By the time we figured out how to make things work with the four dogs, I was ready to start the rescue. Since then at least 20 dogs have stayed with us while on their way to their forever home. Along the way we said goodbye to Baby and Harley, and hello to Bongo and Dolly. There was a 3 day period in 2010 where we had only 2 dogs. There were many more where we had 6. Sometimes they get along, sometimes they don’t. When things go badly, I don’t have anyone to dump my problems on, so I have to find a way to make things work. It is stressful, but rewarding.

We had 3 peaceful weeks with just our dogs, but tomorrow, I’m going to Raymond to pick up a pair of Dalmatians whose owner died. I’m told they are extremely thin, and not socialized. I am not ready for the turmoil 2 extra dogs are going to bring to our household, but someone has to help them. Choosing to rescue sometimes means choosing not to have much stability in your home. I hope that I will be able to get them stabilized and into homes quickly. There are many more dogs waiting to be rescued after this pair, and some of them will probably have to stay at my house. I still hope there will be a little time for something other than dogs this year.

Poor, thin Pepper

She had a terrible case of diarrhea, and became increasingly hostile toward our dogs. We spent 2 weeks nursing her back to health, while keeping her confined in our laundry room. Sneaking her out for bathroom breaks was a challenge. Everything was a challenge, but sweet Pepper deserved a chance for a good life. Two weeks later, she got that chance when a very nice couple from the Puget Sound Dalmatian Club offered to take her into their home. It takes a very special person to adopt a 15 year old dog, and Pepper has been blessed with 2 of them. Time is catching up with her, and we don’t know if Pepper will make it to her one year anniversary with them, but their time together has been a blessing for all of them.

After Pepper came a trio of dogs in Oregon that were losing their home. Two were able to find homes through friends and family, but Sparky needed help fast. I was able to find him a foster home in Oregon, but he didn’t get along well with their young dogs. We found a second foster home and made plans to bring him to Washington, without knowing where he would go when he arrived. Fortunately, a woman who recently lost her Dalmatian contacted a Dalmatian rescue group in Colorado. They directed her to me, and she adopted Sparky. It was another wonderful match.

After that things took off, which is why I haven’t had time to write a blog post since March 15. We’ve rescued a total of 49 dogs in less than a year. When I launched the web site, I was just hoping to find homes for a few local dogs. Then I met Beth White from Dalmatian Rescue of Colorado. Beth suggested that there was a need for Dalmatian rescue in Idaho and Oregon as well. She gave me her contacts in the area, which helped me get off to a good start.

I rescued a number of Oregon dogs, including Bongo. Poor Bongo lost his home of 14 years when his family lost their home. He was given away, but the people who took him didn’t want him. He ended up wandering his old neighborhood as a stray. He was thin and in bad shape when he got to the shelter. We transported him up from Oregon, and introduced him to our dogs in the front yard. A dog we were fostering, grabbed him by the neck and tore a huge hole from shoulder to shoulder.

Bongo after surgery for the bite

Bongo recovered, and we tried him in a foster home for a while, but he likes it at our house, so he moved back. He’s had a variety of ailments, but at 14 1/2, he is still cruising along.

In June, I heard about a 14 year old Dalmatian that had been surrendered to a shelter by her owners, after recently giving birth.

Princess story really touched a nerve in the rescue community. I offered to bring her up from California, and was amazed when people across the country donated enough to fly her up. Princess was a very sweet girl, but we didn’t realize that she had a huge mass growing in her abdomen until a few weeks later when she stopped eating. Her time with us was brief, but her impact was huge. After rescuing Princess, people started asking me to help other Dalmatians from California. Before I knew it, I had 4 Dalmatians waiting for me, and I was jumping in my new Ford Escape Hybrid and driving to Turlock, California to pick them up.

