New arravials

I picked up 3 dogs off transport yesterday.

This tiny little girl we named Dolly she was taken to the shelter by her owners who no longer wanted her. She is 5 years old, pure breed JRT and has a HUGE mass on her stomach. (will add pictures later). I took her straight to the vet yesterday. My vet said that it has probably been there for a year and just getting larger and larger. It could kill her if not taken care of and she is probably in a lot of pain. So, Wed night she gets dropped off to have the mass removed. She is SO SWEET and tiny! And of course if she was fixed this mass would have never occurred!!

This little 1 year old beagle probably JRT mix was found "running" stray on the streets. God only knows how long he has been on his own. He has a broken front leg that was never taken care of. I of course took him straight to my vet yesterday after picking him up. My vet said it has probably been broken for about 3 months. Looks like the elbow was knocked out of place and leg broken just under that. The muscles have atrophied and repairing it would put him through a lot of pain and his leg would never be full use. The best thing to do is amputate the leg. That way he can't have complications later in life like arthritis.

So, he goes in Wednesday night to have his leg removed on Thursday :-(

This guy is a JRT / Chi mix. He is a SWEET heart of a dog. We named him ChiChi. There is nothing wrong with him LOL He is 3 years old and just full of love. He is going to be a great family pet.

So, that is my newest group!

I am a volunter this is not my JOB!

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. Let me explain why.........

My rescue partner Gloria, lives 2 hours from me. She is responsible for 1/2 of our dogs up for adoption I am responsible for the other 1/2. I mean they can't all live at my house..LOL!! Anyways, on Sunday I met Gloria at our meeting place.. 1 hour for her, 1 hour for me. I picked up 5 dogs from her. Well actually 6 but one is staying with me. So, mind you I already have 5 puppies, Dillion, Sassy, Driver and 4 dogs in foster care.. so I pick up 6 more dogs. Her 5 are only staying the night because they are going to the clinic Monday morning.

Monday morning I wake up 5:30am. Go outside and load up her 5 dogs that are in various cages / crates in my garage b/c that was the only room I had and Yuki and Driver and put them all in my car. I take care of the dogs that are at my house, including 2 of Gloria's dogs.. Paco and Millie.. they are so good and easy I didn't take them back to her last weekend.. LOL!!

Anyways, take care of all the dogs, horses, cats, getting ready for work and out the door 7:30am. I then drive 1 hour to the clinic, drop off all the dogs and then I drive 1/2 hour to work.

Friday I am supposed to go to the clinic and get all the dogs. Drive to my house un load my two, load up Paco and Millie and drive to our meeting place and drop everyone off.

Now keep in mind I am getting 3 new dogs in tonight....

One of Gloria's dogs Sierra has a really great application on her. However the person lives near me. The person does not want to come to meet and possibly adopt Sierra until Sunday.

I really really really can't handle having another dog at my house until Sunday and what if they don't take her? What if they change her mind. I just can't do it. It is totally stressing me out. I explained to the potential adopter that I really don't have room to keep her and she says what is one more night from Saturday to Sunday. UGH!

STRESS LADY THAT IS WHAT IT IS! STRESS AND I CAN NOT TAKE ANY MORE. This isn't my job, I want a life, my husband is already mad at me for spending too much time with dogs.. UGH!!!

I don't know what to do. I really don't want to keep the dog till Sunday! If I had some getting adopted I think I would feel better but nothing is getting adopted and I am not even getting applications :-(

UGH!

Dogs!

The puppies are doing really well. Still healthy and they had 1st round shots last Thursday so that is a really good sign. Sometimes when you give puppies shots they go into full blown parvo because the vaccination is actually a live virus so you are actually giving the puppy parvo so it builds an immunity. It is always a risk with pound puppies when you give them that first parvo shot. KNOCKING ON WOOD they are still healthy.

They are going next week to get fixed. YAY! They will hopefully all be in homes in about 2 weeks. Figures crossed!

I think I might be getting in a dog with a crippled leg. What I have been told is that it is an old injury, maybe broken and then healed on it's own. UGH! People make me sick. Totally don't understand. Anyways, I might be getting that one on Thursday.

I seem to be getting a lot of dogs in but not getting any dogs adopted :-( This is making me very sad. I have recently acquired some new foster homes so that is awesome but I really need to get dogs in homes ASAP! Can't save more if I can't get any adopted.

