Rescue at its smelliest

I got a "heads up" call on Monday evening from the director of a local shelter.  She was alerting me to a possible influx of German Shepherds, perhaps upwards of two dozen, sometime soon.  I knew that Shadow was set to move on Tuesday evening, but there is no math that fits 24 German Shepherds into my kennels. 

Another call Wednesday informed me that the worst case scenario seemed to be happening.  They were coming, all at once.  Some were being surrendered voluntarily, the others were being seized.  They were coming from horrific conditions and criminal charges were being filed against the owner. 

I went by the shelter late in the afternoon. Only two of the shepherds were there at that point.  One was terrified and cowering in the far end of a long, narrow run.  The other was friendlier.  I pulled two non-shepherds to foster, just to help them make space. I got the two of them home, introduced to each other, and installed in one kennel.  Then I put in another hour's work, and then delivered Shadow up to Culpeper.  I stopped by the shelter again on my way home, about 9:00 p.m.  The ACOs were still bringing in dogs, a few at a time.  A vet was there giving vaccinations as they came in.  The stench coming from the building was overwhelming, even from outside.  Inside, it was enough to make me sick. 

The dogs were well fed, no one was starving, but they were literally covered in shit.  They had been living in small pens that were nothing but deep layered dog shit--walking on it, laying on it, eating off it.  It was caked on their fur and permeated every inch of their bodies.  This was not a case of someone getting a bit behind on cleaning up.  This was beyond the pale.  The owner is a hoarder, a breeder, and one sick bitch.

I brought home two, a male and female, and put them in a clean kennel full of clean straw, with clean water to drink.  Not fancy accommodations by any means, but it must seem like luxury compared to how they were living just a few hours ago.  I'll go back tomorrow for more.

Rendezvous in Culpeper

Shadow came with a crate, which had been sitting in my driveway since the day he arrived a couple weeks ago.  This evening I loaded it and the dog into the van and we drove north on Rt 15 to my rendezvous point just outside of Culpeper.  It's one hour flat from my door to that parking lot and about the same from many points in northern Virginia.  I have met a lot of folks there to pass off dogs moving in one direction or the other.  Tonight it was Shadow's rendezvous with his prospective new owner and new life.  

He's a great dog, easy to love, and very much a lab.  Night time in a parking lot is not an ideal time to meet new people and start a new life, but with this guy I wasn't so concerned about that.  It was time for him to come in for the evening and he will go to a new home for his indoor time and then to bed in his familiar crate.  He was happy to hop into the car and go on his way.

He's not a difficult dog--no high strung, anxiety-ridden shepherd-- and he loves his crate and the comfort of a routine.  He also loves attention and I think he will be getting a lot of that in his new home. 

Chillaxin'

Rita was spayed today, and they also removed one very long, dangly dew claw, and repaired a hernia.  So she had a lot of surgery and is enjoying her drug-induced haze upstairs here in my office.

As if that wasn't enough, it seems that she was in heat, which means she has a bigger incision and probably lost more blood than she would have, but at least it is done.

I'm guessing that the fact that she was in heat may have contributed to her rather hysterical manic behavior too, although that was getting better after the first couple of days. 

In any event, she's spayed and back home, and I'll keep her indoors for a few days so she can heal and learn about being an indoor dog.  Her eye still needs some attention too--ointment a couple times a day, which will be easier with her indoors and calm. 

She's in a crate next to Shadow, who is more than happy to spend the day outdoors with Sunny and Buddy over in the big kennel, but about 7:00 p.m. he calls it a day and insists (loudly) upon coming indoors.  Then he just zonks out in his crate after a hard day of play and makes only snoring noises until morning. 

With any luck this will be Shadow's last night here in my office.  Tomorrow evening about 7:30 I'm meeting his prospective new home up in Culpeper at my usual halfway-to-northern-Virginia meeting spot.

This would be great placement for Shadow, so wish him luck.  He deserves a great home, as they all do. 

Adoption event, 2-20-2011

I took Flirt, Jeremy, Rita, and Shadow to VGSR's adoption event in Gainesville today.  Flirt loves people, gets a lot of attention and enjoys it.  No adopter, but someone bought her another bag of food.

Everyone thought she looked better, but the scale didn't show that she had gained any weight.  I wish I could give her 20 or more pounds that I don't need, and another 20 to another underweight dog. 

The people I thought were interested in her apparently are not, so I need to get her posted on the web.  She's an easy foster but she needs and deserves a permanent home of her own. 

