Upcoming Blog Tour: I Love Rescue Dogs - Do YOU Have a Story to Share?

The ever-energetic Landra Graf, who guest posts here every month with recaps of how the rescue org she's involved with -- Pawsibilities R Endless -- is doing, is busy at work putting together a blog tour around rescues. The 8-week tour starts Feb 20. All the details, including the themes for each week, are here.

Animal Junkies will be participating in the tour, and I'd love to have as many stories each week as possible. For those of you who would like to contribute but don't have a blog of your own or simply have only one or two stories to share, send me your stories (pictures most welcome!) and I'll be happy to post them here and promote them via Twitter and Facebook. We'll share our links with the Small Town Rescue blog who'll them share them out along with other participating blogs.

Please check the weekly themes on Landra's site and send me your post the week before so I can get it scheduled at the appropriate time.

If you've already contributed rescue stories, I'll be sure to link to them during the appropriate week so new visitors to the blog can easily find them. I may even repost one or two depending on how much new material does or doesn't come in.

During the tour, I'll be giving away some Vet Tech Tales ebooks and a few SECTOR Cs as well to people dropping by and commenting here. Plus there'll be a special enticement or two donated by this blog to help out the Pawsibilities rescue. Details to come!

Rescue Orgs Have Much To Be Thankful For

This week's guest post is by Landra Graf.

Timmy

It’s November. A time to give thanks. For our rescue, Pawsibilities, November is indeed a month that we can reflect on some of the profound things we’ve accomplished this year and give thanks to those who have helped us in our efforts. During these times, giving thanks is the one true way to offer appreciation to those who may think their efforts to assist go unnoticed. So here is Pawsibilities’ Top 10 list of things our rescue is thankful for. We hope that you’ll think of some of these ‘thankful’ things as the season of giving starts, and possibly gain ideas for other ways to help, support, or become involved.

1. Our families.  In rescue, the best support comes from those closest to you. At times, helping the animals takes away from family time. Without the backing from those you live with it’s hard to keep going, and fortunately those involved in our rescue receive a ton of help from the ones closest to our hearts.

2. 

   Misty

   Foster Families. Fostering a homeless animal can be a trying but very rewarding experience. Finding families willing to sacrifice their homes and time to help these animals is also difficult. Our rescue has had several come and go, but we’ve had others that go the distance.
   Including a special family that has fostered and even adopted a foster; we couldn’t do this without that family.
3. Other Rescues. The heartache of being in rescue is the realization that you can’t save them all. We rely on other rescues to help assist in the saving. Sometimes these rescues can help and sometimes they can’t. One rescue that has always been there for Pawsibilities is Colorado Animal Rescue Express. With their help we have been able to save more animals this year then we could have ever dreamed of. Their sense of responsibility goes way beyond their own borders and if you have a chance you should visit their site.

4. 

   Joe

   Other businesses. Animal lovers are everywhere, and over the last year we’ve learned that businesses are willing to help if you ask—from boarders keeping an open kennel for us to pet stores that continuously host our pet fairs. This year we’ve been blessed with their support.
5. The fundraisers. When I say fundraiser, I mean people. In rescue you run across those that want to help, but they may not have the skills needed to care for a foster. We’ve met several, and in return they help by organizing fundraisers for our group. Every little bit helps and those fundraisers can make the difference between helping 1 dog to helping 20.

6. 

   Shy

   Our furry foster dogs. Most of the dogs we rescue have been through hell and back, yet at the end of the day these dogs, once in our homes, become the most loveable and appreciative animals. At times they also provide some much needed comic relief.
7. The social community. We wouldn’t be anywhere without Twitter, this wonderful blog (thank you, Phoenix), Pet Finder, or Facebook. Every rescue should be using these sites not only to promote their dogs, but to connect with others who may know something you don’t. Time again when we’ve been in a snag or needed additional help we’ve found that help through the connections that these sites provide. So don’t discount the help you can find in the most surprising sources.

8. 

   Jack

   9 & 10. The Rescue Community. This one mention takes up the last three. When our rescue first started we had no idea of the scope and reach other rescues or people in this community had. We were located in a small, overpopulated area and wondered how we would find homes for the dogs we were rescuing. We soon learned that there is a massive, international web consisting of directors, fosters, transporters, cross posters, and the list goes on. Soon our animals were being saved by fabulous rescues in Colorado, Nebraska, and Minnesota. There are also groups that are advocating against Breed Specific Legislation and groups focused on education. Research and communication have certainly opened our eyes to the opportunities and the passion of being in the rescue world.

Jesse

So, as you sit down to your Thanksgiving dinners and surround yourself with the ones you love, foster dogs included, remember to give thanks to those in your personal rescue top 10 or the ones we’ve mentioned.

Pawsibilities…Are Endless is a tiny rescue located in Central-West Missouri not far from Warrensburg, Sedalia and Whiteman AFB. We specialize in helping animals in need find their forever homes. To assist in these efforts, not only do we provide local adoptions, but we work with other rescues to find homes for our furry packages across the United States. In Pawsibilities' mind, nothing compares to helping an animal find their happy-ever-after.




Madison

 

You Gotta Have Faith

This week's guest post is by Landra Graf.

When you work in rescue you realize that you can’t save every animal that crosses your path. If you could save every single one, then there would eventually be no reason for shelters and pounds to exist. But every once in a while you come across a sweetheart with a story so profound that you can’t turn your back on them – even when the odds are against you and the animal.

For Pawsibilities, Faith, our resident pittie is that animal. She was brought in to the Windsor Pound after she was found emaciated and running loose at a local gas station. For those who are not aware, emaciated is just another word for a malnourished, starved dog. Faith had just delivered a litter of pups, but the pups were never found. To make matters worse she was passing balloons and trash in her stool, and it was several days for all the mess in her system to clear.

