Nemo Childress

How cute is Taylor--- he told me it was ok to post this... :) My hubby, the poet!

Here is my birthday present from Gamer, Maggie, and Pumpkin!

Maggie’s Gift

His eyes were much too big; his back was weird and curvy

Tape worm, heart worms and mange, maybe even scurvy

We didn’t want him in the house, this crooked rescue mutt

That was it, he had to go, he was a huge pain in the butt

As time went on, we got to see, he wasn’t all that bad

When we talked about him leaving, it made us somewhat sad

Flaunting that husky jersey, we knew it was a sign

Pumpkin was the first to say it; the rest all fell in line

We got together, talked it out, and put it to a vote

We weren’t sure how to tell you, so we put it in this note

He needs a lot of work, for one he should tamer

But he can stay; we’re all on board, yup, even Gamer

Now we have a fourth, to welcome to our group

It’s nice to have partner that’s not quite in the loop

We can worry ourselves gray, hide from storms and such

Happy Birthday Courtney, we love you very mu…oh no the light fixture is moving…

-Maggie

So, he's here to stay! Welcome to the family, Nemo! :)

The end of a BUSY summer!

So here's what we've been up to this summer... :)

LIFE....

Ok this post is divided into Life pics and DOG Rescue pics... they obviously overlap, more than they should, but it's too confusing to post all the pics together. :)

Taylor finally mastered Chicken Teryaki (he's been trying for a while)... it is soooo good, and he serves it with sticky rice too! mmmmmm....

Taylor turned 29...and stumbled upon my secret present stash, so he ended up getting double the presents because I couldn't stand not being able to give him SOMETHING he wasn't expecting (which worked out well for him)

Gamer contributed too. Although, this is now outside of our front door, and I keep forgetting it's there! It is soooo mean-- Taylor loves it, but I just keep hoping the neighbors see the humor in it....;)

We visited Anne and Bobby in Louisville

We bonded with their puppy, Gus--and fell in love with him! He's a rescue puppy that Anne and Bobby picked up in St Louis (an absolutely adorable Pekingnese/Bichon mix)

And we learned how to interact with a cat! Taylor was so proud that she snuggled on his tummy at night. But when she hid outside our room and tried to sneak in during the night, we weren't as brave and ended up closing the door. Cats are so quiet and sneaky-- without making a sound, she could wiggle her way onto the guest bed! haha... We loooove Shadow :)

Taylor went to Milwaukee for a work trip, and his hosts took him to a Brewers game, where he dove unto the field to catch a ball!!!

He left a handprint on the field too.. very cool :)

He was gone for 5 days-- a long time for us! So I taped his homecoming....pretty obvious who our Daddy's girl is...;)

I went to Cincinnati for a friend's wedding, where we learned traditional Indian dances and got our very own henna tattoos! It was so much fun!

Megan brought my precious niece to visit again, and this time we took her in the water--which she LOVED! She has turned into the HAPPIEST baby, and she is so good at restaurants--we take her everywher with us, and she just hangs out like one of the girls! AND she's almost walking...she's already taken a couple of steps on her own, so I need to see her more before she starts running away from us--she's still so tiny and snuggly :) She loves new people and is learning to like other little people--which is a good thing, since she'll be a big sister in the spring! She is tooooo cute! I'm going to Dallas in a couple of days to see her. I can't get enough of her and miss her sooo much when she's not here!

Nemo is still with us and is doing great. He will be officially finished with his 60 day heartworm treatment on October 14th, and then we can start scheduling his leg surgeries... Realistically, he's now our 4th dog.

Even Pumpkin loves him!

And he encouraged us to get some new blinds for our front door--this wasn't on our list of to-do's, but the new ones look nicer anyway.

