Rescue the poor thing...

Yes, we did it! The cute stray (whom the kids named "Cookie") was taken to a vet Thursday morning and will be taken to an animal rescue group after she has received proper medical care! I am so glad. I feel like we played a small part in blessing another family with what will be a really sweet, loving pet. I think if she would have gotten along with Ginger, I could have fostered her for up to a month until the rescue organization found her a home. I was telling Paul that would be the way to go. The rescue group pays all the vet bills and helps with expenses, and you just get to help care for the animal until it finds a permanent home. The only thing is, you don't really have time to train it and make it part of the family. There is a very big difference in behavior between Ginger and Cookie. Cookie was so emaciated when we found her, and she was always afraid that Ginger was going to take her food and snapped at Ginger whenever she was within 2 feet of her food. Ginger, although she was a good 20 pounds bigger than Cookie, was afraid of her and started to refuse going outside. So, we had to lock up Cookie in the doghouse (which was treated for fleas and ticks) and then convince Ginger it was safe to go out. Now, I have to say, we only had Cookie for about 4 days, but she was looking so much better. I am very pleased, and the kids really feel good about releasing her to a place where she won't be euthanized.

Dog Days of Summer

Well, here we are in the dog days of summer. Literally! Animal control prefers that we isolate strays in a backyard and then they will come and pick up the poor beast. We noticed a cute little stray about a week ago. Obviously female, undernourished and has had puppies sometime in the past. We called it to get it into our yard to call animal control, but it wouldn't come, so we took it food, only to discover the poor thing was covered in ticks. YUCK! It was not in the best of health. Karissa, our "animals are people, too" child, couldn't take the pressure. We returned to the park to feed it again to bring it closer, and a neighbor was with it. She just happened to belong to an animal rescue group and has 5 dogs of her own. Well, when we told her of our plan she said "Don't call animal control, I can hook her up with an animal rescue organization who will pay her vet bills and find her a family." We were very excited. This dog is doing so much better. We gave her a bath, medicine(provided by someone else) and plenty of food and water. We've also treated much of the yard and dog items with flea and tick spray. So, hopefully she will be on her way out on Thursday. She should make a great pet for the right family. Karissa is a very happy girl.