Sir Marvin of York, aka Marvelous Marvin

OK, I'll admit it. Ever since Tippi the border collie was adopted I have been jonesing for a puppy to foster.

I thought I was going to get one last night but then the person that had the pup gave her away. Oooh I hate to hear that. A puppy given away could become bait for pit bull fights, a breeder, or just plain neglected. This little 8 week old female might never get spayed and have litter after litter of pups that end up being euthanized in a gas chamber.

But hopefully the new owner will be a responsible pet owner and take good care of her. I can only hope.

Today my friend Mari and I went down to York County, SC animal control and pulled a puppy. It was horrible, chosing just one of the 20 or 30 that were there. Just little things, not aware that tomoor might be there last day. But I could only save one, and that little one's life just took a dramatic turn.He's a teeny tiny little boy, probably about 6 weeks old and about 8 pounds. Barely a handful. On the way home, Mari and I pondered over names. I chose Marvin, the name of the town where Mari lives. She refers to it as "Marvelous Marvin" and I think he's going to be marvelous too.

Casey and Noir were very excited to see him, and he was very happy to see them, too. He started jumping around and doing a play bow. Too cute. As you can see from the photos, he's just a little baby, just barely old enough to be away from his momma. You can see how tiny he is in the picture with Jim.

So now little Marvin is settled in his crate, napping. He cried and howled for a while and Casey and Noir kept running to peer into the crate and check on him. Finally he quieted down. Poor little guy. He probably wonders what's up - his brother isn't with him anymore, and there's these two big dogs staring at him. I think eventually he'll be happy that he has two aunts to play with and learn from, a nice crate to retreat to, and people who love him and want the best for him, including a wonderful new home.

So this is how rescue goes. We take care of them, get them vetted, start training them, temperament test them, photograph them, list them on petfinder.com, screen adoption applications, do home visits and reference checks, and finally turn them over to their new families. And we keep them in our hearts forever.

Jim and I are focusing on puppies because Casey seems ok with puppies. Some volunteers only work with cats. Many will take whatever dog is in need, and when a slot opens up in their home for another foster it doesn't stay empty for long. The need in this area is great.

Consider that for every child that is born, 9 puppies or kittens are born. Then think about how many people have pets. It's a simple "do the math" kind of thing to figure out how many animals will be euthanized. It breaks our hearts, but we struggle on, one life at a time.

Please spay and neuter your pets.

FOOTNOTE:
While we were at animal control today they said a cat breeder had just brought in ten purebred Persian cats because she was getting divorced. As owner surrenders, they could have been euthanized immediately (the owner said "so what"). But because Mari was there, and is involved with cats, she said hold them. Mari was able to connect to purebred cat rescues and the cats are being picked up for temporary fostering tomorrow then will be picked up by another rescue on Friday. Rescue doesn't take days off. It happens from minute to minute. For those kitties, Mari is a guardian angel. They will live because she was there and she acted! YAYYY!

Don't breed or buy while shelter pets die.