Sunday, November 30, 2008

WOW!!!

So, Thanksgiving came and went. It was nice. I went to my fiance's sister house in Indiana. We left Wednesday night after I took care of the dogs and came back late Friday night. It was strange not having to feed horses or take care of dogs for two whole days!

I spent the entire trip to Indian 5 hours, going through applications for Gloria's Puggle Puppies (7 of them) and Boston Terrier Mix puppies (4 of them). HOLY APPLICATIONS!! It was hard narrowing down who was going to be chosen. A lot of good applications. Gloria called the ones I picked and has pretty much everyone spoken for so that is good. Those puppies need homes.

Gloria had a 3rd litter of Beagle / JRT puppies... those are almost all adopted too.

Before I left Barney went to go live with a guy named Ken for the week to see if he wants to adopt him.

Lester went to go live with a women I know from work to see if they wanted to adopt him... they emailed me today they are 100% keeping him.

Spencer is officially adopted

The JRT / Rat Terrier puppies have applications in on them and people have come to see them.. just waiting for people to say yes they will adopt them.

So, who is left to find a home?

Carlton
Kyle
Dottie
Razzel
Muppet
Regal
Ricky
Sassy
Munch
Oakley
3 JRT puppies
and there are 2 dogs in my Dayton foster home.

15 dogs...ugh!

I have talked to a few people today and yesterday so maybe one of my kids will find a home with them. I really want Muppet to get into a home soon. He is growing up in my barn.. that isn't fair. He is a puppy that needs a family. Poor little guy. He has been through so much at such a young age. And Munch.. I love that dog... why she hasn't been adopted yet is beyond me. Seriously someone is missing out on a good dog.

I think if those two get adopted I will feel a little better. Sometimes dogs not getting adopted just bothers me especially when I know how awesome of a dog they are, ya know?

Ok well her is to hoping some good comes out of today.. LOL!! It is supposed to rain and be really gross out. UGH!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  

Remember to give your dog a hug and THANK THEM for always be loyal to you.

I want to THANK everyone who volunteers for me and everyone who has adopted one of my kids. You are a true hero!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Goodnight Malcolm

I am sorry to let everyone know that Malcolm's sickness took over and he died last night :-(











Thursday, November 20, 2008

Support this

As you all read on my Sunday night post I am having some issues with couping with rescues who are BUYING (not rescuing!) puppies / dogs from Puppy Mills.

Yesterday, I received a phone call from a rescue friend, (name has been changed) Sue, asking for help in saving the life of a Chi/JRT mix. He will die on Friday if not taken out of the shelter. He was picked up as a stray after his doggie friend was hit and killed by a car. He was standing waiting with his doggie friend to wake up.

I explained to Sue I don't have room and I am full to the brim. Sue said yea, everyone one is. I just got off the phone with (name has been changed) Betty and she is completely full with puppy mill puppies. Needless to say I went off on a bit of a tirade. Sue agreed with me 100% and said she feels the same way I do. She will NOT pay anyone for a dog, she doesn't even taken in owner surrender dogs unless it is a special case. I said yea, me too.

It was nice knowing that someone else felt the same way I do. I was starting to think I was the only one.

Then she proceeded to tell me about a women who goes to Georgia and loads up with puppies and brings them back up to the Cleveland area. She buys literally a truck load of puppies. Sue said that when she does this she always calls her and says I have some really nice (mentions the breed Sue rescues) and says you can have them for $75 a piece.

$75 a piece!! That is what she paid the puppy mill for them.

That isn't rescue that is BUYING PUPPIES. The person that does this then vets them (ok so that is the only reason she is better then a pet store) and adopts them out of $300 - $350. WHAT???!!!! Are you kidding me?

So, my advise to anyone looking to adopt, PLEASE be careful because people are POSING as a rescue people and are taking over where the pet stores left off. If the "rescue" says it is a puppy mill dog RUN the other direction! It is really said that I now have to give people advise to stay away from "rescues" that have puppy mill dogs because they are no better then Pet Stores.

That really bothers me because I have had dogs from Puppy Mills before but I didn't pay anyone for them. 1 was my sweetie little Gracie who came from a Puppy Mill bust, Turner and Ivory had their babies drowned and they were next when a women (who unfortunately does buy puppies from puppy mills) was at the Mill and saw what the miller was doing. She talked him into giving her the dogs and then contacted me.

