Our week started on Saturday afternoon while we were preparing to head to Mobile, AL. Many of you may have heard of the hoarding situation in Summerdale, AL last week. Well local rescues who already were loaded with dogs to care for now shouldered the burden of taking in many of the Summerdale survivors. Working with many of these groups before, I knew we had to reach out. What was intended to originally be a transport for two dogs, Ollie and Soldier, turned into a transport for more to take some of the adoptable and rehab dogs to RRR to make room for the victims of Summerdale.
SouthBARK, The SHACK and RRR came up with a plan to rent a cargo van and take what dogs we could back with us. So on Saturday we went to Nashville at noon and rented the cargo van for the trip. Preparations for us to be able to leave of course ran late into the night and we hit the road around 2:30 am bound for Mobile.
We arrived in Mobile the next morning and made our first stop to pick up a Doberman who had been abandoned by his owners and taken in by neighbors. This sweet boy was younger than we'd originally thought, probably only about 8-10 months old, and though he had put on a bit of weight after a week in very good hands, he still had a long way to go.
Later that night, while picking up a gas card donation from one of the awesome SouthBARK volunteers I got to see Macey. I had met Macey for the first time when we were transporting Van Gogh to his new home in Mobile and picking up Lucy exactly one month before. The day I saw Macey was only a day or two after she had been brought in to MCAS (Mobile County Animal Shelter). Her owner had originally asked for help with food for his dogs and I cannot remember if he then surrendered them or they were seized but Macey and her partner, a male boxer, were in BAD shape. They were EXTREMELY emaciated, had lost most of their hair, had swelling on many parts of their body including their feet and looked old beyond their years. They were pulled out of MCAS by Robbie Fitzgerald (an AMAZING rescuer in AL who works with SouthBARK and who founded The SHACK) and taken for vet care. While at the vet, Macey's companion passed away. His heart had literally exploded from heartworms. Macey was now left alone. Betrayed by her owners, without her four legged companion and friend, Macey fell into depression. That's when a wonderful volunteer/foster named Christina offered to take Macey into her home. Seeing Macey after just those few weeks in Christina's care I could not believe it was the same dog. Though she was still so skinny she had put on a LOT of weight since I first saw her. Her hair was starting to grow back, there was a pep in her step, she was sweet and happy. Christina was trying to place her fosters in forever homes so she could take in and care for some of the Summerdale dogs. After seeing how much Macey had improved in such a short time, and with Macey being a boxer (one of Rob's favorite breeds), I told Christina that Macey could come back to RRR where we would continue her heartworm treatment, put the rest of her weight back on, keep an eye on some growths she had that the vet said to just watch for changes and get her ready for her forever home.
After adding Macey to 'the bus', we turned in for the night and at 5 am started getting prepared for the day ahead. We'd be meeting with Robbie to 'tour' Mobile in our 'rescue whirlwind'. We met with Robbie at 7 and our first stop was a vets office to evaluate a dog now named 'Shaq'. Shaq is a young Staffordshire Terrier mix (probably some Boxer in there as well) with the most adorable ears you have ever seen. Though Shaq gained 15 lbs while in boarding with the vet he is still very underweight (hard to imagine what he looked like with 15 less lbs, they said he was very close to death when he was brought in). He is heartworm positive and started on his treatment and he needs to learn how to properly socialize with other dogs. I worked with Shaq for a few minutes outside the office to evaluate him and agreed he would do well at RRR. After getting his prescriptions, he was loaded on the bus and we continued on our journey.
