is not going to be happy.
So you do have to take care of yourself too.
And that's really important. And I'm glad that you advocated
for yourself and I'm glad that you asked for help because that
is so much needed in this community.
People need to stop picking on each other and bad talking about
(29:43):
each other or putting people down or the little online clicks
or whatever. All of that stuff like community
is what's important. Support is what is important.
Helping people who are struggling through these really
awful situations and don't know what to do or where to go.
That is what but I am trying so hard to create with this
podcast. It's just a place where people
(30:04):
can go. We've had another person who
had, you know, a pretty rough situation with a fostering
situation. I think episode like 5 or 6 with
Jean Jean and she talks about, you know, how she had a dog that
was attacking her. The rescue didn't want to take
the dog back for obvious reasons, but she was a fairly
new foster parent. And here she is feeling all this
(30:25):
guilt and shame and embarrassment because she can't
handle this dog. It wasn't her fault.
She wasn't prepared for that. And like you said, there was
nowhere for the dog to go after you took the dog.
And if you had been put in a situation where the dog was
attacking you, the story might have turned out very different.
But fortunately you got Ruby, who's just so fantastic and full
of life and such a sweet, sweet girl.
(30:47):
So you got lucky on that. And could it could have been
worse, unfortunately. I mean, what could go wrong?
Lots of things could go wrong, right?
So. That is true.
I never even thought of that being an option to be honest.
The dog attacking me because as I said, a beginner.
So I had my two dogs. I'm used to the breed, I'm used
to how they act. And I'm thinking I'm getting
(31:09):
this like shy, mild little little pup who needs me to
rescue them and she was just thecomplete opposite.
And I never even thought about what happens if I was attacked.
That's a really good point. I would be really out of luck
because there was no one's help.Even the original shelter that I
got her from, I had called and said I really needed some help.
Would you be able to even help me do meet and greets?
(31:32):
Because I'm terrified of sendingher off with a new family that I
pick out just by myself. They told me no, sorry, she's
legally owned by that rescue. You're going to have to contact
them. And I said they're not helping
me with anything. I am terrified.
I had her posted on Next Door, adoptive.com, every Facebook
group. And then I realized, wait a
second, I can't do a background check on these people by myself.
(31:55):
I have no authority here. What am I going to do?
Just say bye bye, See ya. I mean, think about how scary.
I don't know. I just went into it totally
blind, but I did. I did get very lucky with her.
I will say that. Yeah, you did really get lucky.
And I think that that is the biggest lesson that I want
people to take away from this story, is that make sure that
you should be able to return thedog to the rescue or even a
(32:18):
breeder. If you buy a dog from a breeder,
you should be able to take the dog back if it doesn't work out,
if something is wrong, if there's conflict in the home
now, you should be able to take the dog back.
They should be paying for the food.
They should be paying for the medical bills.
None of that should be coming out of your pocket.
Personally, you always want to check and make sure that a
(32:40):
rescue has a 5013 C legitimate non profit rescue.
You need to make sure that they have the paperwork.
You can actually ask the rescue to see their 5013 C because it
is one of those things that theyhave to have as part of the
nonprofit in order to be considered that division.
They're not profiting off of therescue of dogs.
(33:02):
So I think that This is why working with smaller rescues is
sometimes hard. But we've had a couple of counts
on like flag the Breeders, we'llshout her out.
She's she's a great resource to talk to.
I think I actually, when we initially started talking, I
connected you with Ashley and had you talked to her about what
were maybe some of your options?And I don't think she had any
connections in your area, unfortunately.
(33:24):
But Ashley's a great resource for what you should look for in
a rescue. So if you have questions about
what to look for in a rescue youor what to be wary of in a
rescue, hit up flag the Breedersand Ashley can answer a lot of
those questions for you. And as far as stories go, like I
said, this one turned out wonderfully.
(33:44):
And I'm so glad that Ruby has a good home and that she's getting
to live a wonderful life now. And I do want you to do an
update and and come back. But what I'd really like is I'd
really like for you to come backand tell Tot and Sweet Pea
stories on another episode and let everybody get to kind of
know them and hear their storiesbecause they're, they're cuties
(34:06):
and sweeties too. So and they're both rescues,
right? Yes, Tater Tot is originally
from Mississippi and he was brought up to Connecticut and
Sweet Pea, she is here from North Carolina from my first
rescue that I tried to partner with and work with.
So she is my little sweet pea that I had to keep because Tater
(34:26):
Tot loved her. So I'm actually the person that
really did adopt A dog for my dog.
I just had to. I've had to because he loved her
so much. I've never seen him love a dog
so much. He accepted her immediately and
every day after that and he always there would always be a
dog he'd be friends with. But then one day it just didn't
sit right with him but her. It was match made in heaven from
(34:49):
the start and ever since then, so we had to adopt out the dog.
That's so sweet. I.
