Who are those four banner dogs?

Are you wondering who my blog banner dogs are?! Here's the crew left to right:

Caterina "Catty" who got this all started! We adopted Catty in June 2010 from New Rattitude and have fallen head over heals in love with her & the breed. Catty was a breeder in a Kentucky puppy mill and still has fear & anxiety issues but, she fits our lives perfectly and we adore her for all of who she is! Catty certainly has a terrier tude and that's what we wanted when we were looking to adopt. Catty is also know as Catty Rattie & Rat Cat.

Next is Dandy who we fostered for October 2011 - February 2012 and we fell hard for this very tender boy. Dandy was an owner surrender who we had been trying to convince his family to surrender him to New Rattitude for over a year. We were told Dandy was a chronic potty/pooper and that was why he needed to be surrendered. The day I picked him up we quickly found out that was not his issue. Dandy was a very scared boy who needed a lot of rehabilitation in foster care due to abuse and his general fear of the world. He did remarkable given what he had been through the first 3 yrs of his life and the lessons he and I learned together will forever stick with me. We were all lucky enough to find Dandy a home where he could continue to blossom while building his confidence and trust. Dandy was often referred to as sweet D and Danders.

Third from the left is Jasper who had two foster stints with us. He first arrived in May of 2011 and was adopted in early July 2011. Jasper came to us from a midwest puppy mill (he was 1 of 15 puppies taken in by New Rattitude) at the age of 3-4 months. He was having some separation distress while with us but everyone assumed he would grow out of this. We were all wrong and Jasper was returned to us in November 2011. This was a very hard return for Jasper and his adopter but, his issues were so severe that he could no longer reside with his mom in her condo. Jasper struggle a lot while in foster care despite all the consultation and remedies/medications. We finally came to the conclusion that the only way Jasper would be less symptomatic was by finding him a home where someone is home all the time. We were very fortunate to find Jasper his ideal home - a former New Rattitude adopter and a foster home for New Rattitude who are never gone more than a couple hours at a time. Jasper will always be a bit off as his brain has been fried from the many months of flooded stress hormones which contribute to some of his other issues but, his parents are on board with this and love him for who he is. Jasper went to his new home in February 2012. Jasper's nicknames included: Baby and Butters.

On the right is Reuben (sporting a cool sweater) and we fostered him from July - August 2011. He too came from the midwest puppy mill that Jasper came from and he was originally fostered by the New Rattitude Washington State coordinator - where all the hard work with him was done. We took Reuben so our state coordinator could take a dog that needed to be transferred within New Rattitude and this dog would not have done well with Catty. Reuben was by far the most skittish of the Washington puppy mill puppies (WA took 4 of the 15 pups) and he was able to learn in his foster home's how to begin to trust people. By the time Reuben was adopted in August he was still nervous but had made huge strides in his short life. Reuben was often called Rue or Rue, Rue.

The great news is that the family that adopted Reuben also adopted Dandy!