Anyways, the point to all of this is PLEASE visit this link
https://community.hsus.org/campaign/US_2008_petland?source=gabhep

Support the cause and spread the word!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Boots is going home!

WOOOHOOOO!!!! Boots is going home on Friday. I am so excited for her... I have to remember to wash her sweatshirt before her Mommy comes and picks her up.

I am so excited for Boots and I need to say THANK YOU to Amy W. (no not me.. LOL) for emailing Boots new parents and sharing her experiences with them. Amy you have been a huge help and huge supporter THANK YOU!

Also, Thursday Elizabeth is going to come over and pick someone to foster. So, that will be good. Oh and another lady is going to come over... Thursday night I believe to see all the JRT kids. They have a 14 week old Golden Puppy so I said it would probably be best to foster before making a decision on adopting a JRT. That way they can make sure the Golden listens to them and doesn't get too attached to the other dog. Plus if you have a young puppy they will take on the traits of the other dog so that means you will end with a Golden that acts like a Jack.. LOL!!

So, with any luck and God on my side I will have at least 4 dogs sleeping in soft WARM beds by Friday night! YAY!!

Ok, you are probably wondering why 4... No I don't have bad math skills. When Boots gets adopted on Friday then I will bring one of my dogs that is living in the barn in the house. So, that is how I came up with 4.. LOL!!

Oh Oh and I forgot Bob who adopted Clyde (was Peter) about a year ago has been fostering Missy (who he calls Bonnie... get it Bonnie and Clyde.. LOL!!) Anyways, he told me yesterday he wants to adopt Missy. YAY!!!!!!!

Alright we need to keep up the hard work and hopefully get a few more in homes in the next week or so... even with 3 moving out of my house, I still have too many!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Buying Puppy Mill dogs

I was talking to my friend who is also in rescue and she said to me "Amy what are we doing? Is it really worth all this? We run around, having no lives, doing nothing but dogs day in and day out. For what?"

"Are we really making a difference?" she always asks me.

I got off the phone with her seeing her point, are we really making a difference?

Here is my the issue she and I are facing. We bust are butts to save a dog from a shelter that is going to be killed. We take that dog get it 100% vetted costing us a lot of time and money and spend weeks, months finding a good home for the dog. Then there are rescues out there that ship dogs in from other states that were purchased from puppy mills. Or just go to Amish country and buy some puppies. They take the puppies get them vetted and put them up for adoption and have them adopted in days at the most. I actually had a rescue say to me "we rarely have dogs more then a week"

Why is that? Because they have puppies from puppy mills and I mean puppies.... 10 weeks, 12 weeks, etc. Not 1 year old dogs, not 5 year old dogs, not random puppy mutts.

Now, forgive me here but to me that isn't helping. #1 why ship dogs in from out of state? We have PLENTY of dogs in Ohio that need help. #2 why would you buy a dog from a puppy mill?

I have asked rescue people who do buy puppies / dogs from puppy mills why they do it. The answer I get is WE ARE SAVING THE DOGS. Are you really? Think about it this way....

There is a crack dealer that is in your neighborhood. He is selling crack to the kids and he doesn't care that kids are dieing, going to jail, ruining their lives. All he cares is the almighty dollar and crack selling is a very easy way to make money. For some reason the laws in your town will not do anything about that crack dealer, everyone knows he sells crack but yet none of the law enforcement agencies will do anything about it.

You are frustrated and just can't take it any more. You go up to the crack dealer and you beg him to stop. He laughs at you. You say fine, I will buy all the crack you have today. He is so excited you are going to buy all his crack. He would have stayed on the street corner all day to sell that much crack but you came along and bought it all. Now he can go home, spend his money and get more crack for tomorrow.

You go home and flush all the crack down the toilet. WOOHOO! No, crack will be sold today.

The next day you see the same crack dealer standing there selling his crack. You go up to him and explain to him why crack is bad. He doesn't care, not his problem. You once again buy all his crack. He is excited all his crack is gone for the day. WOW he thinks. Sometimes I can't sell all my crack. He goes home and thinks ok if this keeps up I can make a lot of money.

