For the love of dogs

Adoptions June '09, the first half...

2009-06-13T21:04:00.001-07:00

So far this month these pups have happily found their forever homes:

Susie

Mr. Lou

Dahlia

More to come...

Dudley's 1st year in Chicago!

2009-06-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe but this weekend is exactly a year since Dudley made his big move to Chicago!

Lots has changed with the Mr. Dude in the last year. He went through a wicked second fear stage that made him pretty scared of lots of things for a while, but happily I can now report that he seems to be almost entirely over it and strangers are no longer the scary creatures that they were 6 months ago! Fingers crossed it will continue.
He has also learned to play fetch. Like full on chasing, retrieving and delivering back at my feet without even a required 'drop it'. He does this with serious gusto!
He came through shoulder surgery like a champ and even survived the 10 weeks of crate rest without too much complaining.
He got an unexpected second canine sister just a few short months after he arrived. He like to play with her, the other sister is for cuddling.
He goes to daycare every week and he loves to play with other dogs.
In the evening we snuggle on the couch. Sometimes Jason jokes that Dude would crawl inside me if he could to get closer. I adore him.

On the other had it seems like not a lot has changed at all!
He's a little bigger and the couch has lost a lot of its luster from weekly washings, but the essentials are the same:

Izzy and Dudley on 6/13/09

Izzy and Dudley on 6/13/08

Transport overnighters!

2009-06-13T19:37:00.001-07:00

In May I overnighted 5 dogs that were on a transport from somewhere down south, I forget where, to rescue in MN. My grand plan was to keep them all in the (fully finished) basement and not even try to introduce them to Midley. It worked great for 4 of the dogs, but as soon as I picked up the 5th pup I knew that sleeping in a crate in the basement wasn't quite going to work for her because she was a tiny, tiny chihuahua puppy who was shaking from the cold!

I brought her upstairs and measured her on my vegetable scale - 1.2lbs. Holy shit!! I was sure that Midley would think she was a sqirrel and try to eat her, but they didn't. They were very gentle with her and Mabel, of course, loved her! She spent most of the evening inside my sweater, sleeping on my boobs!

Love the big Dumbo ears!

Mabel and Izzy checking her out. I wonder what she was thinking!

My other overnight charges were:

An adorable, sweetheart terrier mix puppy!

2 funny, playful rat terriers!

An antisocial senior maltese who screamed until 3 am. Poor girl.

I hope that they have all found great homes!

My foster pups!

2009-06-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

Much to Mabel's delight we also fostered 2 of the mastiff/rottweiler puppies for a little while in April. While they were cute, they were also peeing, crying, nipping, puppy-machines. We all enjoyed out time with them, but we are happy that they didn't stay forever!

Angry eyes (on the left and aptly named) was the feisty one and her little brother who I called Pooper was the sweet, lovable one. They now go by Mavis and Achilles respectively!

Apparently this was comfortable, he stayed in this position for about an hour!

Sleeping was how we liked them best!

Well, except Mabel. Mabel LOVED them. They were not quite so sure about her at the start though!

Angry Eyes soon found some energy and made Mabey a great playmate!

A special shout-out to 2 adorable pibbles!!

2009-06-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

May brought great applications on 2 of out pittie boys! We are happy to report that Rocky Point and Lagos are now in homes where they will be much loved and given the opportunity to serve as great breed ambassadors.

Rocky Point, the 85lb pit/mastiff mix. A gentle giant, who's favourite thing in the world is a stuffed toy which he loves to throw up in the air and catch.

Lagos, the stunning blue pitbull who ended up at Chicago AC at only 3 months old, an owner give up. Seriously one of the best looking dogs I have ever seen!

Adoptions May '09

2009-06-13T18:46:00.001-07:00

May was a busy month with people coming out of their winter hibernation and deciding it was time to adopt a dog! We're not complaining. Here are some of the lucky pups who were adopted last month:

Parker

Benjamin

Misha

Cricket

Cody

Adoptions April '09

2009-06-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

April was all about PUPPIES!! They were cute as hell, but getting them all adopted out to good homes was quite the challenge. We had so many applications, it took forever to sort through them! We got there in the end though and I am happy to report that they are all doing fabulously with their new families and that they were recently speutered. They are mastiff/rottweiler mixes.

