Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A Rescued Dog's Tragic End


As rescuers, we do everything we can to keep safe our rescued friends. Unfortunately, sometimes things don't go as planned.

The following is a story of a rescued Great Pyrenees named Pryncess. The story was featured in the Winter '09 email newsletter of the National Great Pyrenees Rescue.


January 19, 2009 - Greers Ferry, AR

Pryncess, a Great Pyrenees rescue dog, was shot and killed after she escaped over the fence at the veterinary clinic where she was being treated. Pryncess was a typical case of a rescued Great Pyrenees in the South -- sugary sweet, extremely skinny and suffering from the mange.

The Great Pyrenees Rescue Society of Houston (GPRS) saw past her current condition -- and agreed to accept her into their program to become the beautiful girl she might have become one day.

Pryncess was becoming a favorite at the vet's office -- being loved by many and enjoying the newly found attention. She bonded deeply with one of her caretakers and was good with everyone caring for her. She was being treated at the clinic for mange and other conditions caused by neglect and was awaiting transport to GPRS. Pryncess, like many Pyrs, was an escape artist. She jumped over two six-foot fences at the clinic. When the K9 unit of the police came upon her (less than 100 yards from the vet clinic), they decided to take the irreversibly cruel action of shooting Pryncess on site based on her current condition. The clinic did not even have a chance to recover her -- she was shot before they knew she was gone!

GPRS is shocked and truly saddened by Pryncess's death. The action of the police is still being investigated at the local level. Despite repeated requests to the authorities, as of Sunday night GPRS has not recovered her remains. Unfortunately, there isn't a video to show the nation the cruel and heartless act that ended the chance of this dog to have a true life.

To make a donation to the memory of Pryncess and to help other endangered Southern Pyrs like her, please visit http://www.greatpyreneesrescuesociety.org/.

Animal Odd Couple

This is truly an amazing and heartwarming story!

Meals on Wheels for Pets

If anyone comes across someone in need of help providing food for their animals due to economic hardship, here's an option for short-term assistance through Meals on Wheels' "We All Love Our Pets" initiative.

With support from the Banfield Charitable Trust, grants are available to local Meals on Wheels agencies to provide pet food to clients. For more information, visit:
http://www.mowaa.org/Page.aspx?pid=326

Pet Pig

The Power of Love

BUNNIES & A PIGEON


These little bunnies, about 6 days old, were attacked by a dog and orphaned. Two out of the litter of five did not survive, and these three were not doing very well.




Noah is the non-releasable, one-legged homing pigeon/rock dove that is in rehab. Noah kept going over to the bunny cage and looking in -- even sleeping in front of the door to the cage.



Then, there were only two bunnies in the cage. But when Noah moved a bit from the front of the cage to my surprise...there was the tiny bunny...under Noah's wing..sound asleep! That little bunny rabbit had crawled through the cage, preferring a featherbed, no doubt.



Now, they are all together and the bunnies are doing GREAT. When the bunnies scoot underneath Noah's feathers, he carefully extends his wings out to surround them and then they snuggle. When one of them moves and they start sticking out here and there, he gently pushes them back under him with his beak! This is amazing...

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Amazing Dog Rescue Story

This is a great story about a dog rescue in Indiana on MSNBC:

Talking Dogs

Absolutely AMAZING talking dogs!



Talking Dog - Funny bloopers are a click away

Smart Bird

This African Grey is AMAZING! Enjoy!


Saturday, January 24, 2009

Help Get Free ID's for Rescues & Shelters

From now until January 31, 2009...

When you order your Pet ID from waggletags.com - for every tag you order - we receive an ID tag for one of our rescued or sheltered dogs.

Our dogs may be in foster care, without a permanant tag or family name to put on a new tag. ID tags for our dogs are an important part of our program - it has information on the tag, so that when our dogs are fostered, if they become lost, they can be reunited with the shelter.

Order your Pet's ID tag today - and help a sheltered or foster dog get a temporary tag of their own.

In addition to the free tag, we also receive a donation for every sale!

It's a great way to help. Just click on this link to Waggletags.com to help Jo Ann's Foster Animals!

Thanks for your support!

Mutts Like Me

I Support Pet Adoption

Shepard Fairey, the artist who produced the iconic Obama HOPE poster (and the official inauguration poster) recently placed in the national portrait gallery of the Smithsonian and used for the Dec. 29 cover of the TIME magazine has produced the same image with a shelter dog, and with the word ADOPT!

The art has the Adopt-a-Pet.com name on it (on the dog's tag), so everyone who sees it will know where to go to find your adoptable pets.

This image is getting a lot of attention and hope it will bring even more awareness to the need to adopt shelter pets!

