HELP PALMETTO LEARN TO LOVE AGAIN

Once upon a time Palmetto was a sweet, cute puppy. Someone loved him, because he still responds to cutesy baby talk. And he's still handsome, so we'll assume he was just stinking adorable as a puppy. But then things went terribly wrong. We'll never know exactly what happened to him, but he was stray at less than one year old and was hit by a train in Greenville, SC. A good samaritan brought him to the kill-shelter clinic, where they checked him out and found nothing broken (except one of his canine teeth) and they put him on the stray hold list. Although his time was up, he was a staff favorite, so he kept getting extensions on his kill date, until finally Home Free Animal Rescue made the call to save him. He was still alive, but in bad shape...skinny as a rail, full of worms and parasites. So we set about the task of cleaning him up. But that was not the whole picture. Palmetto was found to be afraid of other dogs (and skateboards, among other things) and reacted to them with a ferocious growling barking lunging. Kind of scary, even for someone who is a relatively experienced dog handler. That said, we worked with a local dog behavioralist/trainer and found that he did not actually go for another dog but just sniffed in a tentative, curious kind of way if he got to approach another dog from the back end instead of the scary face end. So the goal for us is to take some time and figure out what is stressing this poor dog and work with him to make these things in his environment less threatening from his perspective. It's a two-part training plan, beginning with a day-long home visit in his own foster home. After that we'll take him to the training center and begin to counter-condition his fear of other dogs and scary things like skateboards and flashing marquis signs. Please, for the love of this dog, donate whatever amount you can comfortably give.

Darling Daisy

Who Would Ever Hurt Darling Daisy?

Everyone wants to help those dogs that are the real poster children - the starving, abused, neglected puppies - the ones that have been betrayed. Here's your chance!
Daisy is such a sweet puppy, only 6 months old. But the truly amazing thing is that she is sweet in spite of the pain she is enduring. Some moron shot her in the knee with a bb gun! The shot has damaged her ACL, and she needs surgery to repair it. In addition to the bb-gun wound, she had a piece of bamboo lodged in her face!
Our vet in SC is ready to fix her up, but we'll need to get some funds to cover the bill.
You know this is the part where we plead with you for your financial assistance. This is not just a general request for donations. This is a fundraising effort for a very specific cause - a cause named Daisy.
Please donate for Daisy, whatever amount you are able. And if this little smiling girl speaks to you the way she speaks to us, share her with your friends and post your best, sincere request that they help out, too.
Thanks in advance for your help, be it donations, networking, or just praying like crazy!!

Rachel Puppy Has Parvo!! Need Help!!

Little Rachel, only 12 weeks old, followed all the rules. She was pulled from the kill-shelter in SC and put in private boarding for more than two weeks quarantine. She had her own personal crate for transport. She was not allowed to walk outside during her transport. She had two vaccines against parvo virus, but it got her anyway, in spite of all the precautions.Now she's at the vet, struggling to survive. Treating parvo at the vet can cost thousands of dollars, so PLEASE, say an extra prayer for her, and donate as you are able, knowing that this little munchkin's life is hanging in the balance and her vet is working hard to help her along.Thank you for donating and for sharing this plea with your animal-loving friends.

UPDATE: Rachel pulled through! Thank you so much to everyone for your prayers and for your generous contributions. We were able to raise almost $400, to which I added $100, to help Rachel's family pay for the vet care that helped Rachel survive. A big thank you to Dr. Grassi and Red Bank Veterinary Hospital for taking care of her!

Ralphie is a puppy with a big appetite for life. Unfortunately, he also has a big appetite for everything, even things that are not normally edible. The vet said he has eaten something and it is stuck in his tummy and the only way it is coming out is surgically. This is going to be a whopping vet bill for which no rescue adopter is prepared.
If you can chip in even a small amount, it will help! Thanks for your generosity!!





UPDATE: Ralph had his surgery - you should have seen all the stuff he'd eaten - even parts from a tiki torch!! He's been much better about leaving that stuff alone now and is doing really well.

Mitch's Golden Years

This is Mitch, an 11 year old golden retriever/collie mix. His owners dumped him at the Greenville County Animal Control because they've had a change in lifestyle. We won't be critical of them, because Mitch is all good to go now. He'll be retiring in Florida with a former classmate of mine. He'll be living with a couple of nice older dogs with a big back yard and the back door open so they can come and go as they please, basking in the Florida sun to warm his old bones. Thanks Kathy for taking him in when his family let him down! Happy Life old boy!

Bishop needs help!