Travis, Molly, Mattie and Maggie on their trip out of California

The trip down was easy. The trip back was much harder, and the week after wasn’t much easier. One of the dogs needed emergency surgery to remove bladder stones. I was lucky to find good homes for all of them. Before I could get all of the California dogs into homes, a beautiful girl named Dolly was found wandering as a stray in Oregon. Dolly is blind, but a really nice dog. The shelter staff loved her and wanted a better life for her than they could offer. I was not ready for another road trip, but got a call one day from a couple who had helped rescue other Oregon dogs. They said they were taking a vacation to Canada, and that they would bring Dolly to me. I wasn’t sure I could take care of a blind dog, but Dolly is a very independent girl. The only thing she needs me for is to warn her not to run into things when we are out walking. I could be better at my job.

There have been several trips to California. Most recently we rented a cargo van and drove to Turlock to bring back 7 dogs. Here is a 41 second sample of our 19 hour journey.

Things don’t always work out perfectly. We had home lined up for all 7 dogs, but 4 of the dogs lost their foster homes in the first week. Fostering isn’t easy. Rescued dogs are often stressed and sometimes not in the best condition. Not everyone is willing to put up with the stress and problems. We ended up bringing Cocoa to our house because she didn’t get along with the cats in her foster home. She isn’t great with our cat either, but we are making it work. Shelby and Boogie, 4 year old brother and sister lost their foster home after getting in a fight with another dog. They spent a nice evening at our house before I took them to a boarding kennel. Two days later I got a call from the kennel. Boogie was coughing. He had to leave. We couldn’t bring him without Shelby, so they are both living with us now. We had to send Friday to the kennel to make room for them.

Shelby and Boogie are ready to run off in the Escape

Rescue life isn’t easy. The dogs require a lot of time and attention. Finding homes, arranging transportation and doing the paperwork take a lot of time. I haven’t had much time for friends and family, or for anything but work and rescue. I know that I can’t keep going at this pace, but I am thankful for the 49 dogs I have been able to help.

Cal, my California sweetheart with his sad, rescue me eyes

He was at a shelter in northern California, and California rescues have been inundated lately. “Cal” arrived stressed out by the trip, and in pain from a growth that was protruding from his rectum. We had it removed, but a biopsy showed that it was cancerous. A second biopsy of a skin scrape showed he also had skin cancer. By this time he had calmed down and I was hopelessly in love with him.

Shortly after I committed to helping Cal, I got the call about Bonnie, a deaf female who was not adapting to the toddler in her home. At first the plan was to list her on the web site, and look for a foster home. The day after I listed her, I learned that the owner’s wife had sent her to a shelter, and was threatening euthanasia. We got her listed on Petfinder, and I was amazed by the response from people who wanted to be sure she was safe. We talked with several potential foster homes, and chose one with only one other dog. Bonnie arrived at the foster home with kennel cough, which she got while in the shelter. It’s highly contagious, though not usually a serious health threat. Things seemed OK at the foster home, but 10 minutes later I got a call that their dog had gone after Bonnie, and a serious fight broke out. I went back for her, and was driving toward home wondering what I was going to do with a sick dog, when I got the call about Cal.

If I were a volunteer in a rescue organization, I would be able to dump these kinds of problems on someone else, but since I was crazy enough to start a rescue, the problems all belong to me. To make matters worse, we were flying to Missouri to see family the following Saturday. I needed to find a place for both Cal and Bonnie, and I had a deadline. Fortunately, I was able to place Cal with one of the homes that originally volunteered to take Bonnie. They had 3 senior dogs, so we couldn’t risk sending Bonnie to their house. After a very stressful few days, I found a veterinary hospital that could board her in isolation, but it cost $600. I kept Bonnie closed up in the laundry room with the vent fan running until it was time to take everyone to boarding.

