Sofia - ADOPTED!!

Sofia definitely had a really rough start. She belonged to someone who, according to neighbors, had lots of personal problems and therefore more often than not, did not look after Sofia. Sofia was frequently found roaming the streets as a young pup. The neighbors would bring her back home and remind the owner over and over that they feared she might get hit by a car if he continued to allow her to run loose.

At about 4 months old, she was hit by a car. It broke her leg. The neighbors took her in to the vet and paid for the splint required for Sofia to heal properly. The neighbors told the owner that the splint could not get wet. Next thing you know, Sofia is running around the neighborhood with a wet unraveling useless splint.

The neighbors were understandably at their wits end. They turned her in to animal control, planning to get her out after the five day hold. They were advised that then, they would have legal ownership of the dog if the original owner did not claim her.

That's where I came in. The plan was for me to get her from animal control after the 5 day hold. She was spayed and prepared for a release into rescue. I went to visit her everyday. BUT when the day came to get her out, I spent WAY too much time waiting. As 1  hour turned into 2, I knew something had to be wrong. Finally they came out and told me - Sofia has parvo!!!

They let me go see her again. I have seen parvo and I just did not believe she was sick. I was faced with a really tough decision. Take her out and possibly expose MY WHOLE shelter to parvo or let her be euthanized.

I went with my gut feeling and took her out of the shelter anyway and took her to a vet right away. The vet said she did not have parvo. She never came down with parvo.

BUT WAIT - the sort of Sofia continues!!!!  

Due to an abundance of caution, she was quarantined for a period. When that period was up I was so excited to see how she did with the other dogs. SHE WAS A MESS!! I had never seen anything like it. She wasn't aggressive, she was just VERY obnoxiously socially awkward with other dogs. Imagine a person you never met, swinging their arms in full circles wearing a BIG smile coming at you and stopping 1/8th of an inch in front of your face and running into your body, screaming  HELLO!!!! That's what she was like to all the other dogs.

From the way she seemed to understand almost no doggie language or etiquette I suspected that she might have been taken away from the litter too young. Plus she was wild and was 6 months old with NO TRAINING!! She was a maniac!

Anyway we worked with her and realized quickly that she was VERY smart. She got better and betterer. She learned agility and roll over during our Kids Camp.

 Now just about exactly ONE year later, she is adopted.

She has 2 human kids to play with and lives with 2 elementary school teachers.

She will probably learn  to read.

THE END

How these Schipperke/Pom mix puppies were rescued.

DOLLY

If you look up the definition of cute in the dictionary, there will most certainly be a photo of this litter of puppies! Oh my gosh, they are wonderful. We are most fortunate because we also know the parents; it is rare in rescue to know what both parents of puppies look like. The parents are only about 20 to 25 pounds, and appear to be Schipperke and Pomeranian mixes.

DAD

What a neat combination: Schipperkes were bred to be small guard dogs on the canal barges of Belgium; Pomeranians were originally sheep herders!

The mother is pure black (like a Schipperke) and the father is tri-colored.  Born in late August,he week before Hurricane Isaac, they are spayed/neutered, have their shots, are healthy and ready for their forever homes.

NORMA JEAN

PATSY

Now, I want to share more of this story with you, because it is rather unique and very rewarding for those of us who are involved in rescue. We were at an adoption event when a Vietnamese gentleman came up to us. His English was very limited, but it appeared he wanted to give us this litter of puppies. We explained to him that we don't take puppies at adoption events but, rather than leave him in a lurch, we set up a time to go to his home. 

When we arrived, we found not only a litter of puppies, but three adult dogs as well. It was also apparent that this dog loving man lived in a fairly isolated Vietnamese community. He wanted to keep his adult dogs, but asked us to take the puppies. As we talked, we found out that he had no idea that dogs could be spay/neutered! Wow, was he excited about that. And we were excited that he was excited! Too often people don't care about how many litters their dogs produce. That wasn't the case here. This man did not want to have the responsibility of puppies, and was thrilled to find out there was a solution. He simply did not have access to the information resources.  

Since then, all of the puppies have been spayed/neutered and are available for adoption. The adults will be spay/neutered next week and returned to their loving owner. This might not mean a lot to you, but in the world of rescue, this is a great victory; we know that the number of unwanted pets can best be addressed through spay/neuter. This is the perfect example!

Of course DONATIONS are always very much appreciated, so that we can continue the work that we do! There is a paypal link on the home page of this blog. THANKS!