“The Bitch Barks” is a blog full of notes, information, updates and more from our President, Deb.

Rescue Strong, Rescue On

Every day the phone rings, normally numerous times, with someone who either wants to surrender a dog to us or someone who has found a dog, many times in dire need of help. We try, we truly try to help those in need. There are times the dog is in such bad condition, we cannot say no, even if we do not have a foster available or the funds. We fly by the seat of our pants at times, but it is so very hard to see dogs in this condition and not help.

We cannot for the life of us, understand how anyone can take in the one creature who loves you more than life itself, who loves unconditionally and would truly give their life for yours, and treat them so very badly. How do you ignore, neglect or abuse such precious souls?

Because we focus on those who are injured, sick, abused, abandoned, and/or neglected, many times we have to say no to those who ask us to take dogs who are basically healthy. It is overwhelming the number of dogs we have been asked to take into our rescue. If we could, we would take them all. We realized years ago that we could not take them all, and developed partnerships with other rescue centers with the same beliefs we have so we could help even more.

We have to stop the madness. These babies have no voice but ours. We MUST have stronger laws to protect them. It is a proven fact that people who abuse animals, also abuse humans. So even if these photos do not truly reach you, remember the same person who let this happen would do the same to a human.  The numbers of animals in need is now more than ever, it has not dropped since we started the rescue mission almost 10 years ago.

We NEED more fosters. At the moment we can only take in as many dogs as we have fosters to take into their home. We NEED you. Even if you can only help short term, it will help those with no voice.

We WANT our own facility so we can help more. We are working out a land donation and we now have a separate building fund that was started due to an awesome supporter who designated their donation to a building fund. They pointed out that if we never started one, we would probably never get there and that was what the donation is for.   You can now designate your donation to our future facility. This would enable us to have a quarantine area, a play area, an adoption and events area, and much more. We would be able to help many more animals than we do now.

So far this year, we have had 32 adoptions and 34 other dogs that went to our rescue partners (we have a few kitties too but as most of you know we are a dog rescue that does try to help the felines when we can). We have 49 dogs in our rescue, and the list is long for those still in need.

We work hard to raise funds for the care of these precious ones. Through the end of February, we had spent $8200 in vetting alone. Rescue is not free, we have to pay for vetting just as everyone else. We have to buy food, vaccines, collars, leashes, crates, blankets, supplements, and whatever is needed.

Just this week, we picked up a stray neglected and possibly abused pittie girl who we named Eclipse. Her face is scarred, she limps on her back leg at times, not all the time, very emaciated, a torn ear that had healed on its own, missing teeth, but young. We thought that was bad enough but we had no clue what was to come. On Wednesday evening we got a message from our local county-run shelter, the dog could have been Eclipse’s twin except she was more emaciated, more scarred, and pregnant. She even limps at times on the same back leg. I checked the area she was picked up in as a stray and it was not even close, one in Shelby, one in Kings Mountain, so no connection other than abuse and neglect but still eerily so identical. Our foster who takes in pregnant females has a mom with 10 babies that are only a week old, she could not take on another. Our other foster who takes in pregnant dogs is in the process of moving and will have more room once that is complete, but is not able to help until the move is completed. We had absolutely nowhere to put her. We put out a cry for a new foster, no one responded. So then we put out a message to our rescue partners and they did respond. We are so very fortunate as now we could get Minnie out of the shelter and in a home until she can get to our rescue partner. I am going to end the article by sharing Minnie’s pictures. God bless her sweet soul, there is no telling what she has suffered in her young life, but she will not suffer anymore. She is safe, she is and will be loved for the rest of her life, she will be taken care of, and we pray she will be healthy enough to deliver her babies without issue.  So please consider fostering, even short term, please consider contributing even if it is just a dollar or two, please consider volunteering, please consider sharing our articles, our events, our pleas for help. The animals need you now more than ever. Please speak up for them, we are their only voice. No matter how little or how much you can help, it truly helps and is truly appreciated.

