Just amazed

I am so at awe of all the awesome people I know and so impressed how total strangers are helping out my puppies' vet bill. I felt so down last week with them being sick and really money was the least of my worries because I wasn't going to let money stand in the way of them being healthy again. My vet kept saying we can do this but it will cost $$$ "I don't care what it takes, save them!" Is what I kept telling him. "Money isn't standing in the way of them going to their forever homes!"

I figured I would sell a few things here and there and have my annual Puppy Party fund raiser in September. Doing those two things I would have the vet bill paid off and would start back up after the party. BUT it looks like I am not really going to have to wait. I have had so many people call the vet office and donate I am at a loss for words. I can't believe how awesome everyone is and generous. Blows me away.

I am actually taking in a 5 year old female JRT (Christie in Dayton is working out the details) and I am taking in a 3 year old rough coat male from Richland County Pound (Elizabeth is going to foster that one). And as soon as I am back from my honey moon, I am going to the pound :-)

I can't really have dogs at my house right now because of the parvo. I don't want anyone else getting sick. Not to mention all the construction at my house.. LOL!! It is crazy. But I am doing what I can with the help of my foster homes and Paws and Prayers Rescue. They are awesome. The JRT's I can't find a foster home for, they are taking for me and I am cross posting them on my site.

How cool is that??

I am still hunting for the PERFECT lab mix puppy for the lady I work with who was supposed to get Riley. I have a lead on a few.. just want to make sure they have the best personality possible :-)

I do have some sad news... I did have a dog come back on Sunday. Dobbie a sweet little sheltie mix I rescued in 2007. The mom and dad got a divorce and there just wasn't time for Dobbie (who is now called Toby). Sharon took him in to foster and I stopped by this morning to see him.. I forgot how small and cute he was.. LOL!!

Well as of right now I have Molly, Marshall, Toby, Crash and Jingles to find homes for... I hope I can find homes for them soon. Oh and the two I am supposed to be getting.......

Happy Puppy updated

I am so excited and just blown away by the number of people who have helped out the parvo puppies. I have to stop into the vet today and see where my damage is at right now but as of Monday morning I was doing pretty good at paying it off. I am just speechless at the number of people that helped.

I have a days where I just want a normal life with no crazy dog rescue and I have days were I feel like I am really not making a difference and I have days that I think no one cares what I am doing and it doesn't matter but after the awesome response I received I know I can't ever quit. ;-)

Slow down so I can have somewhat of a normal life maybe but that is just more for my own sanity. It is so easy to burn out on dog rescue. They nasty people, the heartache, the sick dogs, the deaths, it just becomes too much to handle.

I have said it before and I will say it again just to remind myself... I might not change the whole world but for every dog I rescue I change the world for them.

The puppies are home and doing well. It is a bit of a bitter sweet thing because when I do my puppy head count I only go to 6 instead of 9 BUT at least I get to count to 6... ya know?

They are ALWAYS hungry.. LOL!! Very playful and follow me everywhere tripping me every chance they get. I have been late to work both Monday and Tuesday... I just couldn't stop watching the puppies and playing with them. Every morning I go to the barn and say "PUPPIES" and open the stall door and get attacked.... OH I LOVE getting attacked by puppies. Well except today, someone bit my toe really hard.. LOL!! Sharp little teeth.

Yesterday when we were playing I did snap a few pictures. here ya go!

Jasper:

Baby:

Abbey:

**stay tuned for a list of donors names to be published ;-)

Puppies came home

The puppies came home on Saturday afternoon....

need I say more?


LIFE IS ALL GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

Evening check with vet

I did my normal routine of the last 2 weeks and stopped at the vet office after work. 6 are still strong and going. Dr. Fox thinks for sure I will be bringing two home tomorrow... Echo and I am not sure who the 2nd on is yet.. I didn't get to see them this evening.

I think we might be through the worse of it.. well besides the bill part.. LOL!

I am trying hard not to show how much this is bothering me but everyone who knows me at work sees me walking down the hall and is like "what is wrong!!" If only they saw me when I am alone.. I freaking cry there is no tomorrow. I really try not to do that in front of people, not even Tyler.

Poor Tyler.. I think he is ready to toss me overboard. I am driving him crazy.