Love that. I love that so much.
Well, Caitlin, thank you so muchfor sharing this.
I know that this has not been aneasy journey for you, but you
were strong and you persevered and you were so brave.
And the community thanks you so much for donating your time and
(35:13):
your love and helping Ruby find a home.
If there's one piece of advice that you could give to the
listeners out there, whether it's regarding being a dog or
even watching your friend help adog through heartworm treatment,
what would be the piece of advice you'd like to leave the
listeners? With tonight I think my piece of
advice is always have fun with it because having a dog like
(35:36):
having a child or taking care ofany other living being can be
super stressful. But as you said your dog only
has as good of a day as you do. So if you can take any
situation, whether a bad experience on a walk because
they're reactive or they're acting up in public and you're
super embarrassed, and just makethe best of it and stay positive
(35:57):
because you're always going to have bad days, you're always
going to have setbacks. But cherish the time that you
have with the dog and make it asfun as possible because it
should be fun. It will be stressful, it will be
hard, but there are ways to makeeverything in life more
enjoyable. So just keep an open heart and
an open mind because you'll makeit there.
If I can do it, you could do it.You just have such a positive
(36:19):
attitude. I absolutely love that.
What a beautiful message. Yeah, it's make it fun.
And also their time with us is so short, so enjoy every single
minute of it. Don't waste it on the shoulda
coda woulda's when there's so much that there still can be.
I just thank you so much for being here tonight, Caitlin, And
I can't wait to have you back toshare your personal story with
(36:43):
Tot and Sweet Pea. Thank you.
All right, guys, we will catch you next on Straight Up Dog
Talk. Thank you for listening.
Straight up Dog Talk was createdby Emily Breslin.
It is edited and produced under the supervision of Straight Up
Dog Talk LLC and Emily Breslin. If you're enjoying this podcast,
follow or subscribe and be sure you don't miss an episode and
(37:04):
leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform.
Looking for more honest and relatable dog content?
Check out our sister show Unpacked with Jerry Sheriff and
Madison Simpson. Thanks for listening to Straight
Up Dog Talk.
Welcome to straight up dog talk.I'm M and we're back again this
week with another amazing guest.This week we have Caitlin who's
here to tell us kind of a crazy story about what happened when
she decided to start fostering. How are you doing tonight,
Caitlin? I'm good, thank you.
How are you? I'm great.
I'm so excited to have you here tonight.
(01:06):
You have a very kind of unique story and experience when it
comes to the fostering world. But I also think that it's kind
of a story that will help spreada little bit of awareness to
some of the listeners and hopefully some people who are
interested in fostering and get them to maybe ask a few more
questions so that what happened to you doesn't happen to them.
(01:28):
But to start off, why don't you tell the listeners just a little
bit about you, your dogs, anything you want to share?
OK well my name is Caitlin. I currently work as a bartender
so I work night shift only and Ihave a lot of free time during
the day. So I figured why don't I make
the best of it and try to continue fostering.
I had fostered one dog already and adopted her.
(01:50):
I call her my foster win becausewe don't like to sort fail for
her. She's amazing.
So I have two dogs total and washoping to change another dog's
life and another human's life because Tater Tot has completely
changed my life for the better and I know the impact of having
a dog and how that can really improve someone's quality of
(02:11):
life. I completely agree.
Dogs are probably one of the most important parts of my
day-to-day life. They play a big role in my
happiness, my overall happiness,and they just bring me so much
joy. Whether it's my dogs or someone
else's dogs, I'm always happy tosee a dog.
I'm that person that's like, oh,there's a dog.
(02:33):
I think that we are so lucky to have dogs.
I don't think that people understand us, the crazy dog
people, right? They don't they don't understand
how much joy and love dogs can bring into our world.
So I love that you spun it and you use win a foster win because
really it is a win. You're bringing somebody into
your home and giving them a new life.
(02:56):
So I think that that's that's anawesome way to look at it.
And also you have such a positive outlook on not just
helping the dog, but helping theperson too.
I think that that's really great.
So let's talk about Ruby. Why don't you tell the listeners
about Ruby and the how just the whole story, because it is kind
of a wild story. I'm going to let you tell it
(03:18):
because there's a lot to it, OK?I'll start from the beginning.
The part that most people don't know is I hit a little bit of a
rough patch. I had a few people let me down,
so I was feeling a little down and I wanted to foster again
because it's very rewarding, as I said.
And I saw Ruby on a Facebook post.
There was only one photo of her at the time.
(03:40):
And looking at that photo, she looked short, small.
She was very underweight. She was cute, white with floppy
ears. I thought she would look perfect
with my two other dogs, right? My dogs don't have floppy ears.
They're brown and black. And she was perfect to me.
I was like, I think she'll taught as long as she's small.
