Tag Archives: Rescue work

Maizie, A Good Dog

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

This is a tribute to Maizie who we fostered for Northeast Ohio Shetland Sheepdog Rescue. She arrived in 2013 and passed on to the Rainbow Bridge about a year and a half later, while laying on a dog bed in our living room, with me by her side. She now lies buried in our woods with our others who have passed.

The letter below is one I wrote in 2013, right after we discovered she had kidney failure. We are blessed to have known her. She enriched our lives.

Dear Person Who Abandoned this Senior Dog,

Maizie was found by the pound and when they sent you a letter to come and get her, you did not come. She spent 30 days in the pound kennel waiting for you before the efforts of two rescue groups brought her to our house as a foster dog. Today we discovered that she has kidney failure and will live out the rest of her life with us however long that may be. What lesson am I supposed to learn from this? Perhaps to have compassion for you and not be judgemental? I will work on that.

I know that I have been blessed to know this dog who is sweet, loving, and grateful for every bit of attention. She smiles at us constantly and is one of the happiest dogs I have seen. Occassionally she will try to play and has a small, joyful hop to her step. Our lives have been enriched by knowing this kind dog.

My dreams will be sweeter knowing that I have helped and loved this girl. May you be able to sleep at all.

It Takes a Village

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

One of my first impressions of Nash, besides the fear, was the smell. Nash had such a doggie odor that after working with him I would smell the same way. I had to hang my coat out in the hall at work rather than near my desk. I noticed nobody wanted to pet him much because it involved washing your hands every time you touched him. So, on his second evening with us I decided to give him a bath. You can imagine how that went. Nash literally thought I was trying to kill him. I felt so bad for him fighting for his life that I almost gave up, but I didn’t want him to think he could get his way by throwing a fit in the future. So, I sang him stupid songs and washed away. His struggles became less after a while. Luckily, he didn’t have too much fur at this point, so it went pretty fast. He really enjoyed the towel drying at the end.  Needless to say, the bathroom and I were both covered in water and I was exhausted and sore.

I took Nash for a walk the first day after work and it went about how you would expect. He couldn’t walk in a straight line and kept tangling me in the leash. Every so often he grabbed the end of the choke chain in his mouth and tried to get free. And he was furiously trying to eat all the snow he could like he thought he would never have water again. All in all, it could have gone a lot worse. We made it a little over a mile. It did nothing to calm him down though.

During the first days when I would take Nash out of his crate and try to pet him he would constantly jump, lunge, and try to kiss. I mean he didn’t ever stop trying. After the bath incident he actually laid still for several minutes as long as I kept petting him. It was a fight to get the choker and leash on and off of him every time I needed to take him out. And getting him back in the crate involved forcibly putting him in, which sometimes involved wounds (scratches) to the person involved. I knew he would take more work than any other dog I had fostered but that he would also be the most rewarding.

After a couple of weeks with us Nash was still neurotic and needy. I thought he loved everyone but that was not the case. He wanted to chase off the furnace repair man, didn’t like a friend of ours who came over (a large man) and attacked my brother’s dog when he came to spend the weekend. On the other hand, he liked my daughter when she came home from college for the weekend and liked my sister-in-law the two times he met her. And on the day my brother’s dog, Dakota, came I got him out on leash when I came home, and he was fine with Dakota. They never had another problem. Nash has met a number of visitors to our house since then and after he warms up to them he is fine

As time goes by I am sure he was abused. We still can’t pick him up without him going into self preservation mode. Sometimes I just pick him up anyway and let him put his mouth on me since there are things I have to do. Like put him in a crate to ride in the car or give shots. Oh, and anytime your foot comes into contact with him which can be often since he follows so close he runs into your feet, he squeals like you are trying to hurt him. He also has the strong food drive that you sometimes see in dogs that went without for a long time. He will try to take food from any of our seven dogs. And if we are eating you better believe we keep an eye on our food.

Nash, or Nashville as we like to call him, has been with us for a couple of months now. He has come a long way since the early days although he still has a way to go. His frantic kissing and attention seeking are down to about the first 15 minutes after I come home. Of course, he is willing to sit on my lap for the entire evening if I will let him. And you need to be careful or he will jump on your lap anytime. On two occasions this resulted in me wearing an entire cup of coffee. These days Nash runs in his crate eagerly and turns around with his head sticking out waiting for the biscuit he knows is coming. And a couple weekends ago I took him on a three mile walk at a nearby state park where we passed other walkers with dogs and some bicyclists. He circled the leash around me a few times but was otherwise well behaved. By evening when we are relaxing if I tell Nash to get down, he will go lay quietly on a cushion in the corner. Of course, anytime I make eye contact with him he comes running to see what I want, and I have to tell him to go lay down again. But he has come so far.

Nash is ready for a home with the “right person” who will have the patience and understanding to continue working with him. If someone with the right skills doesn’t come along in the near future, we will keep working with him until he is ready for a home. I say “we” because it is a family affair. Everyone in our family has a hand in Nash’s transition and so it will need to be with his new family.