Now, meet Minnie and keep her and her babies to be born soon in your prayers.

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Rescue Adoption versus County Shelter Adoptions

Recently we had someone ask why our adoption fees were so much higher than many county-run shelters. While I cannot speak for all shelters, attached is the 2018 public shelter report from Raleigh which tells what each county-run shelter in NC operating expenses were.

We are an all-volunteer 501c3 non-profit rescue that relies on donations and fundraisers to take care of the animals in our rescue. Most of the animals we take in are in dire need of veterinary care. Just recently we took in a dog with a tumour that needed to be removed and was heartworm positive. So they will need treatment once she has taken her antibiotics for a month, a female shep mix that was not only pregnant but heartworm positive, a dog with a shotgun hole in his leg, a dog on death’s door that spent two weeks in intensive care and two dogs with chemical burns down their backs. The list is long but we feel that as a rescue, this is our main purpose. We do get some dogs that are surrendered to us that may not be in as serious physical need, but many times they are in emotional need. Recently we took in a four-month-old pup who goes in his crate to sleep but then acts like someone is going to hurt him when you go towards the crate. We work through these issues too to help these animals gain trust in humans again. We take in many either directly from owners or strays and hold the appropriate time to try and help keep the dogs from ending up at our local shelter, which has a certain amount of kennels and cannot continue to take dogs in once full, which in turn leads to them euthanizing dogs.


We are very fortunate that our county shelter has a very generous budget, along with a full-time veterinarian and a full-time vet tech. I have attached the 2018 public records of all NC shelters and you can go to Cleveland County to see the operating expenses there (2019 should be out by the end of this month). CCAS had operating expenses in 2018 of $1,148,369.00 according to the state records and it has increased since. We are very grateful our county is putting forth such an effort to help the animals that end up at the shelter and has the ability to do so.
As a rescue, we must take our dogs to the veterinarians like everyone else, pay whatever needs to be paid and if you follow us, you also know we take our dogs to specialists when needed. We do whatever is needed for them. We have had veterinary bills for one dog be up in the thousands. Our adoption fee is the same for each dog no matter how much was spent on them. We do tons of fundraisers throughout the year and we are fortunate to have supporters who believe in as we do that all lives matter, and contribute to our cause.
Out of 40 dogs currently in our rescue (currently, we have had over 50 at one time), 31 are in homes with fosters, where we also know if they are crate trained, house trained, dog-friendly, cat-friendly, kid-friendly and leash trained, etc. The nine in rescue boarding are also dog tested, have playtime with other dogs, work on their leash training, have a schedule to work on kennel training and have a trainer available if needed.
We have an awesome adoption coordinator who, on her own time and dime, goes over applications, checks vet references, does home visits and meets and greets to make sure the family and the dog are a match. We strongly feel most of the dogs we take in have gone through enough, whether it be physical or mental suffering and we want to do our best to find the closest to perfect home for each and every one of them.
Our dogs are with us until they find the perfect home. We do not euthanize any of our dogs unless they are “irremediably suffering, or rigorously defined.” We furnish everything for our dogs, give them medicine if needed (we have seizure, diabetic, and hospice dogs all on different meds), food, heartworm preventive, and whatever is needed until they find their forever home.

Hope this helps understand what we do, our passion to save lives… because all lives truly do matter.

http://www.ncagr.gov/…/2018PublicAnimalShelterReport3-13-19…

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C.A.R.E. NEEDS YOU!!!

We desperately need all our supporters to go to the link at the end of this article and vote. #mygivingstory could help Clifford’s Army Rescue win some much-needed funds to help us continue with our mission to assist even more of the sick, the abused, the neglected, the injured, the terrified and the abandoned animals in and around our area.

Our goal is to be able to construct our own facility. With our own facility, we could have space for animals when fosters are full,  rotating them to fosters as they become available hence saving more lives. We could have space to help our rescue partners.  We could have space for those in need of emotional help, training, quarantine areas for the sick and the young. We could truly help so many many more.

