Two Old Guys and a Nice Snow

Beautiful snowy day here in Virginia. This afternoon, two of my older dogs who arrived here as fosters and have become too beloved to ever let go took a nice frolick on our snowy hillside. Kyle and Thomas are both rescues from Southern shelters, GA and SC, and they thoroughly enjoyed slipping and sliding along in the fluffy stuff.


Both these dogs are a joy to know. Thomas has proven himself a fighter after surviving an adverse reaction to heartworm treatment. I've decided the two of us are bonded for life after what we've been through together. And Kyle was a dog I spotted on a shelter website and could not get out of my mind. We went to GA to get him and 5 other dogs. He had obviously lived a life of very little care, although he was housetrained and on a firstname basis with any couch he met. His teeth needed a good deal of work, and he had a ripped ear that had never been fixed. To see his daily contentment, though, is a constant reminder to me of the quiet joy I find in giving these dogs the kind of life I wish they'd had from the beginning. Here, Thomas and Kyle with two of my daughters.

Thank you again, NH SPCA!

Another wonderful delivery to the New Hamshire SPCA in Stratham. 10 adult dogs and 7 mixed breed puppies for a total of 17! Thank you, Karin for seeing how special these dogs are, Jenny for all your diligent efforts to make this happen and Rodney for making the 13 hour drive yet again. It takes the united efforts of many to get these angels to safety, but it is so worth it.

This wonderful post from the Virginia family who adopted Beau, an Australian Shepherd rescued from our local county shelter. When we first brought him home, Beau was very shy and worried about what was happening to him. It didn't take long to see though that this was a dog who had so much love to offer. I made a video of him with one of my daughters and it ended up in the hands of an Australian Shepherd loving family who had recently lost their beloved dog. They fell in love with Beau immediately. This below from his new mama:

"Beau continues to amaze us all with his gentleness and amazing intelligence. He has taken to clicker training and is adding daily to his list of tricks which now include, sit, shake, roll over, down and come. He is so clever it is almost scary sometimes. He is becoming more and more desensitized to sounds that used to scare him and as you can see from the picture here thoroughly enjoys his fenced backyard and has several "mad minutes" everyday! "

These updates from loving families never let us forget just how much our efforts matter in the life of a single dog.

A Christmas Gift

With a concerted effort between several people yesterday, 8 dogs have been given an opportunity for a new life. Some friends got word of a situation in a North Carolina shelter where many dogs were going to be put down so that renovations could be done to the shelter over the holidays. Two dedicated souls drove down to NC yesterday afternoon and took 8 of the dogs to bring back here where we will vet them and get them out to groups who have offered to help. They are all sweet and deserving. To be able to help these dogs is the best Christmas gift I could hope for. Here, a little Shephered mix. He has an injured leg and will need attention for that, but is otherwise ready to become someone's special boy.

Kennedy Gets His Christmas Home

Kennedy's story had a very happy ending with his adoption by a family in New York. He'll know no shortage of love here, and that is always our ultimate hope for these dogs who have had so little.

Pictures of Kennedy in his new home:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7887796@N04/sets/72157603412358124/

Kennedy

This is Kennedy, one of the cutest puppies I've ever seen. He is a lovely chocolate brown with tan markings and light green eyes outlined in brown. He's an exotic looking little boy!

Kennedy was found in one of our local parks by a kind woman who worried about the cold temperatures that night and asked if we could help him. Kennedy is available for adoption at: www.homewardbound2u.rescuegroups.org.

Sweet Avery

Meet Avery, one of our newest foster boys.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to consider helping a beautiful yellow lab in a Georgia shelter who was in danger. I took a look at the website and called about the dog. He had already been adopted, but I couldn't get the faces of the others I had seen out of my mind, and we made a seven hour trip to pull six of them. Avery is one of the sweet dogs who came home with us. He's a real love, 6-8 months old, and a collie mix. He's playful and full of joy now, very unlike the dog of just three weeks ago, who was heartwrenchingly sad.

Avery is available for adoption through Homeward Bound of PA: www.homewardbound2u.rescuegroups.org. Check out his web page there.