Bye-bye Arlo! Helloooooo Alice!

Arlo is adopted! He has 3 doggie buddies, a big backyard and a wonderful mom and dad who will love him and take care of him. I love a happy ending!!

Tomorrow morning I'll meet him and his new mom at our vet's where he will be getting a puppy shot, and we'll take care of the contract paperwork.

Arlo is such a furry little guy that they named him Bear. :-) Cuuuute!

As soon as we knew Arlo was adopted, we took in another of the Fast Food puppies, and named her Alice. Alice has short brindle fur, and is a real cutie! She's feisty and loves to play with her sister Gracie.

ALICE:

Arlo and Gracie move in

Our new fosters moved in Monday, June 22. They were born under the floor of an abandoned house in Waxhaw. There were 8 in their litter. Mom is a black lab mix who our group is still trying to catch. The other siblings are in other foster homes and doing well, except for one who seems to have some health issues.

Since mom frequented the dumpsters at fast food restaurants, we named this litter the "Fast Food Puppies" and at first they had names like Bojangles and Big Mac. We named the two we took in Arlo and Gracie. Arlo looks like he's paid a few too many visits to the buffet line at Alice's Restaurant! (Note: you have to be over 50 to get that one!)

Both went to PetSmart for an adoption event with a rescue group on Saturday and everyone loved them! We got a great application for Arlo and did a home visit that afternoon. The next day he went for a week's trial and today I received the message that they want to make him a permanent part of their family! YAY! He has a puppy pool, a big back yard, 3 doggie friends to play with and learn from, and a wonderful mom and dad. He new name is Bear!

Gracie is a sweet little girl, full of fun and all dressed in black. We're having fun with her, and she's doing very well, sleeping through the night, and behaving in her play pen. She probably won't be with us for long!

Here are their photos:

ARLO


GRACIE

Talker, the puppy music critic

Ah, yes, another Saturday, another transport. But this one was a little hairy. With hurricane Hanna pushing up the coast the transport was in jeopardy. And in our hearts we know that if we don't get the dogs out, they may be put down. Because of the potential for bad weather, some drivers were opting to stay home. So I was needed as a driver. I was to take 3 puppies and 2 adult dogs from Spartanburg, SC through Charlotte and on to Salisbury NC.

We got to Spartanburg on time and gassed up. We always do that because gas is cheaper the further south into South Carolina you go. Saturday morning I paid $3.35 a gallon. I never would have thought that's a great price, but these days it sure is!

The drivers coming from Newbury and Greenville shelters were late. When they finally got there, it was a mad rush to get all the animals loaded. One of my dogs didn't make it, but I found out later he'll get on the transport next week (phew!). In his place I got a very pregnant cat. I mean, about to burst pregnant cat. So I loaded up 3 puppies - Tiptoe, a chocolate lab/shepherd mix with crazy ears, Talker, a shepherd mix that looked just like my dog Casey, and Flame, a gorgeous Aussie/shepherd mix. Also had Kiley, a papillon mix. And the cat...

Talker's and the cat's crates were aside each other. BIG mistake. It turns out Talker is aptly named. Usually once we get going, the dogs settle down and snooze. I was listening to the radio, had the AC on, and usually that does the trick. It did for everyone but Talker. She barked and barked. I tried singing along with the music thinking that would reassure her that she wasn't alone. Oh no, she continued to bark. I sang louder, played the radio louder, and she barked louder. And then I stopped singing.... and she stopped barking! MORE DOG SARCASM!! Apparently she's a music critic and can't tolerate my off-key singing! SHEESH!

Meanwhile all this barking right next to her was making the pregnant cat a little nervous. Not a good thing. Have I mentioned I'm not a cat person? Thank goodness Mari is! When we stopped in Charlotte, I asked her to take the cat. Good thing I did - on the way to Salisbury she started to scream. Labor pains. Needless to say, arrangements were made and she got off the transport at the next stop, Greensboro, NC.

Other passengers on this run were a 110 pound German Shephed named Merlin who was convinced he should be driving... everytime Deb got out of her car, Merlin was in the driver's seat!
In all there were 25 dogs, 3 didn't make it and 2 dogs and the cat took their places.


As usual, Mari grabbed one of the little dogs to ride on her lap. This week it was a little Shih Tzu named Nikki. I got this photo of Mari in Salisbury before she had to hand her over to the next driver. Mari is sporting a rescuer's favorite necklace - a colorful assortment of slip leads!

I can't believe she made that U-turn!!

Meet Cesare... Cesare the dog, that is, not the dog whisperer! Cesare hitched a ride with me today on the transport and since I didn't have a crate big enough for him, I tethered him and he rode in the front seat. What a traveling companion! This is my kind of dog! 80 pounds, friendly and funny as can be. And boy once he knew I had a stash of Milk Bones under my seat he wouldn't leave me alone. Kept looking at me with those pitiful eyes... "I'm SOOOOO hungry!!" What a dog!

I took this shot of him while we were waiting to make a U-turn to our transfer spot in Salisbury, NC. Looks like he was wincing at my driving! "I can't look!!!!"