If you would be so kind to click the link below and it will pull up #mygivingstory which is called ‘Innocent Eyes’.  A voting box will come up for you to click. You may vote daily one time a day. Please help us to help them… your vote could help us win some much-needed funds.

We are the only voice they have.. we are rescue.

https://binkd.co/xyDYV

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We Will Rescue

 

When I first got involved in rescue, I had no clue what I was even trying to do. There is not a magic class one takes when they decide this is their passion. There is no written handbook as to this is how you do it. Thankfully, some really great people who were involved in rescue before me, and who we had become partners with trying to save lives, were more than willing to share their wealth of knowledge with me. I tried and continue to try to soak all the information they share up like a sponge. It has been invaluable to myself and Cliffords. They were and continue to be true rescuers, dedicated to the cause, and willing to help others who share the same passion to succeed. As it should be, the more rescues doing the right things, succeeding saving lives, the less that die, scared and alone.

I have also been very fortunate to have a couple of friends I met through rescue who have shared their wealth of knowledge on behaviors, training, positive reinforcements, with me. While I am by no means any sort of trainer, I have learned so much from these people. It has helped me to work with feral, frightened, injured animals (as many of you know, feral and frightened are the ones I am drawn to), it has helped me to follow my passion to save them all. While I realize that is a huge feat to try to accomplish, I do not want an animal to die simply because they were frightened or injured.

I think there are two thoughts with rescues on the verbiage, “we cannot save them all”.   One thought is what I personally consider “old school”, in that if you can’t save them all, don’t spend money on the severely sick or injured, but instead let those go, and help those who have a much higher rate of survival and adoption. Another thought, which is also how I feel and our rescue’s belief, is that all lives truly do matter and unless an animal is suffering irremediably, we should try our best to save him/her. Why should we decide to end a life that may be saved? One could argue funds, but again do we place money over life? I certainly hope not. So we try whether it’s a senior hospice animal, an injured animal requiring special surgery, whether they can see or not, have broken bones, heartworm positive, what is wrong is irrelevant, if it can be fixed, then we are going to do our best to fix it.

So our saying is, “that does not mean we cannot try”, in response to “you cannot save them all”.  Is it a hard mission? Yes, it is.  We sometimes lose a life when trying to save them, we sometimes give it all we have and they still don’t make it. It’s hard, it heartbreaking but at the end of the day we know we did all we could do.

The rewards of seeing one of these precious angels healing and then finding his/her forever home balances out all the tears we shed over those who do not make it. That does not mean the ones who we lost do not matter, it just means it keeps us balanced and able to continue on our mission of saving lives.  We do our best to save as many as we can and it takes a lot of blood, sweat, tears, fosters, volunteers, and funds. We are truly thankful for those who have helped because, without all of you, we could not do what we do.  There have been times we have taken in dogs without a committed foster, or without the funds, we may need, but it always works out.  The funds come in, the foster steps up, whatever the need, it seems to happen. I still remember Kaleb’s estimate on his surgery, how I gulped when I heard 7 to 8 thousand just for the surgery, not counting all his other needs.  I still remember one officer asking me what was I going to do, and my answer was to raise the funds. We did thanks to some awesome contributors and fundraisers. My personal belief is that the Good Lord above is watching over his creatures, and he is making sure they get the chance they all so deserve. It seems to always work out and there has to be some divine intervention for it to do so.

We currently do have a lot of animals in our care, whether in foster homes or rescue boarding and we still want to be able to help even more. There is such a need not only in our county, in our state, and beyond. There is a need for stronger laws against abusers and even stronger laws on providing proper care. Even with all the ones we take in, we are constantly getting phone calls, text messages, to help even more.

We also want to educate the youth. We already do mock adoptions at our events, teaching the children about vet care when they adopt a stuffed animal from us. We have puzzles, coloring books etc. with education about how to take care of your pets. We want to do more.  We need to help our youth learn compassion for our four-legged friends.

