VGSR Elections

The Virginia German Shepherd Rescue annual meeting and election for the VGSR board of directors is coming up soon. I've been a director for the past year and was debating whether or not to run again. I just decided to do so this evening. One of the things I wanted to express was my committment to rescue. I counted up dogs I had fostered in 2008 and came up with 41 German Shepherds! There were probably a few more that were holdovers from 2007; I just based the count on the dates of the photos on my computer. I just did a quick survey of non-shepherds for 2008 and it looks like there were about 20 or so. That's more than I expected because there seemed to be long stretches of time with no adoptions. Then there was the weekend that 5 dogs got adopted, so I guess that overall, things were better than it seemed. Anyway, here's what I just submitted for my pre-election statement. I've thrown in a few random pics because they are more interesting than what I have to say.

My name is Brent Jacques. I've been involved with dog rescue for almost 9 years now. It's a part of my life and probably always will be as long as I'm able to do it. I've fostered for VGSR for much of that time and have served as a Director for the past year.

I believe strongly that our board members should be active participants with the rescue, not mere armchair quarterbacks who want to make rules for other people to follow. According to my records, I have fostered at least 41 dogs for VGSR in 2008, including a few that are still with me, and probably at least half that many for the other rescue groups that I work with. I am firmly and fully committed to rescue. I attend adoption events nearly every weekend and spend far too much of my time during the week on rescue work as well-- transporting, trips to the vet, meetings with applicants, picking up and evaluating incoming dogs, answering emails, doing home visits, etc. I've developed good relationships with at least 4 shelters in my area, such that they contact me first if a shepherd comes into their facility.

I am not a bureaucrat by inclination or by profession and I tend to think that less structure is better than more. We are a volunteer organization and organizing volunteers is a bit like herding cats. I'm probably not going to favor any rule or bureaucracy that doesn't have a direct relationship to our goal of adopting dogs.

I am pleased that over the past year we have stopped rejecting both applicants and foster homes based on a single factor without a full evaluation of their situations and qualifications. We have several new, active, and greatly qualified foster homes as a result. I believe that each applicant, whether an adopter or a foster, should be considered based on the totality of their circumstances, and with the realization that what may be appropriate in a rural area is not necessarily the same as what is appropriate in an urban environment. We are a state-wide organization and we now attract applicants from all over. We need to broaden our horizons further still, not revert to a social club mentality.

I'm in this for the long haul and I'd like to continue to serve on the Board of Directors. In any event, I will continue to foster and do what I can to find the best possible homes for my dogs.

Brent Jacques

Holiday, Betty, Chance updates

Holiday and Betty were scheduled to be spayed on Tuesday. I took them both to CASPCA in the morning for the surgery. A vet arrived as I was in the lobby with Holiday and asked if she had been checked for a spay scar. We both thought it very likely that Holiday was already spayed. At her age, if she wasn't spayed, she would show some obvious signs of having been pregnant. Furthermore, her girth is a pretty obvious sign of a well fed, spayed female. They took her in the back, shaved her belly, and sure enough, found a scar that was evidence of a prior spay. So she dodged the knife and accompanied me on my morning errands while Betty stayed for the surgery.

In the afternoon, I took Chance to the Fluvanna Heritage Trail for a hike in the woods. He did a lot of sniffing, but surprisingly little marking. As big and rambunctious as he is, he's actually pretty good on a leash, once I made it clear that walking where he would trip me was not a good option. When he nearly caused me to fall, I purposely went down and took him down with me. That got the message across that walking directly in front of me was not a good idea. After that, he was really pretty good on the leash, using a prong collar. I may try him with a harness today, but I'll take the prong collar just in case. He's a great dog, but has been rather destructive in the kennel when he's bored. He needs stimulation.

Late afternoon I went back to CASPCA to pick up Betty. She was one of the later surgeries and was still sleeping off the anesthetic. I got her up and she did the drunken stumble out to the car. When she saw a comfy crate with a big comforter inside, she was happy to get in and go back to sleep. She spent the night in a crate in my office upstairs, where she will stay for a couple of days anyway.

