If you are an active puppy rescue, you should not also advertise yourself as someone fun and available for hanging out. I was very silly lately and invited an old friend from Boca Raton Florida, who is currently teaching in the Caymans, to come to lovely Chattanooga Tn. and spend her only Easter Break with me, Mrs. Fun Fun. I promised dancing, canoeing, caving, hiking, walking, eating and drinking. There are several problems here. For one, This week I had 40 Dogs again. Mommies with puppies, random dogs and a few to pick up. I live my life one day and one moment at a time, but I can usually schedule fun into the mix, or so I thought. So this poor woman, with whom I have had so much fun: first U2 and Smash Mouth concert, First trip to South Beach, First trip to ladies night in Fort Lauderdale, First Rum Cake, First EVER and only time to see VIOLENT FEMMES and get my dress signed by Gold Finger, while simultaneously being told my friend and I looked like hookers, thank you very much. First time in Paris, First time in London (for Live8 no less) and on and on, so come to Chattanooga Tn, it will be the best time ever, ooooooh, except that we also have to take care of some dogs.
So we attempted a few things, and got some good shopping done at local charities, and ate and drank our fare share of things, but there was always the rush home to feed and walk dogs, feed and pet mommies and puppies and, of course, the inevitable, clean up all the pee and poop. I swear this poor woman waded through sooooooooooooooo much pee and poop that she propably could have had DNA testing on her shoes to prove that she was indeed a dog. But each time we went into the mommy rooms she melted with ooooh, look at how cute this puppy is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So it was with an embarassment and trepidation that I mentioned to her the trip to Nashville. The local puppy rescue was lucky enough to connect with the huge New York rescue that will take up to 20 dogs from our rescue every month. I was trying to work this into an adventure, a vacation, a trip of a life time, so she suggested that we tour some studios in Nashville, but I couldn't quite figure out what to look for on the internet, but I did find GRACELAND which IS in Tennessee, so must be driveable from Nashville. Well, it is. But first you have to drive with 18 dogs TO Nashville. Oh, but 4 were rejected because they had heartworm, so now we need a babysitter in Memphis, which is actually far away, BUT we found one at the humane society that it turns out we were going to anyway to pick up 6 rescue puppies.
Oh, did I mention that the storm of the century was on its way?
Well, it was. So we parked the dogs in the cat trailer on the property of the West Memphis Humane Society and went to Real Memphis to drink on Beale Street. We had a free hotel night at the Comfort Inn in Downtown Memphis.
More to follow, off to watch Dr. Who.
Showing posts with label Chickamauga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chickamauga. Show all posts
Monday, May 2, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
EXCITING NEWS
Our dear adorable, sweet, sweet Ralph (pronounced Rolf) got adopted today. Tears of joy and sadness. He was an Australian Shepherd/Hound mix. So sweet, kind, intelligent, loving and companionable. A very nice lady took him to be a companion while her mean, insensitive children abandon her for their own lives! harumph!
We talked for almost an hour even after I told them we were waiving the adoption fee. She really took her time to make an important decision, and she has our numbers so she can call us if it doesn't work out, but he was really working her with the kisses and rubbing and love. I think they will all be so happy. This dog and many of his friends are already 6 months old or more and can't hold a candle to the adorable puppies who pee all over the place and keep you up all night. so we have resorted to cut throat tactics of yelling... "Free puppies in the back!" Really. There are five more to go.
This week, again, really, I am decreasing the amount of food the dogs get and I am not making the yummy chicken and rice they love so much. I am hoping that a couple of them might get down to the 22 pound level so that we can send them to the mega rescue up north. The trip was supposed to be today, but one of the transport legs couldn't make it. I think the dogs will eventually end up in New York, but I am sketchy on that, and now I am in the throws of Allergy season and want to cut my head off so I don't even care if it is in New York or New Zealand. I will take the dogs up on the 25th just past Nashville and my friend visiting from the Caymans will get to go with me. I wonder what we will visit when we get there? maybe we will stay overnight and sightsee? Emma, tell me what you think, I will check out hotels.
Many of the older puppies can hop onto my lap and help with typing. Isn't that great?