A ten day vacation from dogs, even the dogs I love most, was good for me. It was strange not to jump out of bed and into my shoes for the first morning walk, but in a good way. It was also a little odd to not have plastic bags in my pockets, but I adapted. I was disappointed to learn that Bonnie was still coughing when I picked her up. She was pretty stressed from the isolation boarding, because they don’t even get walked. She did not like having to use her kennel floor as her bathroom. It only took one night in the laundry room for her to settle down and make herself at home.

Bonnie naps in the laundry room

The cough eventually faded, and the poor girl started to crave company. I invited her to hang out in the office with Harley, and discovered that she was afraid of him. At first she avoided him, but after a while, she started confronting him. At this point, I had to put her back in the laundry room, as I can’t spend my day breaking up arguments between old dogs.

Usually when the rescue stress becomes unbearable, a solution appears from an unexpected location. A lady from Yelm volunteered to foster for us. At first I was going to send her Maggie, an owner surrender that was being boarded at the owner’s expense. She needed to be out of the kennel by 3/26, so I was once again stressing over a deadline. As soon as I started talking to her about Maggie, I got a foster inquiry from a UW grad student, who is also a runner. She was a perfect match for Maggie, and may eventually adopt her. With Maggie’s future squared away, I called her about Bonnie. We made plans for me to bring Bonnie to her house next weekend. A few hours later, we got an adoption inquiry for Bonnie, so I’ll be taking her to meet an adopter instead.

For the moment, I have peace of mind because all of the dogs in my care have places to go. I hope they all work out, and I also hope that there is a lengthy break before the next guest. Rescuing the dog is it’s own reward, but the stress of worrying about them takes it’s toll.

By the way, Cal is having his skin cancer removed later this week. His prognosis for a complete recovery is quite good. As soon as he recovers from the surgery, I will make him available for adoption. If you would like to donate to help cover the cost, please visit his listing and use the donate button.

I may have been ignoring this blog, but the people at TrainPetDog.com were not. They invited me to participate in their “Dog Blog” contest. Winners compete for prizes. Any prizes awarded to this site would go to the rescue effort, so please vote for us by going the TrainPetDog.com and entering our site number, 48456.

In October, I launched the Dalmatian Rescue of Puget Sound web site, where I listed Dalmatians in need of new homes. On Halloween, I sent an e-mail to 3 people, telling them that I was going to form a Dalmatian rescue group. Within 10 minutes, I had 2 replies, with referrals to dogs in need. The first was a Dal that I knew was already being helped by Beth White of Dalmatian Rescue of Colorado. The other was a 15 year old female from Yakima. Animal control had taken her from a situation where they felt she was being neglected to the point of starvation, but if they put her in the local shelter, she would be put down, because of her age. They took her to the Barks R Us rescue group, but they didn’t have a foster home available. They sent an urgent e-mail out to anyone they thought might help, including one of the 3 people I e-mailed. Within an hour, I was on the phone making plans to meet someone from the rescue group in Bellevue the next morning.

I knew that she had been neglected, but I was still shocked by how thin poor Pepper was when I picked her up. Despite looking like a skeleton in a fur coat, and having a very bad case of diarrhea, she seemed in good spirits. When I asked if she get along with other dogs, I was told that she had been living with Dobermans. It was thought that they were depriving her of food. She got to our house, took one look at my dogs, and decided she wasn’t going to let it happen again. She snapped and snarled at everyone. It made for a very interesting couple of weeks.

Pepper set up housekeeping in our laundry room, with Boudreaux the cat for a roommate. They got along quite nicely, but she wasn’t content in the laundry room. She longed for human company. I spent as much time with her as I could, but with 4 other needy dogs in the house, it was difficult to do much except feed, walk, and fuss over dogs. Somehow in my “spare” time, I managed to get in contact with the Puget Sound Dalmatian Club. They were very supportive, and shared our web site with the membership. That is how our sweet princess, Pepper, found her new home with a wonderful couple in Auburn who promise to spoil her for the rest of her life.

