Gilligan leaves the island

He wasn't voted off the island, survivor style - he could have had immunity forever. But last Saturday we were at a PetSmart adoption event and a young couple fell in love with him. They passed every step of the adoption process; application, vet check, personal reference and my scrutiny at a home visit. We liked them and they obviously loved little Gilligan. So tonight at 6PM I took that awful drive... and left my little buddy with two people I hope will love him like I do, care for him, and give him the very best life they possibly can.

Gilligan had a rough start in life. He was born around November 20th, '08, and on December 29th his owner surrendered him to a Shelter. Happy New Yeah, huh? Usually owner surrenders are euthanized immediately, but they gave these puppies a chance. By early February no one had adopted them and Gilligan had developed a "cherry eye", so he was considered unadoptable and made available as a rescue only pull. That means if no rescue stepped up for him by the "euth date", he would be killed.

The day I saw the email with his listing, I had a recently vacated puppy crate. Jim and I agreed we should take him in as our foster, and on February 11th, a few hours before his euth date, I pulled him.

He was obviously scared in the shelter. Usually they take the dogs out of the kennels before they hose the concrete down, but if the animal is scared or refuses to come out, they leave them in there while they hose it down. Consequently everything that is on the floor is sprayed on the animal. A027007, as he was known in the shelter, was handed to me a sticky mess, with a thick film of urine coating his body. Why would they do this? Because they can. Though I'd like to think differently, I'm convinced that sometimes the workers torment the animals so they can feel power over something. And besides, he had a cherry eye, and they were going to kill him anyway.

But he was now mine. I took him straight to our wonderful vet, Dr Shaw at Indian Land Animal Hospital, and he got a checkup, puppy shots and dewormed. She said she would fix his cherry eye at a rate a rescue could afford. I took my little castaway home, with the new name, Gilligan, and scrubbed the indignity and filth off him and covered him in a warm towel, and lots of hugs and kisses.

Later that night, when looking at the listings on the shelter's website site, I discovered to my horror that Gilligan had a sister... and I had pulled her brother and left her there all alone. The next day I went back and got her. We named her Ginger.

And then we got to work, preparing them both for adoption. We took photos and listed them on Petfinder.com with cute bios. Ginger was adopted after the first PetSmart adoption event she attended. But week after week Gilligan was passed over, and the most frequently asked question was, "What's wrong with his eye?"

Finally he was old enough to be neutered and have his eye surgery. Unfortunately the first attempt to fix the eye failed. It happens sometimes. The cherry eye had become fibrous and was not going to lie down. So we waited a few weeks and he went back to surgery and this time it worked. A week later he was healing nicely and looking beautiful.

So how did I know this was the right couple to adopt him? They saw his puppy picture with the cherry eye and thought he was cute then, too, and the eye didn't bother them at all. They adore him.

It's been a long time, since Feb 11th, and Gilligan has gone through a lot. He grew from 15 pounds to 31 pounds, developed strong muscles and runs like a deer. He's had two surgeries, several urinary tract infections, lots of adoption events, lots of learning, and through it all he was an adorable little wiggle worm who loved to be held and give kisses as much as he loved to play with his foster aunts, Casey and Noir. Every morning he would whimper at 6:30 or 7am to go out, and when I opened his crate door he would stagger out half asleep and flop on the floor wiggling and wagging his tail, begging for a belly rub.

Tomorrow morning will be quiet. Our other foster puppy, Hershey, is sweet and calm, not at all a wiggler like Gilligan. Tonight I'll sleep in fits and starts, knowing that he is in a strange place, confused, and wondering why his world has been turned upside down. I'll sob, as I am now, and hope he knows that I fulfilled my promise to him, I loved him, cared for him, and found him a wonderful home and today he started a great life.

I hope he knows I will always love him. He took a huge chunk of my heart with him, and I will miss him for a very long time. But my work continues and there are other puppies that need our help. It seems the more chunks of my heart that I give away, the more of them I have to give.

Goodbye, little buddy.

Adoptable dogs

I'd like you to meet three adoptable dogs currently in Animal Adoption League foster homes...

Calvin, a sweet red doberman:
ADOPTED!!
More about Calvin


Annora (honor), an intelligent Belgian Shepherd mix:
ADOPTED!!
More about Annora


Gilligan, a cute little beagle mix puppy:
ADOPTED!!
More about Gilligan

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Marvelous Marvin checks in

Hi Everybody! Remember me, Marvelous Marvin?!

I lived with my foster mom Edie last summer. She found me a great home with my new mom and dad, Brekke and Jeremy, and my new best friend Spitfire. Spit's a chihuahua, but I don't hold that against him! We play and chase each other around, and sometimes Spit likes to sleep in my crate, which is silly cause I can't fit in his crate!

My mom and dad take me on long walks and we go to parks and play. I really like where I live. I have all sorts of toys and life is good. Oh yea, and the food is good too. I got big! Well, that's all, I just wanted to stop in and say, "Hi!" to everyone and post some photos so you can see how handsome I turned out!

