When Irish eyes are smiling...

...they're usually up to something!

With a maiden name like Houlihan, you have to know St Patrick's Day is special to me. So in honor of St Patrick, we led 55 dogs and cats out of Spartanburg and on to freedom! I hope you enjoy the little video I posted below. And check out the kiss I got from that beautiful boxer!

Bye-bye sweetie pie

I took Gilligan and Ginger to an adoption event last Saturday at Petsmart. The first family that met her fell in love and filled out an application. I took Ginger over Sunday evening for a home visit and we decided on a weekend trial. So Friday evening I delivered my little sweetie to them along with her crate, toys, food, etc. By Saturday morning they had made their decision to keep her! Here's a photo of Ginger and I just before we left to go to her new family.

We still have Gilligan and he probably won't get adopted until his cherry eye is surgically corrected. He's a good boy, sweet and fun too. His eye surgery and neuter are scheduled for March 25th.

We're having fun playing with him He's a precocious little guy. He jumps out of the puppy play pen, and can jump up onto our bed, which is quite high. Poor Casey and Noir thought they could go get on our bed to escape the little monster, but not anymore!

It's snowing tonight. This is our third snowfall this winter. Last winter it snowed once, the year before not at all. It started about 5PM and it's still going strong now. Big fat flakes. When I was a kid in Buffalo, we used to say, "mother goose is shaking her feather bed," when the flakes were so big. I guess we have maybe two inches accumulated already. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools have already announced they'll be closed tomorrow. My friends in PA, NY and Canada are probably having a laughing fit over that!

Here's a photo I took of the front of the house. Just LOOK at all that snow! LOL In NY that would be considered a "dusting"!

Makes me want to put up the Christmas tree!

56 lucky dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens

This weekend a huge group of people transported 56 dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens from shelters in South Carolina. The pets were bound for Virginia, Baltimore, and all sorts of points North and East.

As usual I took a lot of photos in Spartanburg, SC, and Charlotte and Salisbury, NC and have assembled them into a little video. My favorite dog this trip was Gem. Poor boy was so scared he didn't want to come out of his crate and had to be carried to the next car. Thanks to Jeff Boyd for his tender care of Gem as he carried him to Judy's car in Salisbury. Gem is a sweet boy and I hope his receiving rescue knows they have a true Gem on their hands!

This is a tale of castaways...

OK, cue the theme music... our new foster puppies are a brother and sister we named Gilligan and Ginger! I pulled Gilligan on Wednesday because they were going to kill him Saturday. They said he was unadoptable because of his cherry eye. But it's totally repairable and our vet is going to do it when she neuters him. He's a sweet little boy who deserves a good life.

Late Wednesday night I realized when we pulled him we left behind his sister. She wasn't in danger, but it broke my heart to think she was there all alone. I went back Friday morning to pull two other dogs and transport them so I adopted her to get her out of there. Ginger's very sweet too, and she and Gilligan play all the time. It's hilarious to watch them.

The shelter said they were "beagle mixes" which is pretty much what they call anything that has long ears. I have a few ideas of what they might be, but am waiting to hear from my resuce experts!

Bella: Puppy mill survivor and her puppies

Bella gave birth to 6 puppies. Last week 2 of them were called to the Rainbow Bridge and will wait for a resucer to take them to heaven. Meanwhile, after losing two, all the pups and Bella visited the vet. Bella's other four pups are now thriving, and Bella is starting to experience the life she should have had all along - she has a yard to run in and is learning that's the place for her to do her business.



Please visit Bella's Blog to get all the updates on Bella and the pups. And while you're there, please consider making a donation via the PayPal link on the right side of the page. The expenses involved with caring for this little family are mounting... but a rescue group will do whatever it can to ensure their lives will be happy and healthy.

Good Golly, Miss Molly!

Here she is, our new foster puppy, Molly! She's a trip. Very cute, loves to play. We think she's only 6-8 weeks old, and she weighs 6.0 pounds. Loves to play. Has the prettiest blue eyes. Cried every few hours all night to go outside. :-) She's smart, I think we have a puppy einstein on our hands!

Hail and Farewell

This afternoon Jim and I met Joyce from doxie rescue who was transporting our little Sidney to Greensboro, NC. His new foster mom would meet her there and drive back home to Durham, NC. We said our goodbyes to little Sidney and transferred the little pup to her car. Then we left and headed to the other side of Charlotte to pick up our next foster, wiping away tears as we drove. I was OK until I heard Jim sniffling!

We finally found the place, loaded up the pup and set off for home. He slept most of the way, thank goodness. The "new kid" in the dining room crate is 4.5 pounds, about 6 weeks old who was dumped at a lady's house. He looks to be part or most yellow lab. His appetite and energy level are good. We'll monitor that closely for the next two weeks to make sure he doesn't come down with dreaded Parvo.

We named him Simon. Sweet little guy. Casey and Noir are already trying to play with him, though Casey barked in his face once and it scared him and he screamed bloody murder and ran behind Jim!

Just look at that sweet face! I wonder how long we'll have him before he's adopted!

Saying goodbye to Sidney

We only had Sidney for a few days, since last Sunday. He's been a great little houseguest. In another hour Jim and I will leave to take him to our contact in Doxie Rescue, and she's going to drive him up to Greensboro, NC where he'll connect with his new foster mom, then head to his new home in Durham, NC. She already has two families that want him, that are already screened and approved to adopt. He's going to have a great life!

Yesterday Jim discovered that Sidney liked to play with the doorstop. It's one of those springy things that makes a funny noise. We got laughing so hard at him I just had to video it. Here 'tis:



And here he is chasing a tennis ball with Casey. Yes, I know, those poor hardwoods! What can I say? At my house, dogs rule!

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!