Here they are with Mia, their poor, brave Mom. She had 10 puppies in total. She is now spayed and living a peaceful, puppy-free life with a great family!!

4 of her "kids" at 6 weeks old:

Adoptions March '09

2009-06-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

March adoptions:

Heidi

Bondi

Oreo

Mallory

Archie

Adoptions January-February '09

2009-06-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to update this blog for months, but something always seems to get in the way. In January I started working with a new rescue as adoption coordinator. I am loving it and we have had lots of adoptions so far this year. Here are some of the dogs that found their forever homes in the first few months of the year:

Brothers Foster and...

Sydney and...

their single Dad, Chopper.

Griffen

Penny

The Midley Biscuits!

2008-12-29T14:33:00.000-08:00

What does a pitbull have to do to get some service around here?!

2008-12-29T14:21:00.000-08:00

Probably my favourite pictures of these two ever. Priceless.

Midley master the 'down stay'!!

2008-11-30T14:53:00.000-08:00

Izzy is an old hand at obedience, and Jason, Dudley, Mabel and I have been taking a class for the last few months, so I decided it was time to work on the triple down stay. They are all so well-behaved now!

Mr. Dude, the Cubs fan!

2008-11-30T14:41:00.001-08:00

Mr. Dude, the former Alabama dog, has become a firm Cubs fan since his big move to Chi-town! He is also a whopping 51 lbs now and almost 1 whole year old.

"Hey, how do my ears look from this angle?"

"Yep, Cubs fan, that's me! What do you mean they're crap?!"

"Alright lady that's enough, no more photos today."

He's so lanky now!

Izzy, the fetch maniac.

2008-11-30T14:27:00.001-08:00

Life with Izzy is...well, it's predictable! She is completely, utterly, unwaveringly, all-consumingly obsessed with fetch. Damn lab/pit mix makes for some serious drive and stamina. This series of photos perfectly depicts how she spends most of her time. We are hoping she will, at least somewhat, grow out of it...eventually...

"Well, hey, fancy meeting you here! Any interest in a game of fetch?"

"Listen, play with me or I may be forced to hurt you human."

"What about over here. Anyone over here interested in a quick game?"

"Or you over there, you'd do. Wanna play?"

"Oh come on people!! I'll bring the ball. You just open the back door. You know you want to."

Poor Izzy ;) Life is hard!

Mabel's love affair with Jason continues...

2008-11-30T13:51:00.001-08:00

So, I think I probably mentioned before that one of the deciding factors in Mabel becoming a permanent member of our family was her adoration of Jason. Things have not changed in the months since she's been here!

She weighs 50-ish lbs now but it still doesn't stop her from being a lap dog. She and Jason enjoyed a lovely, lazy Sunday morning cuddle this morning. Doesn't he look comfortable!!

"Oof, life is hard. I'm so sleepy."

"Hmm, let me just get comfy here."

"Love you, love you, love you, love you, love you!"

(Notice Mabey's cool 'I heart Obama' collar!)

Transport 11/30: More puppy cuteness!

2008-11-30T13:29:00.000-08:00

I finally get a dog mobile so I can do multiple big dog transports, and I end up with another bunch of puppies. Not that I am complaining of course. 5 ten week old dobie/gsd mixes on their way from NC to rescue in IL. I love getting my puppy fix!

Have a great life babies :))

They were curious at first...

Then they played a little... (this little girl was a spitfire!)

Then they started to relax and get sleepy...

It took them a while to get proper comfy...

And finally they nodded off. So precious.

So, I finally got my black dog...

2008-10-28T17:39:00.000-07:00

No, only joking, that would be insane!
My friend Alex brought her shepherd/husky mix puppy, Saoirse, over for a playdate this weekend, and all the dogs got along swimmingly. Izzy and Saoirse especially loved one another and continued playing long after Dude and Mabey passed out. They had a blast!

Getting acquaitned in the back garden.

"Treats lady! We ain't sittin' pretty for nothin'."

I love the smiles on Izzy and Saoirse in this picture. Saoirse has one blue eye and one brown eye!

