Category Archives: Rescue Happenings

New Family Member! 

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings,

New dog is here! It has been 4 1/2 years since we’ve had a new dog. That’s a long time for us. 

His call name at the track was Tomm. That is my ex husband’s name so we’ve been working on a different one.  So far the one that seems to stick is Cassius, with a nickname of Cash. A Roman name for a boy with a Roman nose. We are starting by calling him Tomm Cash so we can get his attention. Soon we will drop the Tomm.

Cash is a retired racer that we adopted from Greyhound Adoption of Ohio. They have a website if you are interested in one of their wonderful dogs. There are also other groups across the country dedicated to saving these dogs. Cash was apparently fast. He ran many races and was at the track for quite a while as he will be 4 years old early next month.

We brought him home yesterday.  He is doing great with our other dogs and fine with our 4 cats as well. He is our fourth greyhound but the only one currently. Our other dogs are a doberman/black lab mix and the 3 shelties, one of which is a foster dog.  We are also watching another sheltie this week, while her family is away. 

Cash is totally clueless about life in a home, having lived at the track his whole life. I have never had a dog that seems so totally puzzled with the boundaries of life with a family. I’m sure this will make great fodder for future posts. Right now he is learning about what is not acceptable in regards to procuring food. His current attitude seems to be, “Oh, you have food? I also like food. I think I will have some.” It does not occur to him that food on your plate, or kitchen counter, might not be meant for him. And when you tell him no, he seems to be thoroughly confused by this concept. Stairs also confound him, which I understand is common for racing greyhounds. We only have 4 steps to go in and out so this is manageable. 

But I must say, we are loving having this big dog as a part of our family.  More tales to come! 

Tales of a Foster Dog

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings,

Foster Dog-Kammie

This is our foster dog Kammie. She is 8 years old and has been with us about 4 months now. She came from a large city kennel in our area to our sheltie rescue. Her owner died and she was taken to the kennel. Shelties generally do not kennel well because  most of them are too sensitive. Kammie went to one of the kennel’s foster homes so she could get out of that environment. With the stress of being there she had developed a green nasal discharge that she was being treated for as possible kennel cough. From the report I received, it sounded as if she did well in the foster home. She got along with another dog and a child. She was not eating well but I didn’t consider this to be much of a problem.  The kennel noted her weight upon arrival at 59 lbs. She was down to 53 lbs. when I got her. I estimate her ideal weight should be 35 lbs.

I actually have a potential home in mind for her. Kammie would be perfect for one of our previous adopters that is ready for another dog. She has had a string of annoying small things that keep going wrong with her that have prevented me from calling about her new home.

First she still had green discharge from her nose. I gave antibiotics for that. We are working on getting her thyroid hormone levels under control. They were too low which explains a few things. She gets pills twice a day for that. She has already lost a few more pounds so that is going well. Her blood work also showed problems with her liver. We ran it again a couple weeks later and it was better after her various treatments and time to de-stress.  Her blood work also showed abnormal kidney function. We discovered a urinary infection and got more antibiotics. They didn’t work so we did a culture and got different antibiotics. Thank goodness for my pill shooter gun.Things seem to be improving.

Kammie and Peonies

Soon we will retest the thyroid levels and check for kidney function again. The vet said it is possible that these kidney numbers are just normal for her. Then…if all goes well she can get a dental and have a benign cyst removed. And once she heals up… then she will be ready for her new home.

Luckily, Kammie is an easy dog. She barks a little but aside from that she mostly just lays around. She comes up to us for petting but if we don’t oblige, she just goes and finds a quiet corner. She does like to spend time outside with the other dogs. I am glad to have the pleasure of being a part of her life.

News from Sweetie

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

Dog-Sweetie

News from a previous foster dog of ours! Sweetie was our foster last year. She came before the foster dog we have right now, Kammie. Sweetie was a joy, even if she was a bit challenging.  After all challenging describes our kind of dog.

Her new family adores her. They say they can’t imagine life without her and she goes many places with them. One thing she does with the family is camping.

