Yellow lab: the new "in" dog

Movies and TV shows have always shaped our lives by dictacting fashions and trends, what's "in" and what's not. Unfortunately movies even affect our decisions about which type of dog to add as our new family members.

Think back to popular dogs.. Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Benji, Papi the chihuahua. And this year's popular movie, "Marley and Me".

My husband and I volunteer as animal rescuers. We foster puppies, give them a safe home, love them, then find them wonderful, loving, permanent adoptive homes. We love black or black and white dogs. Partly because black dogs are less desired by the public, and have the highest euthanasia rate in shelters.

My guess is that breeders are already starting to pump out yellow lab puppies like Carter's little liver pills.

As a rescuer, I know what that means. In 6 months or a year, the shelters will be packed with yellow labs that people got when it was in vogue, and got rid of when they realized what energetic little hellions they can be without the proper exercize, discipline, and affection. So as soon as no one is interested in yellow labs any more, rescue groups will have a bumper crop of them.

Don't get me wrong. I love ALL dogs. I love yellow labs. What I don't love is that a living animal is treated as an in style, must-have accessory.

Don't breed or buy while shelter animals die!

Coming up - another happy/sad day

Tomorrow morning I'm helping Mari transport 5 puppies to a vet in York, SC, that are on their way to be transported to New York. We'll probably cover a few hundred miles.

Then I'll get home, play with our foster puppy Simon for a while, then Jim and I have the honor/pleasure/sad task of taking him to his new home. The good news is he's being adopted by a wonderful family. The sad news is that our time with him has reached an end.

He has been a wonderful house guest, sweet, funny, bouncy little puppy. Probably a Jack Russell/yellow lab mix. He's a little guy. Took to his crate and house training right away. Always tells us when he needs to go out. Loves to play with balls and stuffed toys, and most of all, loves to play with his Aunt Casey and Aunt Noir.

Tomorrow evening will be quiet. I know I'll cry tomorrow night and wonder if he is scared to be in a strange place where the mom and dad and aunts he's known are no longer there.

And soon there will be another need... another homeless, cast-off puppy will need our help. And the crate will come back into the dining room and we'll be smothered in puppy kisses again.
Here are some photos and a movie of Simon:

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.

The stray who couldn't stay

Last Monday started the transport week from hell that ended up with the reunion of Sam and Jessie, a GSD/Rottie mix and a GSD.

Monday evening my friend and next-door neighbor called me. "Edie, there's a dog out here that looks lost!" We met in the front yard. Helen grabbed her finest china dish and filled it with water for our guest, a huge old yellow lab that was as sweet as could be. I found out later that he had been wandering the neighborhood all day, which would explain how tired and dehydrated he looked. It's been in the mid-90's every day here.

He willingly jumped into my car Helen and I drove him through the neighborhood asking everyone who was out if they recognized him. No one did. We did learn that he had apparently been dumped in our neighborhood. Back at my house, we tried to keep him in the laundry room but he kept knocking down the baby gate. He just wanted to be where we were. Our girls Casey and Noir were not thrilled with him being in the house. I think they were intimidated by his size, about 85 pounds.

I took some photos of him and started blasting emails around to see if anyone could hold him while I trid to find his owner, in case there was an owner. I couldn't get an appointment at our vet's office until Wednesday. Mari and I were on our second transport of the week when we got the call from the vet that he had a microchip. They gave us the 2 numbers, both of which were no longer in service. We figured we could find a good home for him in Charlotte, a lot of people were responding to the email blast.

You can imagine how puzzled I was that afternoon when I called the vet to see if he was ready to be picked up and they said they were waiting to hear back from his owner! Apparently they tried changing the area code and got a hold of someone who used to own the dog. We also found out his name: "Clyde".

Several phone calls later, we were in touch with the owner. She was not a pleasant person, but insisted she wanted the dog back. We explained that our rescue organization had incurred some vet and boarding expenses and we would like to be reimbursed. She waited a day and a half then told us it would be a "hardship" to come up with the money. A board member of our group decided to let her have the dog back when she promised to make payments to pay it back. Of couse everyone knows she has no intention of doing it.

Finally Friday came and I arranged with her to meet at the vet's office (though the office was closed) so she could get Clyde. When I got there, her boyfriend was already there. He got right in my face and tried to intimidate me. She came flying in, nearly hit my car, and could not have been ruder to me. No thank you, no nothing. Poor Clyde slowly got out of my car and shot me a look. He didn't wag his tail once when he saw her. She insinuated that his ear infection started while I had him, and said he gets goomed every other week. I also noticed she was driving a late model Tahoe, so apparently she wasn't as strapped for cash as she claimed if she can drive a car like that and [ay from grooming twice a month..

I could've cried. I feel like I sent him back to a life outside on a chain in this heat. That's probably why he slipped out of his collar and ran away in the first place.

So I did the right thing, which felt very much like the wrong thing. I can't get this big old guy off my mind. I only hope he manages to slip away and find me again. The outcome will likely be different.