I have money issues. I don't like to talk about it, think about it, or deal with it. This is why I fought going non-profit for such a long time. When it became a do-or-die situation, we took the plunge, and now I have to talk about, think about, and deal with, money. There are parts of fundraising that I love - basically the creative stuff. Putting together the DePaw U! concept and planning the events is great. Funding and advertising isn't. There are three of us who plan and coordinate the the events - from getting raffle prizes, to making signs, to booking speakers. to figuring out how to set up a maze that will give dogs just the right amount of challenge, to deciding what kind of hot dogs we'll serve. My husband does all the "grounds work," including mowing; setting up parking areas, special fencing, chairs and tents; repairs, and all that. For "Friends FurEver," my step son put together the cute "Friends" promo. I do the web sites. We have a few volunteers who take flyers around, and help out with setting up, baking human and dog treats, manning booths, and cleaning up. It's a pretty impressive production for such a small...
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Posted at: 08:11 PM | 1 Comment | Add Comment | Permalink
Things That Make It All Worthwhile
12 August 2009
I looked outside and saw a big brindle Greyhound standing in the baby pool. I assumed it was Zack, which was bad. Zack is still recovering from a terrible freak accident that happened about three months ago. It cost him part of his right rear foot. Four surgeries and thousands of bandages later, he's finally looking pretty good, but if he was standing in the pool, it meant his bandage was soaked and had to be changed right away - but Lowell was at work and I don't do bandages. (I haven't even looked at his foot since it happened. It was HORRIBLE.) This was a bad situation. I looked outside at the happy Greyhound, and realized it wasn't Zack after all. It was Jonah. Jonah is our other brindle Greyhound - the one who we almost lost to a severe kidney infection a few weeks ago (It's been a really bad summer, but we owe our deepest heartfelt thanks to Dr Beckett at VCA Mill Run, who saved both of our sweet, sweet boys. Dr Todd, you are our HERO!!). Jonah was nearly blind when he first moved in four years ago and now his sight is completely gone, so, big, leggy, uncoordinated guy that he is, he's...
Vicious dog laws are becoming so unreasonable that they no longer recognize basic animal instincts. One minor bite caused by a person doing something she admits is stupid, and a dog is vicious enough that he has to be euthanized? The dog who kills a cat, even though the phrase "fighting like cats and dogs" is one of the most common similes in our language, has to pay with her own life? The dog who merely barks and frightens a child is a dangerous beast who threatens the future of our entire species? What on earth are we coming to? If we held ourselves to nearly as high a standard, the human race would disappear overnight. Every child who causes an injury to a playmate? Dead. Every parent who has ever swatted a child on the bum for misbehaving? Dead. Carelessly slam a car door on someone's finger? Dead. Then we drink and drive, smoke, eat junk food, don't exercise, practice unsafe sex... Where is the real threat to our safety? Dogs? Really?
I used to think those old laws that made it illegal to do things like ride a brown mule while wearing a blue tie on a Wednesday were...
Our big brown bear of a dog, Oso started coming as a guest seven years ago, and five years ago he made this place home. Though he was a bit of a pisser when he was young, he grew into a patient, kind, and mellow old man, gentle beyond words. He was easy to have around, too easy, and sometimes our little band of crazies would keep us so preoccupied with their antics that we would forget he was here for a little while. When the dust settled - literally - there he'd be, happy to be in the middle of all the activity, with the little dogs jumping all over him. That's how he became "Uncle" Oso. He was a good teacher for the little ones; he never got angry, but expected everyone to get along.
Soso has left us for the never empty kibble bowl in the sky. He will finally get to eat as much as he wants, and then he'll lumber over to the biggest shade tree over by the Rainbow Bridge and plunk himself down in the middle of all the sweet kids who have gone before, and wait for the rest of his family.
Ironically, this past week I met the victim of a true pit bull attack. He wound up with 143 stitches and spent almost three months in bed after being jumped from behind by two loose dogs.
This man travels from city to city selling seafood from his van, and he had driven up to the barn to see if he could sell us any. Of course, Hypnotic, staring his best "I can see into your soul" stare, was the welcoming committee. The guy pointed at Nottie and said, "Dogs like that make me nervous," and I thought, "Oh brother, here we go." But the conversation took a turn I never expected - starting with the fact that this man had actually survived a horrific attack, and ending with him saying that it wasn't the dogs' fault. He blamed the owner.