Daily Dog count 38 But Lena goes to hang out with her daddy tomorrow after spending a little over a month in our Open Kennel. It's embarassing to take money from these people, but it all goes towards puppy food!
Also I have been able to sell over $50 worth of books on Amazon. The money goes directly into an account that I use to pay for dog food, so that has been great. I am getting a new donation of books soon.
phone is ringing.
We talked for almost an hour even after I told them we were waiving the adoption fee. She really took her time to make an important decision, and she has our numbers so she can call us if it doesn't work out, but he was really working her with the kisses and rubbing and love. I think they will all be so happy. This dog and many of his friends are already 6 months old or more and can't hold a candle to the adorable puppies who pee all over the place and keep you up all night. so we have resorted to cut throat tactics of yelling... "Free puppies in the back!" Really. There are five more to go.
This week, again, really, I am decreasing the amount of food the dogs get and I am not making the yummy chicken and rice they love so much. I am hoping that a couple of them might get down to the 22 pound level so that we can send them to the mega rescue up north. The trip was supposed to be today, but one of the transport legs couldn't make it. I think the dogs will eventually end up in New York, but I am sketchy on that, and now I am in the throws of Allergy season and want to cut my head off so I don't even care if it is in New York or New Zealand. I will take the dogs up on the 25th just past Nashville and my friend visiting from the Caymans will get to go with me. I wonder what we will visit when we get there? maybe we will stay overnight and sightsee? Emma, tell me what you think, I will check out hotels.
Many of the older puppies can hop onto my lap and help with typing. Isn't that great?
Daily Dog count 38 But Lena goes to hang out with her daddy tomorrow after spending a little over a month in our Open Kennel. It's embarassing to take money from these people, but it all goes towards puppy food!
Also I have been able to sell over $50 worth of books on Amazon. The money goes directly into an account that I use to pay for dog food, so that has been great. I am getting a new donation of books soon.
phone is ringing.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
3 week old puppies and their mommy
OOOH!!!!! I love new puppies, they are so sweet. I love the noise they make as they suckle from their mommy! I have this batch in a clean room that has never had puppies, so there is no parvo, so that is good, they will be safe. There are 8 of them. The mommy was dropped off at a local shelter while she was pregnant and she gave birth just one day later there at the shelter! They were so cute that they weren't put down immediately, but instead cared for by the staff at the shelter. The puppies were in the cat room in a sweet little blue swimming pool swathed in many many blankets. The staff at the shelter are so wonderful! They don't want to have to kill the puppies and they find rescues whenever they can. My house is risky because we recently had parvo, and I haven't secured all the rooms just yet.
Here is a sweet photo of the mommy and puppies.
Well, the mommy doesn't look as cute as she really is in this photo. Also, they are living in a room that incorporates the "observation" rooms that used to exist here at the school when it was the "Center for Exceptional Children" These rooms locked from the outside, were lined with shag carpet and padding, had observation windows and overhead lighting to observe the ill behaved children that couldn't behave in a regular classroom.
gotta run
Here is a sweet photo of the mommy and puppies.
Well, the mommy doesn't look as cute as she really is in this photo. Also, they are living in a room that incorporates the "observation" rooms that used to exist here at the school when it was the "Center for Exceptional Children" These rooms locked from the outside, were lined with shag carpet and padding, had observation windows and overhead lighting to observe the ill behaved children that couldn't behave in a regular classroom.
gotta run
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Puppy adoption day at Petco
Every Saturday and Sunday I load up the dogs that I have and take them the 25 miles to civilization (The Mall) where they sit in cages (EXpens- short for exercise pens) for about 5 hours looking as cute as can be with the hope of adoption. The puppies I have at this moment are all about 6 months old and are, therefore, by common standards, unadoptable. People want cute cuddly puppies that lope about and pee all over the floor, and who can blame them?
A few months ago I had 42 puppies in various locations throughout the school.
These were in front of a small space heater in what used to be the girls shower room.
Anyway, eventually, the dogs contracted a horrible stomach virus that mimicked Parvo, and then eventually 6 came down with Parvo and 3 died. When this hit I had to get rid of as many dogs that had not yet been affected as possible. I was left with 12. 3 died. My rescue foster home was put into quarantine and no dogs could leave. We did manage to have some enter by closing off the old lawn mower shed that we were using as a goat pen.