Here's a rottie I just agreed to take in. His name is Strider. He's been living on a chain in West Virginia. More people and less dogs should be kept on chains. While I believe in spaying or neutering all pets, I think that the same treatment should be applied to many people. Start by neutering those people who keep their dogs on chains and we'd see some improvement in the gene pool within a generation. Strider is a handsome young male rottie. I'd be willing to bet that he's much better bred this owners, and has more teeth.

New dogs

Two new dogs came home with me on Saturday from the Orange County animal shelter. The first is a 5-6 year old female we are calling Holiday. She's a big boned gal, but she's also just plain fat. She was obviously well fed and cared for at one time, but she was found wandering down the middle of a road as if looking for someone to stop and pick her up. Most likely she was abandoned or dumped, which is a real shame. She appears to have been a house dog, she knows some basic tricks and commands, and she's super mellow. This dog is the perfect choice for so many people who want a young, active male dog instead, and then end up returning that dog a week, month, or year later. She's not a raving beauty, but she's got a beautiful coat, a good soul, great temperament, and manners. Adopters should be beating my door down wanting this dog, but I bet it will take a while to find someone. In the meantime, I'll put her on a diet and get her some much needed exercise with the other fosters. She's been a couch potato and hopefully will be again, but she does need someone watching her weight.

Betty is most likely a Belgian Malinois, or a mix thereof. It's a shepherd-like breed, but not a German Shepherd Dog. She's very young. I doubt that she's a year old yet. She acts and plays very much like a pup, and I'm guessing she's maybe just 10 months old. Pretty girl, sweet, cute, friendly, but no manners. She will sit on command, especially for a treat, but then she's likely to jump up on you. Her ears should stand up, but they may have been injured or malnourished when she was growing, or it could be the result of the genetic mix. It's impossible to say, but she's a striking dog regardless.

I took both dogs to an adoption event in Gainesville today along with Score and Bear. Bear is already spoken for but he went to spend time with his soon-to-be adopters and his future canine siblings. It was his first outing and he was great with all the people and all the dogs he met. Bear has a few more weeks before the heartworm treatment is completed and then he needs to be neutered. I need to get him crate trained soon. The one time I closed him in a crate he got out and I think he will need to be crated for a while in his new home, but he is a spectacular dog.

A walk in the rain

Saturday was a busy day even without an adoption event. I've got two new fosters as of yesterday, a female shepherd and a female Belgian Malinois. Both came from the Orange County shelter, which Beth has turned into a fantastic no-kill facility, proving that it can be done even in a rural area. No pics of the new fosters yet, but the Malinois got treated with panacure this morning. The shepherd is so chubby there is no way she can have worms.

I did two home visits in Charlottesville this morning, both wanted puppies. In between the home visits I made a trip to CASPCA to pick up food and drop off the ringworm tests I took from Julie and Philly early this morning. The first test was negative after three weeks. If the second test grows nothing in the first week they will call it negative and they can finally go back and go up for adoption. If I thought these two dogs had ringworm still I wouldn't have had them housed with all my other fosters for the last month. Suffice it to say that I think this second test is an abundance of caution.

I got back home in time to give seven of the fosters a good romp in the pasture. Then two dogs arrived from Tidewater. My house was just a meeting point. One was picked up almost immediately and the second one a couple hours later.

It started raining, but Molly and Emmylou (two of our own dogs) and I went out for a walk on the Fluvanna Heritage Trail. Neither of the girls particularly likes rain, but it was fairly light rain and we were under trees most of the time. The term "walk" probably gives the wrong impression. "Forced march" more nearly captures the tenor of the hike, with me being the one under force. Both girls are very enthusiastic on the trails and like to set a fast pace. I need the exericse the most of any of us, so I pretty much let them set the pace while I just try to hold on without falling. Pulling my weight gives them more exercise too, and they are now sacked out in my office sleeping very soundly. I've been sleeping better since getting back to walking too. It really is the best and simplest thing to do for one's overall health. I highly recommend it, but it's a lot more fun with a dog or two.

