Merry Christmas!

Hoping you and yours has a wonderful Christmas!!!!!!!!


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An icy day in East Tennessee

Ice covering the clematis vines this morning...

Clarifying rescues and humane societies

The following was shared with me and I thought it was really interesting and helpful. The author's name appears at the end. Have a great holiday everyone and hug your furbabies!
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One of the biggest misconceptions is that local humane societies are branches of the Humane Society of the United States. This is not true.

There is an SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International) and an ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). There is not a national SPCA organization, although there are lots of independent local SPCA's across the U.S.

Jennifer McKim, an SPCA International representative, clarifies by stating, "Every SPCA throughout the world is individually operated and not associated with one another. Although we share a common name, there is not an organization that oversees all SPCA’s. Each one of us have our own programs that focus to help animals on a different level. SPCA International is one of the only organizations that help shelters and animals worldwide."

In other words, local SPCA's have nothing to do with SPCA International or with each other. They were all independently formed. Some are kill, some are no kill. All have local board members with individual ideas and concepts concerning animal rescue. They may have eight members, or eight hundred members.

When moving to a new location don't assume that just because the humane society in the city from which you're moving was a wonderful facility that the humane society (or any other rescue organization) in the city you are moving to will be the same.

Not one SPCA in the United States is above any other SPCA regardless of what their name might imply. For instance, NEVADA SPCA is not in charge of other SPCA's in Nevada. Rather, they simply selected Nevada SPCA for their name. FYI - NEVADA SPCA is genuinely a no-kill organization.

When taking a stray cat or dog to a shelter ask directly if the animal will be euthanized.

I recently called a well-known, larger humane society and inquired, "If I bring an older, adult cat in will she be euthanized?" This humane society receives a great deal of media coverage and everyone believes they are a no kill organization.

"All animals that become part of our adoption program are not euthanized," the humane society representative replied.

Tricky answer. At this point most people would feel satisfied that the cat would be safe if dropped off at this humane society... an incorrect assumption.

I continued by asking, "Would the cat I want to bring in become part of your adoption program?"

"Well, that all depends," she said.

I then inquired, "What happens to the animals that are brought in when there is not room in your adoption program for them?"

After a long pause, she responded, "They are euthanized."

Don't be afraid to ask animal rescue organizations specific questions about their shelter's policies, if, in fact, they have a shelter. It is becoming more and more common for groups to house animals in foster homes until adopted.

The bottom line is this... there are incredible rescues and there are rescues that should not be allowed to advertise as such. You can visit a specific organization's web page and think that you are sending an animal to the best place this side of heaven when in reality the animal might be chained to a dog house and forced to live in filth.

When you donate to a rescue organization make certain that their ethics are agreeable with yours.

Never assume. Always investigate. Ask questions.

by Barbara McGrady
www.spaohio.org



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Pepper

A slow death.

This poor blog is dying a slow death isn't it? It can't seem to follow me through these transitions I've made. It's so much easier to upload a pic or two to facebook. What to do...what to do...



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Smart dog!

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE8SLv6GMXE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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Catnip Follies with Yuki and Peanut

I'm getting to be a big boy...

Jake is about 50 pounds now at 6 months...and is finally getting a little less "mouthy," which is good because I was getting tired of playing the part of tasty drumstick.

 

Right now I'm working on getting my paperwork together to take the licensure exam for clinical social work here in Tennessee. I think if you can figure out their paperwork, you should automatically pass the test. Getting my graduate school paperwork together made more sense. Nothing like red tape to chap your ass. My job is not what I thought it would be--at least not yet, but I'm not going to jabber about that here...maybe later when things are more in order there.

 

But back to Jake...he is so different from our other dogs. He is a fearless goof...and always chomping on poor Pepper's neck, who eventually has enough and reads him the riot act in capital letters. Two minutes later, it starts all over again. But he's getting less wild and more lovable now--thank goodness. You can see a bond when he looks at you now, rather than "man, your arms and ankles look mighty tasty!!"  I know we'll look back when he's a lazy old man and miss his craziness, but sheesh, I'm hoping all of our beautiful woodwork isn't gone by then.