So the dogs that remained got bigger and bigger. Some, by some miracle, got adopted as soon as I came off of quarantine, but 7 remain and they are all 6 months old or so.
I went on vacation, came home cleaned up the gym with bleach and am working on resealing the cement, but I just found out last night that I must first scrape off the asphalt cement that was holding the tiles down. Now that they have soaked in bleach water for so many days for so many hours the cement is soft enough to scrape off. So I only have to do that 6,000 times to get the adhesive off of each square that did hold a tile. soooooooooooooooooooooooo
in the meantime I can only foster dogs that are over 4 months old.
Today I took my foster puppies to Petco, but none of them got adopted, and I was able to bring home 3 more. Two came directly from the Walker County Humane Society. They are terrier mixes. One came from another foster who is getting ready to sell her house.
In addition to these puppies last night I was able to bring home a mom and 8 2 week old puppies. They are in one of the rooms we had prepared for rental that was never used. So that is a safe room, and the puppies are protected from Parvo because they draw their immunity from the mother's milk.
Total Dog Count: 18 foster 4 domestic 1 day care= 23 dogs
The weather is warm and beautiful with no rain forecasted for 3 days. The dogs are enjoying the fresh air and sunshine and the freedom of the 5 acres they roam during the day. At night they sleep in the living room and pee in the hallway when they can't figure out how to get out of the OPEN door. Mop water and bleach before anyone else wakes up.
Next Sunday I drive north of Nashville to deliver 15 dogs to a large rescue from the New York area, but I just found out that none of mine will be able to go because they all weigh more than 20 pounds. I guess they will be at my home for quite a while. A positive note is that a guy called from South Carolina about Max, the goofy hound puppy and he will meet me in Chattanooga on Friday to see if they are a good fit for eachother. Let's hope that works out.
You can see max at http://apawandaprayer.com/
A few months ago I had 42 puppies in various locations throughout the school.
Anyway, eventually, the dogs contracted a horrible stomach virus that mimicked Parvo, and then eventually 6 came down with Parvo and 3 died. When this hit I had to get rid of as many dogs that had not yet been affected as possible. I was left with 12. 3 died. My rescue foster home was put into quarantine and no dogs could leave. We did manage to have some enter by closing off the old lawn mower shed that we were using as a goat pen.
So the dogs that remained got bigger and bigger. Some, by some miracle, got adopted as soon as I came off of quarantine, but 7 remain and they are all 6 months old or so.
I went on vacation, came home cleaned up the gym with bleach and am working on resealing the cement, but I just found out last night that I must first scrape off the asphalt cement that was holding the tiles down. Now that they have soaked in bleach water for so many days for so many hours the cement is soft enough to scrape off. So I only have to do that 6,000 times to get the adhesive off of each square that did hold a tile. soooooooooooooooooooooooo
in the meantime I can only foster dogs that are over 4 months old.
Today I took my foster puppies to Petco, but none of them got adopted, and I was able to bring home 3 more. Two came directly from the Walker County Humane Society. They are terrier mixes. One came from another foster who is getting ready to sell her house.
In addition to these puppies last night I was able to bring home a mom and 8 2 week old puppies. They are in one of the rooms we had prepared for rental that was never used. So that is a safe room, and the puppies are protected from Parvo because they draw their immunity from the mother's milk.
Total Dog Count: 18 foster 4 domestic 1 day care= 23 dogs
The weather is warm and beautiful with no rain forecasted for 3 days. The dogs are enjoying the fresh air and sunshine and the freedom of the 5 acres they roam during the day. At night they sleep in the living room and pee in the hallway when they can't figure out how to get out of the OPEN door. Mop water and bleach before anyone else wakes up.
Next Sunday I drive north of Nashville to deliver 15 dogs to a large rescue from the New York area, but I just found out that none of mine will be able to go because they all weigh more than 20 pounds. I guess they will be at my home for quite a while. A positive note is that a guy called from South Carolina about Max, the goofy hound puppy and he will meet me in Chattanooga on Friday to see if they are a good fit for eachother. Let's hope that works out.
