In Memory of Shelby

Today I lost my girl.  Shelby had several more seizures, and the vet finally said there was nothing more that could be done for her.  She is now at peace - no more suffering.  Everyone who met Shelby seemed to fall in love with her.  She was only three years old, and she had such a short life.  But she brought a lot of joy to others in those three short years.

The first time I saw a picture of Shelby was when someone posted her on my Facebook page.  She was in an animal shelter and they were trying to find a rescue for her because she was deaf.

I didn't fall in love with her right away.  I was nervous about taking in a new dog without being able to evaluate her first, and it didn't help when the lady who transported her to me called to ask if I had a crate because she was awful in the car.  I didn't have a crate, so fashioned a harness for her and hoped for the best.  All the way on the 30 minute drive home, she bounced around as far as she could in her harness and barked constantly at every passing car.  She was so excited, and I was a little bit nervous of her.  After all, a large dog that I had just met was barking in my ear and lunging past me trying to get to any cars that came by.  I wondered what I had gotten myself into.  Then we got home and she calmed down as soon as the car stopped.  I took her inside and introduced her to the other dogs.  She was so easy-going.  A couple of the dogs were being rude and pushy, and she just ignored them.  I was very relieved, since my biggest fear was that she wouldn't do well with the other dogs.

Within a few days, I started getting really attached to Shelby.  It wasn't just that she was such an easy dog to care for, or that she was so affectionate.  It wasn't just because she had one brown eye and one blue eye - a combination I love.  It wasn't even just because she was such a sweet girl and so eager to please.  I couldn't define it, but within a week I was totally in love with her.  I so much wanted for her to have a long, wonderful life.  I connected with Shelby in a way that I do with very few dogs, and having to say good-bye to her today was heartbreaking.  But I am relieved that she is no longer suffering, and I am glad that I got to know her and love her for the short time that she was here.

Shelby 2008 - 2012

Shelby update, and Thank You

Shelby is feeling better!!  She has not had any more seizures in the last 24 hours, and she came home from the E-clinic and is doing well.  She is still ataxic, but that is hopefully just due to the medicine she is on.  If you don't know what ataxic means, well, here's a hint:

Ziggy enjoys a beer.

Unlike Ziggy, Shelby hasn't been drinking, but she walks around like she's drunk, bumping into things and occasionally falling over.  But she's starting to act more like her old self, and hopefully within a few days will be back to normal.  She'll be on seizure medicine the rest of her life, but that is not too expensive so she should be able to be adopted without much trouble once she is recovered from her heartworm treatment.  Someday she will have her Happily Ever After!

Merlin the cat is also fully recovered from his run-in with Ziggy.  Thanks for all of your well-wishes!

Rescue is expensive, and I'm grateful to work with a rescue group that covers all foster pet medical expenses as well as providing dog food for the fosters.  Shelby's emergency vet bill was over $600, and that doesn't include the several hundred dollars it will cost for her heartworm treatment.  Her adoption fee is only $125, so as you can imagine, the rescue group relies heavily on donations from the public in order to continue to help animals.  It always amazes me how many people out there are happy to give just a few dollars to help when they can.  Without so many people giving, we couldn't save dogs like Shelby.

It's great when people donate to the rescue, which by the way is tax deductible, but recently something even more amazing happened.  A very special person read about the problems I've been having with my foster dogs escaping my fenced yard.  Living in a rural area is wonderful, except for the mindset many people have about animals.  If people see stray dogs, they are as likely to shoot them as call the owner, even when the dogs are wearing collars and tags.  So when a neighbor stopped by to warn me that my dogs were going to be shot if they got out of the yard again, I was desperate.  I was out of work and couldn't afford a better fence, but had nowhere else for the foster dogs to go.  So I bought a fence and shared my concerns about paying for it.  I love writing this blog because I get to share the good and the bad of rescue, but I never expected what happened next.  Jess from At A Glacial Pace created a wonderful fundraiser to help me buy the fence!  She spent so much time and hard work, just to help keep my foster dogs safe and me sane (well, relatively sane).  The fundraiser was a lot of fun - an online Valentine's Day Party - and many people in the blog community donated.  I am grateful to each one of you who participated and made this a successful event.  My fence is up and is working perfectly to keep the dogs in the yard!

Shelby in the back yard

Thank you Jess, and everyone who contributed!

Jefferson - trying to help build the fence!

Happily Ever Afters

Sometimes we all need to hear about the Happily Ever Afters.  When things are tough, it always helps to remember why we work so hard to save homeless animals.  The reward of seeing them with their new family, or in their new home, makes the work and the heartache of rescue worth it.  

This is Amber the Pointer mix with her girls.  She's a happy dog, and her family says everyone who meets her just loves her.  

And this is Scout (now named Henry) the Beagle/Shih Tzu/Brussels mix with one of his girls.  He's a very snuggly 43 pounds!

And then there's Casey.  He is loving his life with his best friend Noel the cat.  Casey started out being rescued after being hit by a car and having both of his front legs crushed.  He had steel plates put in his legs, and had a long recovery.  He also had to recover from a tick-borne disease and heartworms.  It was expensive to save him, and a lot of work to nurse him back to health (thanks Leslie!), but he's so happy in his new life and it makes all of the work worth it.