I think I want ice cream for dinner.. will that make me feel better??

6 strong

I am trying to keep a positive outlook on things but it keeps getting harder and harder. I called the vet office first thing this morning on my way to work. 2 puppies had passes away... I just turned the car around and went straight to the vet office.

The 2 puppies that passed away did not have homes so the only person heartbroken is me. That I am thankful for. I can tell you right now I AM NEVER EVER doing this again. Even though I did everything I was supposed to do and made sure they were healthy before I had anyone adopt one this still happens 5 weeks, 5 weeks after I rescued them. Never ever again. Puppies that come to my house (granted it will be NEXT year before I take in any dogs just because it will take me all year to pay my vet bill) will NEVER EVER be spoken for until AFTER they are spayed / neutered. NEVER EVER again will I do this.

I called Pet Smart again today to tell them what happened. I asked him 100 times to please please just clean the store really well. He said he was going to talk to the district manager. OMG just clean your store before more dogs die!!!!!!!!!

I am so frustrated. I know it isn't their fault but they could at least clean just to make sure. How many more dogs need to die before they clean?? Probably a lot because I am the only one that can PROVE that it came from them.

Anyways, I am about $5K in the hole right now and have 3 dead puppies. UGH! When I was at the vet today it took everything in my power not to just want to scoop them all up and hug them. That is all I want right now.. puppy hugs and puppy breath kisses.

Then to kick me a little more when I am down. I had someone email me yesterday about a dog they adopted July 2008. Apparently the dog is marking in the house and they want to return him. I told him I don't have any place to put him right now but it is a correctable issue and if they wanted training tips to let me know. I am waiting for them to get back to me on if they want to return him or are going to try to work it out.

Then this morning when I checked my email I have an email from a women who adopted a dog from me in early spring 2007. She wants to return the dog because her husband left, her 3 kids are not keeping up with taking the dog out and it potties in 1 room of their house. She said in her email that she doesn't want training tips, she just wants him gone. I emailed her back and explained my situation.... I am getting married in 58 days, my house is under MAJOR construction, no dogs can come to my house for a million different reasons and I am $5K in the hole at the vet office. So, I am going to have to talk to the person that originally fostered the dog and see if she has room.

UGH!!!!!!!!!! When it rains it pours.

Everyone keeps saying things happen for a reason.... well ok great but that doesn't make me feel better and what the flip is the reason??????

Puppies, please come home safe

I stopped at the vet today after work... actually left work earlier today to go to the vet. Not sure why but for the 2nd day in a row the vet has said "you can see them tomorrow" I want to hold them so badly. I want to wake up in the morning go to the barn and say "PUPPIES" and hear them all cry for me. I want to open the stall and have a herd of puppies come running at me. I want to bend down and ask them what they are doing and have them bite at my pant legs and when I pick them up have them lick my face.

I really don't know how much more of this I can take. I don't understand why they aren't better. I mean enough to come home.

When I left the vet yesterday I was feeling pretty good but today I don't.

I really can't handle loosing another puppy and disappointing another family. I don't understand why this is happening.

Ever keeps saying "Everything happens for a reason." Well can someone please explain to me what the flip the reason is?? PLEASE! "Maybe it is because you need to focus on the wedding" Well you know what flip the wedding... I just want my puppies home and safe.

I can't focus on anything with my puppies being sick. I really don't care to do anything but things I 100% have to do... like feed horses, shower, eat, feed cats, etc. I really just want to lay in bed and cry. Which is what I have been doing tonight.

I really just want my puppies to come home. PLEASE God let my puppies come home. I can't take this anymore.

Aggressive dog strikes again

Aggression. There are two forms of aggression... dogs that are aggressive because they are mentally ill and dogs that are aggressive because someone beat them, abused them, neglected them or trained them that way.

Aggression is NEVER NEVER NEVER fixable. Manageable and trainable YES but not fixable.

Taking an aggressive dog and simply finding it a new home doesn't change the fact the dog is aggressive. Actually the dog will be come more aggressive with every change.

You have two options with an aggressive dog. TWO OPTIONS ONLY!

#1. Hire a trainer and work with the issues of aggression. Much easier for a dog that isn't mentally ill.

