Hooray for JRTs!

I love Jack Russell Terriers, and my 5th foster dog for this year is a wonderful JRT named Darla. She is an owner-throwaway--she was left in her yard when her owners moved away. By the time she came to me, she had an intestinal infection, so now she's on medication and is eating a bland diet. She was very mopey due to her illness--and there's nothing sadder than a lethargic Jack Russell Terrier.

Happily, Darla is regaining her vigor and spunk.

I made this digital stamp in honor of Darla and her breed! If you go to my Flickr page, you can download a set of these stamps and send your messages by Busy Dog Express!

Checklist for the Chief Poop Inspector

"My Dog's Poop List"

Check any or all that apply.

O Is the poop firm, normal in texture, color & smell?
O Is there any shiny slickness or mucus covering part or all of the poop?
O Any blood? Fresh or dried? Faint or copious?
O Does the poop contain anything that looks like grains of rice?
O Anything like small pearls?
O Anything like cooked pasta?
O Any foreign objects (e.g., crayon bits, string, paper, plastic, etc.)?
O Is the poop soft and without form?
O Is the poop hard and stringy?
O Does the dog strain or peer toward his rump in confusion?
O Does the poop look like instant pudding?
O Does it have a strong, gag-inducing odor?
O Is it oddly colored—greenish, yellowish (like mustard) or purplish?
O Is the poop loose and watery?
O Does the poop come out in a squirt?
O Does the dog try to poop without success?
O Does the dog poop in its own bedding?
O Does the dog poop before you can get it outside to its normal place?
O Does the dog poop more than 2 times in one hour?
O Does the dog hide and poop in corners or other places it normally doesn’t poop?
O Does the dog immediately try to eat its own poop?

Use this handy checklist to help you evaluate your dog’s poop. Observing the dog’s freshly made poop on a regular basis is the easiest way to assess a dog’s overall health. Changes in what is normal for your dog’s poop may require you to check for other symptoms or call your vet.

Limitations & Exclusions: This non-medical, but helpful information is not meant to substitute for a professional veterinary examination. It is provided as a public service message so that you, too, can proudly earn the title of “Chief Poop Inspector.” Note: Not all items are applicable to all pets, and not all items apply to cats. I don’t have a cross-discipline degree in Cat Poop Inspection.

-*- Photo Credits: Ribbon by C. Bruhn via Picnik; photo courtesy of http://ihasahotdog.com/

50 Ways to Get Rid of Your Dog

This is the first in an on-going series of ways to surrender your dog at the Shelter. Following are actual explanations for surrendering a dog that I have witnessed. These situations are presented in no particular order, but I'll add to them 5 items at a time. Names are omitted to protect the ignorant, foolish, unfortunate and desperate.

1. Move out of your house and leave your Jack Russell Terrier in the back yard. Neighbors will care for the dog for three weeks, then bring her to the Shelter.

2. Go to a bar with a cardboard box of three 7-week-old Chihuahua puppies. Someone will bring one of the “free” puppies to the Shelter. She is adorable but has an umbilical hernia and a skin condition. We don’t know what happened to the other two pups.

3. Tie your Golden Retriever mix to the chain link fence at the Shelter sometime during the night. The staff will find the dog in the morning.

4. Bring your elderly Cocker Spaniel inside the Shelter on a busy weekend afternoon. Ask someone to hold the leash while you go get something from your car. Never come back inside the Shelter.

5. Take your 1.5-year-old intact male Weimaraner to the Shelter. Explain that he keeps getting out and you can’t deal with it anymore.

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Dog image scanned from my personal collection of graphics. From a vintage children's reader.

Post-Exchange--Dogs Deserve Freedom

I am finding my way slowly into the blog world of animal rescue. The first blog I came upon is Dogs Deserve Freedom (DDF), at http://dogsdeservefreedom.blogspot.com/ I had been reading as a "lurker" for some time. Her passion for justice and love of animals fills DDF's posts!

I owe DDF a thank-you for providing me with the nudge I needed to start my own blog. Back in early March, I was reading the DDF blog and realized I wanted to write about the same things. That same day, I designed a banner and uploaded my own blog. I added DDF to my "Blogs I Follow" list and I check it often to see what is posted and who is reading. I'm still learning how to use the blogging tools, so please forgive me that I don't yet know how to highlight the link. Drop by if you haven't already sampled "Dogs Deserve Freedom."

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Vintage dog graphic, scanned from my personal collection.

The Dangerous Rainbow

We have color system on the doors at the Shelter—Green, Yellow, Blue, Red, and Purple. It is a dangerous rainbow.

The Green Room is the best room for the dogs—it’s the Adoption Room, and thus it provides the primary ticket out of the Shelter. The Yellow Room has cats (for adoption) and animals still being kept under the stray-hold. The Blue Room houses more of the same, but officially is meant be for the puppies—although this is not a hard-and-fast. The Red Room is for bite cases and other critical issues—the door is locked and you can’t go in without an Animal Control officer. I haven’t been in the Red Room yet. The Purple Room is for incoming animals and worse, it’s where the animals slated for euthanizing are put—at least for now. Our Shelter is expanding, and the door colors have changed several times.