This is Faith in her emaciated state.

With a little help from Colorado Animal Rescue Express, who contributed a high-calorie dog food, we were able to nurse Faith back to health while she was in the pound. At the time there wasn’t a single open spot in our rescue, but regardless we wanted to help. Faith turned around nicely, but 2 enemies were lurking in the background, neither of which we could fight while she was still being held in the pound.

Happy Tail Syndrome

The first one was Happy Tail Syndrome, which is when a dog’s tail is traumatized then keeps breaking open because they’re smacking it against a kennel, simply by wagging away. This tends to happen to a lot of dogs in the pound, but especially pit bulls.

The second enemy was a relative of a breeder actively attempting to adopt Faith for breeding purposes. While our rescue understands that breeding is not illegal, Faith, in our opinion, wasn’t fit enough to return to a breeding lifestyle. This poor girl was lucky to survive her pre-pound life without suffering from anxieties or additional health issues. Also, without a detailed vet visit there was no way to tell if Faith suffered from any disorders or other potential problems. With much discussion between our rescue and others we were able to successfully pull Faith from the pound, get her spayed, her tail docked, and board her until we could find a suitable adopter or rescue.

One of our rescue directors spends at least 4 days a week with Faith and since her original arrival Faith has made leaps and bounds towards recovery. She loves car rides, knows basic commands like ‘sit’ and ‘enter’, does extremely well with children, and has excellent leash skills. Her favorite thing to do is allow our rescue director’s son to pet her while she lies in his lap.  

We continue to search for Faith’s forever home, hoping there will come a day soon when this pittie can find a family that will love and care for her. If this girl’s journey has taught us anything it’s that you gotta have faith that things will work out, that you can make a difference, and that sometimes you’ll succeed.

For those interested in learning more about, fostering, or adopting Faith email Pawsibilities@ymail.com.

Pawsibilities…Are Endless is a tiny rescue located in Central-West Missouri not far from Warrensburg, Sedalia and Whiteman AFB. We specialize in helping animals in need find their forever homes. To assist in these efforts, not only do we provide local adoptions, but we work with other rescues to find homes for our furry packages across the United States. In Pawsibilities' mind, nothing compares to helping an animal find their happy-ever-after.

Linda the Clown

This week's guest post is by Landra Graf.

Like some of the other stories on this blog, the best ones are about the animals that flourish after being saved from horrible circumstances. Linda the Clown is another example of why rescue work is rewarding.

Linda is a 14-month-old Basenji Shepherd Mix. This sweet girl was in Pawsibilities’ local pound, and when the local ACO (animal control officer) resigned from his position our rescue stepped up and brought Linda into our fold. When Pawsibilities got her, Linda’s first experience with us was a trip to the vet.

Side note: One of the reasons her position at the pound was dire is because she was originally mistaken for a pit bull. The town Pawsibilities is based in has laws that pit bulls and pit mixes are not allowed within city limits. This makes them extremely hard to adopt—and the first up on the list for euthanasia. Fortunately for us the vet was able to give her a positive identification as a Basenji Mix, which opened a lot more doors for her.

She had mange, and acted extremely terrified of everything—it didn’t matter if it was a person, a bug, a new blanket or treat. On top of the mange this baby was also suffering from an ear infection. Since that first day Linda has been with us for 5 months, and now she’s every bit of rambunctious puppy. In that time her personality has completely changed.

At first we thought she was the devil dog, and possibly psychotic.  She would tear into everything at her foster’s house. Threaten to chase cats with a gleam in her eye, and act completely hostile at Pet Fairs. Linda even took the time to tear up a doggie door at a local boarding facility that was holding her for us while her foster went on vacation. Unfortunately the facility owner has since banned Linda from the establishment, and in retrospect we realize that not everyone is good at boarding. At that point Linda had been a member of Pawsibilities for only a month, and likely thought she was being abandoned again. No one, animals or people, enjoys the idea of being cast aside.

A few more months behind us and Linda’s not afraid of anything. In fact, she’s shed her devil dog persona and replaced it with that of a clown. Her everyday antics and actions provide a ton of comic relief—from chasing paper towels to leaping over the couch. The couch trick is one of her favorites, and is a daily source of exercise. Her foster will fill a Kong toy with peanut butter and throw it back and forth over the couch. Linda will play chase for hours as long as the Kong keeps moving. 

The best part is when you talk to her; she’ll tilt her head to the side as if your sentences really bear some sort of important factor. In reality she could be just mesmerized or relieved at the sound of your voice.  She mimics Snoopy by sleeping on top of the dog house, and has a genuine love for gardening. Just don’t draw her attention to the carrots because she just raises her nose at them.

As time passes and this darling is avoided at Pet Fairs, like our girl Hope, we wonder if there will ever be a family for her. She’s only a year old and her behavioral issues are those any puppy experiences. Surprisingly she fits in well with the other dogs at her foster’s home, and some of them ignore her when she goes hyperactive ninja or decides to pole vault over people’s knees. 

At some point we hope that this precious bundle will get the chance to make others laugh and enjoy her cozy, snuggling ways. Until that point, we can only continue to help her grow, and keep her from chasing the cats. FYI: She typically stalks a cat in slow mo, and then runs away in the other direction.

Pawsibilities…Are Endless is a tiny rescue located in Central-West Missouri not far from Warrensburg, Sedalia and Whiteman AFB. We specialize in helping animals in need find their forever homes. To assist in these efforts, not only do we provide local adoptions, but we work with other rescues to find homes for our furry packages across the United States. In Pawsibilities' mind, nothing compares to helping an animal find their happy-ever-after.