And back to my first paragraph, talking about rescue being my passion. I do not know when I finally realized this was my passion. Even though I have always had animals in my life. Always picked them up off the side of the road, gotten ringworm from kittens sat out in the road, almost picked up baby skunks, and yes, I move turtles to the other side of the road, facing the same direction they were headed.  I was never quite where I needed to be until rescue came my way. I have learned great restraint to be able to save lives.  There have been times I really have wanted to go off on someone, to physically hurt someone ( when you see starving pups consuming a dead pup to survive) but rescue has given me the strength to save those in need, to get them to safety and to medical attention, and control myself.  (one has to slow down and think about how to get the animals safe, not go on gut reactions and it is truly hard). But we involved in rescue do it for them, not us. Some days we do not feel like we can do enough, but we continue to strive to do more and more.

We will soon be embarking on a plan of action to help more, but for this to happen we need your help. We need you to foster, volunteer, share our posts, donate if you are able to do so, pray for the animals and to pray for us to have the strength to continue.  So please say those prayers for those with no voice, and ask the Lord to guide us down our next path, so that we may be able to save even more lives.

Stay tuned… more to come on C.A.R.E.’s next chapter … and remember it costs nothing to be kind to one another and to the animals.

Until they all have a home…. we will rescue.

 

 

 

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Non Profit Animal Rescues…. definition of no kill

My thoughts, all lives matter and all lives deserve the chance to have the life that was intended for them.  Clifford’s Army Rescue has been around for about 8 plus years now.  We have pulled some dogs with many different issues but we took the responsibility to take care of them and that is what we do.

One of the first long timers we had was Noble. Noble came to us on his last day he would have lived at the local county shelter.  A gorgeous boy, who went into foster,  where he did not fair very well.  He had a bit of a prey drive and got a chicken and a cat.  He was deemed by the foster as aggressive toward others and he went into rescue boarding where he stayed for about a year.  He then came to my house, where he was taken care of, loved as much as I had time for, which was not near what he deserved , my house was full at the time, but he still flourished.   By year two, Noble had no interest that we would approve to adopt him.  Are we picky? Well define that, a dog that came out of who knows what type of living environment. Yes, we are picky.  We do an application, we do an interview, we do a home visit, vet and reference checks.  We discuss any and all issues the dog may have to make sure the home and family are a good fit.   Around the two and a half year mark, Noble and myself along with a friend and their dog were taking walks on the trails and I was trying to figure out just how to get this boy a home, he so deserved it.

Out of the blue came the application.  It was perfect.  The couple came and met Noble.  Love at first sight.  Noble hung in there waiting for his forever home through foster, boarding, foster, and hit the jack pot!   His mom tucks him in every night.  His dad takes him hiking.  He loves other dogs, kids, everyone ( well except the chickens, they are kept separate )  Yes they even have chickens and worked it out for Noble not to be able to get to the chickens.   He is loved beyond compare and lives such a wonderful life.  Was it worth the wait?  Yes!  You can look at the photos, you can see the love!  Noble( who now has another name) is so so very happy and he has many years to enjoy himself with his human parents.

Next there is Harlow.  Harlow was at the local county shelter, demodex mange, secondary infections, and so anxious he was chasing his tail and actually bit a piece off.   We got him out, and he had so much anxiety we had no clue what to do, but we researched, we talked to our vet, we worked with him.  If you crated him, he would get super anxious. If you left him he would go round and round and would be soaking wet from licking himself.   I fostered for awhile but I was working long hours then, and when one of our awesome fosters, who also had kids that Harlow loved came open, she took on Harlow.   Harlow shined at his foster home, waking the kids up, helping with foster pups, he still had some separation issues, but he was happy and things were better.   He got adopted, he got returned.  The adopters had a camera on him and could not understand his anxiety.  ( Harlow might have had a bed or two explode, but he never damaged anything in the house, only ran in circles)  He went back to his foster family and I really think they were not sure if he would ever find his forever family.