 

Going from two dogs to three dogs is like going from two dogs to 10 dogs...it's complete chaos in the house unless they are asleep. Monster puppy is bounding through the house chasing poor Yuki and Peanut, Pepper is barking because Jake won't respect her space, and Petey just gets fed up with Jake landing on him because he's such a goofy clutz.  If Petey and Pepper start barking at the same time, they'll team up on Jake (which doesn't phase him in the slightest) and if Jake starts running after the cats, they all decide to run after the cats.  It's getting better, but good Lord...sometimes I shove bones in their mouths to get 5 minutes of peace. Oh, and forget watching TV...they can be silent all day and do nothing but wrestle and fight for the 1 hour of programming you've waited on all week--like True Blood. Thank God for DVRs.

 

With all that said, you'd think I'd be ready to give them away, but I wouldn't change a thing.  Woof!

hydrangea from the backyard

The inevitable...

It was going to happen sooner or later. Jake ate my Blackberry. It is somewhat mangled--missing keys, others jammed and about 40 percent of the screen is AWOL.

Jake is a lovable monster--an ankle-biter, a chewer, a destroyer--a 41-pound puppy bounding through the house like a bull in a china shop (a bull on crack). If we survive puppyhood, he is going to be one heckuva great dog.

Petey sez Happy Memorial Day

 

good things...

Well, if you have been following this almost-never-updated-anymore blog, you'll know I've had my share of bad luck and disasters over that past year or so.

So, in March, a few things went right. I got a job with the Alzheimer's Association and got a fabulous new puppy who is a mix of shepherd and
St. Bernard (we think). We named him Jake, after my husband's grandfather. He is a handful at 31 pounds at 14 weeks of age. He's doubled in size in the one month we've had him! He's a really happy-go-lucky little guy whose temperament fits in great with the other dogs.

Here's some pics of him:

Hello! Got nuts?

These squirrels who frequent the bird feeder right outside our living room window drive the dogs and cats bonkers-or nuts rather.
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Argh

I have been feeling really ill for several days. Don't feel like writing much more than that. Hopefully the next post will be more positive. Have a good day all!
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MY take on Milan

MY take on Milan & Shadow...

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BOY AM I PISSED AT THESE PEOPLE! Dognapping in Johnson City TN a FRAUD.

Yep, I'm ready to kick some proverbial ass here! While a nationwide network of dog rescuers eagerly retweet and blog to help, these losers are just lying to cover up their own shortcomings. I DO NOT LIKE BEING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF, especially when it comes to FRAUDULANT DO-GOODERS.

Here's the story copied and pasted with video, or you can click on the headline link above.
****
Update 01/20/2010


Police report that Ashli Thomas, 24, of Newbern Drive, Johnson City has been arrested for filing a false police report.

Thomas originally told police and news reporters that she was stabbed by someone who dog-napped 12 dogs being housed at the Cool School for Dogs on Market Street.

According to the Johnson City Police, Thomas admitted she "made the story up because she had left the dogs unattended and had not been caring for the dogs properly."

The owners of the business, Brad and Tamara Josselyn, along with Thomas, have been charged with eight counts of animal cruelty.

Thomas is currently being held in the Washington County Detention Center under a $5,000 bond. She will appear in court tomorrow.


Update: 9:27 a.m; Dana Wachter:

Cool School for Dogs’ owner, Brad Josselyn, and his niece, Ashli Thomas, say that in five years, they have never been robbed. The two are rattled about losing 12 dogs overnight. Thomas works there, and stays in an apartment at the business. She said she heard the dogs barking about 3:30 Tuesday morning. She said this is normal, but when they didn’t stop barking, she went to investigate. She found the downstairs light on, which is unusual, and when she got downstairs, she saw a man at the back door. He was holding a knife, and he swung at her, slashing her side. The man got into a white utility van with no back windows, and the driver took off down W. Market street toward Jonesborough.