Bishop needs some help! He was hit by a car and left for dead. After he was nursed back to health, he was adopted by a man with a knee replacement who realized Bishop was too strong for him to walk. He was returned and is waiting for his real happy ever after. Could it be you?
This handsome boy is one of those fabled dogs who was saved and he knows it! He is anxious to please. He is a 3 year old, 70lb bundle of lapdog love! He does pull on the leash because he is strong, but his personality is sweet and he is great with people and other dogs. Not sure he'd be good with cats. He does love to go for a walk, and he loves to ride in the car. He is housebroken and is neutered now and up to date on his shots.

Bishop is still living in North Carolina now, but if several people are interested in meeting him, I would love to bring him up to the great state of New Jersey for adoption interviews. At that time I will need a local, very short-term foster home.

For adoptions and fostering this soon-to-be-lucky boy, please visit my website for an application: http://www.homefreeanimalrescue.com/adopt-foster/

Sprung from Puppy Alcatraz

I have been watching the posts from URGENT 2, a volunteer group on Facebook. They highlight the daily kill list for New York Animal Care & Control. ACC will kill beautiful, healthy, adoptable, lovable dogs like this pretty girl every day, starting at 6am, thousands of them every year. They make almost no effort to reunite lost dogs with their owners other than posting the pictures online. They make even less effort to find homes for the ones that are owner surrender and give them even less time to do it, and the woman who runs the show earns a six-figure salary.

As futile as it seems, efforts are being made daily by this volunteer group to save some of these dogs. There are more volunteers who go to the shelter and walk these beauties, then follow up with a short description of their behavior while walking and their personality. It was the write-up for this blue-eyed girl that got me. She walks beautifully on leash, was polite to other dogs they met on the walk, sits on command and takes treats gently. AND she give kisses. THIS is a good dog. THIS is not a dog that should be put to sleep.

I had heard that it was nearly impossible to break a dog out of Manhattan Alcatraz. One rescue friend who lives in NY tried to adopt a cat, and they Google mapped her house and said it was too small for another pet, then they killed the cat. But I figured, what the heck, who needs sleep. So I started reaching out to some of the local rescues in NY who are permitted to pull there. (Not anyone can pull - they have to approve your rescue.) Finally, after providing multiple references and applications, one of the rescues agreed to have her temperament tested, and then they pulled her. After that it was relatively simple, and I drove to Manhattan with my daughter and we picked her up and took her to her new foster home.
She has been officially adopted by my very first adopter from twelve years ago in Massachusetts. She will be going to live with a lovely family and their first rescue dog, another beautiful blue pittie girl (named Blue) who is now 13 years old. She has to wait until she is not in heat so she can be spayed, but all her other vetting is done and she is ready to start her new life.

MamaDog Needs Help to Treat Heart Worms

MamaDog is her name. She has probably lived outside her whole life. Her nose is crackled from years of sunburn and wind and cold. Her toe pads and toe nails are rough. The edges of her ears are fringed from fly bites. She's had at least one littler of puppies. And worst of all, she has a heavy infestation of heart worms. In spite of all of this, MamaDog is one of the sweetest little girls I have ever met. Her little tail wags every waking moment of the day. As you can see from the little picture below, she is much prettier than her shelter mugshot shows. She looks like a fox! She has a beautiful, thick, red-brown coat and a darling little face that is graying in the muzzle. Her health records say she is six, but we think she may be closer to eight or maybe older.

She does not have alot of energy due to her reduced lung capacity, so most of her day is spent lounging on the love seat in my parents' living room. She does not bark, and she does not play with the other dogs although she does not seem to mind them either. But she is housebroken, and sometimes she slides off her perch and wanders out into the house to find someone to ask to go outside. Since we started her on some medication she is feeling a little better and is venturing a little further into the yard every day. That may be because it's getting warmer out, too!
MamaDog starts her heart worm treatment in March. She will have two sets of Immiticide injections to kill the heart worms. Then, if she survives, she will be ready to go to her forever home.
Donations for MamaDog's heart worm treatment are gratefully accepted. Please forward via Paypal address glowingcat@gmail.com and indicate that it is for MamaDog. Thank you!

Three Little Puppies,Sitting in a Row.

One Got a Home - Help the Other Pups Go!