Cross your paws that I get some homes FAST!

I am thinking about having an adoption event at Tractor Supply so with advertising that should get some dogs at least looked at. I think I am going to all Pet Smart... not the one where the dogs got sick but another one and see if I can do an event there. That one is hard because of it's location but I am so afraid to go back to the other one. I don't know what to do... I have met so many GREAT families that I would have never met if it wasn't for that store but loosing 3 puppies and going through what I went through.. I just don't know if it is worth it.

I don't know what I should do about it?? Thoughts?

Long weekend... ugh

So, Friday was my birthday. I got up as normal, went to work, after work went to the clinic to pick up the 7 dogs I had there getting fixed. I met two people there.. one who wanted to adopt Lizzie (Pug mix) and one who wanted to adopt Ace (Toy Aussie). The lady who wanted to adopt Lizzie said she would come pick up Lizzie Saturday at 9am. The guy who was interested in Ace took him home from the clinic. He was so excited.

I left the clinic around 5:30. I drove to meet someone to drop off two of the dogs and then drove home. I was home by about 6:30. I then unloaded all the dogs and put them in their prospective kennels. I then got out the other dogs that were at my house and worked with them, cleaned their kennels, feed them, gave them medicine... the normal stuff. In the middle of doing that someone came over to look at my barn to hopefully board their horse at my house. That took about 45 minutes.

By the time I got in the house from doing all the stuff with the dog and feeding my horses and all that is was 9pm. My husband was a bit cranky.. LOL! He wanted to go out to eat but by the time I cleaned up and would be ready it would be 10. So, instead we had birthday cake and proceed to clean my kitchen.

My house is under construction and they are finally done doing stuff that would create dust so I am slowly getting rid of all the dry wall dust. UGH! What a pain.

So, I cleaned my kitchen until about 12:30am I then went on the computer and checked dog email. I went to bed around 1am.

Then Saturday morning I got up and did my normal horse / dog routine. At 9am I received a phone call from the guy who took Ace home. He said they had a horrible night? I thought OMG the dog tore something up or was really bad. I asked him what happened. He said Ace paced back and forth all night and that he just couldn't do this. He had to return Ace. I tried to explain to him that any dog might do this as they are in a new environment and would need time to adjust. The guy wasn't having any part of it. So, Ace came back.. now here is the part that really stressed me out. My volunteer pulled a dog from a shelter for her friend and I have an Eskie coming today (Sunday). I am expecting the big dog my volunteer pulled to leave this weekend and the Eskie will take his spot. The big dog was taking Ace's spot. Well the volunteers friend may not be taking the big dog. So, that means I have 3 dogs to fit in one open kennel spot. Yea, so figure that out. UGH!

The good news is Lizzie did get adopted at 9:30am.

And more good news is I have a new foster home. Hopefully it all works out. I can really use some foster homes. I have a lot of foster homes that can no longer foster because of life changes.. babies, moving, healthy reasons. So, I am few and far between on foster homes... paws crossed I get some more soon.

Puppy Update

Well the puppies on got in last Thursday are still healthy.. knocking on wood. They are going to get their first round of puppy shots tonight. Ace is getting adopted tomorrow evening and poor Leroy Brown doesn't have anyone interested in him. :-( He is so cute.

Dillion, Baby Jane and Bobby are doing well. They go to the vet today to get their rabies shot. Last thing they need and then they are 100% good to go. Well I think Bobby might need booster shots but that is it. Bobby went to a foster home on Monday. She said he is doing really well and is housebroken. YAY! She is going to take a 2nd dog tonight, I think to foster.

There is someone coming tonight to meet Bobby and Dillion. She is really nice, sounds very caring and is meeting me at the vet office. Figured that would be easier then my house because it is raining and my house is STILL under construction. So, tired of living in dry wall dust. UGH!

One of my volunteers just called me. She is dieing to find an Aussie for her friend so she is driving 1.5 hours to a kill shelter to save an Aussie and this cute little mix dog that was dumped off there because the owner is in Jail. Nice, huh?

So, that is all the news for now.

Paws crossed the puppies stay healthy!!

Needed a smile today

Dog update

Thursday night I got in 7 dogs. They all came from the same shelter. The shelter was so full they didn't even have time to put them on line and these guys were going to be gassed. I took them sight unseen. So, what did I get......

