I love Facebook.  I do.  Really.  For a lot of reasons.  I’ve lived in 4 states and 3 counties over my life and have befriended people across the globe.  Facebook is a great way to connect with one of my dearest friends in Chile, my college roommates who live in Chicago, high school friends who are living in Singapore or the missionaries I met at church who are in Kenya and my best girls right here in my neighborhood!

Not only can you connect with friends but can also connect with groups that have things in common with you.  Often my top posts are something with “Disney” in it and something with “Setter” in it!  One of the Facebook sites I frequent is Save Our Setters Rescue.  I love seeing the stories of the rescued Irish Setters and the good life they are now living.    One day they had a note on there or their website that said something like “please foster!”  It seemed they were running low on foster homes when a setter was found in a shelter or in need of a foster for some other reason.  So I clicked the link and scanned the application.  It seemed pretty straight forward.  I started to fill it out while watching “House Hunters” on HGTV and clicked submit without a second thought.

A few days later I got an email from Save Our Setters saying we had been approved to be a foster home.  Awesome!

That was the last I heard from them and that was months ago.  Well, a couple of weeks ago I was at work and picked up my phone to check my email.  I get a ton of junk email and I was swiping to delete a bunch of emails.  I stopped when I saw the subject line.  The email was  from a name I did not recognize, but the subject caught my eye.  “Save Our Setters possible foster.”  What?  What did that mean?  The email was short.  Three sentences.  Was I interested?  She was a senior Irish Setter and they didn’t have much information beyond that.

The next day I got another email and they had a little more info.  The dog was at the Pitt County Animal Shelter as a stray, about an hour and a half from me.  The stray hold would be up the next day and they could release her to the SOS Rescue.  Oh my goodness.  My heart was racing.  No way would Jason agree to this.  He still gives me a hard time for bringing home dog #3.

I ran it by him during a quick phone call and he did not say “No.”  That night we ate Wednesday night dinner at church and I showed him her picture and shared what little info I had.  I told him the main reason to foster was to get her out of the shelter and we would have her about 2-4 weeks before the adoption process started.  He said “go get her.”  I about jumped in the car right there and then!

God works through us all in such different ways.  I adore Irish Setters and have my entire life.  Was this God’s work?  I wasn’t sure.

Friday afternoon I took off with the boys in tow to get to the Pitt County Animal Shelter before they closed at 5:00pm.  I had grabbed some old sheets and towels from home and put the back seats of my van down making a nice soft area for her to lay on the way home.  I prayed the whole way there.  What if she wasn’t good with my other 3 dogs or worse yet, what if she snapped at my kids?  Was I making a mistake?  I was nearly sick at my stomach with worry over this.

Once we got there, the staff was ready for us and SOS had taken care of all the paper work.  I gave the animal control officer the collar and leash we brought for her and he disappeared behind closed doors.  Shortly he emerged, leading a beautiful, white-faced Irish Setter with the biggest brown eyes.  She had strands of drool coming from both sides of her mouth but seemed to dance with the excitement of seeing us.  I asked if we could have a few moments with her before we got in the car to head the hour and half back to Raleigh.

The animal control officer led us to the back of the building to a small fenced in puppy area we were welcome to use as long as we needed.  There we learned she could sit, shake and stay.  She loved to play fetch with the tennis ball and her tail would not stop wagging.

While talking with the animal control officer, I learned more of “Ruby’s” story.  That’s what they had been calling her at the shelter.

Ruby had a short known history.  On September 9th a woman called AC from a remote part of Pitt County.  There was a large dog in her yard that was just hanging around.  The shelter picked her up from that ladies yard.  She was not wearing a collar, but he could tell she had one in the past from the indentions in her fur.  He also said she smelled clean like she had a recent bath.  She had no physical indication that she had been traveling.  No burs or cuts on her feet or legs.  She was clean and in good shape.  Just alone.

She had been in the shelter 10 days by the time I picked her up and no one had called about her.  Someone was missing this lovely girl.  Why were they not looking for her?  The shelter said all signs point to her being dumped there.  That about broke my heart. Who would dump this old girl?  They said it was not uncommon.  What?  Believe it or not, people don’t want to deal with the old, aging animals and the extra care they require.  God created this beautiful red girl, how could anyone throw her away?

When it was time to leave the shelter, we walked back to the parking lot with Ruby bouncing right along.  I opened the back gate of my van as planned and tried to get this 92lb dog to get in.  Nope.  Wasn’t happening.  She couldn’t jump that high.  So I walked her around to the drivers side and helped her jump in the van behind my seat and in front of Tan’s seat.  She got is with a goose and didn’t move.  She was not going to get in the back like I wanted her to.  She was riding all the way back to Raleigh right here near us.  She finally laid down and slept for part of the ride.

When we got home the next test was about to begin.  Introducing her to my other 3 dogs.  I put Ruby in the backyard and went inside to get Sailor.  Sailor is nearly 12 and clearly the queen.  They did great.  Huge sigh of relief!  They sniffed each other and wagged their tails.  Sailor was like finally you bring home someone my speed!

Next we introduced Ellie our 7 year old Lab mix.  First of all, Ellie doesn’t even like to go outside.  I know, weirdest Lab ever!  They did good too.  I let them all do their thing for a few minutes before going inside to retrieve the Slinky dog!

Slinky is our wild one!  She is a 1.5 year Irish Setter and wild does not even begin to explain her.  She flew out the back door and slid to a stop at the top of the steps on the deck. No way was she going out there.  The fur raised on her back and she was scared.  I had to laugh.  The wild one was scared of an old lady dog. After a few minutes, they did the let me smell your butt and you can smell my butt thing and it appeared God was answering my prayers.  Friends were made.

Ruby is house trained and had a good first night.  She had a little heavy breathing, but we all made it through.

The next day we took her for a ride in the car and made a stop at Petco and over to the fairgrounds for the AKC Good Citizen Day.  She is such a social dog.

So now we wait and foster.  We are giving her lots of love and attention.  She wants to play and be brushed and craves attention.

All of us are totally in love with her.  Having 4 big dogs in the house does come with some scent challenges, but I’m keeping Yankee Candle and Febreeze in business.

Go to your local animal shelter or contact an animal rescue group and be a foster.  Just think how much happier the dog would be hanging out in the comfort of your home instead of the loud, shelter.

More on Ruby later.