OH transport PUPPIES!! 9/27

2008-09-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

Alex and I took part in the cutest.transport.ever today. We squeezed 8, yes 8, 3 month old Boxer/Pittie mix puppies into the back of my car for the Crown Point, IN-Chicago, IL leg of their tranport to a wonderful boxer rescue in WI. We got lots of puppy kisses and love. They were so, so cute.

Puppy scramble.

Trying to figure out where to put themselves.
"Seriously lady there's not a lot of room back here."
They settled down really quickly and slept like little angels!

Mabel's found her forever home.

2008-09-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

So, after some gentle encouragement from a friend (Hi Peggy! Hope you are having a good Monday!) I have finally found some time to update my blog. It has been 2 months since I picked up Mabel off her transport from SC, and, as the pictures suggest, she is still here :))

Jason and I just completely fell in love with her and decided that we couldn't stand to see her leave, so in September we officially adopted her and entered the crazy world of a 3 dog household. Living with 3 1 year old dogs is, well...interesting at times, but we wouldn't have it any other way! Mabel and Izzy and Dudley, or Midley as J like to collectively call them, have settled into life as a threesome and love to play and wrestle together.

Mabel is thriving! She goes to daycare 3 days a week and gets to cuddle on the couch every night. Needless to say she charms everyone that she meets, and her story has been an inspiration to many. She is a wonderful example of the incredible resilience of dogs, and reminds me every day to enjoy life, and, most importantly, not to sweat the little stuff. She certainly doesn't!

Here are some recent pictures:

Mabel with (from L-R) her brother Dudley and her sister Izzy sitting pretty for a treat.

"Ooh, is Dad home?"

And here are some pictures of Mabel's favourtie passtime. She is always on this couch, which probably contributes to the fact that it is not the cleanest couch in the world. Oh well, she doesn't seem to mind.

Mabel is a HAM. She loves to have her belly scratched.

A good stretch after a tough day at daycare.
Hard at work, watching TV.

Mabel's Miraculous Healing Leg Wound

2008-08-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

Mabel's leg wound is almost completely healed now. How crazy is that?!? She doesn't even need a bandage anymore. It is down to a small scab. I don't know if she will ever have hair there though. I think it will remain a pink scar. A reminder of why she deserves the best life possible I guess you could say.

The photos below may not be for the squeamish.
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Saoirse and Becks - the IN rescue puppies.

2008-08-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

Checking out the cats I'm sure. Alex and Chris have 6!

Oh the ears!! Too cute.
Saoirse means freedom in Irish. She has one blue eye and one brown eye.
Becks looks pretty happy in his new home.

On Thursday July 31st 2008 Alex and I took a road trip to the Marion-Grant Humane Society in Marion, IN. Alex was looking for a shepherd/husky mix puppy for herself and Chris. They lost their 16 year old dog Duke a month ago and were ready to welcome a new dog into their family.

Marion-Grant Humane Society is a sad, sad place. Way out in rural IN, on a road that did not show on my GPS, we pulled up to an small, old building; the home of over 100 dogs and many more cats. Workers doing their best, but struggling in the face of unsurmountable odds. I watched the back of the female worker's head as she lead us to the back of the facility to meet the puppy that Alex was interested in. I didn't dare take my eyes off her head for fear that I would look into the eyes of one of those dogs. I couldn't. I know I would lose it if I did.

When we got to the back of the facility we were greeted by not one, but two, beautiful, wriggly, hopeful, 4 month old , 15 pound shepherd/husky mix puppies. Alex and I had spoken about this possibilty on the drive down and, as soon as I saw them, I know that she would be bringing them both home.

20 minutes later we were back in the car headed for Chicago, with 2 puppies jumping around in the back seat. I am so thankful to her for taking them out of there. They are in their new home now settling into their wonderful new life, and I could not be happier for them.

Plans are in the works to see if we can get some more of the dogs out before the shelter closes on August 31st. I am hopeful.

2 weeks later...

2008-08-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

Mabel loving on my husband. He is her favourite person!

Mabel thinks daycare is a-ok.
She is ALWAYS smiling.

So, 2 weeks have passed since Mabel's arrival in Chicago and things just keep getting better and better with her! We started out with some difficulties between her and my own dogs. They, especially my female, were not happy about the new (albeit temporary) addition. Things are slowly improving and I would say they are living in about 90% harmony at this point.