Ace - 2 year old Aussie (toy Aussie)
Leroy Brown - 5 month old mix small
3 Puppies Lab/Boarder Collie about 8 weeks old
2 Shep Mix puppies about 7 weeks old.

I know you are thinking WHAT PUPPIES what about the parvo. Well I have them in my kennels on the OTHER SIDE of my property where my parvo puppies were not SO let's hope everything will be ok. The dog warden said she tries to keep all the puppies separate from each other and the big dog population but she has had parvo there. So, my guess they were already exposed.

Then on Saturday I got in 3 JRT mixes.. Bobby, Baby Jane and Dillion. AND I was holding 4 or Gloria's dogs so they could go to the clinic and get fixed on Monday.

I also had 2 Aussie over night Sunday night. So, when I went to bed on Sunday night I had 16 extra dogs at my house.. LOL!!

My husband was like how is it we just got home and there are all these dogs..LOL!!

Monday was CRAZY which is why I didn't blog. I woke up at 5am to take care of all my chores (horse, goats, dogs) and to load up 7 dogs to go to the clinic and get ready for work. I then drove the hour to the clinic, unloaded dogs, filled out paper work and was at work by 8:45am! I didn't get to bed till 11:30 last night and I was back up at 6am this morning. Needless to say I am tired :-)

Tonight stinks because I have to go to a wake. My friend from school... went to school with her from 1st grade all the way through college.. her brother who is only 3 years old then me and friends with my husband was killed by a drunk driver on Saturday. He would have been 34 yesterday :-( I don't do good with death....

Fire Fighter update and Women Beats 6 pound Chihuahua to death

Ok, so GREAT GREAT GREAT NEWS! The Fire Fighter who I wrote about that shot his dogs and through them in a dumpster instead of paying for boarding while he went on vacation. GOT FIRED!!!!!!!!!! WOOOHOOOOO




THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU X's 1 million to all of you who wrote in.



So now here we go again. Another case of people who have no respect for life!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~****************~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BUCKEYE LAKE, Ohio — A woman was in custody Tuesday after her teenager daughter told police that she came home drunk last week and beat the family pet to death.

Retta McKibben has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty in connection with the case.

According to a police report filed by McKibben's 14-year-old daughter, the family's dog, a 6-pound Chihuahua named Zoie, was killed last Tuesday.

The report said McKibben, 39, came home drunk, picked the dog up by the neck, and slammed it repeatedly to the ground, McEntyre reported.

Police said the dog's body was found wrapped in a sheet near the trash at the end of a driveway. An examination revealed the dog's skull had been crushed and its neck broken.

"Just the viciousness of it and the death the dog went through, it's just sometimes hard to comprehend that someone could do that to a little 6-pound Chihuahua," said Buckeye Lake police Capt. James Hanzey.

McKibben was ordered held on $5,000 bond.

She remained at the Licking County Jail on Tuesday evening; July 14,2009 .

I would strongly recommend everyone write/call Licking County Prosecutor, Kenneth Oswalt, and encourage him to seek the maximum penalty permissible under Ohio law should this defendant be found guilty of animal cruelty. Below is his contact information:

Address: Licking County Prosecutor's Office 20 S. Second Street, Newark, OH 43055 Office: 740-670-5255

Fax: 740-670-5241

Some talking points could include:

• That the viciousness of Retta McKibben's actions should not to be taken lightly.
• That you support and applaud the efforts of the Buckeye Lake Police Chief Captain, James Hanzey, in this case.
  
• That we as a community can no longer turn our backs on animal cruelty. That all life should be valued, and the brutal death of Zoie confirms that Retta McKibben appears not to hold these values.
  

Rainbow Bridge

It is said that when animals die they don't go to heaven, they go to the Rainbow Bridge where they wait for their owners. The area around the Rainbow Bridge is sunny, warm but not too warm, flowers, grass and all the animals have been restored to a youthful healthy state.

On one particular day it was unlike most days at Rainbow Bridge, this day dawned cold and gray, damp as a swamp and as dismal as could be imagined. All of the recent arrivals had no idea what to think, as they had never experienced a day like this before.

But the animals who had been waiting for their beloved people knew exactly what was going on and started to gather at the pathway leading to The Bridge to watch.