Dog Rescue:

I started going up to a very high kill shelter in Putnam County with another rescue friend of mine, and it has been a real challenge for me. I KNOW I can't save them all, but I am having trouble learning my limits. Looking into all those desperate, innocent eyes is haunting, and if I don't leave quickly, I start to hyperventilate or cry, and it all goes downhill from there. I have never broken down at the shelter, I'm proud to say...and I hope with time, I'll get stronger and be able to drive away feeling as though I made some sort of difference (even though I know in the grand scheme of things, there are so many left to save). I never forget the ones I can't take, and I say prayers for them--that they go peacefully and that they aren't scared when the people come around with the shots to put them to sleep. I keep challenging myself to be stronger, to look at all of this dog rescue stuff rationally, choosing the dogs that make logical and financial sense (the easy placements), but it's all so up in the air when we get to the shelter. I have always gone for only one dog, and have never come back with fewer than 4. And for some reason, I am so drawn to the sickly ones, the "Nemos" of the group. The only thing I look for is a wagging tail, and an inexplicable look in their eyes-- a look that says they want to live. All of the other shelters I work with only call me with their urgent ones, and I have a 100% success rate with those... I have taken every one they have called me about and placed them all. Putnam County is the only place that I leave knowing that I have literally left dogs to die because I couldn't take them with me. But again, that is my challenge. And I'm still breathing, so it hasn't killed me yet. I wish I could say I get stronger every time I go, but to be honest, every time I go, I leave with more awful images that I wish I could forget :( This last time, I left with my 4 rescues, knowing that the next day was set to be a "cleaning day" due to all the death and disease they were having...so they were euthanizing every animal left behind and bleaching the facilities. That was the longest drive home yet.

Sorry for the depressing post, but it helps to write it down. I have officially committed to Taylor that I'm taking a break from picking dogs up at these shelters for a little while (I think he's seen a few too many crying episodes and overly stressful days trying to take care of way too many dogs and obsessing over the ones I left behind), so I promised him (but more importantly ME) that I need to take a moment to breathe and focus on finding homes for the ones who are left! My rescue friends have all already decided we needed a break, but I drove up this last time all by myself, and it was the worst trip up there ever! I am so blessed to have my husband--he is so supportive of what I do, and has sat with me through euthanizing sick dogs, met with owner's surrendering their pets so I wouldn't have to do it alone, and he has welcomed Tubbs, Nemo, and countless sick (and untrained) foster dogs into our home without too much complaining ;) (I always get the obligatory head shake and "really? another one?")...but I don't know what I would have done without a hubby with a heart like his! :)

This is one of the many breaks I have talked about taking, so I am really hesitant to put it in writing... Every time I say I'm taking a break, the shelter calls me, and I give in ... I have 7 dogs in rescue here with me now (across the street in boarding), and I'm up to 49 in the past year and half, and I am overwhelmed....so I really need a break. I have 2 voicemails waiting on my phone from dog rescue people as I write this --so wish me luck. Saying no isn't one of my strong points... :)

On a much happier note, here are my summer rescues! All but 7 are with their new families :) And my goal is to place the last 7 by Thanksgiving..and then take a break over the holidays!

Roscoe- 4 mos old Terrier who was left on the side of the road with a torn up, handwritten note saying "This is Roscoe, I can't afford to feed him. I'm sorry." Animal control picked him up, and I grabbed him on my way out of the shelter when I saw his little face sticking through the chain link gate. He was lying in a puddle of dirty water and shivering...so I took him too--what's one more ;)

Zena- My friend was going to pick her up when she picked up Addie and Stephanie (in a previous post), but we went with Addie instead since she was emaciated and scheduled to be euthanized the following day. The shelter called us the next week asking if we still wanted Zena..they had accidentally left a "hold" card on her kennel that had been overlooked...so after giving her the tranquilizer shot (the first step in euthanizing a dog), they saw the card and panicked. They called us saying there was a 90% chance she would never wake up from the tranquilizer, but we told them to stop and give her the chance to wake up! With all the odds against her, she did wake up, and we headed out the next day to pick her up. She is in CT now, but she was one of my hardest girls--sooo sweet and healthy, but the strongest, most stubborn dog I have ever worked with--my legs are still scratched and bruised to prove it! I guess that's what brought her back to life though, and a girl with her will to live deserves a second chance :)