Mabel is gaining weight like crazy. Last Wednesday she weighed in at a solid 47 lbs and the vet says that she only needs to gain 3-5 more lbs to be at her ideal weight. So in 1 month she has gone from an emaciated 33 lbs to a healthy, if a smidge skinny, 47lbs. She is happy and full of energy.

Psychologically she is a very different dog from the scared, aggressive bag of bones that Michelle pulled 1 month ago. She is loving and oh so affectionate with my husband and I. She wags her tail for everyone that she meets, and nuzzles anyone that will let her! She goes to daycare 2-3 days a week and plays well with all kinds of different dogs. She accepts new situations willingly and adjusts very quickly. There are, however, a few things that she is afraid of. Namely hairdryers, drills and shovels. We are working on all these things!

Mabel and my first trip to Petco will forever be seared in my memory as one of the most heartwarming moments of my life. She hesitated at the door for about 7 seconds before finding the courage to dive in. As soon as she did she was in Heaven! We spent 1 hour in there walking up and down the aisles, and I'm pretty sure she sniffed everything in the store twice. She smiled non-stop and everyone that met her fell in love with her. It was so wonderful to see her so happy.

Even though I am watching all this with my own eyes, it is still hard to believe the leaps and bounds of improvements that she has made in the last month. At the beginning I was truly questioning her chance for survival and now she is living in my house, healthy and loving life. It is such a priveledge to get to watch such a transformation.

And, she is here :-)))))

2008-07-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

Finally, on Sunday July 20th I got to meet Mabel. I drove out to Western Springs, IL to meet her transport and pick her up. It is so great to have her here.

Meeting Mabel for the 1st time.
She wagged her tail for me immediately and fell asleep on the way home, using a stuffed toy that I bought for her as a pillow. I was immediately in love!

Mabel's night in Indy

2008-07-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

Mabel spent the night of Saturday July 19th at the home of a wonderful volunteer in Indianapolis, IN. Jenn not only overnighted Mabel, she also drove several legs of her transport. Big thanks to Jenn for helping this lucky girl.

Jenn reported of her time with Mabel: "I had the pleasure of keeping Mabel overnight. Such a joy! An absolute joy! I fell in love with her and I miss her terribly already!"

As you can see Mabel made herself at home in Indy!

Mabel's Cross-country adventure!

2008-07-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

Question: "How do you get a dog from a foster home in Charleston, SC to a foster home in Chicago, IL?"

Answer: "Once again, you rely on the kindness and hardwork of a selfless group of strangers."

For those that don't know here's how it works. Everybody drives about 1 hour, so for Mabel that was 15 different legs on Saturday July 19th and Sunday July 20th, plus one overnight stay at a volunteer's home in Indianapolis, IN.

Michelle and I were worried, very, very worried, that Mabel would freak out with meeting so many new people and being passed off to a new stranger every hour for 15 hours. She, again, surpassed all our expectations and was an absolute treat with everyone that she met. These photos are of her travelling through NC on Saturday.

Mabel's last days in SC

2008-07-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

Michelle gave us one last update on Mabel before she began her long trek to Chicago. Mabel's behavioural issues are improving and she is gaining confidence. Michelle and Andrew have done such a wonderful job with her. Mabel is healthier and happier thanks to them. Our emaciated puppy who weighed 33.7 lbs at her first vet appointment on July 1st now weighs in at a whopping 43.7 lbs. Pretty impressive in just 17 days. I can't thanks Michelle and Andrew enough for taking such good care of her.

"Mabel's temperment has finally stabilized and become predictable with us- she is much better behaved (though she's still a typical bully puppy and will need to learn manners) and hasn't peed or pooped in the house while supervised since she flooded our West Elm rug.

She gets along amazingly with Maggie and Sabrina, though play must be supervised because it has escalated (with Sabrina) into fighting once or twice- and they're easily broken up with verbal correction. She's still going to need a lot of help and reinforcement at [her next foster home], particularly with the food aggression because it took her quite a while and different techniques to finally get her calmer, and she still does it on rare occasions (wet food, petting her muzzle with pressure).