Dog-Sheltie-Sweetie

Here she is sticking out of the tent. She is definitely a much loved part of her new family. This is what we hope for when we let someone adopt a dog that we have  taken into our homes and loved. It is hard to let them go. But when we get reports like this, we know that we have done the right thing. And we know that this is what it takes to be able to help the next dog that comes along. And there is always a next dog. We have fostered over 40 dogs so far.

The greatest hope of all people who work in animal rescue is that we will one day be put out of business. That there will be no more need for our services. We want to become a thing of the past. But until that day, stories like Sweetie’s keep us going.

Tribute to a Dog

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

Dog-Phoebe with Bunny

Phoebe has been gone from us a week now. Her loss came suddenly and was a huge shock. One minute she was running around being her silly self. The next minute she was crying out in pain. Her femur had fractured. We briefly considered amputation. But upon seeing the x-rays we discovered that it broke because of weakening from a bone tumor. And with further x-rays we learned that there were questionable  spots on a rib and her heart didn’t look quite right. Then the vet told us that by this point the cancer had usually spread and even with treatment her average life expectancy would be six months. Phoebe was already 10 1/2 years old. Although we struggled with the choice, there wasn’t really much of a choice. We didn’t want her to suffer a surgery and what would follow. We loved her enough to let her go.

Dogs-Phoebe and Baxter

I cried almost all of the first day. The second day I was greatly improved. I only cried for half of the day. As time goes by I cry less. The good memories take up more space. There is definitely a large void in our home and our pack of dogs. Although Phoebe was a lazy hound, she had a big presence. Her favorite thing was car rides. You can see how happy she is that she and Baxter were loaded up in the car to head out for a hike. Phoebe demanded car rides. She got depressed if more than a few days went by without her getting one. Particularly if any of the other dogs got a ride and she didn’t. She would stand staring at the door waiting for us to get the hint. So she was often my passenger on the way to pick up an order of Chinese take out, or a run to the store to buy more dog food. She liked the ride to Tractor Supply for the dog food best. She was allowed to accompany me into the store to get the dog food. She was not above jumping into the cars of guests when they left their car doors open. After all any car ride is a good car ride, right?

Dog-Phoebe

Phoebe was a retired racer that we got from Greyhound Adoption of Ohio. She was nearly two years old when we got her which is fairly young for a rescue dog. Although we are sad that she is gone, as the tech from our vet’s office said, we were able to give her 8 1/2 really happy years.  That is a life well lived.

Dogs and Peonies!

Dogs & Other Animals, Gardens, Rescue Happenings, ,

Shelby and Peonies   Baxter and Peonies

Dogs and peonies. It doesn’t get any better than that. Shelby and Baxter thought it was a great honor to get to go outside with mom, one on one while the other dogs stayed in the house. It’s not often they get mom’s attention all to themselves without another dog around. And they really appreciate it.

Nikki and Peonies   Phoebe and Peonies

The other dogs, not so much. Nikki and Phoebe were puzzled as to why I would ask them to sit and stay while walking away and then pointing that camera thingy at them. We could have been sitting together and snuggling. You can see what Phoebe thinks of my idea to sit. I don’t think so she said, laying down.

Kammie and Peonies

And the photo shoot would not be complete without our foster dog Kammie. She also seemed puzzled by this new concept of sitting in front of flowers. But she aims to please so she did her best to cooperate. Kammie is a nice girl.

Dogs and peonies are two of my favorite things so I thought what could be better than combining them!

 

 

A Winter’s Day

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, Gardens, Rescue Happenings, ,

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I have always liked winter. If the roads were just heated so travel was safe, it would definitely be my favorite season. We had our largest snowfall to date for the winter just last weekend. I took a brief jaunt around our property so I could share my appreciation of the snow and the winter season with you. Above is the front of our home blanketed in fresh snow. That majestic old pine is twice as tall as the house. In summer it provides cooling shade, and throughout the year it makes a nice windbreak.