SAGE- Sage is a 2-3 yr old Black Lab/Golden Retriever mix. She was sharing a kennel with Zena, and when I saw the shelter worker shoving her back into the cage with his foot while he took Zena out of the cage for me, I walked over and grabbed her collar and brought her with us! She is awesome--so sweet, totally trained, but only one eye..so no one wants her! She's my toughest placement so far, but luckily there's no time limit on rescue, so we'll find her a home :)

Fynn-- This was an easy guy...a 4 year old Golden mix who was totally healthy and had been at the local humane shelter. They heard about me and contacted me to help them (luckily they don't remember how annoying I was when they tried to keep me from rescuing Pumpkin ;))...so I told them I would help! Fynn was only with me for a week before he was adopted by a wonderful family near Boston.

AVA- Another rescuer headed up to Putnam while I was on one of my attempted breaks, and they called a friend of mine about a 3 month old purebred Lab puppy who had been hit by a car and left to die at the shelter... I happened to be at the vet when my friend (a vet tech) got the call. She ran out to tell me...and I mean, come on, how could I say no!? Throughout the conversation, the 3 mos old purebred Lab puppy became a possible mix to a 6 mos old, to a 1 yr old, and finally, I stopped the girl and just told her to bring me the dog! She had the exact same leg injury as Nemo, but was totally healthy besides that! I took her on as a long termer, but a family met her 2 weeks after her surgery and chose her over all the other healthy, purebred dogs they had met! She is now in a reallllly nice home with two little kids who spoil her :)

Kingston- The humane society called me to intercept an owner surrender because they didn't want to have another large black dog at the facility. I said yes, and picked up this cutie the next week! He literally cried when his mom and dad drove away and has been kind of scared with new people, but he's coming around every day...and he is so precious! He's a purebred Lab that has lots of MARLEY traits, but he's as sweet as they come, so we'll find him a home. I love this guy--although, I can't wait to let someone else take over my training sessions with him;)

Too soon after my last trip up to Putnam County, the shelter manager called me BEGGING me to rescue this gorgeous yellow lab there. So, I drove up with another one of my rescue buddies, to get ONLY 1 dog this time. We named her Catie (after a certain special girl in my life!), and I was SO happy they had called me to get her! She was a dream---perfectly trained, no bad habits, very friendly...and she was adopted within a few weeks, and is now the princess of her new home in Pennsylvania! :) - no clue why this is underlined, and it won't let me undo it, so I'm just leaving it :)

These 3 puppies are Knox, Paris, and Nikki (can you tell I'm running out of names and have been reading gossip mags? haha)... I asked the shelter worker about them as I was leaving with Catie (half-heartedly, knowing that most of the other rescues take all the puppies before anything else...). He told me they were scheduled for euthanasia the next day because all the puppy rescues decided they were too old to take--they were about 14-16 weeks instead of the usual 8-12 weeks... I asked him if any other rescues were coming after I left, he said no, so we loaded 3 more puppies into our crates! They were just babies! How could I leave them there to die! They were all super scared at first, and I had to carry each one (one by one) out of the shelter kennel, into the bath at the vet, out for a walk, etc., etc...They were a lot of work! But they came out of their shells after a couple of days, and became normal puppies! The 2 hound girls were sick, and needed time at the vet to recover, but I wanted to get Knox out of the tiny kennel at the vet (on a whim one day), so as I was walking out with him, a nice woman stopped to pet him, and one thing led to another, and suddenly I was meeting up with her best friend that night, and Knox was in his new home the next day! (This never happens to me and was the easiest rescue yet!) Paris is in her new home in CT now, and Nikki is in a wonderful foster home up in CT, waiting on her forever home in style ;). These guys were the CUTEST rescues yet! I never get to take puppies--everyone takes them, so I focus on the older guys...so this was really fun for me :)

On my next unplanned trip to Palatka (Putnam Co.), after agreeing to go as support for a rescue friend (and nothing else--NO dogs this time), I picked up Marley. Marley was a perfectly trained, 100% healthy boy who was surrendered by his owner with shot records and everything after his family was forced to move in to an apartment that didn't allow 2 dogs. Marley , being the younger of the 2 dogs, was dropped off at the shelter. I literally picked him up on a Tuesday and sent him home to his forever family on that Thursday!! After getting him out on the day the shelter euthanizes, a rescue woman contacted me about a man who had really wanted to go get Marley after seeing his picture on the Putnam Co. website....Long story short, Marley went home to a wonderful couple who were unable to have children and really wanted another dog to add to their family!