So I reached out to them. She was on the euthanasia list
(04:03):
and I had about a day to commit.And of course, in this gloomy
moment of my life, I was, and this was the perfect way to feel
better, keep myself occupied, doa little good, I'll commit,
let's do it. Unfortunately, they didn't have
a sponsor for her to be fostered.
So they set me up with a rescue that's actually based in New
Jersey. And this is a foster only
(04:25):
rescue. They have no actual building.
I'm living in North Carolina. So to me knowing now, this is a
huge red flag because if anything happens, there's
absolutely no backup support. The two ladies running the
rescue lived up in New Jersey. They couldn't come help me if
anything happened. There was nowhere for the dog to
go back to if I could no longer foster.
(04:45):
But I didn't want to back out, so I committed to it anyway.
And I was just thinking, we'll figure it out, let's just give
it a shot, What could go wrong? Turns out a lot.
Famous last words, right babe? What could go wrong?
Famous. Last word yes, absolutely.
I was connected with the rescue and I spoke with the two ladies.
It was a group phone call. They asked me if I would be able
(05:08):
to pay for her food and toys andpurchase a crate for her.
I already spent a lot of money at Tractor Supply, so I have
coupons for Tractor Supply. I get the crate.
I have food already but as I said I thought she was a much
smaller dog. I didn't think she would be
eating too much. I get everything prepared in the
house. They agreed to cover vet bills
(05:28):
which down the road they ended up not being able to cover and
she was heartworm positive. And she still needed other shots
to be around my dogs as well. Just for my own comfort level
because my dogs have had medicalissues in the past.
I wanted her to also have all the shots necessary, get her
looked at by a vet, so none of that had been done.
I go to pick her up and I was expecting a short dog, very
(05:53):
calm, probably shy because I'm still new to this.
My two dogs are both very reserved and shy around
strangers. They're very hesitant to meet
you and Ruby was the complete opposite.
I walk up to her and compared tomy dog, she looks like a
miniature pony. She's tall, she jumped in my
face, she licked me, she was like hey, she was jumping all
(06:13):
over the place, running to my car, dragging me behind her on
the leash like let's go for a ride.
She was so excited and full of life.
This was not what I was expecting from the photo of a
little tiny dog that was severely underweight.
Turns out she had already gainedweight since that photo was
taken. She was already at a healthy
weight by the time I got her andshe was full of energy.
(06:36):
I knew immediately when I saw her that Tater top would not get
along with her. He likes dogs his size and
smaller. That's what he gets along with.
I know that time and time again he gets along with dogs that are
female and about his size range.She was so much taller than him.
But again, here I am. I already committed.
What am I supposed to do? Say?
(06:57):
Oh, sorry, just kidding. I'm not taking her.
I just try not to panic. Get in the car.
I'm gonna, you know, wing it, right?
I already committed. I don't know what else to do.
So I get home and I sell the rescue, the ladies up in New
Jersey, the situation, and they're like, well, hopefully
you know, eventually it'll all work out for you and they'll all
(07:17):
get along. And I'm trying not to panic but
I knew deep down it was not going to work out too well.
It's so hard when you're lookingat dogs online like that.
That's why it's so difficult. And we've talked about this on
other episodes, especially with the we're rehoming this litter
of puppies or the dog looks likethis or whatever.
And they don't give size or dimensions or weight or anything
(07:41):
thing because a camera angle canchange everything, right?
Like you can't tell how big or small a dog is based on just a
photo. Right, and her weight listed on
the post was 34 lbs. She was closer to 50 or 60 by
the time I got her. Yeah, that's a big.
(08:01):
Difference. He plumped up quickly and she
was much taller. Camera It was angled downwards
at her so I thought she was about the size of Todd and at 34
lbs she would weigh. Obviously she needed to gain
weight from that photo, which I was understanding, but she would
have been about the size of my other dog, Sweet Pea.
I thought they would be the perfect trio.
(08:23):
I mean, you were definitely going for the range of color
there, right? You had like the aesthetic
going. Sure, I get it.
I totally get it. And I mean, that's the thing.
There are people that have a certain kind of dog in every
color because they like the breed, they want the range of
colors. It's an aesthetic and it's OK.
It doesn't work for everybody, but it works for some people.
(08:45):
And unfortunately, now we've found out that Ruby is not a
good fit because she's going to be too spunky for Todd.
And so now you have her and she's heartworm positive and she
needs other vaccinations. So what did you do?
So we came home and I have an extra bedroom in my house that I
rent. So she had her own room and she
(09:07):
had her own crate that she was crafty enough to break out of
multiple times. She didn't like to be left
alone, what dog does, but obviously I'm in the crate
rotate situation so she does have to be left alone for parts
of the time during the day and when I'm at work at night.
We did need to use a lot of CBD because being heartworm positive
she needed to be calm. And as I've explained, Ruby is
(09:28):
the complete opposite. So I reached out to the rescue
asking about getting her heartworm treatment done knowing
that it's very difficult for me to keep her calm.