Josselyn says the backyard gate lock is gone, and the back door’s lock had been busted. Thomas and Josselyn say there were nine Doberman Pinschers taken, one hound mix, one Black Lab, and one Miniature Pinscher. One dog had three legs, and another was blind. The dogs were all rescued, waiting to be adopted.

Thomas says a man came to their business Monday afternoon, telling her that he heard they sold Doberman Pinschers. She told him that they do not sell the dogs, but they rescue them, and they are available for adoption. The man asked how much one in particular would be, and Thomas said it was not for sale, but gave adoption fee information about other dogs. Thomas and Josselyn say they believe the man is connected to the robbery, but he was not the man who cut Thomas with a knife. Josslyn fears the dogs were stolen to be sold for research.

Some of the dogs that were stolen have micro-chips with barcodes, so if they are found, they can be scanned and returned home.

Update at 6:29 a.m.:

11 Connects’s Dana Wachter reports police now think 12 dogs were stolen from Cool School for Dogs.

Here’s the first report:
Johnson City Police are investigating a report that two men broke into a canine training school and boarding facility, stole nine dogs, and injured a woman.

The alleged crime happened at Cool School For Dogs, 3548 West Market Street, at about 4 a.m. Tuesday, police said.

According to a police bulletin issued by Washington County 9-1-1, a woman at the business was assaulted by two men who loaded 9 dogs into a white service van and left on Highway 11-E headed toward Greeneville. An emergency dispatcher told 11 Connects the woman was “cut” by the two men but later refused medical treatment.

URGENT ALERT - JOHNSON CITY, TN: STOLEN DOG ALERT *PICTURES*

Anyone who may have seen something in this area, or may have other information about the crime, is asked to call the Johnson City Police Department at 423-434-6168 or Crimestoppers at 434-6158.  To send an anonymous text message to the Johnson City Police: text 423JCPD and your tip to 847411 (tip411).  You may also log onto www.citizenobserver.com.

ALERT! STOLEN RESCUE DOGS!  Pictures follow information Our rescue has experienced a great tragedy.  Someone broke into the Cool School For Dogs Puppy Dog Day Care and stole many of the rescue dogs that were being cared for there.  There were mostly Dobermans taken and 3 other smaller dogs, in total 13 dogs.  We have no idea how many of these missing dogs were actually stolen as there is a possibility that some may have escaped out of the door and gate since the dogs were kept out in the playroom together and only a few were kenneled at the time.  They could have traveled a very long distance, especially if someone found one and took it home to help it by looking for an owner or new home thinking it was a stray.  Some of these dogs have very important medical issues that need to be addressed, including two that must have special supplements before eating meals or they cannot keep weight on their bodies.  Some have been with us for a long time due to medical needs and others were recently rescued. If you find one of these dogs please, please return it to us.  We are offering a substantial reward for any of our dogs that are returned - no questions asked, we just want them back.  There are families that are in the process of adopting a few of them and we want to get them in these wonderful forever homes.  If you know ANY information about where these dogs might be, have been taken, etc. please share that information with the local police.  Anyone who may have seen something in this area, or may have other information about the crime, is asked to call the Johnson City Police Department at 423-434-6168 or Crimestoppers at 434-6158.  To send an anonymous text message to the Johnson City Police: text 423JCPD and your tip to 847411 (tip411).  You may also log onto www.citizenobserver.com. If the people who took the dogs read this - please take the dogs somewhere safe, leave them and then call and let us know where we can find them.  Take them somewhere safe and let the police know where they are so we can get them.  Please know that the information about these dogs has reached every corner of the United States .  Rescue people are a close and tight group of people who save animals every day and this has outraged everyone that someone would take these dogs!  Dog lovers are outraged and spreading the word.  They are looking everywhere for them so just PLEASE get them back to us! If you happen to find one of these dogs - we understand that some people may be frightened by a Doberman but all of these are very friendly.  They may be frightened, unsure of where they are when they show up near you.  You can nicely talk to them and each and every one of them will willingly work with you, or you can call me at 423-773-8113 and we will send a volunteer immediately to get the dog! Some of these dogs need medication, some are ill or injured and recovering, please look at them - most have very distinct looks, markings, etc.  Here are the dogs that are missing:

 Bliss (below)

Blush (below)

Charger (below)

Dazzle (below)

Disney (below)

Flash (below)  

Honey (below)

Noble (below)

Pippin (below)

Puddles (below)

Rumor (below)

Radar--who is blind

MEMPHIS TN handsome lab will die Monday--foster desperately needed

If you can help, please contact Margo at margo@gooddogrescue.com.  Please share if you know someone in Memphis or elsewhere who might be able to foster this beautiful guy for about a month to help out! Transport can be arranged if outside Memphis.

Only 1 out of 10 dogs born ever finds a home; only 1 out of 12 cats born ever finds a home. 800 dogs & cats are KILLED each HOUR in the U.S. because there are not enough homes for them. Spay and neuter your pets!

Look at this poor little chihuahua...

I'll be helping this poor little urchin get to rescue next week. His name is PRINCE BABE, an approximately 5-year old Chihuahua that was found in a box near an apartment complex. Here is what the foster mom wrote about Babe:

As you can see he is quite pitiful. However, he looks tremendously better than when I got him on 1/4/10. When they first saw him at Whitfield Animal Hospital on 12/30/09, he weighed 4 lbs. He now is 5 lbs. and 11 ounces. He has also had several medicated baths which help with the peeling skin - a by-product of bad nutrition and a bacterial infection. He is taking antibiotics, prednisone, and soloxine. The first few days I had him, he just slept. I woke him up to eat after which he would go potty (he uses puppy pads.) I didn't think that was healthy so I took him to Dalton Animal Care where they put him on the medications and advised the medicated baths. They also clipped his nails, cleaned his ears, etc. It didn't take but a day on the meds before he actually became alive. He still doesn't play - don't think he knows how, but he does get up and roam around the house and eats like a horse. He also loves to be held and petted.

Such a sad little guy. I hope after our "transport train" gets him to his destination that he will be loved and cherished, instead of abandoned in a box suffering from disease and malnutrition. I don't understand this behavior.

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Haiti: Media provides sanitized history for American audiences

KEN SILVERSTEIN—Haiti: Media provides sanitized history for American audiences

As I noted here yesterday, much of the media coverage (including the blogosphere) of the tragedy in Haiti lacks any sort of historical perspective and makes it impossible to understand events in the country. Why is Haiti so poor? Marginal Revolution asked in a post yesterday. Among the answers were that "Haiti cut its colonial ties too early, rebelling against the French in the early 19th century and achieving complete independence"; and that "Haiti has higher than average levels of polygamy." . . .

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KNOXVILLE -OPPORTUNITY to help Haiti

You can help: RAM taking medical supplies to Haiti http://bit.ly/8zf9CW

http://twitter.com/KnoxvilleNews/status/3465600045

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you must watch this precious video--GoD and DoG

Fence grazers and Pepper the fearful and anxious dog

I am furious this morning. Furious at my neighbors and furious with myself. Pepper, our big chicken shepherd, set off out into the yard this morning and spotted our dog-hating neighbor(s) across the fence and started her scary dog tactics.

