Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Low Cost Spay / Neuter Clinics ~ Missouri

I am posting a list of Low Cost Spay / Neuter Clinics that I have run across in my internet travels. I've never tried these clinics out but if you have, PLEASE post your experience about them!! For a complete list of the states/provinces, see the contents page here.



MISSOURI

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Low Cost Spay / Neuter Clinics ~ Mississippi

I am posting a list of Low Cost Spay / Neuter Clinics that I have run across in my internet travels. I've never tried these clinics out but if you have, PLEASE post your experience about them!! For a complete list of the states/provinces, see the contents page here.



MISSISSIPPI

Monday, July 25, 2011

Pupdates ~ Others From our "pull" day

I figure I should post real quickly what other dogs we pulled from the shelter. One of them has already been adopted and I think another is going today! Yikes! Here goes ... the black is info about the dogs, the red is my info/thoughts popped in.





Jenny: 2 year old Mastiff mix. Female. Super friendly. Big (72 lbs) goofball. Mastiff rescue wouldn't respond to the requests sent about this dog for placement. She passed all her required tests and still didn't get scooped up! I have 2 different volunteers who are considering her for adoption, though "considering" is the key-word. I'll update this in another few weeks once she's been spayed and is actually listed for adoption!





Charlie: 12 week old. Male. Sheltie / Collie cross. He was surrendered to the animal control because he was biting the children ... hello? Is anybody in there?? HE'S A PUPPY!! You have to teach them not to nip dumbass! ... he had to be quarantined for 10 days as is policy. Charlie has already been adopted!




Riley: 5 years old. Neutered Male. Owner surrender due to an unfortunate incident in which the foster-kitten came too close to Riley's food bowl ... I'd have a pretty nasty reaction if someone came close to my food bowl too; "Joey doesn't share food!" (can you place this quote?) ...  Super friendly ... just like you would expect a Golden to be! ... No cats. Gets along great with other dogs. Housetrained. Potential adopter to let us know decision today about wether or not they are adopting Riley.




Heidi: 2 year old. Female. Looks to be a German Pinscher cross. Head shape VERY similar as seen from profile angle. She was pulled by the SPCA but was returned right away as she was "too hyper" for them ... ok. she's NOT that hyper!! In fact, she is less active than most of the Beagles we've had go through the shelter in the last 6 months!! ... SPCA returns reportedly do not have a great chance for being pulled. Housetrained.




Pip: 1 year old. Pug/JRT cross. Male. Super friendly with both people and other dogs. Busy guy with lots of energy (yep, more than Heidi above!). Housetrained.


 

For the dogs who are not altered, they will be going for their surgeries this week. We may list them next week if all goes well. Cross your fingers for them!



My hope is that we will create a good working relationship with this facility and will continue to pull dogs out of there on a regular basis. That is my plan for this anyway. Hopefully I don't walk away with litters of puppies each time I visit ...

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Pupdates ~ Must be Crazy

Ok. Call me crazy. It's true. You might as well because the only reason why I did what I have done is if I was certifiably crazy. I went last week to one of the high kill Animal Control facilities in Ontario. I made the mistake of going BY MYSELF! That's right ... 


What was I THINKING!?



Why would I have thought that I could do this without doing something stupid?!? IDIOT!!



*headdesk headdesk headdesk*


 
I went there as a representative for my local (No Kill) Humane Society. I was there for one job only ... to pull 2 - 3 dogs out of there and bring them to our shelter so we could re-home them.




I left with 10.



Now, to be truthful ... of the dogs who went to the shelter, 4 of them are adults and 1 is a 12 week old puppy ...... Have you counted up?? Do you know what that leaves??? Let me give you a hint:



(please disregard the messiness in the background of this picture)




Did you figure it out?? Need another hint??





No, they aren't stuffed animals lined up in a row ... here's your last hint:




If you haven't figured it out yet you should have another coffee. Or maybe something stronger.




I brought a JRT/Beagle home who had 4 puppies. They were 5 days old when I brought them home. The pictures were taken immediately after I brought them home. I had to put them in a crate for the first few hours until I had my husband bring the Ex-Pen in from the barn and disinfect it for me.



Oh ... did I tell you that my husband didn't know that I brought the puppies home?? Truth be told, I didn't know I was going to bring them until I already had them in my truck.



He's a wonderful husband. He didn't divorce me ... he didn't kick me out of the house ... he didn't even yell at me. All he said was "And you thought it would be a good idea for you to go to this facility without me while you were pregnant?? ARE YOU NEW??"




Anyway ... here we go again, eh? See? Told you I was crazy.



On the bright side, the mom is totally housetrained so we aren't having to clean her several times per day. Not having to clean up constantly gives a lot more time to spend doing Early Neurologial Stimulation for the puppies, which is nicer not to rush through.