She needed training. She was very leash reactive and
she was not food motivated. Both of my dogs were very food
motivated and that's how I trainmy dogs.
I had no idea what to do with a dog that was yanking me down the
(09:51):
road and would not take food from my hand.
When I reached out to them, the heartworm treatment information,
they told me they just wanted toput her on a heartworm
preventative medication, which Iwas not familiar.
This was an option. You put them on doxycycline and
then you put them on preventative medication.
You have to keep them pretty calm for about a year and hope
(10:15):
that all of the heartworms will be dying off on their own and
then get her tested after that year.
And for a dog who they told me originally was six or seven
years old, turns out she was 2. How do you keep a 2 year old dog
full of life that calm for a year?
I just felt like it would reallyimpact her quality of life.
It was stressing me out beyond belief because I would take her
(10:36):
to a store and she ran up to everyone.
She thought the whole entire world was her friend.
It was her gigantic playground. She would run laps through my
house. I have a townhouse, it's two
floors. She would run down the stairs,
run to the couch, run back up the stairs, run down the stairs,
jump on the couch. She did zoomies multiple times a
day and they told me, well just keep her calm.
(10:59):
And for the heartworm medication, we actually can't
afford it. Do you want to just purchase it
yourself as a donation to the rescue instead?
Obviously I did not, but I did not want to just leave her
untreated. So I did ask if we could get her
to the vet and they told me it was really no big deal.
If she was at the shelter she probably was seen by a vet, but
she had a giant patch on her legthat was a bulge patch.
(11:21):
She had allergies, she had licked it and bid at it so much
she had an infection. So I had to get her antibiotics,
all of which I paid for. But thankfully I used my social
media to make a go fund me. So I did have help paying for
those vet bills, getting her therest of her shots to make sure
that no diseases would be transferred between my dogs and
her. And then the rescue actually
(11:43):
forgot about us for about a month or two.
Finally reached back out to me to check in and said hey, sorry
this fell off the rails. And by that point I'm a little
embarrassed to say, but I was very angry with them and pretty
much fed up with their lack of help and lack of keeping to
their word. I mean at least cover the vet
bills. I'm already doing the food and
she ate more than and my dogs combined.
(12:05):
See, this is the part that just gets me is that they just
completely, they're gone. And you and I had talked a lot
during this time because we talked about the slow kill
method and I looked it up and I consulted a vet and we kind of
went back and forth and we were both kind of hesitant about that
because there's not really any guarantee the worms are going to
(12:26):
die off. You just kind of put them on the
preventative, keep them on the preventative from that point on,
and you hope that the worms die.But they can live indefinitely
even if they're on preventative because they're already in
there, right? So you have no idea.
They're growing now. They're damaging the heart and
you have this dog that's, like you said, her quality of life is
(12:48):
completely and totally afflictedat this point.
So now you've got the Go Fund megoing, which is great.
I'm glad that you had support. We're able to get through that
through that part. But you had decided that you
maybe want to find her a home way to get this treated and
things start shifting around in your life.
So now what happens? Now the rescue is back in
(13:11):
contact with me and they're not able to help the vet bills and I
told them, hey, no problem, I'm going to make a go fund me and
I'll work on that. Can you post her on social
media? Because I've been posting her,
I've been tagging the rescue. Can you please help me find her
a home? I don't want to be doing this by
myself. I was pretty overwhelmed at this
point. I mean, honestly, one person
(13:33):
with three dogs, that is a lot along with the crate rotation
and then the financial strain. And my dogs are energetic.
She's energetic. I'm getting a little beaten down
and discouraged. And the two ladies I'm in
contact with told me they don't know who runs their social media
account but they're going to tryto get her posted.
Can you send me photos and a bioabout the dog?
(13:54):
And I sent it to them multiple times.
I kept seeing their accounts were active on social media.
Ruby never got posted. And I have a friend on Instagram
who sent me a post pizza restaurant who posted adoptable
dogs on their pizza box. And I haven't told many people
this because I don't even know if this is allowed.
But I started doing DoorDash on my nights off and taping Flyers
(14:17):
of Ruby to people's food along with hanging her Flyers up in
every Tractor Supply pet store. As I've said, I'm about
bartenders. Every person who came in the bar
had to see photos of her. I sent photos of her to everyone
I know and said, hey, can you pass these along?
I probably annoyed a ton of people, but I'm now known as the
(14:37):
dog lady, which is also fun. I love that.
Had no other choice because I knew I couldn't keep her.
I knew I wanted better for her and I wanted to get back to life
with my dogs because everybody was getting less time because I
was spread thin and I just had to do whatever I could to get
her face out there and that was all I could think of.
(14:58):
I think that that's actually really creative going out and
advertising yourself as a small business.