The next day the crack dealer comes right up to your house and knocks on the door. You are excited to see him. You think to yourself, he finally understands. You answer the door and he says I have 3 times the amount of crack I normal have. You want to buy it? He says if you don't buy it he will just go sell it at the playground. You know if you don't buy it he will!

So, what have you accomplished? Instead of making things harder on the crack dealer you just made life so much easier for him. All he has to do is make threats and produce more crack and you will buy it. He doesn't care you flush it, all he cares is there is money in his pocket.

See my point?? These rescues are going to the puppy mills and buying the puppies. Just like the pet stores does. They are putting money in the hands of the people that force poor dogs into a life of hell. They are spaying and neutering the dogs before they go to their new homes but they are not helping the over population problem because the puppy mills are just making more puppies but instead of pet stores buying them rescues are.

People go on Pet Finder and Adopt A Pet knowing that "rescuing" a puppy is better then buying a puppy from a pet store but the problem is the rescue paid the puppy mill for the puppy. So, in the end all they have is a puppy mill dog... the same puppy mill dog they could have just gone to the pet store and buy. Granted it would have been WAY more expensive and not spayed or neutered but still same puppy. So, rescues have just picked up where the pet stores left off.

There are so many faces staring at me everyday through the cage wires at a pound... each one is minutes, hours, days a way from being walked to the gassing room, placed in a box that slowly fills with smelly gas, they start to get scared and panic, their heart races until they get sleepy, their eye lids get heavy.....

I stand firmly in my belief I will NOT pay ANYONE for a dog. I will only take in dogs that if I didn't take them they would be dead but am I really make a difference? Am I really making a dent? If I didn't do what I do would it really matter?

Sorry it has been so long....

Well it has been one heck of a week. Not bad, just busy. I have 11 dogs living in my horse barn and 1 in the house. I have 5 dogs in one foster home and 4 foster homes with 1 dog each and 1 foster home with 2 dogs. That is a total of 22 dogs looking for homes.

The sad thing is I have had a few dogs for MONTHS! 1 dog I have had since MAY.... that is 6 months she has been looking for a home.

I had an adoption event on Saturday... not one dog adopted.

I am hoping things pick up soon. I have turned away A LOT OF DOGS! And I will continue to turn dogs away until I can get the ones I have adopted. That is the hard part but if I am going to stay sane I have to get the dogs I have into homes.

Cross your paws, kiss your puppies and pray that for Christmas at least 1/2 of my 22 dogs will be sleeping in a doggie beds in the living instead of on some old bed sheets on a dirt floor in my barn!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Mini Vacation

I dropped off 5 dogs to the clinic yesterday. aaaahhhh a break. LOL!! At least until Thursday when I get them all back. Right now I have 8 foster dogs at the house so come Thursday I will have 13.

The good news is that someone is interested in Levi and someone is coming Thursday night to adopt Rocket.

The bad news is Lester was returned on Sunday after 5 months of being adopted. They took him to the vet for allergies and the vet charged them $180. Then she saw worms in his poop on Sunday and freaked out that it was going to cost her more money. She called me saying she can't take care of Lester any more. She works full time.

Oh geez lady you work full time and have 1 dog. Oh my how do you even manage? LOL!! Whatever, the working full time excuse really doesn't fly with me.

I spoke with her for a few minutes and offered solutions but she wasn't having it. She just wanted him gone. I told her to bring him back whenever she wanted. She was at my house in 10 minutes!

This dog is so nice. Totally housebroken, fine with kids, cats, dogs, etc. Just a nice dog. She was only freaked out because she saw worms in his poop and all she could think about was it costing her more money. So, I guess in her mind saying she works full time and can't have a dog is better then saying she is too cheap to take care of a dog. LOL!!

Whatever, we will find Lester a REAL home this time.

So, right now I have at my house

Malcolm -who will never leave because he is sick
Dottie - who is getting spayed Wed.
Sassy -
Muppet -
Razzel -
Spencer -
Lester -
Boots -

At the clinic I have:
Rocket -
Theo -
Oakley -
Barney -
Carlton -

In foster care I have:
Kyle - who should be getting adopted on Saturday
Jenny X's 4 puppies -
Juno -
Munch -
Lucy -
Lily -
Levi -
Regal -
Ricky - ????