Our next stop was another vet's office where there was a dog Robbie wanted me to meet. She told me he was not originally one of the ones she'd had in mind to come to RRR but she thought I might have some interest in him so she wanted me to see him. I have to admit, I wasn't ready for what I saw. 'Firefighter' stole my heart the minute he walked in the room. As he hobbled in (he only has full use of three of his legs) I was immediately taken by his sweet, curious personality. Scars from what we assume were burns, lined his thin frame. He had gained 17 pounds since being in boarding but he is still so thin. I can only imagine what he looked like when he had arrived just a few weeks before. I had told myself there would be no more black pitties coming in until Dee found her forever home but with one curious head cock, Firefighter had me at hello. While Robbie went to work out the details of his release from boarding I sat alone with him in the exam room for a few moments. It was then that the tears for this sweet baby started to flow. I wanted to hug those who had saved him right then and there. As I ran my hands over his scars, I promised him no one would ever hurt him again and that he had all of us on his side now. I have since spoken with his rescuer, Ashley, who relayed the story of his save in these words: "My fiancé is a firefighter in Mobile, Alabama. One day, two pit bulls showed up in the backyard of the firehouse. Both were emaciated, obviously abused and neglected, but despite all they went through, they were both sweet. (but not toward each other back then) The black pit had an obvious shoulder problem and scars all along his body. We think that whoever had him last poured hot grease or acid on him. The firefighters are all animal lovers and didn't want to see these dogs get put down at a shelter, since I'm a vet tech, they called me to see what they can do and if I knew any rescue groups that would take them. Since they couldn't keep them at the firehouse, one of the firefighters took care of the red nose pit and boarded him at the vet she uses, while my fiancé and I cared for the black one at my place of work. Since I work with the best ortho vet on the gulf coast, I had him take a look at his elbow. We got him into surgery and since the fracture was so old, there was no repairing it. So we placed a pin in his elbow and also had him neutered. He will probably never walk normally, but it doesn't seem to bother him much. He is the sweetest baby for all he has been through. I tried to spend as much time with him as possible without getting too attached! I am so thankful that the wonderful people that I work with helped me fatten him up, and get him on his long road to recovery." Firefighter is now at RRR starting his heartworm treatment, he will continue to gain weight AND he has even learned a few new tricks on his second day here! The best news is, his now friend, Copper (the red pit Ashley speaks of in her story) is here too!
After meeting Firefighter our next stop was to evaluate Copper and Jake. Copper is the red pit that was abandoned with Firefighter and Jake is a wonderfully sweet Bernese Mountain Dog/Australian Shepherd cross. Jake was surrendered to MCAS when his owners discovered he had a piece of rawhide lodged in his intestine and they couldn't (or wouldn't) pay for surgery so they brought him to the shelter to be euthanized. Robbie pulled him and brought him to the vet where he underwent surgery for his stomach and a neuter. We knew Copper was a definite for RRR because he has so much ball drive. I knew that we could channel that drive and excitement into many things and that one day Copper could possibly be a working dog but at the very least, he'd be great for a child who loves to play fetch. However, I was certainly not expecting Jake and all of his wonderful fluffiness =) When we met Jake I told Rob it would be his decision on if he would come to RRR or not. Quite to my surprise, Rob said to load him on the bus. I had a bunch of pictures of Copper but for some reason they did not save to my camera so I have to take more but I do have some of Jake that I will post here. Copper is going to receive a lot of training while here and may one day be a service dog (only time will tell) but for now, he has some more weight to gain and heartworm treatment to continue. Jake is learning basic obedience and is ready for his forever home!
I also forgot to mention, after our stop to get Firefighter and before our stop for these two boys, we went to MCAS to have a look around. I found a few prospects that I considered pulling, after being in tears over seeing so many sweet babies in there, but knew I needed to hold off to see how many we needed to take for SB and The SHACK. However, while we were there, there were two ladies in the entrance getting ready to surrender two four week old pups who were 'weaned' and they'd been unable to find homes for. Robbie immediately took them into her arms and said she would find a home for them rather than them go into MCAS. So, they got loaded into her 'bus' and on we went =)
Anyhow, back to our day! So, after picking up Copper and Jake we headed on to our next stop which was where I would evaluate Rooster, a dog Robbie had pulled from MCAS. His reason for being brought to the shelter...he liked chicken. Fresh chicken. Our evaluation with Rooster took a while and we decided that he would need a lot of work and it would be best to include him on another transport. Rob and I worked with Rooster for about 30 minutes and evaluated him. He is a dog who underneath his sometimes tough exterior, wants to learn and be loved. I look forward to working with him in the future.
At this top we walked, watered and fed all of the dogs and then headed out to our next stop where I would evaluate Cain and Ollie. Cain is an Anatolian Shepherd cross who was abandoned by his owners at MCAS. He was pulled by SouthBARK. Cain developed a flea allergy while in boarding so we are going to be working on treating that, He is also a shy boy who needs to be socialized and receive some basic training. He will soon be ready to find his forever home. Ollie some of you may have heard of already. "He was pulled from MCAS by a member of SouthBARK and adopted out to what was supposed to be a wonderful family or so everyone was fooled into thinking. A year later they found Ollie in a kill shelter in Florida having never been told the owners were giving him up and he was not returned which is the policy. They pulled him again only to find Ollie returned with a whole host of issues he'd never had before. He was now dog aggressive and at times human aggressive. Ollie can not stay in boarding because of his behavioral problems so he has come here for rehab. Ollie is already neutered, UTD on shots and ready to begin his rehab =)" Ollie is one of the most intriguing cases I have seen. We ran Ollie through a series of 'tests' if you will during our evaluation and not one time did he show any aggression, even toward a dog he had previously attacked. (This was done carefully of course). However, I knew of his history and the pieces just weren't adding up. We had to purchase an extra crate because we had not intended on taking Jake so we were short. While Robbie went to the store to find us a crate (not an easy task since the Summerdale incident had occurred) we walked, watered and fed the dogs on the bus and prepared for the next leg of the trip. We were finally getting ready to head home! When Robbie came back we loaded Cain and Ollie into the van, said our goodbyes and headed out. We had one more stop left to make on the way and that was for Soldier and Charlie from Starting Over Ranch in Florida.