Other passengers with me today were a strange looking dog named Daffodil - from the neck down she looked like a boxer, but her head was all Shar-pei! Next to her were 5 lab mix puppies who rode like little champs. No pooping or peeing in this group! Right behind me was a German Shepherd that weighed 40 pounds but should weigh 65. She was gorgeous, a great rider - got in her crate and laid right down and chewed on her milk bone. She was great on a leash too. Someone trained her... then turned her out and broke her heart.

I'm a fan of big dogs. Especially big black dogs, the ones that are hardest to adopt. More black dogs are euthanized in shelters thank any other color. Not sure why, I think black dogs are beautiful.

Today everything went really well. Mari, Alex (our friend from Animal Adption League) and I each drove down to Spartanburg, SC. Alex dropped off in Charlotte to take her foster dogs to an adoption event, and Mari and I continued on to Salisbury. In case anyone wonders, that's 255 miles for me. Thanks to Jim for letting me use his car - a Toyota Highlander. I couldn't get many crates in my Mercury Grand Marquis, though the dogs would probably love the leather seats and upgraded sound system. In the Highlander they usually suffer through me singing along to XM Radio 60's and 70's stations. Today I took along some CDs - Don't laugh - I took the soundtracks to The Littlest Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. I know roughly every other word and alone in the car I sing super loud.. and super off key! POOR BABIES!! I wonder if they missed the cacophony of the shelter!!

And speaking of black dogs, Mari has to have a little rider sitting on her lap or she's not happy. This week she had little Socks, a black ShiTzu with a dust mop for a head, photo at right. I think the dog has eyes in there somewhere. He was a sweetie. In all we moved about 30 dogs to rescue and adoptive homes today. A lab mom and her 4 pups, and the lab dad; a Pomeranian named "Puff Puff", a cinnamon colored dog that was just striking. Redbone-coonhound mix named Ziggy, but he was an unbelieveably beautiful color. A paralyzed dog that had its own wheels. More puppies. More Shar-Pei mixes, Boxers and Pit mixes and a cute little border collie that reminded me of my Tippi. Any questions why we do this? It was a good day. Rewarding. All were experienced transporters and everyone knew what they were doing.Tomorrow morning Mari and are are doing another transport of a red bloodhound. Single passengers always seem so simple after the Saturday runs. And on the way tomorrow we're going to drop Marvin at his new forever home. If I can stop sobbing long enough I'll write about that tomorrow!!

The top ten reasons to spay and neuter your pets were euthanized in shelters last week.

A rough week turns out well

It wasn't an easy week. It started out hopeful, transporting Jessie, a German Shepherd Dog to a new home and saving her life. But then there was her bonded friend, Sam left behind. Hard to place a 10 pound GSD/Rottweiler mix. Then someone wanted to foster but when he got there they backed out. Then the new owner said Jessie was sad and lonely and they would take Sam.
It seems like Mari and I drove hell's half-acre and then some. But in the end, the pair was reunited. A blog about the week is here: http://sam-ava.blogspot.com/ Here's a little movie I put together:

Three hundred miles to save a life

I picked up Mari at 7:30 this morning and we headed down to the York, SC Animal Shelter hoping to pick up a german shepherd named Jesse before she was euthanized. Fortunately she was spared this morning. Tracy at the shelter brought her out along with the male german shepherd/rottweiler mix named Sam that she had lived with. Their owner turned them in last week. Who knows why or how you could keep animals as pets and then surrender them to animal control and certain death.


Sam was special. He loves Jesse. Sam had a microchip, so the shelter had to try to locate his owner. When the dogs were first brought in, Sam howled when they took Jesse away - so much so that they put them back together, giving her a few more days. Today was her day.

But it turned out lucky for her, a family in Raleigh wanted her, they only needed help getting her to Raleigh. I offered to drive her to Greensboro and Mari arranged a ride the rest of the way to Raleigh.

Back to Sam. After we left with Jesse, Sam howled and howled and was so upset that he know has diarrhea. His time is up Wednesday, so now we are seeking an adopter or a foster for him. He's already neutered, very sweet, shepherd/rottie mix and about 100 pounds of love in dog form. Sadly he will never see his Jesse again. But hopefully his life will be spared so he can share his love with a family and other dogs.

My feelings this evening are mixed. We saved Jesse's life. She's a sweet girl who deserves to have a wonderful life. On the other hand, Sam may end his days Wednesday, sad, alone, and heartsick for his Jesse. Sam is a wonderful boy too.

At 3:00AM I know I'll be awake sobbing, and wondering why people do what they do to dogs, and wondering why we can't save them all. We try, but we really only make a small dent. I know to those dogs and their new families it means everything. But my heart breaks when I think of the wonderful dogs that die every day. Wonderful, sweet dogs with their missions unfulfilled. Wonderful loving companions just like our Noir and Casey, and Mari's Buddy.

The heartache won't stop until there are stronger licensing laws and affordable options for spaying and neutering pets, and education for children to break the cycle of inhumane treatment of animals.

After 300 miles of driving to get sweet Jesse to her new home, I'm suffering. Sweet Jesse is safe. Sweet Sam is heartbroken. What did we accomplish? I don't know if I feel pride or shame.