I wrote this tale about Nashville’s escapades in 2009 when he came into Rescue. He was adopted by a wonderful family with two children later that summer and they adored him. I remember sobbing uncontrollably as I drove away from leaving him with his new family. Even though it was a great match, I had invested so much of myself in him that I loved him dearly. The family did comment that he hoarded cans of food in his crate. He must have somehow thought that he would need this food to survive if times ever got tough again. I don’t know how he planned to open them. Nashville was one of those dogs that as a coping mechanism, I always considered to be mine and that another family was just taking care of him for me. Thanks Sara, for his initial transport to us. It takes a village…

Smiles All Around!

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings,

It’s a happy day. A friend contacted me about finding a home for this dog that an acquaintance of hers cannot keep. I do shetland sheepdog rescue. This is a red merle border collie. She is a 2 1/2 year old, spayed little girl.

Since the couple got her, the wife’s health has taken an unfortunate turn and the husband is working long hours now. This pup is loved but needs and deserves more than the family is able to give her with current circumstances.

I had a number of suggestions. Find a neighbor to walk the dog. Or contact a training club or 4- H group about adoption. Post a flyer at the vet office. Anyone who is there takes care of their dogs. Our rescue could do a courtesy post.

But look at that face! What would happen to her? I worry about these things. I spend time sitting around pondering options. You might say I become obsessed. It is in the forefront of my mind for hours. When I am presented with situations like this, my brain takes responsibility. I have to exhaust all avenues open to me to fix the situation. Dogs well-being, if not their lives, depend on it. I do not take this lightly.

I was copied on a post of someone who was looking for a sheltie. Or possibly a small collie. We don’t have many shelties in rescue right now. I thought, hey, they’re willing to consider a sheltie or collie, they don’t really have their heart set on a specific breed. A border collie is a herding breed. Maybe they would be interested in this dog. After hearing more about this person, I am confident they would provide a very good home.

So, long story short. They are going to meet this little border collie girl on Saturday and probably will adopt her. Sometimes things just fall into place. This appears to be one of those times. Smiles all around!

A New Life

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings,

As you may or may not remember, I am a member of a local Shetland Sheepdog Rescue group. I received a phone call at work on Friday from our local pound which is just next door. They said they had a sheltie who was just surrendered and not adjusting well. Would we take it?

I made a call to alert our Intake Coordinator and plans were set into motion. I was already scheduled to leave work early so I said, sure, I’ll be up shortly to get the dog.

Well, I got there and this is the dog they had. It’s a little hard to tell from the picture but this is not a Shetland Sheepdog aka sheltie. He was the right size, about 22 lbs. My first clue that he was not a sheltie was the fact that he had no tail. And upon closer inspection, he does not have a sheltie head or muzzle and the build was not right.

I finally realized that this dog, whose name is Stormy by the way, is actually a Miniature Australian Shepherd. So I made another call to our Intake Coordinator and between us, we decided that we would take him anyway. We don’t have enough shelties for everyone on our waiting list and I think a lot of people waiting on a sheltie would be quite happy with Stormy. Plus, it sprung Stormy from the pound so I see it as a win for everyone.

Stormy was markedly happier once he was in the car and getting farther away from the pound. Now to be fair, our pound is a good one. They are no kill, get the dogs vetted, and are just nice people. But still it is very loud with lots of barking and kennel runs which did not suit Stormy. He turned out to be a friendly little guy that I enjoyed my time with as I transported him to his foster home.

Stormy has since been to our vet and I’m sure will have a wonderful home soon. I am happy to have been a part of the journey on his way to a new life.

Update on Zeke the Foster Dog

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings,

It’s time for an update on our foster dog, Zeke. I have had people inquire about how he is doing which is encouraging for me. Although I can’t say Zeke is over his issues and acting like a normal dog, I can report that he is showing improvement. To what do I attribute this? Two things. Number one, time and consistency. Number two, drugs! The vet prescribed Prozac and occasional Valium for him.

The Valium seems to have little effect so I have only used it twice. Both times he still “drove” his crate across the dining room. When in his crate and we both go away he apparently flings himself against it so hard trying to get out that it moves across the room. We find it up against a piece of furniture or the wall where it was impossible to go any farther. If you’ll remember, he also drools buckets in the crate with standing puddles of it inside the crate and some flung out while we are gone. One time he cracked off part of a fang. He only had two fangs when we got him and now we know why. The Valium has no effect on these episodes so I probably won’t give him any more. Luckily for Zeke, the times when my husband and I are both gone at the same time are rare.

By the way, Zeke is fine in his crate when we are home. We feed the dogs in their crates and then they have a rest time in the crate right afterward for a short time. Zeke also sleeps in a crate and is fine. It’s the being alone that’s the problem. I felt the need to crate him when we leave the house though because I suspect that he would jump through a window to come look for us. The first three weeks I would crate him when I left for work because my husband was still upstairs in bed. (I leave at 6:00 am so who could blame him.) Zeke would do some minor barking and lots of drooling. So, I got brave and left him loose in the house because my husband was still home, just upstairs. Zeke has been good as gold. He has not tried to jump through the window and has been laying down and being good as gold at these times. Someday I may get brave enough to let him loose in the house when we both go away. Not anytime soon though. Because he has been known to knock pans and containers off the kitchen counters and stove. We also need to make sure there will be no incidents between him and the other animals. They get along fine but there is always the possibility of a misunderstanding occurring and the results of that could be disastrous.