You pass out Flyers, you pass out business cards, you get your
name out there. So being able to DoorDash and
just be like, here's a little flyer, I'm sticking with your
food and I'm a bartender. Let me show you all these photos
or here have a flyer. I mean, I'm sure that that that
(15:21):
probably helped get you some exposure really kind of, you
know, get people aware that you are the dog lady, right?
So now I'm sure at some point you're going to have somebody
come to you and be like, hey, you were that Lady that passed
out those Flyers with the dog you were trying to find a home
for. I'm looking for a dog now.
(15:41):
Can you help me? I'm sure it'll come full circle
at that point. And when it does, I want to know
because that will be a really. Neat.
Experience, I think for you to to have and to share.
So you've done all this stuff trying to find her a home, but
it actually kind of twisted up on you and worked out in a way
that you didn't expect. You did find her home, but it
(16:02):
wasn't in the way that you were expecting.
So why don't you tell everybody how Ruby found a home?
Ruby did find a home with a friend of mine who was helping
dog sit her. Actually I had to go to
Connecticut where I'm from in January.
I had a family emergency and he works at the airport.
I forgot to mention this part. He also hung Flyers of her all
(16:23):
over Charlotte International Airport so shout out to him for
that. They did not work because she
stole his heart. So he started dog sitting her
while I'm in Connecticut. I came back and was very
stressed out, ended up getting sick so he said hey don't worry
about it she could stay here until you feel better.
I'm feeling better. I finally come to pick up the
(16:44):
dog. I take her back to my house for
probably less than 24 hours and he asked for her back.
He said I really miss having heraround.
Now it's really lonely in the house, and she could just stay
here. I'll just get her through the
heartworm treatments and then we'll work on finding her a home
after she's finished with that. And I mean, it only took a few
(17:05):
weeks after that before he finally said to me, you know, I
think I'm just going to keep her.
I don't want to be without her. I'll be so sad without her.
Which I kind of figured would happen because everybody gets
attached to the dogs, right? That's why they call them Foster
Fails because once the dog is inyour house and you get it used
to having them there, how can you part with them?
(17:25):
They're part of your life. And they do bring so much joy.
And he works nights like I do, so it's very easy for him to
take her out during the day. They go hiking, they go to dog
parks. He has a dog park at his
apartment building. She's made new friends now.
That's the life I wanted for herthat I couldn't do.
So it was a relief for me even when he was dog sitting because
(17:46):
she got that one-on-one attention.
And he also had someone else because he's not from Charlotte,
so he doesn't have a lot of friends in this area.
So they both really actually needed each other.
And it just was such a blessing,a blessing in disguise.
I love so much that that's how it turned out.
I remember when you were going through this and you had gone
home and you're like, OK, well, my friend watched her and now I
(18:10):
think that he might keep her andand then over.
The course of that. Week we talked and you were
like, yeah, he's gonna keep her.Now you've connected these two
together and you made this little family.
So you did have another foster win, right?
Because you went from fostering her to having somebody help you
foster her and then having a foster win because he decided
(18:31):
you know what? She's taking my heart and I love
having her here. And so you did exactly what you
set out to do. But on top of that, now you get
to be a part of her recovery because he does decide to get
the heartworm taken care of for her, correct?
And that was actually sponsored by Tater Tot, my first dog's
(18:52):
rescue. They're in Connecticut.
It's called Lucky Dog Refuge. And as soon as I started the
social media page, they had actually found me on TikTok,
which was really cool because wewere in the process of moving
out of Connecticut. So they have followed me for the
last three years and Tater Tot and they followed along on Sweet
Peace Journey. And they reached out and they
(19:14):
offered to sponsor the heartwormtreatment even though Ruby's
original rescue said it was not necessary and to do the slow Co
method. Tater Tots Rescue advised me it
is really important to do the treatment.
It's not safe to let the heartworms stay around the heart
and we will pay for that along with getting her microchip,
which I am forever grateful for.It just shows how much they
(19:36):
really care about all the dogs in their care and even the dogs
that are no longer in their care.
I thought that was so awesome and it was a huge relief because
I know those bet Bells can be high.
But Ruby is living her best lifenow.
It still gives me goose because I at a time that I felt so alone
and not supported and like I hadmade a huge mistake just trying
(19:57):
to do something good, they reached out to me and I can't
express how grateful I was because sometimes we just need.
A little bit of support to keep you going.
That makes sense. So everyone on social media who
encouraged me and who donated, they really pushed me to keep
going because there were so manydays I just didn't know what to
do with myself. I was like, I can't do this.
(20:18):
There's no way I'll find her a home.
I've exhausted all my options, running low on money.
I'm only one person and my mom helps dog sit my two dogs, but I
can't push too much on her. When I took on this big
responsibility and I told her itwas going to work out and I'll
figure it out and here I was crumbling all down.
Everything was just crashing in on me.
