RescueTag Archives

Back and Tired

I am home! Yay! I love being home. Vacations are fun… but sometimes home is just better. I used to like vacations more when I was younger and had more energy. Now.. I like being home and sitting on the couch with my dogs. And my husband too, of course. I mostly posted on Luna Tail about the cruise, if you want to check out those posts.

I think I had just a touch more fun at dog camp… Camp Winnaribbun, than on the cruise. Okay, so that just means I’m a dog person right? LOL. I would love to go on a dog cruise… but I don’t know if that’s really practical. Oh well, I can dream.

The best part of the trip, for me, was talking to the lady in Belize who heads the Belize Humane Society and Animal Shelter. I’m going to have to dig up all my papers and emails and send her an email. She said they can use collars, and we have a bunch of old collars from old fosters that we don’t use. So I want to send them down there. The website for the Belize Humane Society and Animal Shelter seems to be down at the moment. I will check it later and see if it comes back, or else I’ll send them an email and see what is up.

The worst thing, for me, traveling to countries such as Belize and Mexico, is seeing the dogs in fairly bad shape. When I went to Mexico back in 1995 it bothered me then, too. People would hit dogs on the road without even seeing them. It broke my heart. I felt so helpless. I’m just so glad to see people helping the dogs now. It’s an attitude… people just need to be educated as to the value of the life of our dogs and cats, and to treat them well and give them the care they deserve. Hopefully it’s changing.

The picture above is one of a dog in Isla Roatan. The only dog picture I took. I don’t really like to remember the state of the dogs, so I don’t take pictures of them. This was the last shore trip on the cruise so I snapped it.

I’m glad to be home, with my healthy and happy dogs. In my nice house and have my nice job and my wonderful friends and family. I hope to stay home for a while, so I won’t need to look at life insurance rates for if I travel to dangerous places. I have some dog training planned, but no trials for a couple of months. I’m looking forward to the training, and taking the time off trialing!

Cynthia

November 3, 2008

Daily Posts

1 comment

Rescue, Travel

Our Visitor

So for a night we have the privilege of having a house guest! And as you probably can guess, this is a recipe for lots of fun and play. Of course Chase and Levi are banished to their Dad’s computer room, but the rest of the dogs are nice and are happy to have Sadie visit.

I actually thought Tatum would be the main player… but it seems Muffit is instead. Sadie and Muffit have been having a great time this morning playing, barking, and making a lot of noise. Tatum is, of course, joining in as she can.

I snapped these pictures early this morning as I’m working from home and the dogs are being nutty. Though as I type this now, they have calmed down and are sleeping again. I guess they got their play out of them. Sadie actually started it. She brought me a toy even. And she is a snuggly and a love bug. I’m already in love with her. Isn’t she pretty? She is so soft, too, and such a doll.

It makes me happy to have a foster again in the house… but at the same time, my heart melts, and I wish we could keep her. What has happened to me in my old age? I thought I was supposed to get tougher and more callus and not fall in love with the fosters so much. But the opposite has happened and I love them more, and wish I could keep them all. Well, that’s why we ended up with six dogs.

But Sadie has an awesome foster home with Christy, and she’ll go back there today. And Chrisy is so good at finding homes for her fosters, so Sadie will find a great forever home.

Cynthia

October 20, 2008

Rescue

9 comments

Rescue

When Tatum Came A Year Ago

Well, it’s been a year. Can you believe it? It’s been a year since Tatum joined our home. Of course at first I didn’t think she’d stay. I was going to place her in a loving home. But I couldn’t let her go. And still, even a year later, I’m overjoyed that she is still with us and she is doing so well!

Looking at my pictures from when I went to pick them up, I see that I didn’t get any of Tatum! You can see her butt in the first picture, towards the top left, peeking out from behind my friend Marsha who came and helped me pick them all up from the airport. These pictures are from September 1, 2007.

I remember the first time I saw her.. I came home from dog camp (everyone was so awesome taking care of these collies while I was gone!) and I walked in the door and she barked at me like mad! But she settled in quickly and at home was comfortable and confident. Though when I took her out, for a few months after, her tail would tuck and she would be very afraid.

Houston Collies 3This is the Tatum I met when i got home from camp. Spunky and full of spit and vinegar.. at home at least. And now when I take her out, she’s very confident, her tail is up, and she is a spitfire! I adore that girl. I have not been working with her on agility and obedience as much as I should… as much as I want to. It’s time to start. She should be much farther along than she is. I do wish I lived down in Richfield with my friend Marie, then I’d have someone to push me and equipment to train on!

Tatum flew in on September 1, 2007, she was boarded for a couple days, then my husband picked her up. I met her on September 8, 2007, and fell in love with her.

Collie, Rescue, Tatum

Animal Witness

I just finished watching Animal Witness, the Michael Vick story, on Animal planet. I had it recorded and when I got back from flyball practice with Tatum, Muffit and Chase, I couldn’t help but fire it up and see what it was all about.

It was awesome. A bit too short, I would have liked to have more in depth and detail information, but I guess they could only put so much in an hour!