The puppies will be available for adoption via the Humane Society when they are 8 weeks old. They are 2 weeks old (as of today!).

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

News Reel ~ Hot Dogs

Alright ... we see this EVERY year in Ontario ... Hot Dogs in Cars ... SERIOUSLY People?! Stop leaving your dog in the car!!! Just leave them at home! It's not that hard. The following quote was taken from an article called Protect your pets which was posted today.





'there have been approximately 10 instances of dogs being left in cars over the last two weeks. Within the span of one day, there were three cases, she says, including one dog that had been left in a car for roughly an-hour-and- a-half, and was spiraling into "serious distress."'




Why do people insist on taking their dogs with them for a car ride if they aren't going to a dog appropriate destination?? If you take your dog with you, then go somewhere that you can take your dog OUT of the car!!
 
 
 
If it's hot enough to use your A/C then it's too hot to have your dog in the car. Peroid. It's very selfish of you to leave your dog in the car when you are putting your dog in jeopardy.
 
 
 
It takes only a few minutes for a dog's temperature to rise to unsafe levels. If they over heat for too long, neurological damage or even death could occur. Every year, dogs die in cars because their asshat owners didn't want to leave their poopsie poo at home ... "she might be lonely" ... well, that's crap. In the instance of those who don't ever make it out of the cars, she won't ever be lonely again.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Happy Tails ~ Albert

I figure some good news is always welcome. We have a Happy Tail from this weekend. One of our resident dogs at the shelter was adopted! He's been with us for several weeks now ... another lost soul who came in from the pound.



When Albert came in, he was crawling with fleas and had lost much of his hair. He was thin as a rail (you could actually see his ribs since his coat was so thin) and very scared. Here is a picture of what he looked like when he came in:




We treated the fleas with Advantage Multi. Once he settled in, he was given dewormer (since Multi doesn't kill off tapeworms), received vaccinations, had surgery for castration (neuter) and we plumped him up a bit.



When we got to know Albert (who was named for the street on which he was found), we realized that the growling and snarling was simply a defensive mechanism. It turned out that he was a super friendly guy whose personality more resembled a cuddly teddy bear rather than a piranha.




The good news is that Albert found his new forever home this weekend. He will be living with another dog and a young couple who absolutely adore him. They have already sent a new picture of him!



 Good luck Albert! Fare thee well.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Pupdates ~ Gracie

The shelter has been one crazy place lately. Dogs coming in, dogs going out, cats everywhere, small animals adopted left right and centre ... Crazy crazy crazy. There has been one constant though and that is Gracie.




After several months, Gracie is still at the shelter. She went out on an adoption and was returned to us within 3 weeks. Now, she is back at the shelter. She came back with a severe bladder infection that included crystals! How painful is that!? So, she went on antibiotics for a few weeks and is now on a special food. The vet says she has to stay on this special food forever ...




When it comes to dogs that are hard to adopt out, Gracie is one of them. She's estimated to be about 6+ years old so she's nearly a "senior", has to stay on medicated food, is NOT good with other dogs, chases cats, is a "talker" and isn't purebred.



On the bright side, Gracie is a cuddler, has nice manners and is a superb fisher-dog! Unfortunately, not many people need a fisher-dog anymore since the invention of supermarkets.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Climbing back into the saddle

It's hard to get back to blogging when you've taken a hiatus. The longer you stay away, the more difficult it is to come back. Things are starting to calm down on this front and so I have a little more time to actually stop and think. Crazy, no?



I have spent the last few months reeling from all sorts of things including puppies, humane society stuff, work stuff (it's our busiest time of year), business stuff (I run a part time business in addition to my full time job), and the newest component ... pregnancy! Yep, you read that rightly. I've spent the last 3 months battling morning sickness, nausea and vertigo (among other symptoms).



So, now that the morning sickness is leaving (slowly), I am ready to get back to everything else; including blogging.



That said ... it is quite likely that my blog topics may take a bit of a turn now that we'll be preparing for baby. My husband and I will spend the next few months preparing our dogs and cats for our new arrival ... that's right - we will begin to actually TRAIN our animals to expect the new baby!



I know. I know. That's crazy talk. Why would we ever prepare the members of our family for the upcoming screaming and crying and pooping and vomiting and smelling and everything else baby. Why are we doing this again?? Oh yeah, so we have a cute kid for fundraising at the humane society events ... er ... I mean ... because we are ready to take the next step in our life. Yeah. Right. That's it.



Anyway, I'm going to be plowing through all sorts of different training in the next few months. It is quite likely that I will take you all along for the ride. After all ... it isn't every day that you have the opportunity to try and train bitey-mc-bitey ACD to be gentle with baby!!



I will also resume my "normal" blog posts, beginning with an update from the shelter.