You can see max at http://apawandaprayer.com/
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Getting started
Last year at this time my family and I walked confidently into the Walker County Animal Shelter to volunteer as Foster parents. Within 45 minutes we were sent home with two adorable puppies we promptly named Kevin and ChiChi. My husband, who really likes clean spaces free of dog urine and dog poop, was going to be our biggest challenge in the new hobby. The puppies were assigned a room here at the school, given bedding, a radio to listen to NPR, water and food bowls and lots and lots of newspaper. My plan was to take the puppies out in the morning to poop and get fresh air, then feed them, then take them out again to relieve themselves, then to put them back in their own room until the afternoon when it would be time to feed and walk them again. This lasted approximately 12 hours. By nightfall the next day Ty and Nikki had split up the dogs claiming one as their own. Nikki got ChiChi and Ty got Kevin. Both dogs got a soft warm bed and a human to sleep with.
Within a couple of days Chuck started coming home from work a little earlier and wanted to see the puppies as soon as he got home. With the dogs being part of our family life, they were, obviously, in the family room and kitchen with us. This meant that there were soon small (almost imperceptible) puddles of pee on the floor that I tried to clean up as soon as noticed, but definitely by 4:45 pm before Chuck got home from work, usually accomplished at least in the first few months of this endeavor. Eventually Chuck left the light on in the hallway to avoid puddles, set up a mop bucket system for instant urine clean up and helped me invest in paper towel stock!
We are older now and sleep is super important to us. Our backs hurt most of the time and since Chuck has to work standing up sometimes, it is important that we have a good bed that will keep us supported and cozy. After moving here to the school Chuck ordered a Temperpedic Adjust A Bed that costs thousands of dollars. He hardly lets our kids sit on the bed with us, let alone our aging, blind and deaf Italian Greyhound. This bed is an altar to the sleep gods. So it was that I was floored when one night I went into bed after Chuck had already fallen asleep. I woke him up with my movement and he rolled over and mumbled the funniest thing ever in our 25 years together: "Go bring the puppies in here so they can play on the bed, they are so cute." Luckily for me, I knew he was asleep and didn't bring the puppies, but for months afterwards I laughed with him about the cute puppies.
At night the kids, unused to the sounds a puppy makes to be let out to pee and poop, let the dogs kinda wander around the room, decorating it in yellow and brown. Which I cleaned up since it was my idea. ChiChi wanted to be let out to do her business and got into the practice of pouncing on Nikki's face and chewing her hair to wake her up. Nikki loves and needs her sleep, so she would cover her head resolutely and ignore the dog who had no other choice. ChiChi was clever enough to actually poop and pee in the bathroom near the toilet.
By the fourth day Kevin was adopted by a lovely young girl, and ChiChi was firmly the property of Nikki. Not to worry, the Animal Shelter had a continuous supply of puppies that are abandoned or dropped off. So we got another batch of puppies, this time there were 5 and they slept together in the puppy room on a thick comforter. Did you know that puppies will pee on their bedding if it is any bigger than the actual space they require for sleeping? It's true, and surprising if you just don't know about this.
Our stray pitbull that we adopted and had neutered became a loving uncle to the subsequent batches of puppies. Every morning and afternoon we would take them on a 30 minute walk around the property over to the soccer fields, down to the creek and back to the house.
Most of the time after a 30 minute romp I still had 5 puppies when I got back to the house
But this one time when I got back to the house I found only 4 puppies! I freaked out a bit, stuffed the four I had in their puppy room and took the pit bull with me to find the stray puppy. I had only had them for a few days and they still didn't come to me when I called. I asked my pit bull who definitely understands human speak to find the puppy. We walked and walked but couldn't find it. It was getting dark so I got my son to go back down to the field while I fed the other dogs.
