The amazing adventures or Ricco the Foster dog Day 2

Rico is smiling!  

Scooter far R, Rico Left front, Sugar-ray's rear -rear!

Just so you know, this is not a 'complete' or totally sequential journal of Rico's adventures, I mean if it were, i would never be able to get up from computer cause I'd be so busy typing- Rico would have no adventures, right? Right!

So brief recap; Ricco was one of the lucky ones, He was pulled from the Urgent Death row list of Animal Care & Control of NYC (AC&C) by 2nd Chance Rescue* the morning he was to be euthanized, -Just the night before Received a call from one of the 2nd chance angel's who alerted me to Ricco needing emergency rescue. I looked at the photos and text about Ricco and prayed, called back the "2nd chance angel" and said I would be willing to foster him 2-3 weeks so he would live and get a new 'leash' on life.  Yesterday Ricco arrived here and we had a successful first day. (read yesterdays post fmi)

Rico L, Scooter Middle, Sugar-Ray R...

Sugar-Ray standing; Rico Rolling in laughter on ground!

Ok so it's Day 2 of Ricco's amazing adventures...I woke up, dressed, got Ricco's leash and out of his crate and outside to potty first thing in the morning.......Ricco's leash mannerisms; well i would describe them as a cross between a greyhound mid race and a wild bull scrambling down the streets of Spain mid festival...  He is a very happy and upbeat boy....he is just sooo excited to be 'free'!  I continue to re-enforce the sit/stay on leash and the 'attempts' at sit/stay/ok now heel...We walk on leash to fenced in area, and once inside with gate closed, Ricco stops pulling and is a perfect gentleman on the leash...humn...My 'theory', perhaps being here in Vermont is so different from Park Ave NYC where he was picked up as a stray that not being at all accustomed to the 'sounds' of quiet (crickets, birds, wind blowing in trees) Ricco can only 'calm down' when he is 'Safe' from all the crickets, birds and wind, loose in the surrounding woods and pastures! lol...

Sugar-Ray L, Rico R...

Oh and let me tell you- Rico is a gentle doll...yea the leash stuff is a work in progress, but he is a gentle 'how can i please you' kinda dog...this morning was my first time of giving him his 2.5 pills for his kennel cough condition; I put some chunky peanut butter on a spoon, folded it over the pills and put it on my fingers (yea i know what you're thinking- but based on unmentioned things with him i knew it would be fine)  Ricco licked off the peanut butter so gently i could only smile and be glad this gentle doll is now going to be able to get healthy, be loved, and enjoy life!  Thank you God and thank you to all those who work so hard to save this dog and ones like him...

Ok so , Rico eats breakfast in his crate, goes out to do potty, his cage has not been soiled once, nor has he pawed around his food and water dishes so the cage is spotless...Good house manners...yea Rico!  

Hey, did you hear that? 

some time and other activities transpire and then we are ready to talk all the dogs outside to fenced area for short supervised visit...Rico is a riot; so gleeful and sweet, he rolls and rolls upside down on the grass over and over again with happy face and funny snorts of joy...my guys look on, of course they have already smelled all the 'important' doggie parts before hand and done some initial settling in...the 3 of them seem to be enjoying themselves, I'm still being cautious and not letting them be unsupervised, also a couple of 're-directive words' to settle them down a bit when things get a little too rompy..is that a word? rompy? lol

Look at that Handsome Profile! 

All back in- a while later all back out, same as above.  I took some photos earlier, i will post some here, Rico is the adorable black and white Lab looking boy with the happy face and waggy tail...(his listing with NY AC&C said he was a pit mix but I fail to see anything pit looking about his body type other then a long tail (that black labs all have) ...so who knows; but my doggie IQ says black lab mix 

aerial view-Ricco 8 30 12

Ok that's it for now, off do to some people stuff...
Enjoy the photos

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 *To learn more about 2nd Chance rescue visit their website: http://nycsecondchancerescue.org/

To view the list of Urgent death row dogs that need saving; please visit https://www.facebook.com/Urgentdeathrowdogs

sugar and rico- aerial view

I recommend if you are thinking/praying about fostering or adopting a death row dog, please fill out your application now, because it will take a bit of time for the rescue to process your application and do your home inspection and interview...and all this MUST be done before they would be able to PULL a dog off the Urgent list for you to foster or adopt.