I think that might be it... LOL!!

We are having an adoption event on Saturday. I really hope some of these dogs can find homes. I have had to turn away 6 dogs in the last 2 days :-( NOT GOOD.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Pictures of dogs in their homes

This is Vera enjoying a day at Kelly's Island with her Mommy!!




Mr. Turner who was in rescue nearly a year. He has a very sad story but it has a happy ending as you can see. He came from a puppy mill where the miller was going to drown him to a soft warm home in MI.




Scotty, Scotty, Scotty. Anyone who knows the story of Scotty knows he has it made!! Scotty is the proud owner of a Mom, Dad and a 1 year old baby boy.... that came after he was adopted. Just ask Scotty, the baby came into the family just for him!





Ring, Ring, Ringo! Well his name is Jasper now! He is now living the good life in Canada!






Peter who is now Clyde (standing) was adopted last year. His "foster" sister Missy who they call Bonnie is hoping that she can make this her forever home!! She is working it!



Helen (left) and her brother all dressed up for Halloween. Helen was one sweet girl who was very sick when I rescued her. Her awesome family in MI helped to nurse her back to health. She is the love of their life (and mine)!




This is Gigi the puppy. She was just a little thing when she was adopted out. You may recognize her. She had her picture taken at American Greetings when she was a puppy and has been a graduation card, Halloween card, Sweetest day Card and is currently a Birthday card!!
She is MUCH bigger then when she had her picture taken :-) Her name is now Niko!



FRANNY FRANNY FRANNY!! We all know the story of Franny! Well here she is with her sister and her brother Findlay. You all should remember Findlay too. He was my boy and gave us all a scare about 2 weeks after being adopted. As you can see they were all dressed up for Halloween... can't say they were thrilled about it but they sure look cure.. LOL!!











Here is Camp chilling at his house! That is what he likes to do Chill! What a life





Saturday, November 8, 2008

Saturday's adoption day.

Was a total BUST :-( I did get one application for Munch which Kim, Bob and I will go to their house tomorrow to check it out. I had a hard time getting a read on these people... seemed nice. I don't know we will see tomorrow.

I did get an application on the puppies. A little worried because the lady just kept saying how cute they are. I realize they are cute but I want people who know JRT's or at least terriers... I don't know we will see. I told her and everyone else I am only collecting applications. I will hand select each home after Thanksgiving. I want these puppies to have the best of the best.

I do have a family on their way over right now. Hopefully they will like someone.

So, today was a disappointing day. Hopefully next week won't be. I would really like to see at least 4 dogs in homes before Thanksgiving. I don't think that is too much to ask, do you?

Friday, November 7, 2008

What has been happening

Well the 3 dogs I rescued on Monday are settling in nicely. Little Barney who I pulled from Richland County Pound was so scared and really didn't have much of a personality at the shelter has totally come out of his shell. OMG what a crazy guy. LOL!! He is ALL PUPPY!!

Carlton, I took to the vet after work on Tuesday. His teeth are so bad... well what is left of them. He has cauliflower ear, like a wrestler gets. You don't even notice it until you feel it. Looks like his owner kicked him in the head A LOT. What a jerk. I told you about that right? His owner taught him not to bark by kicking him in the face. He is missing a lot of teeth because of it. He is going on Monday to the clinic to have his teeth cleaned / removed. I feel so sorry for him. He is a sweet little guy.

Dottie, the girl I took from Huron County is a sweet heart. She is scared and someone obviously beat her. She smiles at you when ever you get near. To say DON'T hurt me. She would never hurt a flea though. She is about 4 weeks pregnant with a lab/Shepard mix. Now mind you this is a 12 pound JRT... and that is 12 pounds pregnant! I am getting her spayed next week. Last thing we need is for her to die, the puppies to die during birth and more puppies in this world. Not to mention Dottie has a UTI and MAJOR worms which can cause huge health issues with the puppies AND I have to medicate her so that could screw up the puppies too. This is pretty much a no win situation.

I did get another puppy on Tuesday after work. Not 100% sure what it is but it will be a big dog. His name is Rocket. He is only 3 months old.

