Foreclosure Dog's Letter To His Person

This is a must read. It absolutely broke my heart.


"You bought a house! You finally had a yard so you decided it was time for a dog. You chose me out of all the other dogs. As a puppy, I entertained you with my antics and I made you laugh. You called me your baby and carried me closely. Despite some chewed boxer shorts and a few broken mini-blinds, I became your best friend. Whenever I was “bad,” you’d shake your finger at me and ask “How could you?” ­ but then you’d relent, and roll me over for a bellyrub.

My housebreaking took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling you in bed and listening to your secret dreams. I remember running in your new, big backyard. I believed that life could not be any more perfect. We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, and BBQs. I took long naps in the backyard sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.

Gradually, you began spending more time at work to get paid for overtime. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through the bill-paying frustrations and the debt collector's calls. I never chided you about bad decisions, I never cared about your FICA score, and I never threatened to garnish your wages or repossess your car.

The letters kept coming. The phone kept ringing. Your employer froze wages and stopped giving overtime. Your new second job helped, but is wasn't enough. You stroked me kindly when they took away the car. You told me you'd buy us a new one and that everything would be OK.

Then the bank took the house."

Please read the rest of the story.

Rescue Chain

"It's going to be great, especially since my son and Summer are very close." -Brandon Wells, a Marine separated from his dog

When Brandon Wells dropped his dog Summer off at an animal-rescue shelter in California, he knew she would be taken care of.

But the United States Marine Corps sergeant never expected the pet, who was too lame to travel with his family after he was transferred from a base in San Diego to Jacksonville, to find her way back to him.

Today, after being shuttled across the country in a sort of relay by people associated with the rescue group, Double S Animal Rescue & Sanctuary Inc., in Warner Springs, Calif., Summer will be reunited with Wells' family in Eastern North Carolina.

He was looking forward to having her back."

"It's going to be great, especially since my son and Summer are very close," he said. "It's just really good that everyone took care of her the way they did."

Start Seeing Black Dogs

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I received a comment on one of my older blog posts today and am delighted to share it here. Heather Rosenwald has launched a new website which provides free resources that rescue groups and shelters can use to increase the number of black dog adoptions.

They also provide information to increase public awareness about Black Dog Syndrome. This is very important information as black dogs are so often overlooked in adoptions.

Please visit this website and learn how you can help.

Pet Box Inspection

"Anyone who has spent time volunteering for a rescue organization knows that - generally - people suck. Doing animal rescue we do not see the best side of people. Yes, every now and then we meet wonderful people who are doing great work in the humane community - but far more often we hear about and/or witness the truly apathetic, insensitive nature of human beings.

Over the years we have seen many, many injustices towards animals - including animals left in trash cans, tied to poles, kicked so hard that they lose an eye, thrown out of cars into traffic, taped up in boxes on the side of the freeway, left in bathrooms at pet stores…. just to name a few. Having seen what we’ve seen, all of us in rescue participate in what we refer to as the “Mandatory Box Inspection”…

This means that whenever we see a box - wherever we are - we will stop and look inside of it. This is to be sure that there are no kittens or puppies or hamsters in the box. We will stop traffic if necessary, pull over to the side of the freeway, go WAY out of our way to have a peek inside of any suspicious box. Once we determine that there is nothing in the box, we will then tear the box apart so that nothing can be PUT inside the box. It is a habit that we all have. It’s second nature."

Helping Each Other

" A Doberman Pinscher brutally attacked by what rescuers believe was a mountain lion has a second start in life. The dog has a new home and a new job.

Meet Denise Shepherd's new best friend, Diego. Just three weeks ago, Diego was found by animal control officers, wandering around Heber. He'd been savagely attacked.

Al Nortz, with the Utah Doberman Rescue, said, "The wound is basically from his neck all the way down to his tail. It was very infected. But now he's recovering."

That's thanks to more than $3,000 in veterinarian bills and Denise. She saw Diego's picture, with his one eye and horrible wounds, on an animal rescue Web site just three days after his picture was posted. It was then she knew. "When I saw his picture, I fell in love. His eyes tell it all," she said.

Denise decided to adopt. Nortz Denise "spoils him rotten, sleeps in bed, lays in her lap all day, watches TV with her."

Diego needs Denise to help him recover, but make no mistake, Denise needs Diego. "I have anxiety disorder with panic disorder. I have really bad anxiety. I have panic attacks. I have a difficult time getting out of the house, sort of agoraphobia and post traumatic stress syndrome," she said.

For the past year, all of that combined has made Denise a virtual prisoner in her own home. She wouldn't leave the house, and she shut herself off from the outside world. But now, Diego is her therapy dog.

"Being able to pet him and touch him helps calm me and helps me be able to go out of the apartment. When I see people, I don't feel uncomfortable talking to them," Denise said. "

Potbelly

"It all started simply enough with just one pig, a Vietnamese potbelly, who arrived in 1992. The potbelly was a hand-me-down from a Seattle friend who didn't want her anymore.

Judy Woods named the pig Fern and took her to live on the 6 ½-acre spread she owned in Arlington.

Then, in 1994, she heard King County Animal Control might know where she could find more unwanted pigs. She called. As it turnd out, a male potbelly was running loose in Des Moines. Did Woods want the pig? He was a full-grown, 4-year-old boar with untrimmed tusks and would be euthanized if she didn't take him. She would.

Woods, a nurse by day, named this one Wilbur and trucked him back to her little farm.

That same year, Woods created Pigs Peace Sanctuary and organized it two years later as a nonprofit dedicated to rescuing swine, potbellied and hog alike. The pigs haven't stopped coming."

Groovin' On A Sunday Afternoon

This is what I like to do on a Sunday afternoon. I do need a day of rest you know.