Zeke was barking in his crate at night at random at first. Nothing hysterical, just attention seeking. We moved his crate beside our bed and now he doesn’t make a peep. Usually I would not allow the dog to control us like this but these are extenuating circumstances. Zeke needs to gain confidence and calmness to overcome his various problems.

Luckily Zeke is easy to love. He is affectionate and loving. He likes to snuggle and sit on your lap. You better have a big lap because he probably weighs about 45 lbs. now! He has a pleasant temperament and is fairly obedient when given commands. He listens when you talk to him and seems to understand a great deal, given his reactions to conversations.

More on other Zeke behaviors soon!

Kammie 

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

Kammie left this world this morning, after a lengthy illness, with her loving human mother by her side. She was nine years old.


We had the privilege of being Kammie’s foster family for 14 months. She was a sweet dog with an agreeable personality.  Her first human passed away which landed Kammie at one of the Cleveland shelters. She didn’t kennel well and was fortunate to be taken in by a short term foster family. They wanted the best for her so sent her on to our sheltie rescue. She was on thyroid medicine and antibiotics for a bladder infection. I met someone in a parking lot to do the transfer to get her to us. The plan was to get some weight off of her,she came to the shelter at 59 lbs, get her healthy and then find her a home.

Little did we suspect that she was home. She underwent treatment for several bladder infections that never really seemed to clear up. She came to our house in April of 2016. In July, after undergoing an ultrasound, she was diagnosed with several bladder tumors. At that point she was deemed unadoptable and we decided to provide her with whatever time she had remaining at our home.


So Kammie became one of our pack and a member of our family. She would bark and run outside with the other dogs. Sometimes she would then turn around and come back inside, her job escorting the others outside having been completed. She received a number of medications without complaint: Thyroid pills, piroxycam (to slow tumor growth), often antibiotics, and in the later days, tramadol for pain.  Not only did she take them without complaint, she would come and wait for them at the appropriate times. She was a good girl.

Kammie slowed down a little bit at a time with her back end getting weaker until by late this week, she could no longer walk. After a couple days when she had shown no improvement and the veterinarian thought the tumors had probably metastasized to put pressure on her spine, we knew the time had come.  Our time with Kammie was a gift and it was time to give her back. 

Thank you Kammie for sharing your time with us and letting us enjoy your gentle smile and spunky personality. We were blessed by your presence. Kammie’s medical care was provided for by Northeast Ohio Shetland Sheepdog Rescue. The love was provided by us.

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.

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

Things to Come

Country Life, Gardens, ,

House bed

I spent Saturday afternoon clearing out the perennial bed beside the house. It was overgrown with phlox, bee balm, black eyed Susan’s, and other plants that bees and hummingbirds like. The wygelia bushes were barely visible any more. It’s always a challenge for me to keep the foliage in the beds under control. It seems as if I am keeping up with things and the flower beds look good. Then one day I look over and it’s all out of control and overgrown. I don’t know how this happens. I should have taken a before picture so you could see the difference but I found that idea to be too embarrassing.

The impetus for all this clearing and getting the plants under control is that we are going to have a Fall Gathering here for our Sheltie Rescue group. And their dogs are welcome too so I hope to have some wonderful photos of the dogs to share with you in a couple of weeks. Hopefully some of our past foster dogs. We are very excited at the prospect!

Datura

I got a surprise last week from one of those plants that came up as a volunteer. The white trumpet shaped flower is a Daturum. We planted those last year and several returned to put on a show for us this year. I knew the plants had come up but I didn’t think they would get big enough to bloom, but they did. It was a most pleasant surprise.

Cleome

This cleome is also a volunteer. It took hold in between the sandstones. It impresses me with its tenacity.

20150926_111904   Pinks

There are still some beautiful flowers in bloom even though it is late in the year. The mandevilla and pinks continue on.

Hydrangea

As does the hydrangea that I purchased three or four years ago at a discount store for $3. It was a single, bare twig. Now it is several bushes. I’d say that was a good investment.

Caterpillar

I found this fuzzy caterpillar when I was looking at the flowers. I wonder which type of butterfly it will be next year? He is chewing on the plants, I imagine, getting fuel to try and survive the winter.

Burning Bush

This burning bush is turning red already. The others aren’t, just this one. The others have been planted for a number of years in their current location but this one was just moved last year. That must account for the difference.

Trough

The petunias are putting on their last hurrah before frost comes. To be honest, by this time of year I am looking forward to frost. I get tired of working in the gardens and beds but feel too guilty if I stop while plants are still growing. Fall and winter come as a welcome break. Although by the middle of February I am chomping at the bit to get started again. So I will enjoy it while I can.

The Mind Is a Scary Place

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

image

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.