Peaches

Another unwanted cutie. Cast away after she had puppies, she went from the owner to 3 other homes until she came to us. She is just what every adopter wants in a dog. Cute, personable, plays when you want to, cuddles, and looks up at you like your the most awesome person she's ever met.

Again, I'm left wondering how anyone could give up this precious babe. Its rarely about the dog but often says so much about the person.

Gasport Dog

I'd gotten many emails from people begging me for advice, with the subject title "Gasport dog".

Sara lived in an outside kennel for most of her 2 1/2 years. She had a companion but he disappeared awhile ago and so she'd lived alone with a lonely doghouse as her only comfort. Poor thing, she's afraid of all new things, won't get in the car, sometimes won't go inside after a walk and sometimes won't go outside. She crouches down and lets her entire 60 lbs become dead weight. She doesn't fight me but she doesn't help either. I guess this is how she chooses to deal with her scary new world-by not consenting to participate.

The good news is that she's coming around. She's wagging her tail and giving kisses. She loves and trusts Julie and she's great with other dogs. She is gentle and sensitive. She will be an ideal family companion. I curse the woman who forced her into solitude, but its so common for people to be so aware of their own needs and so oblivious to others.

Ginny found her Angel

Ginny lived with a senior citizen until he died and then she lived in his trailer alone for a month until the owner's son found someone willing to take her. This person brought her to Dogs Deserve Better in Dunkirk. We had hoped to get her adopted but she turned out to be older than we thought and had medical issues.

Ginny has been in a foster home and at a boarding kennel for 15 months as she has Cushings symptoms (drinks lots of water and needs to go out frequently to potty), and is 9 years old. No one has expressed any interest in her until Debby came along (most people only want carefree, low maintenance dogs.)

Debby saw Ginny at the boarding kennel and noticed her sad eyes and asked a lot of questions until we agreed to give her a chance with Ginny. I have been taking Ginny to the vets every few weeks or months for testing to find out why she has constant thirst and urination. She's had a couple urinary infections and had to have several teeth removed in the meantime. We still do not know what her illness is.

Debby not only loves Ginny, she wanted her even when she found out about Ginny's medical problems. She loves her in spite of her issues and has gone out of her way to accomodate her constant need for water and frequent potty breaks. She's had Ginny approved to go to work with her as a therapy dog so that she can take her to work when no one's home to care for her. Debby obviously sees Ginny's value in spite of the extra time and work she requires.

I'm truly amazed that they found each other and truly grateful that Ginny found her furever home. This tells me there is hope for all dogs, no matter what their situation.

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I am eternally grateful to the boarding kennel operator who took good care of Ginny for a long time and gave her love and attention until her furever home could be found. I have no doubt that if Ginny had been taken to the spca, she would have been euthanized. She owes her life to the people who stuck by her and respected her as a deserving creature, as they all are. I'm proud to know so many people who value the lives of these living creatures even when its not cheap or convenient.

Little Emma

Emma is a 4 month old, 19 lb beagle found a couple weeks ago. So far, no one is looking for her. She is a cute, sweet little thing who was found going through somebody's garbage on an extremely cold day. The woman who took her home went door to door throughout the neighborhood looking for the owner but no one knew who she could belong to.

Hard to believe no one's looking for this wonderful little puppy. I wonder where she came from and why someone isn't out there doing everything imaginable to find their baby. How did she ever end up out in the cold? Did she slip out the door after a rabbit?, was she out playing with the kids and just ran off? She isn't starving and doesn't seem to be abused so who would let her go?

Emma, is someone looking for you? Were you loved? Do you miss your family? Do they miss you? Maybe you were given to someone who didn't really care what happened to you although its hard to imagine. Whatever your story, only you know. I will make sure it ends well though, Chris, Francine, and I.

I quit

I quit the rescue. Every Friday but for a handful, I drove 20 miles to clean the shelter and spend time with the dogs for 2 1/2 years. No more.

It wasnt' just Hans although that was the last straw. There were many things I brought up but never got answers on and it was never clear who was in charge of what. If I couldn't come in, I didn't know what to do besides posting for help over and over; if there was a specific problem with a dog, I'd ask what was to be done but rarely did I get an answer leading me to believe they didn't want to be bothered.

I just didn't feel significant. Maybe I wasn't but for 2 1/2 years, I was good enough to spend my Friday's cleaning and looking after the needs of the dogs. When I had an opinion, I was just the "cheap labor". Guess I didn't fit in.

Pepie's dead

Pepie's dead.
I first met her in March of 2005 while walking my dog. I saw this sort of "rabbit hutch" off the ground and didn't quite understand what I was looking at so I went up to take a closer look and there was a dog inside. Pepie. What the hell? I went up to talk to her and she was friendly and quit barking after a few seconds. She looked so sad. So lonely.

The rest is a series of frustrations, tears, and setbacks because try as I might, I couldn't convince the owner or the authorities to get her out of there. It was legal, they said. He was a nice man, they said. They, the good 'ole boys.

Much has been written about her on the internet. Many knew of her plight but were as useless as I in making a difference in her pitiful life. We all tried, we all loved her and now we all feel sad and angry and confused.
Did she ever know love, kindness, comfort? Did she know so many cared? Did it even matter? She will haunt me the rest of my life because she had no life, she just waited to die.

Ooooooh, that little Pongo

Look at that little face, don't you just want to scoop him up and cuddle him to death? He is a cutie at the rescue I volunteer at. I think he was too energetic for the owners and was left tied up outside. I'm so glad he came to the rescue and got out of that awful situation.

He's so squirmy and active and untrained--lots of poo and pee in his kennel and really hard to hang onto. It'll take him some time to learn how to deal with attention and love. You can just tell he craves it; after a few minutes with him, he starts to focus on me and shows me all his cute little tricks. He retrieves all his toys for me and doesn't tire of going after them again and again.

I held him as I talked to a visitor to the rescue, one who seemed to talk with her hands and all the while he followed her hands with his eyes and kept trying to grab them although, she was mostly oblivious to it. (I laughed inside.)
Whoever adopts him is in for a ton of exercise and a lot of entertainment. He's one special pup.