And then here it came.  The perfect fit.  The family who had dealt with a similar dog that chewed on herself when left alone.  Another that was very food aggressive with the kids.  They dealt with some major issues and they fell in love with Harlow.  Harlow’s human mom is home most times so he is not left alone much at all.  They had already consulted a behaviorist to help them with him.  Harlow is living with his human parents and two human siblings and is very happy.   Four years after pulling from AC, Harlow is finally home.

Did we ever ever think of euthanizing either of these two boys or any of the other dogs we have had for extended times?  The answer is a resounding no.  The dogs were healthy and like humans suffered from some issues that could be treated and dealt with.  They could be loved by compassionate people until the right family came along.  Sometimes the situation is not the most perfect, sometimes they may be in boarding for awhile but you make their lives the best you can, you go the extra mile to keep working with them, loving on them, and hunting that family that is for them alone.  Some say boarding is terrible. While I would much rather our dogs be in a family setting, we make sure the ones we have in boarding, we go walk, we interact, play with them, take to events, to the parks, the trails.   We get a trainer when needed.  Its about saving lives, not killing them.

We took Kaleb from a DOT supevisor after found in a ditch.  Both legs broken, hip messed up.  7K just to fix that not counting the other vetting he needed.  We raised close to 10K for this boy and he now walks, runs, plays and is thriving, still in a foster home.   He is with one of our fosters who is also a trainer as he has some cattle dog in him and he would nip a tad too hard.   Now he is good, and his home is out there and we will find it.   ( and he will be adopted out for the same adoption fee we have for all dogs) Again its about finding them the right home.  Its about saving lives.

Do we ever have to make that horrible decision to euthanize?  Yes we do, but look at the definition of euthanize.  To kill painlessly to relieve suffering from an incurable illness.  To kill painlessly when there is irremediable suffering.   Unfortunately that decision had to be made just this week but we did all we could to give a sweet boy a chance.   The boy had been at our vets three weeks prior with his owners and had to have a corn cob removed out of his large intestines.   When brought back, owners did not have funds for more surgery, the dog had lost tons of weight, and was very sick, throwing up, and without surgery, the only option was euthanasia.  Thanks to a very generous donor, we were able to try to help this sweet boy.  I actually was able ( thanks to our awesome vets) and watch the surgery.   Before it was over  three vets were trying everything they could think of, but at the end of the day, the boy would barely have any small intestines, his small intestines had went into his large intestines, and there was not enough due to the previous surgery to be able to fix it.  He had a intussusception .  He would have suffered terribly if they had even tried, never being able to digest his food, running straight through him, ( he was already 20 plus pounds underweight).  All three vets said if he were their dog, they would let him go as he would suffer daily and there was no way to fix it.  We did the humane thing, and let him go.

As a non profit rescue we will never give up on a healthy animal, nor we let one that is suffering irremediably, continue to suffer.    When one puts down healthy animals it is killing not euthanizing.

It should never be about an adoption fee, or making more profit, or having the most adoptable dogs.  Rescue is about saving those that others may not give a chance.  Rescue is saving the abandoned, the sick, the injured and showing true compassion to help them.  Rescue is knowing that all lives truly do matter.

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GILES… FRIGHTENED TO FANTASTIC

I am not sure I can put into words this rescue story.   Giles has come so very far and he is still on his journey but it is one truly worth sharing.  We got a message that there was a dog at our local open intake county run facility that was completely feral and literally climbing the walls.  We also heard that he would not make it out alive.  Then came the picture from AC in his kennel. Standing in the corner, with fear in his eyes.  All we saw was fear.    The picture is the type that pulls at your heart, that makes you know you have to help.  It did not matter if we had funds, or how we would do it, we just had to do it.