Underground Railroad, Part 2

First off, here's a pic of Clint in the shelter he came from. The orange jumpsuit isn't a fashion statement, that county uses prisoners from its county jail to work in the animal shelter. The shelter looks like a jail as well, but Clint is a happy dog no matter where he is.





Here is Clint at play in my dog yard this morning before the second leg of his trip (with Jeep and Lyka).














I picked up a friend and former rottweiler adopter, Mary Jane, to ride shotgun on the trip out to I-81 north of Staunton to meet the New Jersey transporter. Mary Jane held Clint as his next conveyance was prepared for him:


And then they were off. Clint will stay in NJ until weather permits the final leg of his journey, to a foster home in New York, which is apparently interested in adopting him permanently. I can't even imagine what the dog must be thinking. What a long, strange trip it's been.

The Doggie Underground Railroad

This is Clint. Don't ask me what he is, he's just a dog. A dog in trouble who found himself in a kill shelter in southwest Virginia, unclaimed, unwanted, and out of time. He's on his way to an undisclosed location in New York. It's not really a secret, I just don't happen to know where he's going. All I know is that an email landed in my mailbox about trying to move this dog and all they were lacking was an overnight location in or around Charlottesville.

My own part in this rescue effort is minimal. There is a woman and her husband who pull dogs from a particular shelter in SW VA every week and drive at least as far as Charlottesville to place them with a rescue group or to move them along their way further north. This couple has singled handedly saved hundreds, maybe a thousand or more dogs since they started this endeavor. Thanks to the internet, they hooked up with a rescue group in New York that was willing to take the dog. Someone from that group is driving down from New Jersey tomorrow to pick up Clint and then pass him off to someone else who will be fostering the dog in New York.

My only part in this is picking up the dog today in Charlottesville, keeping him overnight, and then meeting the New Jersey woman tomorrow out on I-81. Being "at liberty" as they say, I have time to make this run and meeting her on I-81 will save her some miles and time.

Many dogs make this journey on the modern underground railroad every day. The flow is generally out of the rural, southern, bible belt regions to "bluer" parts of the state and country. I'll spare you my usual tirade about gun-toting, bible-thumping, red state, white trash rednecks who don't control their dogs' sexual activities anymore than they do their own. (Preaching/teaching "abstinence only" to dogs works about as well as it does with teenagers.) You can draw your own conclusions.

I'll edit this post tomorrow to show some more pictures of the handoff, assuming I remember to take my camera.

Wet dogs

We are in the middle of a two day rain event here in central VA. They had originally predicted that this would start out with ice, so I'm happy they were wrong about that at least. But it is raining steadily and mud is quickly becoming the predominant feature of the landscape, and of our household decor.

The phrase "no one likes a wet dog" doesn't seem to translate into canine language. They hear that as "please come jump on me and give me a wet dog kiss." It is like wet cement to them, seen as a golden opportunity to leave their pawprints everywhere, preferably on me.

I don't normally bother going to adoption events when it is rainy, because in truth, no one does like a wet dog in spite of what all the dogs think. Even if the dog is clean, dry, and relatively good smelling, on a rainy day people ask themselves what it would be like to have such a dog on such a day, and they think better of it. However, I once had a couple come to my place on a cold, wet, dreary day to meet dogs. They spent a couple hours in the pasture with the dogs, and when they left they were as cold, wet, and smelly as the lucky dog they took home.



That dog was Charlie, a rottie mix, who looks remarkably similar to our Molly, as well as our first foster, Maggie, and several other rottie mixes that we've had. I'm a sucker for that look and they've all had similar personalities as well. Friendly, playful, high flying, happy dogs.