After getting Marley, I was heading in to find my friend who was picking up a litter of kittens, I saw this girl out of the corner of my eye! The shelter was calling her Precious, for reasons we soon discovered....she was toooo sweet for words and I couldn't leave her there. I grabbed her and put her in an empty kennel that my friend had conveniently brought with her ;)....and we headed home. Precious is still looking for a home, and she is the sweetest dog ever!

Close to the breaking point with dogs, as usual, I said I was done taking in any new ones. BUT this other volunteer of a different Lab Rescue in FL called me in a panic one day after someone told her about me (the trainer who helped us when we first rescued Pumpkin!). He had told her that I was the Lab Rescue "rogue" rescuer who would take the mixes and the ones no one else wanted. So she called me about Louie, saying she couldn't find anyone to take him, etc,etc... It didn't take much to convince me to help her. So I went to the New Smyrna Beach shelter that day and picked him up. He was so sweet, no issues, totally healthy, and he went to his new home in New Hampshire a couple weeks after leaving the shelter!

While Taylor was on a weekend trip to Seattle, I got a call about a purebred Yellow Lab at the Putnam Co. shelter, and after having no luck finding another person to go get him for me, I decided I was brave enough to go by myself... It took me 2.5 hours to get there (I got lost a few times ;)), and when I got there, I was really nervous. I'm proud to say I got my composure and walked in to get my Yellow boy, Cody. Cody was as sweet as you could ever imagine, and I agreed to take him in a second. After getting Cody to the vet, his health quickly deteriorated and it became evident that he was sick with Parvo, or something similar. My house, car, shoes, and the other dogs I rescued that day (below) had all been infected with the highly contagious, deadly disease! I was a mess! I told the vet to do whatever it took to save Cody, and the other dogs boarded at the vet until they were in the clear. I bleached every last piece of my clothing, shoes, car seats, floorboard, you name it, I doused it with bleach! After a few days of thinking this sweet little guy was going to die, he woke up one morning with a non-stop tail wag and started eating and running around like a puppy! So, he made it. And he is the BEST dog! He loves kids, babies especially, and adores other dogs, ignores cats, and will make the best family bet..now all he needs is a family. So I'm working on that :)

When I went to get Cody, the shelter manager asked me to take a look at these 2 Black Labs that had been surrendered by their owners to the shelter due to financial issues. One look and I had them out of that kennel and on their way to my car! Cleo (short for Cleopatra) and Caesar--they came with these names--are such good dogs. They are totally healthy and are awaiting their homes at the boarding facility across the street from my house!
Finally, on my way out of the shelter, I passed by this chubby hound mix, and I fell in love! The shelter worker with me said this dog was his favorite, and whether that was true or not, it worked, and I threw a leash around her neck, and she was on her way to the car with me too! She is an older girl and she has the cutest face. So sweet :)

AND that's it. And hopefully my next post will focus more on life than on dogs!!! :)

Our new houseguest...

Here's the newest little man staying at our house for a little while. He was from that rural shelter I went to a while back, and he had been hit by a car. The shelter has no vet on the premises, so he was kept in his kennel (with the quarantine dogs) for a week--the legal amount of time a dog needs to stay at the shelter before being put to sleep. In that time, he was not seen by a vet once and was just left in a kennel without any human interaction. As luck would have it, my friend and I showed up on the day he was scheduled to be euthanized, and I literally ran back into the shelter to grab him before leaving (he wouldn't walk so I had to pick him up :))... I already had 3 dogs, WAY over my limit, but something about this guy got to me! I just couldn't see a dog with a tail wag like his having his life cut short with such a depressing end. I was convinced I would have to euthanize him, but I told myself it was worth the sadness to give him a couple days knowing what being loved was like :)  

