The dog days of summer

At one point in time I operated what basically amounted to a home-based kitty hospice.

Now I have apparently switched businesses to some sort of canine halfway house for foster dogs and runaways.

One the same night I got Shadow back (Wednesday), I was asked by a shar pei rescue group if I knew anyone who could house a shelter dog for a day (Thursday), until transportation arrangements could be made to send the dog to its new owner in CO. I wanted to take the dog myself as a pay-it-forward sort of thing, but I wasn't sure how Shadow would react to having another dog around after the stress of his ordeal. Since it was such short notice I wasn't able to ask around as much as I wanted to, and there was no news on him today so I don't know the ultimate fate of that pup.

But the universe seems to be determined to take me up on that pay-it-forward business: yesterday afternoon I discovered that my mom's friend, Brad, had found a stray dog the night before; he had been out walking his own dog when "Dutchie" (the name my mom randomly gave the runaway) came flying up the sidewalk, friendly as can be, but with no collar and no owners chasing after her.
Given that I just went through the Lost/Found Pet ordeal with Shadow, and am a frequent pet-sitter for Brad's dogs, Brad enlisted my help to find this pup's owners. He took her to the vet to check for a microchip first thing, no such luck. Then he printed out some Found Dog flyers and we drove around posting them in his neighhorhood. The pup is a small breed (boston terrier) who is clearly well-fed, so hopefully she didn't get very far from home.
Brad has to fly to Australia on a business trip today, so if "Dutchie's" owners aren't found by the time he has to leave for the airport I agreed to take "Dutchie" for a little while, in the hopes that her owners will come looking for her. If they don't, Brad wants to take her to a Boston Terrier rescue group. Neither of us can stomach taking her to a shelter...she's such a sweetheart, and AZ shelters are heartbreakingly awful.

I can't believe that in less than a week I, the quintessential cat lady, have become the temporary foster petmama of 2 wayward dogs. What am I getting myself into?

My kitty babies have been largely avoiding Shadow since his return...let's see what they do with a dog who is their own size! Shadow and "Dutchie" met yesterday afternoon (Brad brought her over and we kept both dogs on short leashes) and they seemed to get along fine, but I will probably keep them separated if I can't be around to supervise.

I really must say, it  sure seems like my life has gone to the dogs these days (literally!).