This is what Pepper looked like on the day she arrived:

Poor, thin Pepper

This is Pepper 2 weeks later, fresh from her bath and ready to go to her new home:

Pepper is thin, but not skeletal after 2 weeks of TLC

This is Princess Pepper in the chariot, ready to go to her new home:

Princess Pepper in her chariot

It was a lot of fun having a princess in the house again, but it was obvious that my house full of rowdy males was not the right home for her, even though the laundry room is Dalmatian themed! I’m so happy that I could be part of her “happily ever after”. Rescue is challenging, but the happy endings make it very worthwhile.

Last fall while visiting Florida with my family, I saw the cutest pink Jacket at the Norwegian pavilion at Epcot. It seemed frivolous to spend $120 on a pink jacket, especially when it was 85 and sunny out, but after looking at it for a few days, I bought it. As much as I admired the look, the fit and the very practical design, I failed to notice the tag. It was a Helly Hansen “Seattle Packable Jacket”. After spending a winter walking a sick old dog in it, I can assure you, there is nothing frivolous about this jacket. It’s design keeps the rain and wind out, and the body heat in. The hood fits snugly, and doesn’t blow off in the wind. The velcro wrist bands keep wind and rain from blowing up the sleeves. Best of all, the generous pockets hold plenty of plastic bags! This season, I’m thinking of getting a second one in white, for night time walking. The jacket comes in men’s and women’s styles, and is available in several colors. There is also a Vancouver jacket, which offers a little more padding. I wore my Seattle jacket to run in the snow last fall, and it was plenty warm.

After coming home with my pink jacket, I decided to accessorize with a pair of Nike Zoom Triax running shoes. Yes, I bought them because they were black with Pink detailing, but like my Helly Hansen jacket, they were anything but frivolous. Made of Goretex, with a slightly thicker sole, they offered improved traction on wet surfaces, and resisted moisture. In other words, you can walk your dog through wet grass and your feet will stay dry. I was so happy with these shoes, I bought a second pair when they went on clearance. You can still get them at Road Runner Sports, in limited sizes. This year’s model is black and light blue, and would look very nice with the aqua jacket if you want to look put together while walking your dog in winter weather! http://www.roadrunnersports.com/rrs/products/NIK1299/ Goretex shoes do a lot to help keep your feet dry during the winter season, but if you walk through puddles deep enough to overflow the shoes, they will hold the water in just as well as they keep the water out. Avoid the puddles!

We adopted Friday from rural Idaho last summer, and discovered that he didn’t like to get wet. We had a pretty dry summer, so he didn’t have to adapt to coastal life, but that is over. Last weekend we stepped out the door for our walk, and into a downpour. He looked so pathetic, we skipped the walk and jumped into the car. We drove to Bridge’s Pets and Gifts, one of our favorite places to spend money. We bought him an ezydog (http://ezydog.com) rain jacket. It kept the elements off his back, but couldn’t keep the mud and rain from splashing up underneath him. It wasn’t perfect, but much better than going without! Thursday night we went out walking just before the storm hit. By the time we got home, sustained winds in the 30s, with much higher gusts were driving the rain into us, but our coats repelled it all. Our bottoms were wet, but our tops were toasty!

Since losing Jasmine, I’ve been making efforts to help dogs in need. The sad tale of Buckwheat and Fearless inspired me to want to do more, but time and the work involved with caring for 4 dogs held me back. Last weekend, I learned about Opie, Spooky and Lucy. Their owner was recently killed in a motorcycle accident. The dogs are still in their home, being cared for by friends and family, but they are very stressed. They spend their days licking each other and waiting for their owner to return. Because we don’t have a local rescue group, we’ve had to ask for help from groups in Colorado and Florida. It is wonderful that they are able and willing to help, but we still need a local group. Right now it is a group of one, but I have faith that there are more like minded people here in Puget Sound. My job is to find them.

http://animal.discovery.com/videos/its-me-or-the-dog-strangest-cases/

We recently sent Friday to “A Canine Experience” for “boarding school” while we were in Florida. He was with them for 2 weeks, learning obedience. I’d taken him for an evaluation a couple weeks earlier, because I was concerned about the growing tension between Friday and Harley. Before he came home, they had us come in and work with him for a couple hours. Then they brought him to the house and worked with him while he transitioned back to life at home. They even showed me how to get him to use the treadmill. I’m really glad that we did it, because it showed that Friday is a good dog. He listens to people he believes are in authority, and he gets along well with other dogs.