#2. Humanely euthanize your dog.

END OF STORY. Don't say but what about the perfect home where there are no children, no other dogs, ect. Ok, yes there maybe such a home but how many? And how many that are OK with taking in a dog with known aggression... slim to none. If you don't want the dog then why would anyone else? If you are afraid the dog will hurt someone, aren't you afraid the dog will hurt someone in the new home?

I have received SO MANY emails in the past two weeks about aggressive dogs. It is so overwhelming. One person actually called me crying hysterically. I felt so bad for her, her dog was 2 years old and just not nice. She was having him put to sleep that day and really didn't want to. After speaking with her I really believe putting him to sleep was the best option. The dog was mentally ill.

The one thing I am starting to notice about all these emails lately... they are all from Columbus area and the dogs were purchased from a man living on a farm who breeders JRT's. "They don't have papers" the people keep saying to me. Like the fact they don't have papers means the guy is doing a good thing??? Not that papers mean a lot anyways. People tend to forget that AKC registration only means someone paid money to the AKC to get a "registration number" AKC IS A FOR PROFIT organization. They don't care how much a breeder breeds, the conditions the dogs live in or who the puppies are breed to. It isn't like they do DNA testing to make sure you are telling the truth of who the parents are. They simply want your money! Sorry I digressed.

So my point is I really think there is someone out there breeding aggressive JRT's in the Columbus area. The mother and father are probably also brother and sister... hence the huge aggression issues.

Why why why do people buy from backyard breeders??

Can you believe my friend Kelly spent all day Saturday going from shelter to shelter and ended up going home, checking the news paper and buying a puppy from some back yard GSD breeder in Grafton Ohio.

I wanted to kill her. I told her she was an idiot and I am pretty mad at her. I just don't know what to do any more. I can't seem to get through to my own friends.

It isn't like I am sitting hear preaching about God or politics. Everyone has different views on this... it is FACT 7 million dogs die every year because there are too many dogs in this world. 7 million NOT AGGRESSIVE dogs are dieing.

Now don't get me wrong, I have had friends get dogs from breeders but SHOW BREEDERS. That doesn't bother me. It is the idiot backyard breeders that really piss me off and the pet stores.

I guess there is nothing I am going to be able to do to change the mind of selfish people. They don't care what the results of their actions are. They want a dog / puppy so they buy one from the first person they find. They don't want to take responsibility for their aggressive dog so dump it because it is easier then putting it to sleep.

Can you believe I actually had a lady argue with me all weekend that putting to sleep a suffering animal was not right. She said that mentally or physically ill and in pain she would not put to sleep an animal. She actually compared it to her family suffering from migraines. She said she wouldn't want someone putting her to sleep because she suffers from migraines.

I replied back to her saying that if someone owns an animal that is suffering physically and the only way to stop the suffering is to put the animal to sleep and they don't, they can be charged with animal cruelty and sentenced to prison time. I haven't heard back from her.. LOL!!

Sorry, I am feeling a little overwhelmed with all these emails of aggressive dogs lately. Just feel bad for the people and most of all I am worried about the dogs. I have nightmares of people taking their aggressive dogs to the pound and then having them adopted by people who train dogs to fight. Small dogs are used as bait dogs to teach the dogs to fight. It is horrific!

UGH! I feel sick to my stomach!

Hope is home.

Hope came home yesterday. She smelled HORRIBLE and is really skinny but she is home. I gave her a bath and can you believe she jumped out of the sink!? She is so small that I can give her a bath in the kitchen skin..LOL!! I know she is feeling better because she keeps barking and growling at my two big dogs. LOL!! They could squash her like a bug.

Well more great news. Elmer is getting a home. Sunday I received an application and since it was Easter I just emailed them back my phone number and told them to call me. 15 minutes later then called, 40 minutes later they come over and called me yesterday and said they would love to adopt Elmer. How awesome is that?? So, Elmer goes tonight to get HW test and physical and will be neutered tomorrow. They are meeting me at the vet office to adopt him tomorrow. YAY!!!

And EVEN more great news. The puppies will be 8 weeks on Sunday SO Molly the Mom is going to foster care on Saturday. YAY!!! I need her to be separated from the puppies so that I can get the puppies to the vet to get spayed. Oh that reminds me all the puppies go next week for round 1 shots. That should be interesting. LOL!!

