Rescue Dogs

Ever since my mom got involved with the county animal shelter, apart of me got a little involved to. I love playing with the fosters and cheer for them.

My mom decided to foster dogs as well as volunteer groom dogs that come into the shelter. "Our" very first foster dog was a little girl named, Heidi (named Hattie by the shelter, but in celebration of her new life, my mom renamed her Heidi). 

Heidi

Heidi's story goes like this: the husband and wife got divorced, the wife ran off out-of-state and left Heidi with the husband. The husband chose euthanasia.

 Her ears are constantly infected, so she come into the care of my mom (and myself). Shortly after coming into my parent's home, my mom fell in love with AND she became a  foster failure. My mom officially adopted her. She's a sweet little girl who follows you around everywhere. 

Then there's Joe, the Cocker. 

He's a mess. 

Just coming into the shelter

A few weeks after coming into "our" care

He's story just really makes me angry: Because the country police found him wondering along side the road and brought him in, we can only make assumptions about him. A lot of the assumptions can be backed up with facts. We believe he was a former stud dog for a puppy mill. Once he was "past his prime," the people dumped him. It's very evident that he has lived his entire life (until now) in a crate/kennel. Everything is so new to him...the grass, the sunlight, playing with tennis balls. Because he spent his life in a kennel, he has "kennel feet/foot." Once you see it, you know that this dog didn't have a pretty life. He easily gets worn out playing with a tennis ball, but he enjoys it so much that he just wants to keep going. Although, he doesn't really like other dogs (or maybe just doesn't know how to "probably" deal with others just yet), he's fantastic. He's going to up for adoption soon!

I'm not asking that everyone treats their dog as pampered pooches, but respect them. If you can't take care of dog--both now and until it's death, than don't get one--even if you really, really want one. The same goes for a cat.

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself"--Josh Billings