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This treeline is our view across the street from our house. Right now it looks like all the trees are covered in cotton bolls. And then there’s the dogwood tree in our front yard. I couldn’t resist including it because it has such beautiful form.

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Walking down the driveway, our garden gate is to the left. It still begs me to come in, even through the deep snow. I guess deep is relative. We got about 8 inches over night. I know some people got more. I known I was glad to have the day off work so I didn’t have to drive in it.

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This is the view down the garden walkway. It was especially silent inside the protective walls. A winter wonderland.

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The view of the workshop and garage relaxes me. It all looks so “soft” with the snow snuggling around it. I do see that I never got around to taking down my hanging baskets. That’s OK, they remind me that spring will come again, and I will appreciate that too.

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This is the fenced pasture where the dogs can play for a time when we are home. You can see all the wood we have stockpiled for summer bonfires. It is in the dog pasture because there is no where that we would rather be for a bonfire than with our dogs!

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Our trumpet vine has beautiful “bones” when the leaves are gone. It is growing up a light post which makes it look like a tree.

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I go back inside and this is the view out my kitchen window. This fenced area is attached to the house for ease in putting the dogs in and out. It is also commonly referred to at our house as the poop yard. I believe this is self explanatory. It is especially appreciated when we have foster dogs and don’t know if they are trustworthy outside. On foster dogs’  first day or two with us, I still stand outside with them or may even walk them on leash inside the fence as it is only 3 1/2 feet high. Our first foster dog at this house was a collie named Saffron. She jumped the fence which resulted in me also vaulting over the fence, in my bathrobe and fuzzy leopard print slippers. I didn’t want to lose sight of her so took off in hot pursuit. Saffron was just looking for a good time and didn’t really want to run away so all ended well.

I notice this writing ends with a dog story, as all things in my life do. So let me say once again, life is good!

Sweetie Goes Home

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, , ,

Sweetie

It was a rough weekend. Why? Because our foster dog, Sweetie, went to a wonderful new home. She is a busy, driven girl, who is a challenge at all times. She was our kind of dog. She spent her time following whichever of us was moving. Our every act needed to be supervised. If we sat still, she made up her own activities. Chewing on daddy’s shoe, picking up bits of bark from firewood to chew and scatter around the house, snuffling cats. One time she even chewed on a corner of the coffee table in front of us as if to say “I can’t help myself, I’m bored, can’t you do something”. Most people would probably say Sweetie was a challenge and just too much. We find this type of dog to be rewarding and full of character.

Sweetie

Although letting her go was hard, one of the hardest for me in a few years, we are comforted by the fact that she is going to a wonderful home that we think will suit her perfectly. Sweetie will be living with a younger couple that hikes and camps and wants to take Sweetie on these excursions with them. Additionally, the wife works from home so Sweetie  will rarely be alone. We couldn’t have asked for a home more suitable for her. All this activity and companionship will give her a fulfilling life. It is a match made in heaven.

So although I cried for some time after Sweetie left, I know she is in the best place for her. She is an only dog and can have her fill of attention unlike at our house. She has a cat sibling and at some point, plans to go to a dog park. She had a good connection with her adopters and they obviously fell in love with her. Still, it is Sweetie. She lived in our home and was a part of our lives for five months. Perhaps she will be one of the ones that I pretend is still my dog and that she is just staying with someone else. Although sending them to new homes makes my heart hurt, it makes me feel content at the same time.

Good bye little girl. I know you will have a good life. Momma still loves you. As does your new momma. You are a blessed little girl.

Sweetie

Roxanne and the Big Ride

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, Uncategorized, , ,

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What a beautiful smile! It is what I will remember about her. Roxanne lost the good fight yesterday. Run free pretty girl. I miss my dog.

Roxanne passed peacefully at home.  She was laying outside in the sunshine on a beautiful 70 degree late fall day of Indian Summer. A dog couldn’t ask for better and neither could we. She was 15 1/2 years old and we were blessed to share 10 1/2 of those years with her. She had been failing again recently. This had happened two times before this year so I thought she might rally yet again. We joked that she would be with us forever. You will be with us forever, old girl. But now you are young again.