(20:39):
I'm really grateful for all the support and I think it's a big
learning lesson that you do haveto do a lot of research, but you
also really can't always do it alone and sometimes you need to
get some help and it's OK to askfor help.
It's OK to ask for help. And I'm really glad that you
were just really transparent about that whole thing there
because what you went through was an exceptionally difficult
(21:00):
situation. You had a rescue that was not
helping you. You were paying for things that
you shouldn't have had to pay for.
You were being completely ignored.
And fortunately, you know, you were able to reach out to the
community and on social media and find that support and find
people to help you network and to get Ruby's information out
(21:21):
there and, you know, reconnect with Tater Tots Rescue and get
them involved. What a beautiful story that not
only this rescue that you rescued a dog from now has
rescued another dog that you were trying to rescue, and now
your friend has Ruby in his home.
And it's just really like this whole chaotic, beautiful mess.
(21:43):
But it is so hard to go through stuff like this, even if it's
your own dogs and they get sick and the medical bills start
piling up. And it's a big decision.
And unfortunately, there are toomany people out there.
They don't don't follow through with that decision.
I mean, technically, Ruby was not even technically your dog.
(22:04):
You agreed to give her a place to stay until she could find her
forever home. And you're over here mentally
and emotionally struggling because you didn't have the
support that you were told you were going to have to make sure
that she gets the life that she deserves.
And I think that it is absolutely incredible that you
did not give up and that you persisted and that it turned out
(22:25):
so beautifully. I really admire what you have
done and I just think that is such a beautiful story.
But it's also kind of a cautionary tale too, right?
Because your feelings and your mental stability and emotional
stability, all of that matters too.
I'm sure Ruby, the whole time was just like, I'm living the
best life. Maybe she didn't like that she
(22:46):
had to be alone, or maybe she didn't like the bedroom or she
didn't like that she had to be calm during the heartworm
treatments and things like that.But dogs get over that kind of
stuff a lot quicker than we do. And the cool thing about this is
I would love to hear down the road 6 months, a year from now
how Ruby is doing. Because this is just the
(23:06):
beginning of Ruby's story. I think a lot of people get tied
up in the fact that, oh, I rescued this dog, my dog is a
rescue dog. Well, six years later, that dog
is not just a rescue dog anymore.
That dog has been through thingsand experienced things and is
part of your family. And the rescue part is just
teeny tiny part of that story. So I think if anything, you can
(23:28):
come out of this knowing that this whole experience, this
total chaos and calamity and heart wrenching thing that you
went through with her, it's justa tiny part of her life.
And now she's getting to live the life that you wanted her to
live. And how cool is that?
It's amazing. She gets ice cream every day.
She really came out on top and Ihonestly didn't think it would
(23:52):
happen. So I'm very grateful and as I've
said before, I'm not sure if I want to test my luck and Foster
I hope one day, but I want to beso much more financially stable.
I want to have a lot more money saved up because if this ever
happens again, I don't want to have to also stress the
financials on top of it. But as I said, I made a
commitment and I just couldn't let down that dog and I couldn't
(24:16):
give up on vet care and make a bigger mess for myself
financially or emotionally lateron.
If I skimped on something to save a few dollars here or
there. It put me in a bad situation.
And I know hindsight is 2020 this could have all been
avoided. But my family told me almost
every week, just drop the dog off at a shelter.
(24:37):
No one's going to know, just drop it off.
I couldn't do it. I could not do it.
I was determined. I had people at the bar say the
same thing. Well, it's not your fault the
rescue let you down. Just drop it off.
I mean, I have to go to bed at and I have to be able to put my
head on a pillow and sleep at night.
I couldn't do that. So I don't know.
I should have done more research.
It was my fault. I could say that, but.
(24:59):
I mean, it wasn't really your fault, you know, like you,
you're just getting into this and not knowing that she didn't
have a rescue to sponsor her andall that kind of stuff.
Like these are the these are thereasons that we're having these
conversations because there's somany people out there that have
no idea how the rescue word world works at all.
So if we don't talk about it, then people aren't going to
(25:22):
know. And I mean, you implemented
things into your daily life so that she could stay with you
because you knew that her and Tot were not going to get along.
So you found a way to keep her separated so that she could have
one-on-one time with you and still stay with you until you
could figure things out. You know, I have told this story
(25:42):
way, way back at the beginning of the year.
I think it's in like episode #22where I had my, my first three
dogs and my two female dogs did not get along.
And that's I had to do, I had tokeep them separate.
And so when it got worse after Ihad just had my surgery.
So here I am, post surgery, going through this emotional
(26:04):
turmoil and all of this guilt about, you know, how we have to
keep the docks separate. How, you know, she, Izzy can be
outside or she can be in the living room with whoever is in
the living room. And Cajun and Fiona will stay in
the bedroom with me. And then Cajun and Fiona will go
in their kennels. And then Izzy will go in her
kennel. And then Cajun and Fiona will go
and do what Izzy was doing. And then Izzy can come out and
(26:25):
hang out with me, right? So you find these ways to make
it work. But in the end, it didn't turn
out well for me. Unfortunately, Izzy had to be
euthanized because she almost killed Fiona.