Love, Marvin xoxo

Earlier posts about Marvin:

==> Sir Marvin of York, aka Marvelous Marvin

==> Marvelous Marvin moves on

Smokey's night out

Sunday evening there was a special charity event at the biggest mall in Charlotte, South Park Mall. It's called the "Evening of Giving". They close the mall at 5 then re-open at 6 and you have to have a ticket to get in. Charities sell the tickets for $10 and we keep $7 of it, the rest goes to the mall's charities, so it's all a donation. The stores offer special prices, there's food for everyone to eat, and music to enjoy, and lots of raffle drawings. I took my foster puppy Smokey up to show him off. Everybody loved him, he's such a great little puppy, very friendly and yet calm. So here's a photo someone took of us - the famous team of Smokey and Skinny!! LOL

And now appearing in the puppy crate

Well, as I said in the last post's comments, Bob the pitiful pittie puppy was adopted over the weekend so never got to come live with us. Instead, this afternoon we picked up two, yes, TWO, puppies from the York County shelter that had to be out by 5PM today.

They are approx 10 weeks old, male, beagle and who knows what mixes. Cute as all get out, of course, and very sweet. Love to be held and play. Here they are: Smokey and the Bandit!






Bandit has a white line on his forehead and a white dot on his nose just like Molly did. Smokey looks like his toes were dipped in white paint. This is going to be interesting!

>>> Smokey and Bandit's petfinder page

Life's never dull where Houlihans linger...

In case you're wondering about the title of this blog, my maiden name is Houlihan. And that's what my friends used to say about the exciting things that always seemed to happen to me. If only they knew....

Today I was up at 5:30AM. Not for a transport this time. I was going to set up a booth at "Fur Festival" in Belmont, NC, a benefit for a local rescue group where I would be selling my all natural soy candles and Nussentials health products. Here's some photos of my booth:







While there, we had a visit from our former foster puppy, Marvelous Marvin. He's been with his new family for a month and he's GROWN!! But what a sweet puppy. He looks great, and seemed to recognize Jim and I. Here's a photo of Jim and our little buddy:

I had the best smelling booth at the festival! It was a hot day, in the 90's, and I sweated away another pound! About 6 PM we had packed up and were on our way home, exhausted.
We hadn't been in the house more than 30 minutes, and the doorbell rang. "Can you help us... we picked this little dog up running along the road and he almost got hit." It was a dachshund. ANOTHER one! This little boy was only about 2-3 months old and appears to be pure doxie. "Of course." Jim set up the crate and now we have "Sidney" living with us temporarily while we make connections with doxie rescue. Jim said that's what Casey and Noir wanted to call him! He is ADORABLE!!

So even though I didn't participate in a transport, the day was filled with rescue events - past, present, and future! Life really is never dull where this Houlihan lingers!

Marvelous Marvin moves on

I'll try to write this quickly, without a lot of tears. This was another of those days when rescuers see their work fulfilled and their hearts broken at the same time. My foster puppy Marvin has moved to his new forever home.

He cried when we left his new house without him, and it brought me tears too. His new family is nice, a young couple with a chihuahua that Marvin will terrorize for a few days and hopefully will eventually be a playmate.

It's quiet here, Marvin's crate has been moved to the garage. Tomorrow I'll clorox it out and prepare it for the next little puppy that needs our help for a few weeks. Tonight I will probably lay awake and sob off and on all night, knowing that he will wake up in the middle of the night and cry because he doesn't know where he is, or where Jim and I are.

Our Casey will miss him most of all. They played together so often. Tonight Casey has moped around, stood where Marvin's crate was in the dining room and looked puzzled. She used to lay near his crate so he always had company. Here are a few photos of them playing with a tennis ball yesterday afternoon, and a poem dedicated to foster moms and dads.

Don't know what else to say, except I miss him and hope I've placed him in a home where he will have a wonderful life.

To My Foster Mom (and Dad)

There I sat, alone and afraid,
You got a call and came right to my aid.
You bundled me up with blankets and love.
And, when I needed it most, you gave me a hug.
I learned that the world was not all that scary and cold.
That sometimes there is someone to have and to hold.
You taught me what love is, you helped me to mend
.You loved me and healed me and became my first friend.
And just when I thought you'd done all you do,
There came along not one new lesson, but two.
First you said, "Sweetheart, you're ready to go.
I've done all I can, and you've learned all I know."
Then you bundled me up with a blanket and kiss.
Along came a new family, they even have kids!
They took me to their home, forever to stay.
At first I thought you sent me away.
Then that second lesson became perfectly clear.
No matter how far, you will always be near.
And so, Foster Mom, you know I've moved on.
I have a new home, with toys and a lawn.
But I'll never forget what I learned that first day.
You never really give your fosters away.
You gave me these thoughts to remember you by.
We may never meet again, and now I know why.
You'll remember I lived with you for a time.
I may not be yours, but you'll always be mine.
- Author Unknown