I took Regal to June's place on Wed so she could work with her. She is just too attached to me. I have had that dog since May. She needs a home and not with me.

I have the dogs outside in the kennels all this week because it has been so nice out. I am really hoping a few get adopted so that I can move them into the barn and they don't have to be in crates next week. It is supposed to get cold this weekend and then woohooo winter. I really do like the winter I just wish it didn't last so long.. LOL!!

Well I need to get as much work done as I can today and get my butt home so I can get ready for an adoption event tomorrow.

I am taking Jenny and the puppies just to get them some exposure and I am going to take Rocket. Of course no one can go home tomorrow but maybe I can get some applications and they will get homes soon.

Rocket is getting neutered on Monday and the puppies will be spayed the week after Thanksgiving.

Wish me luck. These dogs need homes and fast.......man I sound like a broken record. LOL!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

What a day

I left work about 11:45am yesterday and headed from Cleveland to Mansfield Ohio. It was a straight shot right down RT 71 so it really wasn't a bad drive. I got to Mansfield around 1pm. I get out of the car and there is a women standing there with a beautiful Aussie. I asked her if it was her dog. She said No, I work here and this was an owner surrender. He is 5 years old, neutered, housebroken, good with kids but the owner run a day care and he would bark whenever the parents came to pick up the kids. So, they turned him into the pound.

I called Denise who runs Ohio Aussie Rescue as fast as I could. After speaking with her, we tested him with other dogs and he did fine. Of course I loaded him into the car.

Now here is the funny part. The dog we tested him with was Scooby this JRT I was going there to get. I was standing in the main entrance area were it is fairly quiet, can't really hear the dogs barking with the Aussie. They bring Scooby up and set him on the ground. He acted like he was going to eat the Aussie, he was a total idiot. I couldn't even get his attention when I told him NO and snapped his leash. He didn't care he wanted to eat the Aussie. The Aussie just looked at me like "HELP" Needless to say I didn't take Scooby. I can't have that at my house...

Then the staff works showed me this Chi mix. She barely weighed 5 pounds and she was fat! Her owner brought her in to be gassed because she has a heart murmur and didn't want to deal with it any more. Seriously this had to be the cutes dog I have ever seen. Kathy with Paws & Prayers said she had a foster home so I loaded that dog in my car too.

THEN another Judy who is an animal control office near Cleveland said she would save two terrier type dogs. So, I loaded up this puppy Fox / Rat Terrier and a 3 - 5 year old larger Terrier Mix. OMG SO CUTE!! And what a nice dog!

And since Scooby turned out to be a little crazy I pulled a wire hair tri colored JRT that was in the cage below him. He was scared out of his mind!

All that craziness took me until nearly 2:30pm.

Then I was down the road to Bucyrus Ohio to Crawfard county pound. It wasn't very far at all and seriously just down the highway.

There I took a 5 year old male, not neutered (of course) JRT whose owner left him in the drop box outside the pound one night. Yes, a BOX! Like a big toy box where people can put a dog in if they are too chicken or cheap or lazy to take the dog to the shelter during hours it is open and pay the surrender fee. YES A BOX!

Anyways, I guess the owner called the next day to make sure the pound got the dog. The owner said that he just didn't want to care for the dog any longer. He told them the dog is housebroken and he doesn't have an front teeth because he kicked the dog in the face and knocked out his teeth as a method to teach it not to bark. WHAT!!! Yes, that is right the owner kicked the dogs teeth out. UGH!

I am taking him to the vet today because seriously the inside of his mouth just looks horrible and his bottom tooth is broke in 1/2 with the nerve showing. SO GROSS!!

I left Crawford County pound around 3:10pm and headed down one of the two lane curvy, hilly state routes to Norwalk Ohio where Huron County Pound is located.

Huron County Pound closes at 4:30 and I barely got there before 4pm.

The dog wardens were really nice there but what a depressing pound. It is literally the bottom floor of an old barn. And it is really small.

Anyways, from there I picked up Dotty a female JRT who is pregnant. She is about 3 years old and scared but wants to trust so bad. I am taking her to the vet today as well because they think she was breed with a large dog. She has been at the pound since the October 14th, just picked up as a stray.