She is mushy and delicious and such a lap dog! I love her and am so jealous of Ruth- now that we fattened her up, and turned her from a sad dog into a bad dog into a great, healthy dog she gets to enjoy her at her funnest. No fair!

Still not sure how Mabel will do with the transport- she'll be stressed and meeting a whole lotta peeps. She'll also be much stronger than she was initially- praying she doesn't bite anyone! She is doing well with strangers who are already in her house when we let her out, but not as well with people on the other side of the fence (still growls, and hackles up) or on the other side of the door (like the Chinese food delivery guy).

When she gets her health cert. tomorrow we're going to ask about dosing her with Benadryl to help her sleep and we'll send a bottle of Rescue Remedy on the way. I got her a name tag today and Andrew needs to buy her own collar and leash. I'm so excited for her and so nervous too- I want everyone to make it in one piece but I'm going to miss her!

Hopefully she'll get over her kennel cough and can head up to [her next foster home] in Chicago this weekend- I know she is so excited to get her! She is a GREAT dog but will need to go to someone with bully experience- she is developing a strong/protective personality (of us, she loves us), though we're working on her food manners and her leash manners with strangers we encounter on walks. We have gotten great advice from friends and others in the dog world.

Mabel has not had even one accident in her crate and she takes her wound scrubbing (ouch) and hydromassaging in stride.All in all, things are going well :) I am planning to call the AC facility and let them know how she's doing and to send them a letter. Andrew is pissed at them because they said they had her for 6 days but the pictures you've seen of how much she improved in just six days makes him think they hadn't been feeding her enough."

Mabel's amazing vanishing leg wound

2008-07-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

When Mabel first arrived at Michelle's we were all pretty sure that she would need a skin graft on her leg wound. On July 17th 2008 she had her last surgical consultation in SC and Michelle reported that the surgeon told Andrew, "You must be feeding her super food, because I have never, ever seen a wound like that heal so quickly and without assistance in my life. It would be stealing money from you to do surgery on this dog."

So yay, Mabel doesn't need surgery, her kennel cough is gone and she is ready to start her journey to me in Chicago. I am more than excited to meet her finally, and have had butterflies of nervous anticipation in my stomach all week.

Mabel Week 2 and 1/2!

2008-07-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

As the days pass at Michelle's, Mabel continues to make astounding progress. She is now gaining weight like a champ, her wound is healing, her abscess is gone and she is amazing us all with her quick transformation.
Below is her foster mom's update from July 14th 2008. The scared, timid emaciated puppy has vanished and has been replaced by a dominant, confident (most of the time) love of a dog.

"Well, today is July 14th and Mabel is not remotely the same dog we pulled from Savannah/Chatham AC on July 1st. Instead of the sweet, timid, unsure, wiggly and defensive pup that we've had for the first week and a half, she is now a strong, pushy, dominant AW of a dog!
She is still sweet as can be with us, but make no mistake- she wants to be top dog in our house. We finally introduced her to Maggie and Sabrina [our French Bulldog foster] on Saturday since Maggie came down with [kennel cough] anyway, and immediately Mabel started trying to mount and hump her. Maggie never cares but we corrected and redirected her. She and Sabrina have an issue and need to be monitored extremely closely when interacting- I'm not 100% who is starting sh*t, but Mabel makes her displeasure known. This morning Mabel was the one clearly instigating Sabrina and trying to entice her to run, but Sabrina was having none of it and didn't move from in front of the door.

Mabel's tail is always up and wagging and her ears are now always forward and perked, intstead of back and flat like they have been previously. We have confirmation that she is not housebroken (our poor West Elm rug may not survive the river of urine she flooded it with before my eyes yesterday). She now barks when crated and whines when she has to be separated, since Andrew can't always keep a close eye on the dogs during the day and we don't trust her for a minute!

She is always moving and getting into things, like a typical puppy. It seems she knows her name and she is a total lap dog- as in, when I'm on my laptop on the sofa, she jumps up and sits right on my hands. She loves Andrew and they chase each other in the yard; she has a problem jumping up on us (I have three big welts from her claws this morning) but we're correcting when she does it and she seems to oblige for a minute or so.