The next day, I went to visit this boy.  He was literally trying to climb the walls to escape from everyone.  I asked the employees to leave me alone with him to see if I could get him to trust me and get him out.   The first 45 minutes, he would not respond to me at all.  Check the next picture of him curled in the corner, trying to go through the wall, and notice uneaten hot dogs in front of him

Then he began to finally eat the hot dogs.    Dogs seem to go into fight or flight mode, and Giles had been in the flight mode but had no where to go.  When he was not eating the hot dogs, I knew he was still in flight mode and no way I would get through to him.    Working with fearful dogs I have learned that you ignore them, do not make eye contact, and let them come to you.  So sitting on the end of his kuranda bed, back to him, answering messages on my phone, sending emails, I sat.   Once he started eating, he came closer and closer and finally took a piece out of my hand.

You can still see the fear in his eyes in this video, but he finally decided he wanted the hot dogs.  I was so excited, only to hear the remark from the shelter was something to the effect, ” so he ate a hot dog”, and I was constantly reminded his stray hold would be up in 72 hours.  I focused on Giles, on his life, not the side drama, and the fact that some people do not understand that all lives truly do matter.  I visited daily to gain more and more trust.  I  went to Mickey D’s picking up chicken nuggets, sausage and egg biscuits,  making his food choices more appealing to where he would come to me.

We progressed.. he started eating out of my hand and I slowly started touching him under his chin when he would get his food. We began to bond, but if anyone came by the kennel, he would regress back to the corner.  The following two pictures show how his eyes and body changed when someone walked up on his kennel .

I spent five days working with him until we sprung him from the local shelter.  We then had a wonderful sponsor to help with his training and hired an awesome trainer, Dana Van Sickle, who taught me and Giles the wonders of Cream Cheese.   Giles will do anything for Cream Cheese and we have discovered many other dogs will too!  Dana worked with him and then I worked with him.   While he was not trusting of any stranger, with time spent, letting him decide to come to you, he made a couple new friends.    I think again the key is to not treat frightened dogs as if they are normal, everyday dogs.   The straight on, eye to eye contact, the come her boy, etc.  does not work.   Sitting down with back and/or sideways, no eye to eye, pretty much ignoring and letting him decide the food is high value enough to come to you.  Another great thing I learned is to toss a treat back so he could go back and have his space for a few and then bring him back up to me.

We progressed as Dana got his collar and leash on him.

Giles became better and better with us.  He met more friends.  And then the day came when I came by the kennels and did not know Dana was outside with him.   Once he saw me, here he came.  The following video shows how much this boy can love!

Giles still has work.  We are starting to take him outside his comfort zone in small increments.  Walking trails when the trails aren’t super busy.  Meeting new people slowly.  This sweet sweet boy who was frightened to death at the shelter, now only wants to please and love.    Just check out the last video we took.

While this story is already on the way to a happy ending.  Giles escaped death at the shelter, he has escaped much of his fears, and he is a happy  boy who loves us.  Now on to finding his forever home.  Once that is accomplished his story will be complete.

This should teach everyone that truly all lives do matter.  He was scheduled to be killed as soon as his hold was up, but he survived and he will continue to thrive.

He is currently with me at my home and we are working on more and more of his socialization skills.    He is a wonderful happy boy and I am hopeful he will continue to accept more and more people into his life.

 

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Animal Advocacy & Social Media, the good, the bad and the ugly

 

Being involved ( and founding) a rescue for almost nine years now, I have learned a lot, but realize there is always more to learn.   I make an effort to read articles from reputable sources, listen to reputable trainers, ask advice from those who have been doing this much longer than myself and arm myself with facts, figures, and truthful information.

Social media is an awesome way to get people involved, let people know the truth, connect with people who share your same passion, and in the case of animal rescue connect with new rescue partners, new volunteers, new fosters, supporters, and donors.   Because of social media and animal rescue, I have met some really awesome people from all over the world.  I feel honored to have friends in the Netherlands, England, Ireland, along with the USA and Canada.  ( and yes some of us have even met in person)  We share a common bond of saving lives.  We are passionate about our mission and we speak up for those with no voice.