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To tell the truth, I expected her to give us more trouble on her way out of this world. You couldn’t exactly say she was an easy dog. I guess it was her last gift to us. Roxanne was one of our Sheltie Rescue dogs. She was the first foster dog that we kept after our Rescue had been in operation for two years. It was because she was deemed unadoptable. Lucky us! I do feel lucky. She had been adopted once and returned because she barked and lunged at kids and bicycles on her walks and the adopter had been an older lady who couldn’t handle it. Didn’t seem like that big of a deal as rescue troubles go. So she came to live with us. That behavior had been just the tip of the iceberg. She could give a serious “nip” when you were leaving the house. She didn’t like the way I sneezed and would lunge at me and hit me in the thighs every time I committed this grievous act. When I ran the blender there was more lunging and nipping, sometimes actual bite attempts with varying degrees of success. She would come running from other rooms of the house to exert control and set her world in order. This resulted in her nickname, which I used frequently, of Roxilla. Over the years it became a term of endearment. Even in her later days if you accidentally put your foot down on her as you got off the couch, she could inflict a healthy nip. We didn’t think that anyone else would exhibit the proper level of insanity to keep her so with us she stayed. You may wonder why? Despite these “drawbacks”, she was a very sweet and loving girl. She thought she was working and doing her job to keep everyone in line and under control. She was listed as a sheltie and came through our sheltie rescue but I always wondered if she was infact a tricolor border collie with working instincts gone awry? She didn’t exactly look like a sheltie. Didn’t matter. We loved her and as part of our family we chose to put up with what we could not change.

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Roxanne came from a shelter in West Virginia. Her story, as I remember it, is that her owner was a truck driver and made runs to Mexico. He ended up in prison and Roxanne ended up in the shelter. I think the trucker had family in West Virginia. We always joked that she was used to running drugs. Especially with the way she would vigilantly watch people from the car window. Who knows?! That girl did love to ride in the car. When my daughter was in high school we would take Roxanne with us to pick my daughter up from her fast food job. Roxanne knew where her “pup” (as she thought of my daughter) was. Roxanne stood on the car seat watching through the car window and the restaurant window, looking inside to watch my daughter work behind the counter. She stood on the seat watching and trying to encourage my daughter to come and get in the car. Her eyes followed my daughter everywhere she went until she was safely inside the car for the trip home.

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We all considered Roxanne to be my daughter’s dog because they had such a special bond. That dog loved her Livvi! And the feeling was mutual. When my daughter was older and had her driver’s license she would take Roxanne with her in the car to run errands. That elicited big smiles from both of them. Of course Roxanne would stay in the car and watch, eagerly awaiting my daughter’s return. Even in her last months when she was slow and hobbled by arthritis she would come running as best she could when she looked up and saw my daughter was here for a visit. What a special bond. I get tears just thinking of it.  Of course I am getting tears a lot right now.

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As recently as a couple months ago Roxanne would on occasion go out to the pasture and spend some time outside enjoying the sun and fresh air with the other dogs. Here you can see she was still alert and watching all the goings on around our place. Always in control, that girl was!

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Yet again I am amazed that even with five dogs still left in the house, it seems empty now with her passing. Of course that girl lived large and had a big presence. Now she will live forever as is her due. Until we meet again sweet girl. She is probably riding in a big truck in the sky and looking down while thinking “will you guys get up here where I can keep an eye on you!”

A Sheltie Gathering

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

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We had a Fall Picnic at our house over the weekend  for members of our rescue, Northeast Ohio Shetland Sheepdog Rescue, and some of our adopters came too. It was glorious to see so many shelties at our house. Even more than usual!

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The thing that truly amazed me was with all those dogs running around, some of whom had never met, we didn’t have one incident. Not one scuffle, not one nip or fight. To tell you the truth, if it was going to happen I expected my dogs to be the culprits. After all, here were these strange dogs showing up on their turf. I guess with the number of foster dogs that come and go, it didn’t faze them.

