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!!! :)