First week of May the puppies will be old enough to be fixed. Can't wait to start getting them into their homes. I know their families are super excited too.

Hmmm... what else is going on?? Personal life: Mailing the wedding invitations this week. Wedding favors just came in, construction on the house starts Thursday and leaving for the weekend on Friday. OH MY GOD! STRESSED OUT DUDE! LOL!!

I really need to get Jingles and poor sweet Millie in a forever home. Poor dogs. They are so sweet and nice and housebroken but no one seems to be interested :-(

Oh oh forgot to say Hope leaves for her possible forever home Thursday night!!! WOOHOO.

I guess that is it for now. Sorry I am kinda all over the place... my brain is mush with all that is going on.. wedding, dogs, house, work, wedding, wedding, dogs, house, LOL!!!

Hope should be coming home tomorrow!

**Some of you may have seen this email being passed around. I received it today and it made me smile but I thought that I would change the pictures. You may recognize the dogs :-)

Nobody loves you like your dog.....except your mother.

The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.

-Anonymous

There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.

-Ben Williams

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.

-Josh Billings

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.

-Andy Rooney

Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog.

- Franklin P. Jones

If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise.

-Unknown

My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That's almost $21.00 in dog money.

-Joe Weinstein

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

-Mark Twain

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.

-Roger Caras

Day 3 in the hospital becaues of Parvo

Talked to the vet today. Hope is doing ok. She did eat something today and didn't throw it up. Not that she ate a lot just a few bites but at least she didn't throw up. My vet said 50% chance of her living now. So, I guess we are getting better... poor baby girl.

Her being in the vet hospital is about $100 plus dollars a day but honestly I don't let money stand in the way of my dogs lives so I don't really care. All I care about right now is brining my Hope home and her being OK.

I have decided that if the family that I really like decides not to adopt her. I am keeping her. I have been through too much to let her go at this point.

Please keep praying everyone. We are no where near out of the woods yet.

UPDATE ON HOPE'S CONDITION

I did not sleep at all last night. The vet said he would call in the night if something happened but he didn't. However this morning at 7:50 he called.

The vet office closes at 7pm. His daughter (now a vet too) went in and checked on Hope around 10pm, no change. He checked her at 1am, no change. Then this morning at 7:30 when everyone arrives at the office she was standing and drinking water. She threw up the water but that is ok because she is hooked up on IV fluids.

Right now we have a 35% chance of survival. That is way better then the 20% chance she had yesterday. OMG! If you would have seen her yesterday... I was sure the phone call this morning wasn't going to be a good one. Some what feeling better but not totally!

PRAY FOR HOPE

I am shacking and crying as I type this blog. So, if it doesn't make sense I am sorry but I need everyone to pray like you have never prayed before.

Hope, the dog with two broken legs has parvo. We believe she picked it up at Pet Smart on Saturday at the adoption event. It does not look good and I am being honest when I say I don't have much faith she will make it. I spent way more then an hour at the vet office just crying and begging her to fight. I am not sure what good it did.

For what it is worth I will not be doing any more adoption events at Pet Smart. I realize that a lot of dogs find homes that way but after this... it isn't worth it. I would rather keep a dog for 100 years then ever ever have this happen again.

If Hope dies I am not really sure I am going to be able to handle it. I have had her for 6 weeks plus, she is my special girl.

Oh and to top it all off I FINALLY! like a family who wants to adopt her. I can't tell you how many people I have turned away.

I am feeling horrible right now and just ........ Please pray.

Cocoa Mulch warning

Not sure when this email started but thought I should share:

Over the weekend the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from Target to use in their garden. They loved the way it smelled and it was advertised to keep cats away from their garden. Their dog Calypso decided that the mulch smelled good enough to eat and devoured a large helping. She vomited a few times which was typical when she eats something new but wasn't acting lethargic in any way. The next day, Mom woke up and took Calypso out for her morning walk . Half way through the walk, she had a seizure and died instantly.

Although the mulch had NO warnings printed on the label, upon further investigation on the company's website, this product is HIGHLY toxic to dogs and cats.