These stories give me hope.  And right now, I need hope.  I have to believe that Shelby will pull through and get her own Happily Ever After too.  Last week Shelby tested positive for heartworms, so she'll need several months of heartworm treatment before she'll be ready for adoption.  That made me sad for her, because heartworm treatment is painful for dogs.  But then to make matters much worse, she started having seizures on Wednesday.  I knew she had a history of seizures before she was turned into a shelter, but she had not had any problems until Wednesday.  I woke up when she had a seizure while lying next to me, and immediately called the vet.  Shelby then went outside and crawled under the deck.  I couldn't get to her so left her there until it was time for her vet appointment.  I still couldn't get to her and she just stood there looking confused but wouldn't come to me so I finally had to break out the wood lattice under the deck to get to her.  We went to the vet and they started her on seizure medicine.  Then a few hours later she had another seizure.  And after the vet closed, she had three more seizures, each one worse than the last.  She had convulsions, emptied her bladder and bowels, did paddling of her limbs, and ended up stumbling around in circles, running into things and doing "head pressing" where she would press her head against a wall for long periods of time.  At midnight we went to the emergency clinic where they gave her more drugs.  She stayed there and I went home alone.  She had more seizures at the emergency clinic, and between seizures is still not herself.  She's temporarily blind and still confused and hurting.  We aren't sure if the seizures are caused by a brain tumor or something else, but at this point we just have to wait and see.  She may come out of it with no ill effects, or she may end up with permanent brain damage, or she may not make it.  I'm worried about my girl.  I so much want her to have her Happily Ever After.  

Three New Dogs!

I know what you're thinking.  After yesterday's post, you're thinking that I don't NEED any more dogs, and if I really brought in three more, I'm probably going to need professional help.  And if that's what you're thinking, you're absolutely right.  But wait until you meet them, and then you'll understand.  Plus, one of them wasn't my fault.  And in fact that one has already moved on to another foster home.  So I'm not as crazy as it seems. Really.

Let's start with the one who has been and gone.  Now that I live in a rural area with no animal control, a few of my neighbors are starting to learn that I do dog rescue.  A few months ago one of them brought me a blind Boston Terrier, and fortunately we located his owners after just a few days.  Then last week the owners of the Boston Terrier called me and told me a stray dog had shown up at their house and she was very skinny - could I help?  I went to their house and found an emaciated Blue Tick Coonhound wearing a faded hunting collar and no tags.  So in spite of the eight foster dogs waiting at home, I put her in the car and brought her back home too.

I named her Shiloh.  The veterinarian checked her out, and she weighs 36 pounds when she should weigh 55-60 pounds.  She's about a year old, extremely friendly, and with the loudest baying bark I have ever heard.  It's quite impressive (although I'm not sure everyone agrees).  She doesn't have a microchip and the Lost Dog signs put up by the people who found her have produced no owners, so Shiloh has become an All Paws Rescue dog.  After she was here for a few days, another foster home had an opening and was able to take her, so now Shiloh is at her new foster home where she'll be able to enjoy the good life while she gains some much-needed weight before she can be spayed and listed for adoption.  I'd like to thank Casey Jones' mom for helping with Shiloh's vet bills, and Bev for giving Shiloh a great place to recuperate.  Thanks!

And then there's this girl - her name is Skittles.

Skittles is a three year old Papillon who weighs all of twelve pounds.  But don't let her fool you - she can hold her own with Jefferson and the other big dogs!  She is very playful and affectionate.  Skittles was at another rescue for over a year, and spent six months of that year with a trainer to help her overcome her fear of strangers.  She originally came from a hoarding situation where she didn't get much attention or socialization, so she had a lot to overcome.  But she's come a long way in the past year and when another rescue lost one of their main foster homes, I was happy to help by taking this very sweet dog.  She will be holding out for an active home with no kids so that she can have the perfect situation for her, but I'm pretty sure it won't take her long to find it!  In the meantime she doesn't leave my side - she sleeps on my pillow and scares the bigger dogs off the couch so she can sit next to me when I'm on the computer.  She's always happy, and I love having her here.

And then there's one more dog.  She's another one I was not expecting to keep for long.  But the reason I still have her is totally my fault.

This is Shelby.  She is a deaf pit bull with one blue eye and one brown eye.  I took her with the plan to evaluate her and then send her to a new foster home.  But something unexpected happened.  I fell in love.  I know, I fall in love with all of them.  But she's extra special, and I can't bear to let her go just yet.  She reminds me so much of my dog Noelle, who I really miss (she's still living with my husband at our old house).  Shelby is the most laid back, lazy dog I've had since Noelle.  She is easy-going and gets along with everyone.  She has perfect manners, except in the car when she likes to bark at the other cars going by.  She sleeps a lot!  Since the first hour I brought her home, I've been thinking about what it would be like if I could keep her.  But I can't adopt her until I find a job, and at this point she hasn't even been here long enough for me to be sure that she would be happy here.  So for now I'm just enjoying having her around, and trying not to fall any more in love than I already am.

She always has this serious and slightly concerned look on her face!

So those are my new dogs - there are eight here right now, but fortunately they all get along except of course Ziggy, so that makes it much easier.  I'm pretty sure that I'll have to cut back on fostering quite a bit once I find a job, but for now, I love having them all here.  Most of them, anyway.  If you'd like to foster or adopt any of these wonderful dogs (except Shelby!), please visit www.allpawsrescue.info.