My philosophy is simple.  Find the issues and/or problems, and get them fixed.  I don’t expect to sit back and let everyone else do the work.  I will ( and have) worked to help fix many many problems.  When one does not get answers, or when things continue down a bad path, then the public needs to be aware.  Not just to be commenting on social media, but to take a stand to fix the issues. To help fix the issues. To make sure it never happens again. To speak for those with NO VOICE, after all that is what animal advocacy is.

As a rescuer, I personally have went down 40 foot ravines to get a senior lost dog ( and the fire department had to chunk me a rope to get out while carrying the dog).  I have spent hours lying on the ground, through ditches, in the mud, whatever it took to save a life.  I have stopped in the road to keep animals from getting hit, and yes, I move turtles too ( but through education have learned to move them in the same direction they were going and as little as possible to get them safe)  One of my friends and fellow rescuers saved a falcon freeing from fishing wire and after he was still and let us unraffle it, watch him look at us before flying away.  We have trapped dogs, cats,  and even saved a 200 pound pig. ( we are a dog rescue).  Lives matter, every single one of them.  Once its in your blood its in your blood.

My point is the people who rescue and advocate do not do it for attention, for stirring the pot, for spreading ” fake news”  or just to sensationalize.  We do it for the animals. We do it because all lives matter.  When needing to reach people to help speak up, social media is a powerful tool.

We also do our research.  I do not ever make posts without facts.  For those of you who do not know, you may request and receive public records through the F.O.I.A. ( Freedom of Information Act).  I receive many many weekly reports and when I have questions, I request what information is needed to find the answers.

While social media is powerful and can be very helpful, but I would encourage people to not make comments like, ” fake news”, “why don’t you go volunteer”  or  ” how bout you go adopt”  just to name a few.   I don’t answer those comments because the posts we make are for the welfare of the animals, we have the facts or we would not have posted it, and if you are  in doubt, if you really care about the animals, you would and should either message us, or  ask for the information yourselves. The very people you make these remarks to many many times spend their lives saving animals, make sure they have the facts and are completely frustrated watching animals die.

Everyone should always remember, ” its about the animals”.   It is not about us.  Those very animals that have no voice, other than humans speaking up for them.   Those very animals that end up dead, tossed in a hole in a landfill through no fault of their own.

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Unchain Cleveland County

The above video is photos from different areas in Cleveland County.  The video is 4:45 long and we could have made one over an hour long.  That is truly how many photos we have of dogs in this condition in our area.

Above is reason after reason not to chain your dog.   Dogs are social and need to be with their humans.  So the next question seems to be, how many dogs will die if tethering is banned?      It’s a hard question to answer, but with a non profit, working with the people who really want to keep their dogs, having a resource to get fencing, ( and their dog vaccinated, altered, chipped), having supervised tethering for a short period of time ( those who may tether their dogs to go to the bathroom), and having ACO’s not go out and immediately take dogs, but talk to owners, give them options, and allow time to pursue those options,could not only eliminate the suffering these dogs are enduring, but also help with the unwanted animals being born by some of these dogs.   Also included in the plan should be good relationships with all rescues, so that if there is a time that an unusually large number of dogs would be scheduled to come in, rescues can be made aware, with all details, ahead of time.  That way a plan can be in place to get dogs out before the shelter is full.

Austin Texas, with a population as large as the whole state of Florida, one of the largest open intake shelters in the country, not only has a ban on tethering, but has  95 percent live release rate.

We need to educate our county on the horrors of chains and the reasons this is not healthy for the dogs.  We truly need to be the voice of the voiceless and help those who cannot help themselves.  Please do not profess your love of animals if you do not want to protect them.   While they may be “considered” property, they are living creatures who deserve to be treated as such.

Cleveland County speak up.  Now is the time.

Below is a video from Austin Texas Animal Services.  Also note this video is from six years ago. That is how long they have been protecting those with no voice.

 

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Mack & Grace

 

What happens when two sweet 8 year old dogs human father dies?  The story is all too familiar, with some not so happy endings.  In this case, the human grandmother is doing all she can to help them and reaching out to rescue to help take them in.