And I was the same way. It was the same way as you.
I was like, I will make this happen.
I want her to, you know, have a good life.
I want her to be here and be part of the family, hired
(26:47):
special trainers and did everything that I could do.
And unfortunately, you know, notevery story has a good ending.
So despite the fact that you feel like, you know, there's
some hindsight that was there and it was maybe not a great
situation, you learned something.
It turned out OK, OK, and now you know more for the next time,
which I bet there will be a nexttime.
(27:09):
Maybe not right away, but I havea feeling that with that kind of
personality and your level of determination, you will be ready
to do it again someday. And maybe you'll have another
foster win. Maybe you'll get your your white
dog to go with your brown dog and your black dog.
Or maybe you'll just continue tofind ways to be the Segway
between this is the foster home and now you're in your forever
(27:31):
home. I hope so.
I think eventually I don't thinkI could stay away because I see
all the dogs online still and I'm like, I think this one would
be a good fit. But then I remember, let's bring
it back. We're still recovering here
because like you said, the emotional toll it takes, the
guilt, the stress, sleepless nights, trying to rotate, feel
(27:53):
guilty again, trying to plan almost every minute of every
day. Just feeling so guilty if I have
to leave the house because when I get back home, I know I got to
let these ones out first and that one is still waiting and
then I got to let the other one out.
It was extremely stressful the entire time.
And I think that that's the partof dog ownership that we don't
talk about enough, right? Because even now that you're
(28:14):
just back to your own two dogs, you probably still feel guilty
when you leave, and you probablystill try to hurry home so that
they can have their potty breaks.
And you probably still feel guilty if you decide that you
don't feel like going for a walkthat day.
Or maybe playtime is a little bit less because it's too hot
outside. Or maybe you just need a break
(28:35):
for you personally to lay in bedand relax for a day.
Because I'm sorry, but bartending is a hard job.
I've been a bartender before. It's not an easy job.
We've got people talking to you,you're slinging drinks, you're
collecting money, people are impatient, loud.
There's a lot going on in that environment.
And sometimes when you come homefrom a job like that, you just
(28:57):
want to cuddle up with your dogsand hang out.
And unfortunately, dogs have needs too, and you can't just
ignore them and not take care ofthem.
But that's kind of the whole part of it, right?
So just remember as a dog owner,and this is for everyone, not
just for you, that your happiness, your level of
emotional stability and yourselfpreservation is what makes your
(29:20):
dog's life there. Because if you're not happy,
your dog is not going to be happy.
So you do have to take care of yourself too.
And that's really important. And I'm glad that you advocated
for yourself and I'm glad that you asked for help because that
is so much needed in this community.
People need to stop picking on each other and bad talking about
(29:43):
each other or putting people down or the little online clicks
or whatever. All of that stuff like community
is what's important. Support is what is important.
Helping people who are struggling through these really
awful situations and don't know what to do or where to go.
That is what but I am trying so hard to create with this
podcast. It's just a place where people
(30:04):
can go. We've had another person who
had, you know, a pretty rough situation with a fostering
situation. I think episode like 5 or 6 with
Jean Jean and she talks about, you know, how she had a dog that
was attacking her. The rescue didn't want to take
the dog back for obvious reasons, but she was a fairly
new foster parent. And here she is feeling all this
(30:25):
guilt and shame and embarrassment because she can't
handle this dog. It wasn't her fault.
She wasn't prepared for that. And like you said, there was
nowhere for the dog to go after you took the dog.
And if you had been put in a situation where the dog was
attacking you, the story might have turned out very different.
But fortunately you got Ruby, who's just so fantastic and full
of life and such a sweet, sweet girl.
(30:47):
So you got lucky on that. And could it could have been
worse, unfortunately. I mean, what could go wrong?
Lots of things could go wrong, right?
So. That is true.
I never even thought of that being an option to be honest.
The dog attacking me because as I said, a beginner.
So I had my two dogs. I'm used to the breed, I'm used
to how they act. And I'm thinking I'm getting
(31:09):
this like shy, mild little little pup who needs me to
rescue them and she was just thecomplete opposite.
And I never even thought about what happens if I was attacked.
That's a really good point. I would be really out of luck
because there was no one's help.Even the original shelter that I
got her from, I had called and said I really needed some help.
Would you be able to even help me do meet and greets?
(31:32):
Because I'm terrified of sendingher off with a new family that I
pick out just by myself. They told me no, sorry, she's
legally owned by that rescue. You're going to have to contact
them. And I said they're not helping
me with anything. I am terrified.