Cain
Ollie
About 2 hours later we made our final stop. We met with Jennifer who was kind enough to travel from Alabama to Ocala, FL to pick up the last two new residents of the ranch, Soldier and Charlie.
Soldier was pulled by Starting Over Ranch from a kill shelter in FL when they deemed him dog aggressive and he was only hours away from death. Melissa, our good friend at Starting over, has done a lot of work to rehab Soldier already but was limited in how much she could do because of a fracture in her hand. Soldier is here to continue his rehab and receive heartworm treatment as he is HW+. He also needs his neuter when his heartworm treatment is a bit further along. After all of that is done Soldier will be looking for his forever home. He is one of the SWEETEST dogs you will EVER meet.
Charlie is what we believe to be a Belgian Tervuren x Aussie cross. He has a sweet nature, is energetic and loving and LOVES to jump. Charlie is looking for his furever home! While he is here he will be learning agility =)
A funny story...when we were stopped to pick up Charlie and Soldier the poor Dobie made a mess in his crate. Rob went to the rest room and got a roll of toilet paper, some wet towels and a garbage bag to clean out the crate with. While Jennifer and I were walking some of the dogs, the gas station attendant came up to us, informed us he had just come on shift and that we had 'stolen' toilet paper from the mens room. Being tired (36 hours with an hour of sleep), I informed him that I had obviously not been using the mens room and kept going about our business. After standing there staring at the roll of toilet paper on top of a crate for about a minute, he finally turned and walked away. When we were done, Rob was going to return the toilet paper and throw out the garbage bag. I half jokingly told him that if the guy wanted to be like that, he should just give him back ALL the toilet paper, including what was in the bag, so that he couldn't say we stole it. To my surprise, Rob walked to the gas station door where the attendant stood and listened to the lecture about how stealing toilet paper was a felony (seriously?!?! lol) etc etc etc. Then, when the attendant was done, Rob handed him the roll of paper, the garbage bag and said well here you go, here is all of it back. The attendant thanked him and walked away only shortly after realizing what in fact he had just been handed LOL Now, normally, I would not have found this so amusing but the fact we were OBVIOUSLY trying to keep dogs clean and sanitary and were not running off with a roll of toilet paper would have been enough to prevent most people from even saying anything so silly. BUT since it didn't in this case, I felt we should make a point =) don't mess with dog people while they are caring for their dogs LOL
Anyhow, after Jennifer and I shared a laugh about the situation, we headed on our way back home. We finally arrived very early that morning and proceeded to check on all the current residents of RRR who had to be cared for by a volunteer and my mom while we were gone and unload, feed, water, walk and settle in all of the new residents. They were also each photographed and entered into our iShelter system along with their records. I uploaded some photos and slept for a bit and then it was more training, catching up, computer work, feeding and caring for the dogs and running errands.
I thought today we would finally have a break but we were called to help with an urgent situation with two Dobermans who were stuck in a kill shelter and could not be released to anyone in the area, including rescue, because of BSL (breed specific legislation which bans breeds 'known for aggressive behavior'). That meant that if the Dobies had any chance of not being euthanized, someone in another area had to pull them. Our friend Bridget, with an awesome group N2N (Numbers 2 Names) drove over two hours to pull the dobies from the shelter and meet us with them in Jackson, TN. We then had another long ride home and more settling in and caring for the dogs. I administered some antibiotic and sub cue fluids, gave them a bath, food and water and spent some time with them to settle them in for the night. They are doing much better already and will now visit the vet for shots, exam, fecal and heartworm test. I have named them Cerberus and Zeus.
Cerberus
Zeus
Now, as this week winds to a close, tomorrow we will be working on our weekly deep cleaning, catching up on filing paperwork, arranging a meeting with a lawyer for our 501c3 and training, videoing and photographing the rescues.
I can only imagine the things we will learn this week!
Until next time,
Nicole
The Dobie pup is such a sweetie! What did you name him? Poor Ollie....he holds himself so stiffly, like he doesn't dare relax :(
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