It was hard to watch the dog fighting scenes they put in. Gads.. how horrible, those poor dogs having to go through that, and being so abused by the humans to get them to be mean. Pit Bulls are such great dogs. I really hope that one day I can rescue a pit bull and teach him or her flyball, and have a good representation of the breed. People can come up to be (or avoid me) thinking the dog is aggressive or mean by nature, and I can just spit in their face as the dog licks me and is loving.

There was a pit bull on the street a few months ago, when we were going to lunch. I asked the man if I could say hi, because I just love them, and the dog was so friendly and sweet. I like to let people know that not everyone is afraid of the breed!

Did you watch the show? What did you think?

Another Happy Girl

The happiest thing I can see in life is when a dog gets an amazing, wonderful, great home. And this girl has found it. Her name was Penny when she was at the Spanish Fork shelter two days ago. Today.. well, we are not sure what her new name is yet (Kia or Cami?) but regardless, she is one happy girl and she has no idea, as of yet, the great life she has fallen into.

I spotted her on Petfinder as I knew some friends of mine were interested in adopting a young border collie girl. They have two older dogs, Dylan and Hope, which are also wonderful dogs. And they were ready to bring another young girl into their home to have as a companion, best friend, and a flyball dog.

They discovered this cute girl on Petfinder, went down (about an hour drive) to the Spanish Fork Shelter to meet her. Instantly they fell in love with her, snatched her up, and brought her home. She’s about eight or nine months old, very spunky and friendly with dogs and people, and she’s going to be a great flyball dog! She was too wiggly to get a really good picture of her, but I plan on trying a lot in the future!

Jessie You Will Be Missed

Jessie was rescued by Marie when she was five years old. And Aussie girl, I met her first when she was doing NADAC agility probably around 2004 or 2005. Marie would remember more!

Jessie passed away on Monday. She went to the vet and her liver tests were very, very bad. She was no longer eating, or drinking, and she was no longer her spunky self. Her Mom, Marie, made the decision it was time to let Jessie go, so she would not have to suffer. I admire her for the decision, it’s a hard one to make.

Jessie is no longer in pain. She had a good life in one of the most amazing dog and human families I have ever known. If you have some time, please visit Resq Tails and wish Jessie and Marie some love and support. It’s much too difficult to lose one of our pack, our family. Even though we know their lives are short. Much too short. We love them all.

Sweet Boy Tony

I adore Tony. I just do. He is so sweet and loving. A goofy collie boy. It’s fun to have him back. He’s settling in just fine, almost like he was never gone. He hasn’t changed a bit. When we got him last September he was so needy and desperate for attention. I’m very happy to say he’s not like that now, so he’s gotten some good lovin’s at the home that tried to keep him.

I brushed him out a bit today. I actually feel kinda bad for the family who tried their best to keep him. When I brush him I keep a hand on his collar, and he just does not like to be brushed. He’ll snark and growl and threaten to bite me. He does sound really mean, looks really mean. But I don’t let him get away with it. When he does it I stop what I’m doing and give him a sharp “uh uh!” and we make eye contact and he huffs at me. If he was going to bite me he had ample opportunity and he didn’t do it. He’s all bark but no bite.

But many people who are new to dogs or just don’t understand them don’t know what he’s doing. I am more careful when he does it, too, because I probably am hurting him a bit. He’s got a really thick nice coat. We’ll get him all brushed out over the next few days. And I just love my Mars Coat King Stripper! It’s awesome. I like it way better than a Furminator. It hooks and pulls out the undercoat and does a great job.

So here is Tony with much of his coat brushed out. We probably have at least that much more to come out, maybe twice that. We’ll get it all! We do it in short sessions so he doesn’t get too grumpy about it! After I am done he runs around the yard like a goof ball, he sooo hates being brushed!

With all that running we won’t need to read a Fenphedra review, we have enough calories burned off!

Tony is Coming Back

*sigh*… overwhelmed. Can you say “Overwhelmed?” We are getting our old foster boy, Tony, back. Big smooth sable collie boy. I think something else might be mixed in there.. I need to find a picture of him and post it up. As much as I love Tony, he’s a handfull. Mainly because of Lucy’s Megaesophagus that she has been diagnosed with. Plus, I’m having PMS which always makes me feel like my life is falling apart. And we already have six dogs. Sure we can handle Tony okay… but it’ll be a stretch until he settles back in or until CAWS can find another foster home for him.

Tony is a big love but… though he likes to bark. I’m going to have to get serious with him and not put up with his barking anymore. Even a little bit. Not sure what I’ll do, but he has got to learn that barking is just not acceptable. He’s a big smart boy, he should be able to figure it out.

My Husband is going to go pick him up today, so he’ll be at our house when I get home. I think he was too much of a handful for his adoptive family. He has a pretty strong will, and I’ve had to make sure he knew who was boss a couple of times. Which makes me wonder if he has another breed in there because collie boys are usually just love bugs and people pleasers. I guess he’s been marking, and that will not fly at our house. Even if we have to crate him. And he’s trying to be dominant, which will also not fly at our house. So we’ll see how it goes when he comes back, and hopefully we’ll keep Chase from attacking him every half hour.

I need a break.

Collie, Fosters, Rescue