But he's ok-or he will be! He has a broken pelvis, and his back left leg is completely out of its socket--and on top of it all, he's heartworm positive.  He was coughing/sneezing a little and way too thin to go through the surgery right from the shelter, so we brought him home with lots of meds, and he's been eating super high calorie puppy food every day. I dropped him off yesterday, and he's having surgery on his leg in the morning (and getting neutered). And then in a couple of weeks, he'll have his heartworm treatment.  He has a looooong road ahead of him, and I couldn't justify keeping him in boarding through all that, and my sweet hubby agreed! Taylor agreed to have him as a foster before meeting him--so I think he was expecting to go through what we went through with Tubbs (where I had to sleep on the floor or on the couch with him while he coughed and hacked up all kinds of stuff from his pneumonia, and woke us up every thirty minutes with his barking for months... NO complaints...he was worth every second!) BUT then Taylor met this sweet, quiet little guy and he was in love with him by the first night! We tried calling him Griffey--but it just didn't fit... that's a tougher dog's name. So then we decided Nemo--you know how Nemo has the tiny fin on one side but doesn't let him stop him? It seemed like a good fit....but the girls at my vet said it was "not cool enough" for him. So we'll see. 

We've only had him a week, and we both missed him last night... which doesn't usually happen with the other wild and crazy Labs that come through here ;)  We're not committing to anything, but this sweet guy is welcome in our house as long as he needs to be here :)   He's tiny too--he weighs less than all the girls, but as you can see in the video, he's really underweight.. so he's just about 30 lbs right now, and Maggie's height.  SO cute! 

Back to Blogging

This summer has been super busy with Taylor taking a new job as "Director of Institutional Relations as DSC" (and leaving coaching!), traveling to the Northwest, introducing Megan and Catie to Daytona Beach, and of course... rescuing too many dogs!



Here are some pics of our summer so far :)

Taylor in his new office (the windows go all the way to the other side of the wall--so nice!!)... with his new wardrobe :)

Long story--and kind of sad to talk about. We adopted a 4th dog again when a rescue of mine, Max, had spent too much time in boarding with no interest and didn't seem to be a healthy dog. He spent almost every day at our house and only slept at the kennel, but his health continued to decline... so we brought him into our home for good. His health didn't improve, and after a couple of weeks of IV fluids and everything we could possibly do, his blood work showed that his kidney and liver functions had completely shut down and he was dying (and suffering). :( Taylor and I were with him when the vet put him to sleep, and it was so heartbreaking. I just held him, sobbing the whole time--and my sweet hubby stayed with us the whole time and kept telling me to picture happy thoughts so Max wouldn't worry (I couldn't have done it without Taylor)...and then he fell asleep peacefully, and we let him go. His ashes are in a box next to Tubbs on my desk, and we will never forget him. He wasn't a Childress for long, but we loved him as one of our own. :(

A few days after losing Max, we headed up to Seattle for our Northwest vacation... here we all are at a Mariners game after watching Ken Griffey Jr play...and watching the Mariners win!

Taylor and I then headed to Canon Beach, OR to our favorite hotel...The Stephanie Inn... where we relaxed and didn't do much other than eat and sleep for 4 days! It was wonderful :)

We finished up our trip with a visit to Portland to see Grammy and Poppy. They took us out to a delicious steak dinner at their favorite restaurant, The Country Kitchen... and I have never eaten so much in one sitting. It was so much fun :)

One day after returning from our vacation, we got to see Megan and CATIE! They came to visit for a few days, and I fell in love with my little niece even MORE, if that's even possible! She is just too cute... she "talks" all the time and smiles the sweetest smile I've ever seen! She is beyond precious! The sun index was really high when they visited, so we didn't spend too much time on the real beach (next time we'll schedule their trip when it's a little cooler here...and we'll have one of those giant tents so she can be there without being in the sun), but that didn't stop my mom from bringing out the beach toys and bathing suit for a photo op!