Twenty minutes after the trainer left, Friday was settling back into his old habits. He started trouble with Harley, he annoyed Baby and chased the cat. I calmly corrected him, and he soon settled down. That lasted until 7pm, when our son brought his Beagle, Mario, to spend the weekend. I realize this was not the best time to add the excitement of a fifth dog, but Mario needed a place to go, and human family takes priority over canine family. We had a few mishaps over the weekend, but it wasn’t too bad.

In general, Friday is more obedient than he was before. He is very good about sitting and waiting at the door, and he is much more patient. He will even respond while we are out on a walk, as long as there isn’t anything exciting going on. Once he is excited, I cease to exist, unless of course he needs something to jump on. He still doesn’t respect me at all, and I seem to lack the communication skills to earn his respect. I’ve tried using the pinch collar, like the trainer recommended, but my heart just isn’t in it. I feel like a bully when I use it. I wish Patricia McConnell were here to tell me what to do.

Hi Animal Lovers,

This past month we have been so busy working very hard to help save many many lucky dogs that have survived the fires in California San Bernadino area.

Over 7,500 acres and 1200 Firefighters are working on this dangerous fire.

Over 80 dogs with no ID or microchip were found lost, starved and injured and they were bought to the shelter. The shelters were all full so they were on their way to be euthanized. We were notified if we could save them and take them under our wings and how could we say no? I knew it was going to become a huge task but with our network and team I also knew that this could be done.

In order to save them we had to pay $ 10.00 a day to board them, vet them, spay and neuter, all shots, rabies, microchip, flea treat and do a heart worm test on
everyone one of these dogs.

50 of them arrived last Sunday and many were happy but many were sick.
This Sunday we will be getting the other 30 and I really need your help in two ways.

First: We need Fosters! I need help for more dedicated fosters who can open their hearts and foster a dog. If you can not foster then please email everyone you know, Twitter everyone, Facebook this on your wall to everyone and help me get the word out. We will be getting more dogs after these 80 are adopted out as our missions never end. These dogs have been loving and so wonderful !!!

Second: We need donations.

Also this has been a VERY expensive rescue. Boarding them alone at
$ 10.00 a day and vetting and transporting has been a tremendous task.

Some of the dogs were burned, some have severe kennel cough and respiratory problems. We desperately need donations if you can help.

————————————————-

Even a $ 5.00 donation would help pay the vet for one of our sick dogs.

You can PayPal on our website www.gingerspetrescue.org or you can mail your donation to:

Ginger’s Pet Rescue 322 North 105th, Seattle, Wash 98133.

We are happy to provide a receipt as we are a non profit organization.

We can also use donated dog food, crates, leashes, collars, dog beds, pee pads
and anything to help these fire dogs out.

You can drop these items off 322 North 105th, Seattle, Wash 98133 in North Seattle.

You can get more information or make a PayPal donation by visiting their web site, http://www.gingerspetrescue.org.

Another organization that could use your help is Old Dog Haven. They are currently providing hospice care for 149 senior dogs in “Final Refuge” homes, in addition to 27 adoptable senior dogs in foster homes. There are another 18 dogs in shelters, hoping to be rescued by Old Dog Haven.

If you have room in your home to foster a dog for a while, or a few dollars to help provide food, shelter or medical care, please contact Ginger’s Pet Rescue or Old Dog Haven right away.

http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=14786584