It wasn't long before an elderly dog came into view, head hung low and tail dragging. The other animals, the ones who had been there for a while, knew what his story was right away, for they had seen this happen far too often.

He approached slowly, obviously in great emotional pain, but with no sign of injury or illness. Unlike all of the other animals waiting at The Bridge, this animal had not been restored to youth and made healthy and vigorous again! As he walked toward The Bridge, he watched all of the other animals watching him. He knew he was out of place here and the sooner he could cross over, the happier he would be.

But, alas, as he approached The Bridge, his way was barred by the appearance of an Angel who apologized, but told him that he would not be able to pass. Only those animals who were with their people could pass over Rainbow Bridge.

With no place else to turn to, the elderly animal turned towards the fields before The Bridge and saw a group of other animals like himself, also elderly. They weren't playing, but rather simply lying on the green grass, forlornly staring out at the pathway leading to The Bridge. And so, he took his place among them, watching the pathway and waiting.

One of the newest arrivals at The Bridge didn't understand what he had just witnessed and asked one of the animals that had been there for a while to explain it to him.

"You see, that poor animal was abanonded by his owners. He was turned into a shelter just as you see him now, an older animal with his fur graying and his eyes clouding. He never made it out of the shelter and passed on. Because he had no family to give his love to, he has no one to escort him across The Bridge. "

The first animal thought about this for a minute and then asked, "So what will happen now?"

As he was about to receive his answer, the clouds suddenly parted and the gloom lifted.

Approaching The Bridge could be seen a single person and among the older animals, a whole group was suddenly bathed in a golden light and they were all young and healthy again, just as they were in the prime of life.

"Watch, and see" said the second animal.

A second group of animals from those waiting came to the pathway and bowed low as the person neared. At each bowed head, the person offered a pat on the head or a scratch behind the ears. The newly restored animals fell into line and followed him towards The Bridge.

They all crossed The Bridge together.

"What happened?"

"That was a rescuer. The animals you saw bowing in respect were those who found new homes because of his work. They will cross when their new families arrive. Those you saw restored were those who never found homes. When a rescuer arrives, they are allowed to perform one, final act of rescue. They are allowed to escort those poor animals that they couldn't place on earth, across The Rainbow Bridge. "

"I think I like rescuers," said the first animal.

"So does GOD", was the reply.

MOLLY HAS A HOME!!!!!!!

Molly is smiling NOW!

Here is the email I received from Molly's foster to adopt parents on Monday:-)

Hi Amy,

Welcome back, sounds like you had a fabulous honeymoon, other than the getting sick part. And by the looks of all the pics posted on FB, you had a beautiful wedding. Congratulations.

Molly seems to have settled in here, in fact it is like she has always lived here. After you dropped her off, she smelled around for a while and it was like she said ok, these are my new people and this in my new home and that was that. And her and TJ are getting along great. It is just amazing that she is older and with all that she has been through that she has so much energy. She more than keeps up with him. When they really get going the whole house vibrates, lol. And she loves the "bark park", well not the first 20 minutes or so, she was a little leery and spooked a little by the welcoming committee at the gate, and didn't quite understand, but once she got the hang of it and that she could run all she wanted off leash, she really takes advantage of it, lol. And now when we go she is part of that welcoming committee at the gate, lol.

And did you know that Molly talks? Boy she has a vocabulary unlike any other dog I have ever heard. It is really quite funny at times. Especially when she is lying on her back and scratching it. And she definitely knows how to tell us when she needs to go outside. I will have to tell you a funny story about that when I see you.

So we have taken this all as a sign from Shaelah that is ok to get another dog and Molly is a good sister for TJ. So you were right on your blog, when you said "they are so keeping her".

So we are ready to adopt her anytime we can make arrangements to get together. You can come and pick up your crate anytime. We could bring it to you, but we would have to take the crate apart, at least I think it would fit in the trunk that way. We are hoping that this will be ok with you, cause it would break TJ's heart to lose another sister, not to mention ours of course, lol. She has already been licensed here in Huron county, and started on heart worm and flea protection through our vet.