And finally-- here are the Daytona dogs who have been keeping my days filled with lots of activity and drama...(and keeping me just on the brink of being completley stressed out... ;))

Momo- The 15 year old girlfriend of the high school boy that surrendered Millie (the black Lab) to me called because her 5 year Lab kept trying to kill her small dog. I met her and picked up this little man, "Momo." He's a Yorkie/Chihuahua/ Poodle mix :) He found a home right away and he is now living with a family with 2 little boys in New York, and they adore him!

Annie- Annie was listed on a free ad posted by a breeder who no longer needed her. I called the breeder, and she explained that Annie's puppies had been born with speckled noses, and that was unexceptable--so she really had no use for her, now that the puppies were 7 weeks old.

She assured me that Annie was healthy--but after picking her up, we found that she was very overweight, heartworm positive and could barely see due to a severe eye infection. BUT, she is all better now and can see just fine--and is at the vet as we speak getting spayed. She's still looking for a home... it's not as easy for a slightly chubby 5 yr old lady like her--but we'll find her one :)

MacKenzie- When we called to arrange Annie's pick up, the breeder asked if I had room for one more...A man had sold her a 2 year old purebred Lab to be a breeding dog, but he hadn't sent in her AKC papers yet, and she was just taking up space. So, of course, I said yes. MacKenzie had a bad case of demodectic mange, but luckily that isn't contagious and it's very treatable. We also had her spayed--and found out during her surgery that she had already been spayed. Not to be too judgemental, but this breeder was a disaster! Ugh...On a happy note, MacKenzie went to her new home in CT last week, and is now named Abbey :)



Wrigley- Wrigley's family posted him on a free ad on Craigslist because they were moving to an apartment and could only take 2 of their 3 dogs, and since Wrigley was the biggest, he was the one who had to go. Besides being 20 lbs overweight, Wrigley was in good health and after waiting close to 2 months, he went to his forever home last weekend. He's living in Northern Massachusetts with a really nice family and has become best buddies with their 2 year old little girl.
Chip- Chip is a 9 year old Chihuahua/Daschund mix who had lived with his mom since he was 8 weeks old, but due to her health issues, she didn't have time for him anymore. No one in her family would take this little guy, so I told her I would help. He is adorable, and I am hoping his foster mom will keep him ;) He has to wear baby socks at night to keep from chewing at his feet... but other than that, he's doing great and goes to the beach every night for a run with his foster mom and canine foster brother.

OK, I adore all my rescue dogs, but there is something about this guy that has me completely in love with him! I named him Dallas because we rescued him the week my sister moved to Dallas, and I was running out of name ideas! Dallas has the coolest story of any rescue I've taken in... he was rescued from an awful rural shelter between Daytona and Jacksonville (I'll spare you all the details, but it is very high kill -- and it has adoption hours for only 2 hrs/day in the middle of the work day....dogs at this shelter have literally no chance of getting out without a rescue intervening). One of the few volunteers at the shelter watched one day as the shelter workers made their way down the row of kennels, sticking a pole with a needle attached to it through the cage doors to euthanize the dogs who were out of time. When they arrived at Dallas' kennel, he kept waving the pole out of the way with his paw, over and over again, until the shelter workers got impatient...and instead of opening the door to touch the dog, they skipped him and said they'd get him the next day, so they woudn't have to stay late that afternoon. The shelter volunteer called a rescue friend of mine immediately, and we decided that a dog with that much will to live deserved a second chance!!! So, I took him into our rescue, and he is currently going through heartworm treatment--and sitting at my feet as I write this. He's a tougher one to place, being 100% mixed breed and having some fear issues (if I throw a toy, he hits the ground and runs in the other direction!), but we're not giving up on him. He is the SWEETEST guy and soooo gentle. He'll find a home soon :)

Brody- A shelter in New Smyrna Beach that I work with called me one night (2 nights before we were leaving on vacation!) about a dog they didn't think they would have much luck placing- a 9 year old Yellow Lab who had been left in their overnight drop box with a note on his collar telling his name and age, and that's it. That's all I had to hear, and I was up early the next morning at the shelter to get him OUT of there! I have to admit, I was convinced that Brody was an angel sent to me from my Tubbie... it was Tubbs' exact same story, and he was the same color, etc... and deep down, I just knew he would inevitably become a Childress. BUT, unlike our sweet Tubbs, Brody was in perfect health. He had no temperment issues and he ran and played like a 2 year old Lab. I posted him on our website and within a couple of days, I had 3 different people interested... serves me right for thinking I have such a handle on God's plan ;) So, this would-be Childress went to his new home in New Jersey last week, and his new family loves him and can't keep him out of their pool!