I don't approve of Pepper terrorizing fence grazers, no matter how much they dislike her, so I immediately went to retrieve her. Instead of being very stern with her, yelling "No! No!" I've started getting her interested in coming to me, saying "nah-ah," and then playfully "come on, come here" as if to say "hey, these hugs are more fun than barking at them." Usually it works and in general works much better, but it took me maybe half of a minute to get her back to me. In the meantime, my neighbor, with full awareness of me trying to retrieve my dog, is throwing tree limbs at the fence. Of course this makes her more fearful and protective. I have also seen them squirt her with a hose...again while I am trying to call her back. This morning I had to say something, simply stating "don't throw things at her" with my "what is WRONG with you" face. I was merely met with a grimace. I was almost to her when he did this and I got her by the collar and said "c'mon, let's go back inside..." I had her sit and calm down in the process and got her back in.

Pepper will get used to people who want to be her friend (it takes a few visits), but she sees our neighbors as unfriendly intruders (unfriendly for sure) and so she throws her hackles up and does her best to look vicious. She does a good job.

So, I'm mad at my neighbors for being so rude and dog-stupid, and mad at myself for not doing a better job of socializing Pepper. I guess that makes me dog-stupid, too. She needs much more socialization than a normal dog. She is the most fearful dog I have ever met, but also one of the sweetest and smartest. I think that's why my little scared shepherd transport on Saturday got to me so badly. I could see a sweet, smart dog in there, but he was petrified.

Inside with us or outside sans fence grazers, she's a real joy. Pepper's real nature is obedient, sweet, gentle, and extremely smart. But she is very fearful and very hypervigilant (which vigilance is already a shepherd trait) and has been since being abandoned in a parking lot with her littermates. She's a little food/toy protective, but only toward our beagle Petey, and only vocally. I can imagine she remembers being very hungry as the runt of that litter of shepherds. We got her when she was 5 months old. She was afraid of stairs, doorways, strangers, everything, but I knew her true nature when she (covered in mud) bounded into my arms as soon as she had room to run at the rescue the day we met her. The only time she has growled at us is when we accidently scratched a tender spot too hard on her chest and she said "hey, quit that!" She never growls at us over having food or toys taken away. In general she's a big chicken. I've just now gotten her to the point where she won't pee when I try to get her into the bathtub for a bath! Thankfully she is so active that I don't have to trim her nails too often, because she goes off the deep end when you try to do that. We are going to have to have them trimmed when she gets her teeth cleaned next month!

So, I could have done better. I am a homebody and when I get home I'm in my castle with my beloved pets. My New Year's resolution is socialization, socialization, socialization. I don't know many people who love their pets more, but I'm not a perfect pet owner by any stretch of the imagination. I share this because if you're a homebody like me you HAVE to get your dogs out more. I've done my sweet Pepper a serious disservice in this way and I hate that other people see only her frightened (and frightening) side when her "territory" is encroached upon. I don't know that I can train this out of her, but I at least want her to feel secure when I tell her to ignore the neighbors or other frightening fence-grazers such as meter people or delivery peeps.

And while I have been feverishly writing this post about my neighbor's transgressions as dog-haters, and my own transgressions as a lazy dog owner, the slurping sounds did not register in my brain...Pepper has just eaten a big piece of cat crap out of the litter box. Nice.

Saturday's Shepherd

Here is my passenger from yesterday. He is a 5 year-old shepherd being transported all the way to Wisconsin so he can have a second chance. He was the most frightened passenger I've ever transported. He had a precious heart though. With a little love and patience he'll be a wonderful best friend. He didn't know how to walk on a leash and I had to carry him to the grass to let him pee (which he was too nervous to even do that). His heart was pounding when I lifted him into my arms. He never whined or complained and you could tell he wanted to be friends but was just to scared. He laid down in the back with his head between the seats so he could be close and so he could see where he was going. Poor guy...I don't think he even had a name yet. He just broke my heart, but I have high hopes for him.

Pretty sure my cats are also this thoughtful. Thanks.

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Yep, that's where they go!

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Tissues please... A beautiful little clip on rescue

A heartwarming and inspiring video on how one person can make a
difference in the life of a shelter dog. http://digg.com/d11EFEL

http://twitter.com/PetWriter/status/2987059889

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