Rudi's Birthday Pictures :)
 

My Big Boy turned 2 years old on the 7th and we celebrated by having him a little Birthday party! We don't know Rudi's exact birthday but he was right at a year old when we got him one year ago on the 7th, so that's when we decided to celebrate his little "gotcha" day :D.

I am sure some of you are going to wonder why Carmen our little Doxie is not in these pictures. I never posted about it mainly because I just don't get on here very much any more but our little Carmen got out the front door a few months ago and got hit by one of the neighborhood kids on a 4-wheeler she was chasing :(. Since then we have taken in Cooper the dog you see in the pictures as a Foster dog for a local rescue. He has yet to find a home. I have to say I do not see how a lot of you foster over and over. It seems so hard getting attached. I mean it is obviously rewarding in that we have been able to help the big boy through quite a few fears but still it is going to be hard when a home comes along. We were not really ready for another dog but Rudi was having an extremely hard time after Carmen passed. Refusing to eat and being lethargic all the time. Pitiful!

Anyway back to the birthday boy! He thoroughly enjoyed himself as you can tell lol. I made his cake from a recipe i found on an all natural dog treat recipe site. It is a Apple Crunch Cake and I used Low fat Cream Cheese and Plain Yogurt for the "icing". I had a blast making it and it was SUPER easy! If there is any interest in the recipe just let me know and I will gladly post it :). It said that it can last in the fridge (without icing) up to 3 weeks and that it freezes well. The original recipe was for mini cupcakes.

a few more pictures of his big day :animal-pa:cool::thumbup::aimeeyork

Oh, it looks like he had a blast! So fun!! :)

ETA: I think it takes a special soul to foster. I don't think I could let them go once I had them and then I'd end up not being able to afford to foster anymore and ... Like I said, I always thank you all that foster rescues because you are angels!

That's what we have talked about, Terri. Josh wants to Adopt cooper... I love Cooper dearly but if we do then I know we wont be able to foster another larger dog in the future and Coopers story was such a sad one that it really just makes me want to keep our door open. If he were a yorkie or another small dog it would be different but in a renting situation it makes it harder for us we have to be follow rules. He was found tied on a short chain to a tree in the middle of a rain storm with no shelter or food or water or anything. He is (for good reason) terrified of thunderstorms and will literally jump into your arms if it storms lol. He has gotten a lot better when he first came home he would bust through baby gates and try to fit inside Rudi's crate with him during a thunder storm LOL. BIG baby obviously. I can not understand for the life of me why anyone did this to him. He is amazingly well trained anything to ask him to do he does it without hesitation and he is 200% Potty trained and the most gently baby I have ever met. Just really opened my heart to working with rescues I think. I am happy Josh's boss asked us to foster him (she works for the rescue). He has come such a long way no more busting through gates and no more separation anxiety during storms. He's so ready for a good forever home. I hope the right one comes along soon... I don't think I can take getting much more attached to him.

It sounds like you have done a wonderful job making Cooper feel safe and secure. My best friend had a dog that she "inherited" that had been in a house that was struck by lightening. He was scared of thunderstorms for the rest of his 11 years. He would crawl into the fireplace and the bathtub. She actually had to give him some benedryl before a storm was about to hit and it helped a lot.

I just know that Cooper's forever family will show up soon. I'll keep him (and your family) in my prayers that it is really soon :)

Thank you Terri! We need all the prayers we can get :)