Surfing Facebook one day, I saw a post from Friends of Gordon County. It was a sorry looking little aussie shep pup. I thought she was a pretty little girl, so I shared it. Then a very close friend of mine (who is a cancer survivor) posted that she'd like to know more about her - and ultimately let me know that she wanted to adopt her.) Then I realized that the little pup had a sister, but she was cute, too, so I called the shelter to pull them. It's Georgia, so I had to work through a rescuer there who is licensed with the Dept of Agriculture. She called to inform me that there was a third. What was I to do? Had to pull him, too. They had a brush with parvovirus but pulled through thanks to my awesome local rescuer/foster. Then they got their shots which weakened their little immune systems again and threw them back into gastro-intestinal problems. But they pulled through again. Next week they will go to be spayed/neutered. Their transport is all lined up as soon as they are healthy enough to make the long 15-hour trip to NJ.

UPDATE: One of the little girls did not pull through. She was just not strong enough. The little girl pictured above is doing pretty well, and the little blonde boy is hanging in there. Both have been fixed and had shots, but they are still fighting off various illnesses and parasites. The latest is spirochetes. Poor things.

Beagles in Trouble

Peanut and Lucy were an old man’s companions. The three of them were happy couch potatoes (as witnessed by their overweightedness!) that is until he had a massive heart attack and they ended up as owner surrenders at a high-kill shelter in SC – No chance at survival there. But our friends arrived at the shelter just as the vet was taking them to euthanize them – they pulled these girls right out! Now they need a home.

Can be fostered/adopted together or separately.

 UPDATE:  Peanut passed on over the rainbow bridge. She was just heartbroken over the loss of her guardian. But Lucy has found an adopter who knows about beagles and is so excited to be her hero!

Kane the Pretty Pittie

This was Kinsey at Greenville County Animal Control. He was slated to be put to sleep, but I begged for one more day. Then I went to see my bagel guy who had once casually asked me if I ever got any nice pitbulls. I showed him Kinsey's picture and explained that I didn't need anything but a promise if he'd like to adopt him. But that if he didn't, Kinsey probably would be euthanized
But no pressure...



So here is a newer picture of Kinsey, now known as Kane, with his "cousins." He is a complete spoiled little pup, as he should be.
I had the pleasure of fostering him for just one night at my house. When I picked him up on transport he did his business right away, climbed willingly into the crate in my back seat, didn't fuss at the fox hound traveling with him. He slept soundly through the night without so much as a whimper. He was well behaved with my two dogs and our visiting fox hound for a couple of hours before I delivered him to Paul. And then, when it was time to go, he moved toward me and hung his head down as if to say good bye, and then he let Paul take the leash. As I left, I realized that many of the other shop owners were out on the sidewalk ready to welcome Paul's new baby to the neighborhood. He's in a happy place!

Roxy, n/k/a Ava

Roxy was on the PTS list for so long. Weeks. She was put into a foster home and I guess the rescuers just figured she was safe there, so they disregarded her and went for all of the other dogs on the list. Every day people would cross-post her picture, but no one stepped up to take her. She was sponsored early on. People fretted about her demise. But no one made the call. Except me. I emailed and said that I had to babysit my dog-reactive old foster Lulu, then I had to find a home for Mitch, and then for Tess, and if no one spoke up for her by that time, I would take her. I told her foster I was Roxy's "fail safe." She would not be put to sleep.

And here I am breaking another one of my rules - I will not foster any dog that looks like my beautiful Remy the Rottie. I still cry for missing him.

But Roxy, now called Ava because her foster mommy in SC said she didn't answer to Roxy but likes Ava, she's a special girl.

First of all, she didn't have ANY issue with Teddy Bear the big-mouth. He barked once or twice, and she didn't even blink. And she is QUIET! Yay. Even when Teddy is a big mouth barky dog.

She was also good with Scotchy the cat. He has learned not to run from the foster dogs, but to sit and give them the evil paw wave of death if they get their big, wet, dog noses too close for his comfort. She didn't even try to sneak up and eat his catfood! Now THAT's a good dog!

She is one of the sweetest little girls! Her ears are so expressive. She perks them up and looks like a German Shep when she is curious, which is alot. Then when you call her or reach toward her, those ears go down into the "love-me" position and she gives kisses and would sit by your feet all day and night. What a lovebug!

Sadly, she is making Joel sneeze like crazy. I gave her a bath, swept up the floors, and turned on the air cleaner, and he took a Claratin, but it's still not entirely better. Her only other issue is a housebreaking failure. She has gone pee and poop in the house just in the two hours we've been home. But that's not uncommon for the first night off the 13-hour long transport - her little system is all distressed. We'll see how that one goes.

Good thing she's an amazing dog. She will make a wonderful pet for someone, hopefully before I get too close to her.

UPDATE

You know as soon as I said that, I was attached already. How do you say...FOSTER FAILURE!!! After rescuing more than 50 dogs, I have hit foster failure. Ava (also Evie) will be staying with me. She has already passed her Canine Good Citizen Test but still has serious trust issues with strangers, especially men. I can say that she is finally housebroken and feels safe peeing somewhere other than on my bed! 