She goes back tomorrow morning to have her bandage removed and we'll hopefully find out what the recommendation is about surgery. She seems to be over her kennel cough though we're finishing out the meds, and Maggie doesn't have it badly at all so far- just a cough/hack once in a while as opposed to the constant coughing Mabel was doing last week. Right now, Mabel is supposed to head to Chicago on Saturday and that's still the plan as far as I know. I'll work on posting pics of Mabel from this morning so you can enjoy her progress."

TheMabelFund

2008-07-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

As Mabel was working hard to get healthy at Michelle's house people all over the country, who had seen her picture on the internet, were asking if there was any way they could help her. Most people were looking to donate in some way to Mabel's recovery.

In light of all the requests that I received I decided to set up a fundraising website for Mabel. I felt a little uncomfortable about the whole thing because I had agreed to cover Mabel's medical costs personally, and did not want people to feel obliged to contribute in any way.

This of course was not the case and people came out in amazing numbers to offer support to Mabel. I am still overwhelmed by the generosity that was shown to her, and me, by so many strangers and internet friends. Mabel's fund has been a confirmation of the kindness of strangers, and a true example of humanity.

Before I set up the fund my husband asked me how much I was hoping to raise and I said my goal was $250, and my wildest dream amount was $500. Here is the link to Mabel's page so you can see how far it exceeded my expectations: http://www.firstgiving.net/themabelfund.

I will forever by truly grateful to have felt such kindness in such a personal way. I cannot express how much it has all meant to me.

Mabel Week 2

2008-07-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

Below is an update from Michelle at the start of Mabel's second week with her. Mabel was having some behavioural issues at this point and we were all worried that she was going to end up being both human and dog aggressive.

"So it's not really week 2 yet, as it's only Sunday and week 2 technically begins on Wednesday, but I needed a marker to label these photos. I guess you could call them "Day 6" photos. She is definitely putting on weight! It's impossible to get good shots of her face because she's always in motion and my fastest shutter speed is waaaay too slow.

"Mabel is doing great physically- she's eating, playing with us, being goofy, and her abscess is almost completely gone!! Her leg wound, I'm not sure, but she has a follow-up appointment this week and her surgical consult.

Psychologically, though, I'm not sure. She growled at me Friday morning- my routine has been to hand feed her and to pet her while eating from the bowl, and while petting her in the AM, she growled and curled her lip at me. I just kept petting her, and she got over it. We're only hand feeding from now on, I will absolutely not tolerate food aggression. We're still strictly crating and rotating with the dogs and she has so far ignored the cats in the house. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I've been getting the feeling that as Mabel gets stronger and more used to the house, the more possessive of it she's getting.
So yesterday I took her for a super short walk, maybe 100 feet, if that, and we came across two guys who were walking to a neighbor's house (we live in a great neighborhood, lots of young couples and stuff). She started growling and lunging at them. I explained she was a rescue but the guy reached out his hand (we were still four feet away) and she kept growling and lunging, I tried to calm her and was able to pet her and to hold her while she was growling and until they left, but I'm worried that I maybe reinforced the behavior by doing so.
I think it's important to keep trying to socialize her but I've never had experience with aggressive dogs and want to make sure I am helping more than hurting. She is in love with Andrew and I and snuggles and plays with us and has not growled at me once, even with food involved, except for yesterday morning. But, just now, while I was playing and petting her in the guest room and Andrew was coming home and walking in the back door, she started to growl. The behavior is completely foreign to me

Mabel's 1st Day of Freedom

2008-07-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

Mabel's first 18 days of recovery were spent in the loving care of Michelle and Andrew in Charleston, SC.

Here are some pictures taken on her first day at their house. At this point she weighed 33.7 lbs and we were all pretty convinced that she would need a skin graft on the hideous wound on her leg. She was sad, scared, meek and struggling to survive. That was all about to change...

Scary skinny Mabel on her first day at Michelle's.

Ribs, hips and spine on display. It doesn't get much skinnier than this.

A view of the size of the leg wound.

Up close and personal.

The Mad Dash to Save Mabel

2008-07-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

On July 1st 2008 we quickly, and somewhat frantically it has to be said, put the wheels in motion to save Miss Mabel.