And that is the only way we are ever going to end the problem of "vicious dogs" - not with laws that deem dogs vicious simply because of the breed they happen to belong to. There are mean pit bulls, and there are sweet, loving, loyal, wonderful, kind pit bulls. The difference is how they are treated. And it's not just...
We had a little blind, diabetic Shih Tzu and his little terrier brother abandoned with us a few months ago when yet another sobbing human walked out the door PROMISING to be back... (If I had a nickle for every lie that someone has told me in our entry, I'd be a rich woman.) I didn't think he was going to do well with such an abrupt change in his life, but the little guy has the heart of a lion. He didn't just survive, he thrived. The only problem was that since his diabetes had gone untreated for way too long, his eyes were a mess. He had cataracts and glaucoma, and one of his eyes was significantly larger than the other. Even though he's blind, his little face and eyes were so expressive. We did everything we could to treat them and thought that we'd be able to save them, but over the course of a couple of days they both swelled to about twice their size, turned bright red and started oozing a bloody discharge. So we had to face facts. Timmy's eyes had to go. Last Friday, the amazing, selfless vets at RASCAL did his surgery. And it's been rough. His...
Have you seen our new sign? I’m paraphrasing, but it says things like "All Dogs Must Be On Leash at All Times," "No Children Under 16 Permitted," and "Please Do Not Pet Any of The Horses or Dogs." Fun, huh?
Not that I haven’t always put safety for everyone at the top of my priorities. I never stop reading about and studying animal health and behavior. Our Employee Manual is 45 pages of how to protect every living being on this property, and I don’t think that there’s a week that goes by that I don’t post at least three safety memos for my staff. I haven’t left the property for more than an hour for months. We haven’t taken as much as a weekend away in seven years, and I generally sleep in the barn at least two or three nights a week just because I don’t feel comfortable leaving one dog or another. My daily trip through Starbucks’ drive-through is my big "whoo hoo."
But I’ve tried to keep this a fun, inviting place for people as well as dogs. We’ve kept dogs and people separated, but there’s only so much we can do to prevent all interactions between dogs...
We have been so busy over the past couple of months adding lots of creative and fun activities for the dogs - new agility style obstacles, lots more play time, and we've transformed our office into a "Cuddle Room," so no one misses out on sofa time while they're here. It's been a great enrichment tool for the snips dogs, and makes us feel like we've added one more element to make their lives here as happy and comfortable as they would be if they lived in "normal" homes. We have more volunteers coming out to play and interact with everyone, and the dogs are truly happier than we've ever seen them. The BIG excitement is the new treadmill, scheduled to arrive by mid-February. With all the snow and cold weather, we've all had serious cabin fever over the past few weeks. No one has been able to get the amount of exercise they're accustomed to, so it's made for some unhappy pups with way too much energy to burn. Since a tired dog is a good dog, we decided we needed to do something right away.
Now we just need a really big model for the horses, because they really don't like...
Well, we went, and it was amazing. What an incredible outpouring from the community! Volunteers wearing Best Friends, HSUS, or HSOP tshirts had people come up to them in the street and shove money into their hands. The semi trailer parked outside the shelter was full of all kinds of supplies. (I was particularly jealous of the stacks of paper towels.) WalMart and PetSmart sent semis full of crates, bowls, food, bleach, towels, office supplies. Everyone we met was so nice - the HSOP people are the best! Watching the rescue groups working together was so inspiring. Tracey and I rolled newspapers, cleaned cages, fed and watered, and cleaned cages... row after row after row of cages. The dogs were adorable. A few were very frightened, like they'd never been handled. Most seemed to be happy, friendly little guys. All the dogs we saw were pretty young. I guess there weren't many older ones who made it out, which helps bring home the true horror of the situation. Typical for a puppy mill, there were only one or two people who took care of the dogs, so I can only imagine the filth those dogs lived in. We didn't have a lot of time for one on one attention,...
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Posted at: 11:31 PM | 1 Comment | Add Comment | Permalink
1000 Puppy Mill Dogs Seized in Parkersburg, WVa
24 August 2008
Carrie Rowe, President of the Board of Directors at the Humane Society of Parkersburg says: "A lot of these puppies and animals have never been touched, they've never been on the ground, so they're not like your normal animal."
The Humane Society is desperate for donations. We're planning on driving down to take some supplies and help out as soon as they tell us when and where they want us. Please do what you can to help out in this horrific situation.