As far as the crate goes, unless things change we are not going to be getting another one. She has been in it maybe three times since you dropped her off. The first night she slept out on the dog bed in the living room and starting the second night she has been sleeping in bed with TJ and I, at least for the majority of the night.. TJ had a small problem with that at first, but it didn't take him long to get over it as long as Molly doesn't try to sleep on HIS pillow, lol. We had agreed that we were going to break her of the crate by leaving them for small amounts of time, but one night I was returning from doctor appointments in Akron and had called Les and told her I would just pick her up outside to go to dinner so that I didn't upset the dogs by coming in and leaving right away again. I have a "big" brother in Akron who is quite the animal activist and I had stopped at his house and in conversation had ask him if he knew of anyone wanting to get rid of a used crate. He has two dogs about the same size as Molly and he said he didn't use either of his two crates anymore to let him think about it for a week or so. Well, at dinner I was telling Les about my conversation with Gerry and needing to get started breaking Molly and she said well we will know when we get home. She hadn't put Molly in the crate. Well, when we got home, everything was absolutely fine. She hadn't bothered a thing and Les had even forgot to put the lid down on the trash can. So Molly has not been in the crate since then and every time we leave them and come home everything is just fine. I think we are up to about 5 1/2 hours of them being alone now. Of course, TJ hasn't used a crate for a couple of years now.

So I think I have rambled on long enough to let you know we think the world of Molly and really want to be her furever home. She is such a sweetheart, I don't understand how anyone could have kicked her out.

So let me know what kind of arrangements you want to make. I am sending this to both of your email addresses, I am assuming that you are back to work today, but wasn't absolutely sure.

Marnay

Letter from Shelter Manager

I think our society needs a huge ' Wake-up' call.

As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all. ..a view from the inside if you will.

First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the 'back' of an animal shelter for just one day.

Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know. That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore.

So how would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are 'owner surrenders' or 'strays' that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.

The most common excuses I hear are;

'We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat).' Really? Where are you moving to that doesn't allow pets and why did you choose that place instead of a pet friendly home?

Or they say 'The dog got bigger than we thought it would'. How big did you think a German Shepherd would get?

'We don't have time for her'. Really? I work a 10- 12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs!

'She' s tearing up our yard'. How about making her a part of your family?

They always tell me: 'We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog.'

Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies.

Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps.

It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it.

If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose.

If your dog is big, black or any of the 'Bully' breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted.

It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are. If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed.

If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long.

Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment.

If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don't have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.


Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being 'put-down'.. ..

First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk - happy, wagging their tails.

Until, they get to 'The Room', every one of them freak out and put the brakes on when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them.

Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are.

Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the 'pink stuff'.

Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams.

They all don't just 'go to sleep', sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.

When it all ends, your pet's corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage.

What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?

I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head I deal with everyday on the way home from work.

I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much further than the pets you dump at a shelter.

Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.

My point to all of this: DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!

Hate me if you want to. The truth hurts and reality is what it is.

I just hope I maybe changed one person's mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog.

Author unknown.

I AM HOME!!

Oh it is so so so so good to be home. Everything went OK, while I was gone. My Dad left the pen open to my chickens on Tuesday night and well the coyotes got them all but 2. I am not happy. What can you do my parents don't remember things as well as they use to ;-( Hence they don't live alone.



My cat Weezy disappeared. Now that is super strange but I have a feeling he got into some one's car and they didn't realize it. He LOVES car rides.. he thinks he is a dog.



Other then that everyone is ok. Dogs were well taken care of, horses, goats and the other cats all seem happy.



There are about 8 JRT's waiting for me to get back so their lives can be spared. So, I am going to work after work everyday this week to get my kennels up and running. Hopefully I can get some more foster homes soon... paws crossed.



England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales where all beautiful. Had a great time! There was a heat wave the first week and then normal weather then 2nd week. Because of the drastic weather change I got REALLY REALLY sick the last 3 days.. UGH! I am still sick now. At least I got sick at the end. LOL!



Oh dogs over there were interesting. A LOT and I mean A LOT of Pit Bulls. That was nice to see though because obviously they don't have the stereotypes that we do over here.



I saw a lot of labs, one beagle, one Great Pyrenees, a few Greyhounds, King Charles Cavilers, Yorkie, 2 Pom's and A LOT OF JRT's :-) The JRT's over there are TOTALLY different then the ones we have here. They are very short, a lot of color, not one had straight legs, most had big heads, they all had stocky or what I call square bodies and most had ears that stood up. Here is a picture of one I saw in Stonehenge

They are still freaking cute :-)

Updates on the Parvo puppies, Molly and the dogs I am getting coming this week, stay tuned!