Goodbye Sweet Jemma

We had our latest foster dog for 5 weeks this summer.  I remember the first week I thought, "what have we done".  Don't get me wrong, she was a great puppy, but she liked to get up early (before 6 am most days) and needed to be watched pretty closely!  She was fine if you were busy, she would just go to the room in which you were working and watch you!  However, if you sat down, she figured "it's Jemma time".  She wasn't a lap-dog, in that she didn't want to just sit on your lap and allow you to rest.  She would sit nearby and let you pet her forever.  She also loved chasing a toy or ball that was thrown.  She had a skin condition, so she was always scratching herself, which was probably the most annoying thing.  She was fine if you wanted to rest near her, but you had to be able to ignore her scratching unless she found an interesting toy to chew or was asleep.  It was hard to ignore the itching, because we knew she was hurting herself by scratching/biting, so we would distract her by petting and playing.  Jemma left us last Wednesday and as I look at these pictures I really miss her.  That said, it is nice to be able to sit down without her 100% attention.  Also it has been nice to sleep past 6!

1st Jemma before:  (I didn't get a very good "before picture")  The pictures I have don't show how terrible her fur looked.  When Animal Rescue League worker brought her to me I could hardly believe that they were bringing me a dog with such terrible skin!  (I was not prepared by their picture of her....but now that I re-look at it, I see the issue.  (This is from Carolyn's Instagram or some other media.)

BEFORE

AFTER (the effect of love, special baths, medicine....but I think the frequent petting really helped stimulate the recovery :0)

I could hardly believe how much better she looked.  Like I said though, she still had very itchy skin and was not completely healed.  The Animal Rescue League Vet however said she was ready for adoption and I am guessing she was gone the first day after she was spayed.  She was a very friendly dog.  She was all about people for sure!  She loves attention.  I do worry if she lives with someone who leaves her for long periods of time.  We foster in the summer so that at least one kiddo is around most of the time.

Now Jemma's fan club:

(no Matthew - he helped with her when needed, but is not the fan of dogs the other kiddos seem to be)

We were sad to see her go, but everyone recognized that she needed a lot of attention that we could not provide during the school year.  (Plus we leave for vacation on Saturday!)