The Shelter staff will be euthanizing animals this week. No one is happy about this. The month of February was an experiment in No-Kill, and the euthanasia rates were held in check through March. But the parade of animals into the shelter is up-ticking with the litters of puppies and kittens, so the killing will resume.

I did a walk-through of the Purple Room this afternoon. It was depressing and horrifying—three skinny mamma dogs with baggy teats and mange, a grey, scarred, crop-eared pit bull, an older lab with cherry eye, several terrified LBDs (Little Brown Dogs) of indeterminate breeding who lie curled up and unresponsive. Some kennel cards have the word “SAVE” scrawled across the intake information in yellow highlighter. Other cards have messages of hope—“Show to Dr. M.” or “Rescue Called.”

But most of the cards have no notes. Most of these dogs have no names. For these animals, death is near. We know. They know too. The rainbow is dangerous.

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Photo credit: Flickr; Creative Commons; Thank you-heureux- Vienna, Austria

Yet One More Pit Bull Story

I live in Texas, and at my county's Animal Shelter, pit bulls (and other bully breeds) often make it into the Adoption Room. This is a good thing, I think.

Right now, I am an advocate for JoJo, a fawn male pit bull. Jojo has been in the A.R. since January 30, 2009. This is a long time for a dog to endure the chaos of a county-run facility.

JoJo eats his kibble one bit at a time (a bad trait in the chaos of the Shelter). He is a climber, so he has to be in a kennel with chain link fencing over the top so he can’t escape. He is quick and determined. I didn’t realize he did this until tonight. Twice I found him calmly standing, at the door to the Adoption Room with the same expectant, hopeful look on his face that I see with my dogs: “We can go now?”

I take JoJo to off-sites adoption events. JoJo’s an eye-catching dog, but people either tell me pit bull horror stories about pit bulls or say, "What a beautiful dog," and move on to get all lovey-dovey with the lab-mix puppies. Soft, floppy puppies always win out over an adult dog with heart and brains.

So I keep JoJo on leash next to me, while I talk to potential adopters. I feed him canned food and treats, and clean him with moist wipes until he shudders with pleasure. I let him do what I never let the big dogs do—I let him put his forequarters in my lap so he can push his head under my chin and lick my neck. I want him to know that he deserves better.

The Shelter staff workers are rooting for JoJo, too—the kennel cleaner told me this morning, “Find this dog a home!” and the vet tech said, “We’ve got to get him out of here before he wears himself to death climbing out of the kennel.” I’m doing my best.

I've taken JoJo out so many times that he knows me. He whines as he lashes his long, lean tail and shakes his whole butt when he sees me. He mopes, head pinned against my knees and stalls, planting his paws when I have to put him back in the kennel in the evening.

At this time, I can’t foster JoJo, so I’m scrambling to find someone who can—I’ve gotten names, and handed out his kennel number, but so far, I’ve not made the right connection. He deserves a home, but I’m not sure he deserves the three months he’s spent in the Shelter.

This is just another pit bull story, but JoJo deserves better.

Pit Bulls and Miniature Pinschers

We get all kinds of dogs in the Shelter’s Adoption Room—from handsome pit bulls like “JoJo,” a fawn male with a loving heart, to non-typey miniature pinschers like “Dancer”, a foster I had for over a month at my house.

JoJo has been at the Shelter since January 30th, and has been passed up time and again because of his breed. He is sweet-natured, and good around the other off-site dogs, and wants nothing more than to lean hard against me and lick my face. I’m working to find a foster or rescue group for him because I can’t take him to my house. My own miniature pinscher male dog, Taco, is dominant-aggressive toward other males (see “Meet My Mutts” below) and he would harass JoJo until the bigger dog had no other choice but to bite Taco’s head off, which Taco would fully deserve. I hope to have JoJo in a foster home soon.

Dancer was passed up time after time because she didn’t “show well” at off-site events—cowering in her cage because the ruckus frightened her, or shrinking back (but not snapping) when people tried to pet her. At my house, she was skittish in new situations (a rather typical min-pin behavior) but otherwise was quite the snuggle-bug. All she wanted to do was follow me around. Her dream: to sleep in my bed. Of course, I fell head over heels in love with her, but my job is to bring one dog at a time home as a foster. Dancer went to a new home yesterday, and I hope it works. I don’t trust most of my adopters until some time passes—and Dancer will need a little time to adjust. She’s very needy and she tends to piddle when she’s excited. I miss her a lot and am praying this placement works out like it should.

So there you go—two great dogs, both with quirks, some of which can’t be helped, passed up by adopters who would rather lug home a big mixed-lab puppy.