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It was wonderful to meet so many shelties that I had never seen before. Most of them had been through our rescue at one point or another but not all. I enjoyed meeting each and everyone. And to have the chance to see again some of the dogs that we fostered,  it was a rare treat. Blitz came with his new family. He got to go in the pasture and run with his old pack. It was heartening to how much his new family loves him.

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And Miss Sassy Pants came for the afternoon. It was so good to see her and to have her gaze at me fondly as she used to do. And I, of course, gazed adoringly right back at her. Sassy has been in foster care with friends of mine and has a new prospective family coming to meet her on Tuesday. I hope they are able to appreciate her spunk and character as she deserves.

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Sky, previously known as Skylar, was in attendance. Friends of ours adopted Sky so we do get the pleasure of seeing him from time to time. None the less, it was a joy to see him running with our pack again and trying to be first to catch the Frisbee. Our dogs stayed out in the pasture all afternoon because they are used to it, and to leave more room inside for other guests.

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After the big shindig was over, we let our dogs into the vacated party area, which was one of our outbuildings, to hang out with us and to see and smell what all the fuss had been about. Above are Baxter, Shelby, and foster girl Sweetie playing with my daughter.

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Phoebe attended the after party as an observer. Being a good greyhound she didn’t see any reason to expend excess energy.

A great day all around!

Continue reading A Sheltie Gathering →

The Mind Is a Scary Place

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, Thoughts On Life, ,

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Time for another look into the inner workings of my mind. Scary thought, isn’t it? The brave among you will keep reading.

I got another lesson in self control over the weekend. Someone called and wanted me to take their parents’ dog into rescue because said parents had their house re-carpeted. My first thought was, you’re kidding, right? Sadly, no. The caller went on to explain that the dog was now living outside in a kennel but it had a dog house. Like the dog house was some great gift that made them caring, compassionate human beings. Never mind that the dog was now probably wondering why he was suddenly relegated to live his life outside, away from his pack. Winter was coming the caller informed me so they wanted to turn the dog into rescue before it got too cold. Did they want a gold star? It seemed so.

I’m proud to say that I did not let any of the comments racing through my mind come out of my mouth. Some of the kinder among them were:  idiot, moron, are you serious? I bit my tongue and kept them to myself. Why? Because I’m a good person? No. Because I knew that if I alienated them, I would not get the dog who would then spend the winter cold and alone. So as is always the case for people who do dog rescue, it’s about the dog, not about me or anyone else. It’s about saving the dog. That’s why I continued to be pleasant and helpful.

Whenever something like this happens that my mind can’t come to peace with, I try to frame it by Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World. If I can’t deal with it, I look to another source. Prayer sometimes helps me but I want to change the world so I put it into this formula.

  1. Change yourself. I’m trying to change myself, that’s why I didn’t blurt out my feelings.
  2. You are in control. I was in control for that moment. Yay, me!
  3. Forgive & let go. Well I don’t hate these people. That’s something.
  4. Without action you aren’t going anywhere. I referred the people on to our rescue intake coordinator to get this dog to us.
  5. Take care of this moment. See #2.
  6. Everyone is human. Maybe when these folks were younger they were better able to deal with having a pet. Maybe they have health problems that make a dog too much for them.
  7. Persist. Well, I will continue to rescue dogs. I don’t know if I really persisted in this instance.
  8. See the good in people and help them. Even though I don’t agree with the decision, I will try to help these people rehome their dog.
  9. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self. Not sure if I did this by keeping my mouth shut. Helping the dog is what I do and who I am though.
  10. Continue to grow and evolve. I’m working on it.

 
Somehow I can’t help but feel I fell short with this interaction. I didn’t teach those involved anything. Maybe that is not my purpose. I will have to learn to be content with whatever comes of the situation. I will have to put more effort into learning how honor number 3 on the list. At the very least I got a notable story.