Within 15 minutes two of them came back. My son covered in scratches and leaves, the puppy scruffy around the mouth, and the dog uncle missing. It seems that when the two of them went back to the field the pit bull sniffed out a yummy delicious smell instead of the puppy and he bounded into the Sleeping Beautyesque thicket like Prince Charming! When the pit bull found the yummy thing it was a quick turn to get it from the stray puppy who had been gnawing on it all this time. The puppy protested loudly, ran and got caught in a vine, and howled piteously. My son, not knowing what was going on, heard the soulfull cry and ran into the thicket, got stopped by overgrowth, ran around to find a clearing, got scratched in the face and arms, ducked under vines, got his shirt ripped and finally came to the puppy whom he released and brought home in his arms. On the way back out of the brambles he passed the pit who was happily munching on a partially decomposed fox body.
Within a couple of days Chuck started coming home from work a little earlier and wanted to see the puppies as soon as he got home. With the dogs being part of our family life, they were, obviously, in the family room and kitchen with us. This meant that there were soon small (almost imperceptible) puddles of pee on the floor that I tried to clean up as soon as noticed, but definitely by 4:45 pm before Chuck got home from work, usually accomplished at least in the first few months of this endeavor. Eventually Chuck left the light on in the hallway to avoid puddles, set up a mop bucket system for instant urine clean up and helped me invest in paper towel stock!
We are older now and sleep is super important to us. Our backs hurt most of the time and since Chuck has to work standing up sometimes, it is important that we have a good bed that will keep us supported and cozy. After moving here to the school Chuck ordered a Temperpedic Adjust A Bed that costs thousands of dollars. He hardly lets our kids sit on the bed with us, let alone our aging, blind and deaf Italian Greyhound. This bed is an altar to the sleep gods. So it was that I was floored when one night I went into bed after Chuck had already fallen asleep. I woke him up with my movement and he rolled over and mumbled the funniest thing ever in our 25 years together: "Go bring the puppies in here so they can play on the bed, they are so cute." Luckily for me, I knew he was asleep and didn't bring the puppies, but for months afterwards I laughed with him about the cute puppies.
At night the kids, unused to the sounds a puppy makes to be let out to pee and poop, let the dogs kinda wander around the room, decorating it in yellow and brown. Which I cleaned up since it was my idea. ChiChi wanted to be let out to do her business and got into the practice of pouncing on Nikki's face and chewing her hair to wake her up. Nikki loves and needs her sleep, so she would cover her head resolutely and ignore the dog who had no other choice. ChiChi was clever enough to actually poop and pee in the bathroom near the toilet.
By the fourth day Kevin was adopted by a lovely young girl, and ChiChi was firmly the property of Nikki. Not to worry, the Animal Shelter had a continuous supply of puppies that are abandoned or dropped off. So we got another batch of puppies, this time there were 5 and they slept together in the puppy room on a thick comforter. Did you know that puppies will pee on their bedding if it is any bigger than the actual space they require for sleeping? It's true, and surprising if you just don't know about this.
Our stray pitbull that we adopted and had neutered became a loving uncle to the subsequent batches of puppies. Every morning and afternoon we would take them on a 30 minute walk around the property over to the soccer fields, down to the creek and back to the house.
Most of the time after a 30 minute romp I still had 5 puppies when I got back to the house
But this one time when I got back to the house I found only 4 puppies! I freaked out a bit, stuffed the four I had in their puppy room and took the pit bull with me to find the stray puppy. I had only had them for a few days and they still didn't come to me when I called. I asked my pit bull who definitely understands human speak to find the puppy. We walked and walked but couldn't find it. It was getting dark so I got my son to go back down to the field while I fed the other dogs.
Within 15 minutes two of them came back. My son covered in scratches and leaves, the puppy scruffy around the mouth, and the dog uncle missing. It seems that when the two of them went back to the field the pit bull sniffed out a yummy delicious smell instead of the puppy and he bounded into the Sleeping Beautyesque thicket like Prince Charming! When the pit bull found the yummy thing it was a quick turn to get it from the stray puppy who had been gnawing on it all this time. The puppy protested loudly, ran and got caught in a vine, and howled piteously. My son, not knowing what was going on, heard the soulfull cry and ran into the thicket, got stopped by overgrowth, ran around to find a clearing, got scratched in the face and arms, ducked under vines, got his shirt ripped and finally came to the puppy whom he released and brought home in his arms. On the way back out of the brambles he passed the pit who was happily munching on a partially decomposed fox body.
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