Also from my experience, I had no luck in getting anyone at NY AC&C to answer the phone, or even return email when I first felt led to 'save' a dog off their list...SO as it turns out I found out there are certain non-profit rescues who can save these dogs during the small window of time when the 530-6pm death row list of the night is posted and when the shelter starts killing early the next morning- so it's my experience Don't waste valuable time contacting NY AC&C; I found out about 2nd chance rescue through a friend and have nothing but praise and admiration for their dedication to saving these doggies...
so if you want to help; either by tax deductible donation or if you wish to foster or adopt a death row doggie, contact them -http://nycsecondchancerescue.org/ fill out their application and SPECIFY the name of dog, it's # and what shelter it is at...

BTW, Sugar Ray (my adopted boy) was given a new 'leash' on life through me via Associated Humane Society of Newark NJ's Adoption program....that place is filled with awesome dogs and run by THE most Awesome people, Lovey, Debbie, Anthony...you are all HEROS!  see their links on petfinder...

Again, I recommend if you are interested in fostering or adopting a death row doggie please fill out an application at http://nycsecondchancerescue.org/app-form/

That's the END

 (of today's post!)

August 29, 2012 Ricco the Foster Dog Arrived here today!

Ricco!!! He's Here!  L@@K at this Handsome boy! (oh that's right, you can't see him like I can!)  I am fostering Ricco for 2nd Chance Animal Rescue based in NYC...It was after lots of prayer and planning that I decided to apply to foster for them & I am so grateful they have blessed me by allowing me to help in their quest to save the dogs most in need; especially those on death row in NYC shelters....That is where Ricco came from- he was brought there as a stray...anyways that's all History!

Today is the first day of Riccos new happy and healthy life! Upon arriving here this is what i noticed; black and white lab-like face and floppy ears. slender for his size, no direct eye contact, slinkish body gestures, he had been car sick on way here (transporters van showed the evidence)...Ricco had some really bad dandruff and fleas, his first stop was the crate i set up for him where he drank some nice VT well water; 2nd stop was out to do potty; then 3rd stop was in the tub to get him treated for his dandruff and fleas.
 
 Oh, did i mention right from his arrival here I began teaching him sit and stay with treats to re-enforce? this also carried over to the bath etc...


He was a good boy in the tub, very passive and non resistant to entire process.  I wet him down, shampooed him up, let the shampoo sit a bit to work, and then a good rinse.  He was a good boy about getting  out of the tub (his fave part i'm sure) and let me dry him off with towels after a good shake or three! 

Then Ricco spent some quiet time to dry further and rest in his crate.  There was some crying at first, but that didn't last long as i just went about my business where he could see me (in kitchen) and didn't give him any (reward) attention for his crying; a couple of Ricco NO's and he caught on.  He sat in crate and i noticed him checking out the room and noticing him watching my parrot taking a splashy bath in next room...I made sure i re-directed his attention with a NO, and Sit, and then a treat (diversion from parrot as pray)...Finally laying down and resting...ah, rest....After a rest/quiet time to settle in I put a dish of doggie food in his cage (along side the water already in there...


Ricco ate fast and furiously...and was ready to go out and explore our fenced in yard (on leash) and he smelled around a lot and did his business...after that I took him for a short walk down my dirt road...and of course every little bit he was told to sit, and then given heal command when it was time to walk again...Ricco pulls on the leash, I think he had little to no leash training, but after a few sit stay heal mini lessons along the way I noticed after we turned around to walk back to the house he was less frantically pulling and seemed a bit more relaxed. 

Back inside the house and into his crate, now he is resting there peacefully...

So that's all for now, I'm off to do some 'people' stuff....

Thanks for reading my blog entry about Ricco; Please pray for him- he needs to put on some weight, learn some 'manners' and 'meet' and co-exist peacefully with the rest of my 4 legged family...