Mack & Grace two siblings raised together from pups. Eight years old and precious. Their human father died leaving them alone. Their human grandmother who is an amazing 82 year old lady, took them in, but the two were just more than she was able to handle. She took them to the vets, got their vaccines caught up, found out both were heart worm positive, (treatment has been started), and then found a very nice kennel/day care facility for them to stay at while hunting rescue. Why rescue you may say? Because these babies have had their world turned upside down and need rescue to make sure they are completely healthy before adopting, to vet the potential adopters to make sure they are going to provide a loving, compassionate home and take proper care of them for the rest of their lives, and to protect them until that home comes around. Please take a look at the video and check out how they went from being cautious to coming up to us. ( they weigh around 55 to 60 pounds, Grace is spayed, Mack is not neutered, Grace is the leader, obvious Mack follows her everywhere.)

We definitely would love to help these two especially after meeting them.   We currently have had some major medical expenses, along with getting more dogs ready for Bark and Heal in a new location, and keeping up with all our normal expenses.   We need your help now to be able to continue helping those with no voice, such as Mack and Grace.

 

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Can We PLEASE Do the Right Thing?

A few weeks back our local county run shelter took in several dogs from a hoarding situation. ( total around 30 including puppies)  I am now trying to figure out what in the world this person ( or people) were thinking? How did they think they were helping these dogs? How did they think it was right to let them live like this and to suffer like I am sure many did? ( these dogs were running loose, no vaccines, no one spay/neutered, no vet care at all and very little socialization. None were the least bit aggressive but all were very frightened and confused)

We got a call from the shelter stating that a nursing mom had rejected her puppies so as soon as we were able to that day, we went to check.  Asked immediately about the pups, we asked immediately about the mom.  We found mom in a kennel alone, huddled in the corner, scared to death.  The kennels were loud, lots of barking as the shelter was busting at the seams.  After a few minutes in the kennel with her, we got her moved to a more quiet spot and then brought her babies back to her.   We took the whole family ( as it should be) and a day later went back and got another dog from the hoarding situation.

We named the mom and litter Mae and the force (luke, hans, vader, chewy, and rey) .  Mae had already lost one pup ( that we know about) as the shelter had found one dead in pen that morning.  Rey was very frail and small and we were immediately worried about her.   Mae broke out in a severe upper respiratory infection, green running out her nose, sneezing, coughing, runny nose, horrible.  All went to the vets on a couple occasions, and unfortunately Rey did not make it.   Vader got sick next,  and was rushed to the ER where he spent several days, came home and ended up going back.  Vader had pneumonia, intestinal parasites, ( even though he had been dewormed) anemic, and coccidia .   This poor three week old pup was battling for his life.    Back to Mae, she was some better but not well, and the other dog we pulled, Vikki, also now had a terrible upper respiratory infection.   Luke got sick next, throwing up his milk.   He was taken to Carolina Veterinary Specialists where he remains.  Vader arrested at CVS and we lost another beautiful soul.

Vikki and Mae are both improving and getting much better.  Chewy and Hans are doing great so far too.  The pups are actually starting to eat food and milk blended up.  Luke is still in the hospital and we are hoping for good news today.

Dogs have suffered, have lost their lives, some have survived but if someone had simply had their dogs vaccinated and spay/neutered, those babies would not have went through what they did.  ( some paying the ultimate price of losing their lives) .   IF YOU CANNOT TAKE CARE OF THEM, don’t get them.  They are not able to take care of themselves.   STOP THE MADNESS!  having a dog is a responsibility!  Ask for help, if you are in over your head. Don’t let the dogs suffer because of your lack of compassion, caring and/or income.  People will help.

Rescues clean up where other people neglect.  Its not only emotionally hard.  The tears we shed for all those we lose, is unreal, the lives lost devastating.  The vet bills enough to bankrupt us.  Through all this, we continue to try to clean up where others fail.

So I will ask people again, if you cannot provide for them as they deserve, leave them be and lot those who can, do so.

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