More "not my dogs"

Several new dogs to add to the list of critters I have helped to rescue:

Mitch the Miracle Dog 

I am not a particularly religious person, but sometimes I feel that my actions are guided by something greater than myself - something with a divine plan which I am destined to execute. Such is the case with Mitch the Miracle Dog. I felt compelled to look at the list of dogs already put to sleep. I usually don't do that, because there is not much that can be done at that point - it's too late. Not only did I look at the list, but I clicked on Mitch's picture and read all of the wonderful things that the shelter volunteers had said about him...how wonderful he was on a leash, how well-mannered he was, how absolutely lovable he was and what wonderful family dogs walker hounds can be. What a shame I thought. So I looked to see when the page had been updated - 38 minutes. That's kind of a long time. But just to push it, I emailed the shelter director and asked "Is he really gone?" She responded, "No, he's right here" (in the euthanizing room.) So I pulled him. I broke my rules again and pulled him despite the fact that I had no where to put him. And of course I had to juggle dogs when he got to NJ. But he found a wonderful home, so it's all good for that little coon hound sweetheart of a dog! Thank your angel for watching over you - and just in the nick of time.

Wilma the flat-coated retriever was saved because she is a black dog - usually the first to be put down at a kill shelter - just too many of them. But Susan volunteered to foster her, so she made it out to NJ.

Amber the little chi boy with the crazy ear - he's a wild little one that gets all the other dogs in Nancy's house riled up.

And the hound twins, Charlotte & Chris, possibly Anglo-French hounds. They are the hand-picked rescues of Steve & Melissa, our newest fosters. Charlotte is smaller and very demure. Chris is Capt. Adventure and is energetic and boisterous like a typical boy. Both just cute as can be. So glad they are alive!

Thank you CODAR fosters for taking these babes in when my house was full!

 

My Dream Dog

Tess The Dane (mix)

I always wanted a great dane. When Remy died, I looked up the local great dane rescue and was devastated when they would not adopt out to me because we don't have a fenced yard. So when I got the opportunity to foster Tess, a 10-month-old great dane/lab mix, I begged my husband to let me do it.

What I learned is that alot of people say they always wanted a great dane, but most people have no idea what they are getting into!


People call great danes the gentle giants. Tess was a classic example of this. The caveat is that they are, in fact, giant. They don't realize that when they step on your other dog's head it is not very nice or fun for the other dog even if they were just playing. And when they stampede through the house the way playing puppies do, it sounds like a herd of horses. (Not nice for the neighbors.) She is also very skittish - way beyond the point of shy. She startles easily and isn't terribly good about meeting new people, especially men, although she does warm up pretty quickly. She is neurotic about her potty habits - like she will only go in one place. You can walk on leash for 40 minutes, but she will hold it until you get to her special place. And danes eat more food than a normal dog...like three times as much. A bag of dry food that would last Teddy a week was gone in two days.

So although it was wonderful to get so many applications for Tess, I was relieved when one of the applicants had a great dane already. THEY would know what to expect!

I had very mixed feelings the night before I took Tess to her new home. I so wanted it to be perfect. And I wanted it to be not perfect so that I had an excuse to bring her back home to be my dream dog. I cried. But when I arrived in the suburbian home outside of Philly, I found that I was right in my initial reaction - it was the most perfect home I could have ever hoped for for my dream dog. The other dane chased her for a minute or two, and then they ran around the huge, fenced yard together for hours. There was no power play for toys or attention. She was super comfortable with all of the family members as if she had known them her whole life. I didn't even cry as I left - she was looking out the sliding glass door and wagging as if to say, "Thanks so much! This is great!" I got an email saying they played all afternoon until they finally flopped down in two tired heaps in the living room. How great is that??

Help us Save Cider the Tree-Walking Coonhound!
I think Cider is the most beautiful Tennessee tree-walking coon hound ever! She's from Greenville County Animal Control in South Carolina, the place I often pull my rescues. Unfortunately, like many rescue dogs from the south, just like my last rescue Punky, Cider has heartworms. This was a big problem, because dogs with heartworms aren't allowed to come into the state of New Jersey to be with her new CODAR foster family, but it became a bigger problem because the medicine is now off the market. Thankfully, due to the hard work of my friend, rescuer Angela Gschwind, a vet was located in Easely, SC who has some of the medicine and has agreed to treat Cider! Now we have only to raise the funds. We thought we had it just about wrapped up, but one of our donors backed out, so we've come up short.Please help us bridge the gap by clicking on the chip-in. Paypal will help you send funds. So easy to help a loving dog in her time of need!