Matthew- Matthew was rescued from the Putnam County shelter (the one where Dallas came from), and he is 100% Lab--so sweet, loves people, and no issues whatsoever. He is being treated for heartworms, and he already
has a home with two little girls waiting for him up in Massachusetts!

Cash- Cash was rescued with Matthew from Putnam County, and he was the quickest placement I've ever had! We got him out of the shelter--he was totally healthy, so we got him neutered, and he went on his way to a foster home in Rhode Island last weekend... and a new family met him the day after he arrived with his foster parents, and he has already been adopted! I love this picture of him... I was at the vet for a long time with the 2 rescues below.. and he was so good and just hung out in the examination room for a couple of hours. At one point, the vet was laughing and called me over to look, and he had climbed up to the top shelf of a cabinet (at least 5 feet off the ground) without knocking one bottle out of place so he could nap and watch what was going on through the window on the upper part of the door! Luckily, all of us Lab lovers find these types of antics endearing! :)

Addie- Addie was rescued by accident when my rescue friend drove up to Putnam County to pick up the Spaniel in the pics below. She called me and said there was a Lab/Bassett mix who was being used as a nursing mom to all the orphans at the shelter...and they had used her for so many months that she was now emaciated and barely had any milk left. Without milk, she was of no use to the shelter, so she was slated for euthanasia that afternoon...How could I say no??? :)
She is heartworm postive TOO, so she's being treated for that, and then we'll get her ready to find a forever home of her own :)


Finally, here's Stephanie (named after our hotel in Oregon :)). She is the toughest case I've dealt with yet. She came from the Putnam County shelter, and when I came to meet her, I was shocked by her condition (those pics aren't worth posting, too sad-- we'll focus on how pretty she is now!). She had so many matts all over her body that she could barely walk, and she wouldn't look anyone in the eye. The girl who picked her up that day for me had tried to cut through some matts, but had hardly made a dent... I was rushed, as usual, and got ready to leave, and then I turned around and walked back into the vet and couldn't leave until the last matt was gone. I couldn't deal with the idea of her having to spend one more night in that condition. The vet techs let me have a room to myself and let me borrow the sharpest clippers they had (I had never shaved a dog before, so I had to pretend I knew what I was doing --haha), and I went to work on this poor girl. It took about 2 hours, but I got the matts off, and she never tried to bite me, even though I know it really hurt--which is a huge plus ;). After we could finally see her skin, we found all types of cuts and infected wounds, etc... it was pretty awful. I went in the next morning and gave her a really long medicated bath, and she actually fell asleep in the tub when I was rubbng her ears. She is being treated for heartworms now, as most of mine seem to be heartworm positive these days, and then she'll come to the doggie resort across the street from me. After only 5 days, she has started wagging her little stub of a tail, and wiggling when I come to visit! She'll find a home really fast, being such a beautiful girl--and what we discovered to be a purebred Springer Spaniel under all that fur!




SOOO-- that's what's been going on here... and as sad as some of these rescue stories sound, it really is completely worth it to see a dog who comes to us in such rough shape go off to a home where they will be loved for the rest of their lives. I am learning that I need to get a bit stronger about saying "NO," but it's just so hard looking into their desperate, trusting eyes, and knowing that without my help, they don't stand a chance. I'm trying to figure out a balance...so hopefully one day I'll have it all figured out-- that or I'll just live on a huge farm with hundreds of dogs... haha--just kidding, I'm not THAT crazy yet. And we still just have 3 living in our home, so that gives us some sense of normality. I just keep repeating that famous quote to myself-"Saving one dog won't change the world, but it will absolutely change the world for that one dog." That seems to help me... sometimes. Ok-- enough writing for the day-- time to get back to work!