Bridgid scrambled to get all the documents that we needed from LSAS to proceed with pulling Mabel from Savannah AC. Michelle waited anxiously in Charleston, SC for the documents to arrive so she and her fiance could get on the road to Savannah to go get Mabel. I spent the day frantically emailing the two of them, giving progress reports and making sure that they both had everything they needed.

The AC was scheduled to close at 5 pm and if we did not have Mabel out by then she would be euthanised before they opened the following day. At 3 pm ET Bridgid managed to get everything faxed over to Michelle, who then began the mad dash to get to Savannah in time to get Mabel. She made it by the skin of her teeth, and whisked Mabel away to freedom and a hamburger from McDonalds!

They went straight to the vet. Here is Michelle's report from that evening:

"Long story short, she is HW- (yay!) parasite free, and was so infested with fleas, ticks, and maggots in her ears that the vet needed to bathe her- we just couldn't do it at home, especially with the leg wound. Her leg wound is old and we're going to scrub it with blue solution daily, per the vet's instructions, along with hydrotherapy to promote healing (shower massage). She also had some kind of large tumescent growth attached to the muscle on her chest, which burst when the vet aspirated it. We have to massage it repeatedly with a warm washcloth to get the fluid out. She is being dewormed tonight despite her direct and float fecals coming up clear, just in case. She needs to be separated from the other animals in the house for a week, per the vet, just in case. She is one of the sweetest dogs I've ever met and is SO hungry and SO weak. She just put her little head on my lap and tries to lean on you. The vet thinks she's 1+ because of tartar on her teeth but she looks all puppy to me, with ginormous paws. She only weighs 33.7 lbs and should weigh 50+."

The Mabel Story

2008-07-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

My journey in the world of dog rescue began on June 30th 2008 at 5.48 pm when a friend posted a link to a petfinder page entitled "Saddest ever" on a dog-related forum that I frequent.

The images that I saw broke my heart. An emaciated, injured, dejected "pit bull" scheduled to be euthanised on July 2nd. I decided that now was my time to step forward. If I could help it there was no way that poor dog was going to die in that place, never having known love.

I emailed Bridgid, the wonderful woman who owns the daycare that my dogs go to, and asked her if there was anything that the rescue that she was affiliated with could do to help. I said that I would pay Saddest ever's medical bills if Lakeshore Animal Shelter would agree to pull her. She immediately agreed and we began the race to get the dog out before she was killed.

Here are Mabel's petfinder photos from Savannah/Chatam Animal Control.

My doggie family

2008-07-21T07:09:00.000-07:00

I have started this blog in the hopes of chronicling my journey through the sad, rewarding, frustrating, fulfilling world of dog rescue. I am just starting out on this path, and I hope that it will be a journey that will last the rest of my life.

First though I should probably introduce myself, or rather my dogs! I am the proud owner of 2 fabulous pit bull terrier mixes. They are the doggie loves of my life.

My husband and I adopted Izzy from a local rescue group when she was 8 weeks old. She was a tiny 9 lb puppy and we fell in love with her the second we say her. She is a pit/lab mix who now weighs in at 48lbs at 13 months old. She is a chocolate and white, red-nosed, wiggly, smiley, people-loving, fetch machine. She has never met a person that she didn't like nor a ball that she didn't want to chase.

Izzy at 8 weeks. Her first day home.

Izzy at 1 year. Tired and happy after a good game of fetch.

I first saw Dudley on a dog-related forum that I frequent. A wonderful woman was fostering him after he was surrendered from a less than ideal situation. In June my husband I drove to AL to meet, and adopt, Dudley. He is an 8 month old, 42 lb, snuggly, cuddly, gentle, patient, goofy, clumsy pit bull/boxer mix, and one of the most easy-going dogs I have ever met. After a somewhat shy start with strangers Dudley is now a confident, people-loving dog. Dudley truly loves love!

Here he is at 7 months old. Just before we adopted him.

Having a 2 dog household is wonderful! Izzy and Dudley are completely in love with each other and my husband and I couldn't be happier. They have quickly become best friends who follow each other everywhere, and mirror each others actions.

Two peas in a pod 2 days after they met!

So that is my doggie family. Now onto the real story...