ridgewood reservoir + The Truth About Fostering

we're back! the big news is that we're now queens residents and oh yeah, carlos is no longer a foster dog. after three years of mere co-living we decided that carlos is part of the family for good. i mean, little bear is not exactly thrilled, but even she'd agree that carlos belongs with us.

moving to queens was a bit of a speed bump in carlos' progress in life, even as it cemented his position in our household - he started to resource guard aggressively (again) and was generally very much on edge. after re-instating the discipline of his early days (lots of on-leash and crate time), we got back on track and were able to do more exciting, and sometimes scary things...

there's a post somewhere in my drafts about vet visits and how carlos is the number-one absolute Worst at them. well, we found a home-visit vet that is the super Best at dealing with him. with a combination of fast moves and sedatives and scraps of a breakfast sandwich we have gone through TWO successful visits in the past month. it previously took two visits and five people wrestling the poor dog to a hard metal table to get a single shot administered, so let me just say - HOORAY.

another clear success - the (erm, first phase of the) reopening of the ridgewood reservoir.

we had a great time walking to highland park, eating pumpkin cheesecake from rudy's bakery:

taking in the fall foliage at the reservoir:

and rolling around on cement:

we also had a not-so-great time (from a certain ex-foster dog perspective) posing for pictures together:

suck it carlos! the truth about fostering is that sometimes, you end up stuck with a hugger who loves selfies.