I held Jeremy most of the time.  He's a little shy and scared at these events so he sticks as close to me as possible.  He will pay attention to anyone with food however.  He has really grown in a pretty nice coat now and I'm not seeing any scratching or digging.  He's eating Royal Canin's sensitive skin formula and he's also still getting a twice daily antihistamine.  He may have just had a bad flea allergy in the beginning that got into a secondary skin infection and has taken a long time to heal and recover.  I'm going to keep him on this or a similar food but may phase out the antihistamine and see if it makes any difference. 

He's cute and he's sweet, but he's an older dog so it will take a special person to adopt this dog. 

Shadow was good with people, was good with children, and hustled food from anyone and everyone.  He was generally good with other dogs but he has little tolerance for dogs who are overly excited and in his face.  That's his problem with puppies. 

This was Rita's first outing, which always makes me a little nervous, but she was very good.  After a couple hours she got stressed out and needed to come back to me.  She then tried hiding behind my legs and make it clear that she was through and wanted it to all go away, so we did. 

But, we got these beautiful pics of her first.  The camera just loves her and she seems to love it back. 

Lucky in love

Lucky has his own theme song, and as of this afternoon, he has a new home. 

I don't have much to say about it.  He's a great dog, a LOT of people wanted him.  It was a tough choice.  I wish they all had so many good options.

He's a high flying dog although he never even tried to jump the fence.  He loves to play ball.

He will have a great home and he will be a great dog. 

Rita will miss him, but he will be fine as an only dog and will love all the attention and activity he will have with two young, active owners. 

He helped her settle down a bit, and now he's vacated a crate indoors that will be hers after her spay surgery on Monday. 

High anxiety

I took the new shepherd girl, Rita, to the vet today.  To say that she is merely "vocal" would be a gross understatement.  I could not be accused of hyperbole if I said that she screams hysterically.  Don't let these pictures fool you.  Yes, she can and will sit, look at the camera, and give good face.  When she's not doing that, however, she is whining, screaming, jumping, and generally acting like a bundle of highly stressed nerves.  I actually got some anxiety medication for her, but I'm not sure whether to give to her or take it myself.  I'm hoping that after a couple more days, more exercise, and a regular routine, she will settle down and relax a bit.  Ok, I hope she will relax a lot. 

The good news is that she's really a sweet girl, friendly to all, good with the other dogs, and she settled down and was quiet in the shed last night with Jeremy and Flirt.  Her compatibility with the other dogs, and the fact that she hasn't jumped the dog yard fence, means she can stay there and go into that shed at night.  She pooped in there last night, but I hope that was due to the stress and the Panacure and that she will realize that no one else relieves themselves in there.  Her hysterics are not constant either, just when she sees me.  She really wants and needs human contact.  That makes me think that she will be a really great dog.

She got vaccinated today, checked for parasites and heartworms (both negative), and had a general exam.  One ear has a yeast infection, as I suspected.  One eye is cloudy and the vet said that it had "ulcers" on it.  Not sure what that is due to, but we got some antibiotic ointment to help them heal up.  She does seem to see out of that eye without problem, however.  There was no obvious spay scar but it also does not appear that she has had puppies.  We have a spay appointment for next Monday.  I hope to get Lucky adopted out this weekend.  There are many people interested in him, which makes my decision difficult, but I think I know where I'd like him to go.  When he's out, Rita will come indoors and occupy his crate in the office, which she will have to do on Monday after her spay anyway. 

Name that shepherd

I picked up this girl from a woman over in Goochland county this morning.  She had found the dog running along an interstate in West Virginia some time ago.  She picked up the dog, along with another she was running with so they wouldn't be hit on the road.  She brought them home and posted the dogs on Craigslist from the area where they were found but had no response.  Her son has asthma and couldn't tolerate the dogs in the house, and she couldn't stand the idea of them living outdoors, so the shepherd is with me for now until I can find her an inside home. She seems like a young adult, friendly, good looking girl.  I brought her home, gave her a collar and tags, wormed her, treated a probable ear infection, and gave her a cozy kennel to herself for now.  I think she will be fine with the other fosters, but I'd like to give the wormer time to work before putting them all together.  In addition to the ear problem, one of her eyes looks like it has the beginning stages of pannus.  We'll check that out when she is vaccinated and spayed.  I'll be holding my breath on the heartworm test on this one as I'm sure she's never been on preventative. 

Oh, she has no name.  Suggestions are welcome. 

 


Cleaning the panacure off her nose after eating





Meeting the neighboring labs through the fence









Cleaning up a bowl of canned food and panacure



Checking out the entrance to her new den