Be sure to check it out at http://www.muttslikeme.com/!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Letter from a 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 too that doesn’t allow pets? 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 freaks out and puts on the brakes 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 pets 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 farther 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 persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say “I saw this and it made me want to adopt”. THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT

After you wipe away the tears from reading the letter above, I BEG that you share it with anyone and everyone you know.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Ask President Obama to Adopt a Shelter Dog

The North Shore Animal League has prepared a darling video and a letter to President Obama asking him to adopt a shelter pup. If you'd like to sign the letter, please visit this website:

http://ga4.org/campaign/rescue_dog_obama

Dogs Live Here

My dogs live here, they're here to stay.
you don't like pets, be on your way.
they share my home, my food, my space
this is their home, this is their place.

You will find dog hair on the floor,
they will alert you're at the door.
they may request a little pat,
a simple 'no' will settle that.

It gripes me when I hear you say
'just how is it you live this way?
they smell, they shed, they're in the way..'
WHO ASKED YOU? is all I can say..

They love me more than anyone,
my voice is like the rising sun,
they merely have to hear me say
'C'mon , time to go and play'.
Then tails wag and faces grin,
they bounce and hop and make a din.

They never say 'no time for you',
they're always there, to GO and DO.
And if I'm sad? They're by my side
and if I'm mad? they circle wide
and if I laugh, they laugh with me
they understand, they always see.

So once again, I say to you
come visit me, but know this too..
My dogs live here, they're here to stay.
you don't like pets, be on your way.
they share my home, my food, my space
this is their home, this is their place..

- Author Unknown

Animal Rescue Stories

Monday, January 5, 2009

Just a Dog

From time to time people tell me, "Lighten up, it's just a dog," or, "That's a lot of money for just a dog." They don't understand the distance traveled, time spent, or costs involved for "Just a dog." Some of my proudest moments have come about with "Just a dog." Many hours have passed with my only company being "Just a dog," and not once have I felt slighted. Some of my saddest moments were brought about by "Just a dog." In those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "Just a dog" provided comfort and purpose to overcome the day.

If you, too, think its "Just a dog," you will probably understand phrases like "Just a friend," "Just a sunrise," or "Just a promise." "Just a dog" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and unbridled joy. "Just a dog" brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person. Because of "Just a dog" I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly into the future.

For me and folks like me, it's not "Just a dog." It's an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment. "Just a dog" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day.

I hope that someday people can understand it's not "Just a dog." It's the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "Just a man or woman."

So the next time you hear the phrase "Just a dog," smile, because they "Just Don't Understand."

Author Unknown

The Pit Bull and the Kitten

A very sweet video of a Pit Bull and kitten in love...


The good life @ Yahoo! Video

Australian Pet Industry Exposed by Top Journalist

This is a very interesting story by CatRescue NSW Limited in Australia...

Dear overseas readers:

The purpose of this email is to share some local news that shows that finally the media and government is taking notice of the issue of pet overpopulation here in Australia.

It may come as a shock to many other progressive countries, but in Australia, embarrasingly, anyone can breed and sell animals. There are Pet Shops everywhere. There is little regulation and anyone can hobby breed and sell. Our government has done very little to stop this old world practice.

Todays SMH (Sydney Morning Herald) ran a series of significantly large, scathing articles about the NSW Pet Industry and it’s impact on the NSW community. Nick Galvin has spent the time to conduct an exhaustive investigation into the industry, quoting sources across all aspects of the problem. This marks a turning point in Australia's position on this terrible industry. With thousands of supporters now emerging to help change policy.

Click on the links below to see the articles
Grim end for xmas puppies - http://tinyurl.com/smhstory1
Dead dogs walking get reprieve - http://tinyurl.com/smhstory2
RSPCA Says adoption is the best - http://tinyurl.com/smhstory3

We would like to thank the brave Australian pet store workers that came forward and exposed the disgusting experiences they had in procuring animals from a mass puppy farm for sale in a Aussie Pet Stores. The Australian lady, who did not want to be identified, confirmed many pet store puppies come from large dog breeders and are distributed by air freight.

“I’d put my order in one week and get them delivered the next week,” she said. “They were meant to be eight weeks of age; some were five weeks, some were dead. The condition was absolutely disgusting. In one dog crate there might be eight puppies shoved in there.

“Sometimes the vaccination cards wouldn’t match up with the breed of the dog so we’d just make up the breed ourselves depending on what was selling at the time. Whatever would fetch the most money, that’s what we would call the dog.”

No more than about $200 was allowed to be spent on veterinary treatment for an individual puppy, after which it would be destroyed. She also said there was no attempt to match dogs to their new owners.