From Norwalk I drove to Strongsville to drop off the Chi Mix I got for Kathy. I arrived in Strongsville about 5pm. Kathy got there about 5:15ish I gave her the dog and I was off to North Olmsted where I dropped off the Aussie at Denise's vet.

From there I got a phone call that Levi's mom was at my house and there to return him. I had a vet appointment at 6:20 but I canceled it. I just didn't have the energy to go.

I got home about 6:05pm. I spoke with Levi's mom who said he was horribly aggressive with other dogs and just didn't know what to do.

I took him into the house where he was greeted by the barking of Hobbes my JRT, my other JRT Chaz, my 80 pound black lab Disco, my 50 pound mutt Petey and my inside the house foster dog Boots a Rat Terrier mix about 16 pounds. Levi had NO reaction.

Needless to say I am so confused. This lady had me convinced I needed to put him down, even offered to pay the euthinization bill. I told her I wanted to evaluate him for a week before I made that decision. Hard to evaluate a dog that doesn't do anything wrong around me. I am going to try to figure out what to do about that...

Once I realized Levi was fine, I went upstairs to change out of my work clothes and into my barn clothes. Went outside and had to settle the 5 dogs (I had my 3 JRT's and two for Judy), clean crates, take care of Muppet the puppy who I have in a large crate... the big dogs just make him play too much and I don't want him to get sick. I had to clean the cages Theo and Spencer were in over night... they were outside in a kennel for the day since it was 70 degrees out. I had to clean two kennels, two dog stalls, feed Malcolm his medicine food, give Theo and Spencer their medicine, worm the 3 new JRT's, give Dotty Medicine b/c I think she has a UTI, I had to feed horses, put Levi away, get food for the dogs in the kennels... it only got down to the 40's last night and is 70's again today so the dogs can enjoy the outside while they have a chance.

And then I got something to eat. that was about 7:30pm. I ate did organized all the pull paper work from my adventure, checked email (personal and work) and watched 1 1/2 hour TV show and passed out around 9:30ish. LOL!

What a day!

I can say this, it wasn't a bad day. The drive was nice and the dogs were good. But it was a sad day. Seeing all those dogs, knowing that more then 1/2 weren't ever going to get out of there. Hearing the sad stories, see the jerks come in with a dog and some stupid excuse.

1 guy came in with a puppy saying it tested positive for parvo and he was bringing it back. He adopted it from the pound. Another guy came in with a beautiful black lab, very young lab. He didn't want the stupid dog anymore he said. The shelter explained they were full and would have to put it down if he left it there. They gave me a list of rescues to contact and ideas on how to find it a home. The guy left and came back 1/2 hour later saying he didn't care, put it down the dog has to go TODAY!

Just breaks your heart, story after story... people suck!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Here we go..

It is 11:15am on Monday and I am leaving work in 15 minutes to save the lives of three sweet heart JRT's.

I am driving from work to Mansfield Ohio to pick up one scared to death little boy and maybe another dog for another rescue. That is about an hour. Then I am driving to Bucyrus Ohio about 40 minutes to save a sweet male JRT with no front teeth... owner kicked them in. THEN I am driving to Norwak Ohio about an hour to pick up a sweet little female JRT who may be pregnant. Then I am heading home, about an hour drive.

With any luck I will be home before 5pm. LOL!! Yea, we will see about that... I am so going to get lost I always do... LOL!

So, that is what I am doing today!

I can only do this because I was able to get 2 dogs adopted on Saturday and have 2 in foster care. Bad thing is Boots didn't work out for the family that has her brother Camp and I got a call last night from the people who adopted Levi. They are bringing him back. AND on top of that Gloria has four 7 week old puppies that are supposed to be JRT puppies that were living under some ladies barn.

Will the madness ever end??

Oh and get this, my foster dog Sassy she was an owner surrender to the pound. I didn't know that until the owner emailed me to check in on her. WHAT!!!! Are you flipping crazy. If you cared that much about your dog you should have had her spayed and you should have taken her with you. OMG!

I wrote him the truth which is probably not what he wanted to hear but tough buddy reality sucks! That poor dog is so depressed, scared and confused. I don't think she can hear real well either. I thought it was because she didn't know her name but now I know her name really is Sassy so I think she is deaf. Great!