Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Penny For Your Thoughts

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Yesterday two of my friends helped their beloved pets cross over the bridge.

Mrs. Taleteller had her beloved Blueberry for 11 years, she has a beautiful tribute to Blue on her page today.

My facebook friend Tamara, helped her Hannah cross the bridge last evening.

Both of these dogs were well-loved, well-taken care of family pets.  Sadly their quality of life had changed and their owners with hearts full of love, helped ease their pain.  It is a wonderful, unselfish gift to be able to ease the pain of those we love, despite the fact our hearts will ache in the process.

My heart goes out to both of my friends who are missing their pets today.  My thoughts and prayers are with you and I hope that you will find peace and comfort knowing your pets are pain-free.

Run fast, Run free Blueberry.

Run fast, Run free Hannah Marie.

Sadly there are so many animals in shelters whose lives will end, at the hands of a stranger because there is no room at the shelter and no-one wants an older pet.

Dogs like Penelope.

Looking at her sweet face just about breaks my heart.

Looking at her sweet face just about breaks my heart.

 

Penelope’s story is a sad one.  At 10-years-old she and her litter of puppies were dropped off at a high-kill shelter in the south.  Her owner’s signed the papers that should have ended her life.  “We don’t want her or her puppies, we’re tired of having dogs and anyway she’s old.”  And they left her.

Poor Penelope cuddled her puppies close, trying to protect them.  She was scared and confused and had no idea of where she was or what was happening.

But there is good news.  All of Penelope’s puppies were adopted and one of the shelter workers contacted a Lab Rescue and convinced them to pull Penelope.  As the rescue worker slipped a leash on her, Penelope licked their hand in gratitude.  You can find more about Penelope on her Petfinder page.

Penelope is currently in Lebanon, CT, if you are interested in helping Penelope spend her remaining years loved and cherished, you can contact lottoson@yahoo.com (Laurie.)

Please share Penelope on your social media networks and help her find the home she deserves.

Thank you to Lisa at Dogs N Pawz for Tuesday’s Tails, blog hop.

Dogs N Pawz

Heeeeeeere’s……………Manny!!

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Today is the Tuesday’s Tails blog hop.  This hop hosted by Dogs N Pawz, showcases shelter dogs looking for their forever homes.

Of course, my heart barks (no that’s true, I had a cardiogram last week and I heard my heart and it wasn’t beating it was barking) for all dogs.

I’ve noticed as I visit other blogs participating in the hop, that we all tend to try and shine the light on the breed that has the soft spot in our hearts.  Mine happens to be Labradors.  And since I found out about Black Dog Syndrome, I’ve chosen to focus my efforts on Senior Black Labrador Retrievers in CT looking for their forever homes.

Most senior dogs that find themselves in shelters have already had loving homes and for one reason or another wind up in a shelter.  I won’t go into the reasons why they do because that will bring my stress level up and cause my heart to bark harder and then I will want five minutes……alone…in a room….with the owners.  And it won’t be to tell them what a nice dog they had.

Sorry about that, the mind wanders when you get to a certain age.

Thankfully we have a couple of great Labrador rescue groups in CT so most of the time, the dogs get pulled and placed in foster care.

This guy right here is Manny.

Manny #2: Black Labrador Retriever, Dog; Killingworth, CT

Petfinder introduces Manny as follows, “Manny is a sweet lovable senior lab who came to us as a stray.  We believe he is around 7 years old.  He has passed a behavior assessment and ready for a new home.  He just wants love.   He wants a family to love him in return for all the love and devotion he will give.  He loves children of all ages and his favorite thing is talking walks and meeting all the neighbors along the way.   If you think Manny could be your newest family member please email right away…he’s waiting.”

If you or anyone you know is interested in adopting Manny, please contact Shana LaPointe at shana2576@gmail.com.  Manny is being fostered in New England and I’m sure they’d be happy to arrange transport for you.  And if they won’t, you just let me know.  I’m sure between us and all the bloggers we know, we can figure something out. 😉

It’s Tuesday’s Tails, hosted by Dogs N Pawz

Just One Day

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One day.  Twenty four hours. One thousand, four hundred, forty minutes.  Eighty six thousand, four hundred seconds.

For some dogs one day will make the difference between living out their lives being loved and cherished or the end of their life, abandoned and alone in a shelter.

A dog but for the stroke of luck could have been our own sweet Delilah.

The only picture I have where she even remotely resembles a puppy.

The only picture I have where she even remotely resembles a puppy.

 

Thankfully American Lab Rescue pulled her from the High Kill Shelter she was at and put her in foster care until she could be transported to us.  American Lab Rescue is one of only seven shelters/rescues in the state of Connecticut that have taken the Just One Day Pledge and vowed Now and Forever.

Just One Day takes place every year.  They work year long spreading the message and asking shelters to take the one day pledge.  They will assist shelters by providing model press releases, promotion plans, and a guide to help them adopt their way out of killing.  All of these are provided free of charge to any organization that takes the pledge.

From their website, “To most people, June 11 is Just One Day. But, June 11 is a day that will change everything for about 10,000 companion animals, and a day that can change the world. On June 11, 2013, we can be a No Kill nation.”

10,000 animals!! Sounds good doesn’t it?

But they need our help.  Just about every town in CT (169) have a dog pound or shelter, yet only seven have taken the pledge to be no kill.  And of those seven, they are all, with the exception of one, rescues.  No Humane Societies, no Shelters.  I find that appalling.  And I intend to change that for next year.   I’m going to be recruiting my CT friends to assist me in getting the Just One Day challenge out to shelters in our state so more of them participate next year.

How many shelters in your state participate?  Go to their website and see if your favorite shelter/rescue does, if you don’t see your favorite on the list, contact them, ask them to take the one day pledge.

Together we can make this a No Kill Nation, if only for one day.

Another way you can help shelter animals is to join the Tuesday’s Tails Blog Hop and shine the light on a shelter animal, a dog like Duke here.

Duke is 6 or 7 years old and was abandoned at a truck stop.

Duke is 6 or 7 years old and was abandoned at a truck stop.

 

Poor Duke, he sat for hours at the truck stop where he was dumped waiting for his heartless human to return.  Duke gets along with children, and dogs, walks well on leash, and he’s very attached to his foster mom’s elderly mother.  You can read more about Duke on his Petfinder Page, he’s currently in foster care in New Fairfield, CT.

10,000 animals in one day seems like a big undertaking, but shelters were closing their doors last year because they had adopted out all their animals.  Imagine, a shelter with no animals. Wouldn’t that be a great ‘problem’ to have?

 

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