I had her posted on Next Door, adoptive.com, every Facebook
group. And then I realized, wait a
second, I can't do a background check on these people by myself.
(31:55):
I have no authority here. What am I going to do?
Just say bye bye, See ya. I mean, think about how scary.
I don't know. I just went into it totally
blind, but I did. I did get very lucky with her.
I will say that. Yeah, you did really get lucky.
And I think that that is the biggest lesson that I want
people to take away from this story, is that make sure that
you should be able to return thedog to the rescue or even a
(32:18):
breeder. If you buy a dog from a breeder,
you should be able to take the dog back if it doesn't work out,
if something is wrong, if there's conflict in the home
now, you should be able to take the dog back.
They should be paying for the food.
They should be paying for the medical bills.
None of that should be coming out of your pocket.
Personally, you always want to check and make sure that a
(32:40):
rescue has a 5013 C legitimate non profit rescue.
You need to make sure that they have the paperwork.
You can actually ask the rescue to see their 5013 C because it
is one of those things that theyhave to have as part of the
nonprofit in order to be considered that division.
They're not profiting off of therescue of dogs.
(33:02):
So I think that This is why working with smaller rescues is
sometimes hard. But we've had a couple of counts
on like flag the Breeders, we'llshout her out.
She's she's a great resource to talk to.
I think I actually, when we initially started talking, I
connected you with Ashley and had you talked to her about what
were maybe some of your options?And I don't think she had any
connections in your area, unfortunately.
(33:24):
But Ashley's a great resource for what you should look for in
a rescue. So if you have questions about
what to look for in a rescue youor what to be wary of in a
rescue, hit up flag the Breedersand Ashley can answer a lot of
those questions for you. And as far as stories go, like I
said, this one turned out wonderfully.
(33:44):
And I'm so glad that Ruby has a good home and that she's getting
to live a wonderful life now. And I do want you to do an
update and and come back. But what I'd really like is I'd
really like for you to come backand tell Tot and Sweet Pea
stories on another episode and let everybody get to kind of
know them and hear their storiesbecause they're, they're cuties
(34:06):
and sweeties too. So and they're both rescues,
right? Yes, Tater Tot is originally
from Mississippi and he was brought up to Connecticut and
Sweet Pea, she is here from North Carolina from my first
rescue that I tried to partner with and work with.
So she is my little sweet pea that I had to keep because Tater
(34:26):
Tot loved her. So I'm actually the person that
really did adopt A dog for my dog.
I just had to. I've had to because he loved her
so much. I've never seen him love a dog
so much. He accepted her immediately and
every day after that and he always there would always be a
dog he'd be friends with. But then one day it just didn't
sit right with him but her. It was match made in heaven from
(34:49):
the start and ever since then, so we had to adopt out the dog.
That's so sweet. I.
Love that. I love that so much.
Well, Caitlin, thank you so muchfor sharing this.
I know that this has not been aneasy journey for you, but you
were strong and you persevered and you were so brave.
And the community thanks you so much for donating your time and
(35:13):
your love and helping Ruby find a home.
If there's one piece of advice that you could give to the
listeners out there, whether it's regarding being a dog or
even watching your friend help adog through heartworm treatment,
what would be the piece of advice you'd like to leave the
listeners? With tonight I think my piece of
advice is always have fun with it because having a dog like
(35:36):
having a child or taking care ofany other living being can be
super stressful. But as you said your dog only
has as good of a day as you do. So if you can take any
situation, whether a bad experience on a walk because
they're reactive or they're acting up in public and you're
super embarrassed, and just makethe best of it and stay positive
(35:57):
because you're always going to have bad days, you're always
going to have setbacks. But cherish the time that you
have with the dog and make it asfun as possible because it
should be fun. It will be stressful, it will be
hard, but there are ways to makeeverything in life more
enjoyable. So just keep an open heart and
an open mind because you'll makeit there.
If I can do it, you could do it.You just have such a positive
(36:19):
attitude. I absolutely love that.
What a beautiful message. Yeah, it's make it fun.
And also their time with us is so short, so enjoy every single
minute of it. Don't waste it on the shoulda
coda woulda's when there's so much that there still can be.
I just thank you so much for being here tonight, Caitlin, And
I can't wait to have you back toshare your personal story with
(36:43):
Tot and Sweet Pea. Thank you.
All right, guys, we will catch you next on Straight Up Dog
Talk. Thank you for listening.
Straight up Dog Talk was createdby Emily Breslin.
It is edited and produced under the supervision of Straight Up
Dog Talk LLC and Emily Breslin. If you're enjoying this podcast,
follow or subscribe and be sure you don't miss an episode and
(37:04):
leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform.
Looking for more honest and relatable dog content?
Check out our sister show Unpacked with Jerry Sheriff and
Madison Simpson. Thanks for listening to Straight
Up Dog Talk.
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