“The most important thing was, when a customer went to a cage, to get that dog out and put it in the customer’s hands. We really wanted kids in our shop. Once you got a kid with a dog in its arms the mother normally can’t say no. That was our aim - attack the kids to get to the parents.”

In the same paper, two other articles appeared including the NSW RSPCA CEO Stephen Coleman making very clear the RSPCA’s opinion on Pet StoresSo - what is the NSW Government doing about it? Absolutely nothing. The NSW Government still continues to ignore the people of NSW who are wearing the costs to clean up the issue of animal overpopulation brought about by Pet Industry overbreeding. With key Pet Industry members holding very close relationships with the government agencies that set policy, NSW Labor is still failing to adequately address policy shortfalls in this area of enormous community concern.

If you want to take action then visit the campaign sites http://www.catrescue.com.au/mailing/link.php?M=186511&N=176&L=72&F=H , http://www.catrescue.com.au/mailing/link.php?M=186511&N=176&L=45&F=H and http://www.catrescue.com.au/mailing/link.php?M=186511&N=176&L=73&F=H , join up and learn about actions you can make right now to make a difference.We commend Nick Galvin for this excellent and truthful piece of journalism. Finally someone has take them time to thoroughly research this issue and write about it in it’s entirety. Please forward far and wide. To our overseas readers, we recognise how far behind we are in this progressive area. Many times we have volunteers who visit from Europe and the US who are shocked to see we still have classifieds ads selling animals, pet shops selling animals, markets selling animals . . but we are getting there.

Thank you for your continued support and please visit our blog at www.catrescue.com.au/blog for comments and more information.

Abused Pit Bull Finds Life with New Owner

This is a fabulous and heart-warming story on the MSNBC website:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28356142

Ban Michael Vick from the NFL

CARE2 Petition

Michael Vick has openly admitted to the fighting, torture, and murder of many pitbulls on his land in Virginia. These dogs were not only fought but murdered in some of the most brutal ways-beating, drowning, hanging, and even electrocution.

For the horrible crimes that Michael Vick has committed, he was sentenced to a mere 23 months in prison, and now his lawyers are announcing that he should be out of prison and in a halfway house by Jan. 20, 2009.

This petition is to encourage the NFL to not reinstate Michael Vick into the NFL EVER! As we all know, famous athletes are supposed to be role models, setting a good example for America and its youth. Michael Vick should never be allowed to play professional football again.

If you agree with this, please sign the petition.

For more information on how the dogs lives have been affected please visit http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/07/vick.dogs.rehab/index.html.

What Happened to Vick's Dogs?

A friend of mine found this wonderful photo gallery of the Vick dogs on the Sports Illustrated website. Click HERE to check this out!

Decorating the Christmas Tree with Bear

















Here is a little story I wrote during this past Christmas season. Even though Christmas is officially over, I hope you will enjoy it anyway.

December 2, 2008

Yesterday (Monday) started out like any other weekday with the exception that I decided to drag up all the Christmas ornaments and finally get the tree, which had been up since Thanksgiving evening, decorated.

I turned on the radio, found a station with some good old-fashioned Christmas music and began the task of opening boxes and sorting through all the treasured ornaments that I've collected over the past 66 years. As I was going about my business, placing ornaments here and there, I noticed that one of my foster dogs, Bear ... a 55 pound Chow/Lab mix, was lying in the middle of the room watching every move I made. He would bark and wag his tail each time I placed a family heirloom in the best possible spot where it could be seen by everyone.

After all the "special" ornaments were carefully placed on the tree, I began to figure out where to place the others. As I was working, Bear would still bark and wag his tail ... however, if I placed an ornament where he didn't think it should be, he would start to grumble and fuss at me. I would then move it to another branch, look at him .... and if he approved, tail would wag and another little bark. If it still wasn't to his satisfaction, I'd get another "grumble". This went on the entire time I was decorating.

When "we" were finally finished, I stood back, looked at the tree, looked down at Bear and said ..... well, what do you think? He got up, walked over to the tree, looked it up and down, walked around the sides, then came back, got down on his front legs, butt up in the air and tail wagging like crazy. I got two big WOOF WOOF's that I interpreted as "GOOD JOB".

I know this must sound strange but I honestly believe the dog knew exactly what he was doing. In fact I'm sure of it, as this is the prettiest tree I've ever decorated. Absolutely incredible that a dog could know where decorations should be appropriately placed. I'm thinking about getting him a part time job through the Holidays as a Decorating Consultant.

Bear's profile can be viewed at http://www.joannsfosteranimals.com/rescue.php?aid=70.













Smart Dog?!

I wish I could train my dogs like this! Enjoy...