Cocoa Mulch is manufactured by Hershey's, and they claim that 'It is true that studies have shown that 50% of the dogs that eat Cocoa Mulch can suffer physical harm to a variety of degrees (depending on each individual dog). However, 98% of all dogs won't eat it.'

This Snopes site gives the following information:http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp

Cocoa Mulch, which is sold by Home Depot, Foreman's Garden Supply and other Garden supply stores, contains a lethal ingredient called ' Theobromine'. It is lethal to dogs and cats. It smells like chocolate and it really attracts dogs. They will ingest this stuff and die. Several deaths already occurred in the last 2-3 weeks. Theobromine is in all chocolate, especially dark or baker's chocolate which is toxic to dogs. Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of theobromine, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cacao bean shells developed severe convulsions and died 17 hours later. Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao bean shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine.

The wedding is only 75 days away!

The wedding is about 10 weeks away. HOLY COW! They have NOT started construction on the house yet, the invitations went to the printer today, I have 9 six week old puppies and about to loose my mind.. LOL!!

No, not really because I lost that a long time ago when I got started in all this rescue crap.. LOL!!

The hardest thing right now is know I don't have enough foster homes so I will not be able to save as many dogs over the next few months. I am leaving for my bacheloret party in NYC soon. It is a weekend adventure.. what the hell am I going to do with all the puppies? Yea, going to have to pay for someone to watch them. I am so paranoid about that, I call home about 3 times a day from work to check on them. Then I have two other dogs I am fostering that need somewhere to go.. I think I should be ok with those and then there are ALL the dogs in shelters that I just can't say NO to but have to :-( UGH!

I keep thinking how many will die just because I am getting married. I am so excited about my wedding but at the same time feel haunted.

MY HERO!

Today a husband and wife team who adopted a sweet little JRT from me... about a year ago now... saved two precious babies from death! They drove 1.5 hours to get to the shelter before closing time, pick them up and drive at least another 2.5 hours to get to me at the adoption event and bring me the dogs.

Today Terri and her husband SAVED not one but TWO LIVES!

THANK YOU!

Elmer and Ben say Thank you to Terri and her husband too. They are very sweet and hanging out with two other play mates. Now lets hope they get adopted before my wedding.. LOL!!

Getting two new dogs...

I must be crazy.. totally out of my mind crazy.. LOL!!

I am getting two new dogs tomorrow. LOL! Where the heck am I going to put them? The one has kennel cough....... GREAT! I am going to have to put him in the garage away from the puppies. Oh poor guy isn't going to be happy about that.

Well tomorrow is the adoption event. ALL PAWS CROSSED! I really hope it is a success. I am so nervous. I really need Milly, Minnie and Jingles to find homes. They are such good dogs and deserve to be in homes. Housebroken, friendly.. who wouldn't snatch them up and take them home?

Ok, I am off to go home and play with puppies.. LOL!!


Wish me luck tomorrow.

Good times and bad times

I must say I still wish I could be normal but after a hard day at work coming home and playing with my puppies. OH THEY ARE SO FREAKING CUTE!!!!!

The puppies are getting big. Larger then hamsters now and actually playing. but let me tell you something if anyone thinks they can make money off puppies OMG! NO WAY! These guys eat so must food. $20 a bag puppy food that lasts 5 days and about $6.50 a day worth of soft dog food. PIGS! LOL!!

Puppies do make everything better, good times.

***********************************************

The hard part of rescue is cleaning up other people's messes or problems. UGH!! Poor Mom dog is so skinny and probably hasn't been feed a proper diet EVER. She still has runny poo and I feel like all I am doing is giving her medicine and cleaning up the most horrible smelling poo. GROSS!

Why can't people just take care of their animals?

Then today the first dog this year that I had to put down. My heart sunk when the vet told me about putting him down. Poor dog. Someone was mean and nasty to him and so he became mean and nasty. Sometimes he could be sweet and nice but it was the mean and nasty that was scary and could potentially hurt someone.. well actually he has already hurt someone.

Just sucks because deep down you knew he was a good dog. I gave him nearly 2 full years to be a nice dog and yet he wasn't. The vet said he was so scared today.... Like he knew it was coming. I am so going to be haunted by that forever!