Snickers the Interim Foster

Since there was a delay in Punky's transport, I've taken Snickers as my new little interim foster from Tennessee. She was from a hoarder, one of those people who starts out meaning well but somehow ends up with way more animals than they can possibly care for in a reasonable way. Unfortunately, she went from bad to worse, and ended up at an animal control facility with a gas chamber. Fortunately, it is the facility that CODAR often pulls from, so she and seven other lucky dogs got a ticket to NJ this weekend.
I selected Snickers because although she was very timid, hiding in the back of her crate after they unloaded her from the transport, she edged her way out into Pam's yard, and within a few minutes she was leaping through the grass like a little bunny. She immediately went to check out the other rescues and Pam's dogs with her tail up and her ears alert. Some of the other pups had their hackles up and were afraid, but she was cheerful and curious as she interacted with all of the others. Also, she did not bark.
We had a pretty long day at the jewelry store, and she spent alot of time hiding behind the big chairs in the front of the store. She eventually got comfortable with me, but was very jumpy when anyone else tried to touch her.
She did enjoy sitting in Maggie's lap, so I would say she's good with kids like Maggie who is ten. There were some other children in the store in the evening, three boys, and she mostly stayed under the desk but was interested in what they were doing. Generally speaking, she was afraid of many things, especially while out on a walk. I wonder if she has spent much time outside. She also seems unfamiliar with a leash, but she adjusted quickly to walking with her harness, and she did pee outside. There have been no accidents indoors to date, but I cannot say for sure that she is housebroken. She is very fearful of cars and loud noises. At one point I thought she had tried to nip Joel, but it was just a sudden jerk of her head when he tried to pet her - no teeth and no growling. She had a similar response to Francis, and appears to have some trepidation about men, but again, not in an aggressive way, just fearful.
She had no trouble meeting Teddy Bear, who can be something of a bully when new dogs arrive at home. She seemed very comfortable walking in our yard before bedtime, and she settled right into her crate in Maggie's room without so much as a whimper. She slept right on through the night until about 4:30am when a big crack of lightning/thunder woke everyone in the house.
This morning her demeanor is much more relaxed. She and Teddy Bear have developed a nice play routine where they jump up on the sofa and she dives under or around or over him and he spins around to face her. It's a nice, gentle, but energetic game. She does not bark at all.

She really is a lap dog. She loves when Maggie holds her belly up like a baby and pets her stomach. She lets her head fall back and her eyes close and looks like she is in dog heaven. She reaches up and give little tiny kisses.
I would not hesitate to say that this little dog is going to make a great companion. She is a little shy right now, but she really warms up to people and is a very lovable little girl. She is open to all the dogs I have seen her with, and plays very nicely with a dog much bigger than herself. She is quiet and seems to require very little attention, but loves being held and snuggled. What more could you ask for?

Martin, yet another "not my dog"

Nancy is getting really ticked at me. She is one of my fellow fosters with Castle of Dreams Animal Rescue. I hooked her up with her first foster dog Loki, and I helped find a forever home for him just a few short weeks after his arrival in NJ. Her next foster was Martin, the cutest little doxie puppy ever, from a CODAR transport from Tennessee. But unbeknownst to Nancy when she went to pick him up from CODAR on Saturday morning, I was already on the phone working his adoption! By late afternoon she begrudgingly brought him over to Red Bank to meet his new owners, Christina & Charlie, who are tickled pink with this little 8-week old darling! Now he's "Jack."

Allen the Boxer - another "not my dog"

Monday was Allen's lucky day!

Several weeks ago, after Hurricane Irene, we had a fill-in guy on our trash collection route. He saw me out in the yard with Lulubelle and asked if I did dog rescue. Then he asked if I ever got boxers, and I said "just all the time!" He wanted a young male, since he lives in a house full of girls with another one on the way. Of course that meant I could only find females on the rescue list, so I set it aside and waited to see what might come up.

But this weekend there were so many dogs on the red list in Greenville. I felt so bad for the director, knowing that she would have to make that horrible choice pretty soon - which dogs were going to have to be put to sleep. So I emailed and asked if there were any particularly nice dogs that she didn't want to see euthanized. She pointed me to the photo of Allen - a MALE BOXER!! And a handsome one at that!

So I got on the phone as quick as I could and called Beth at the town clerk's office to track down the trash guy. Turns out he'd lost my card and was grateful for my call. He and his wife agreed to take Allen, sight unseen! They thought he was even better when they saw his picture. I can't wait to get him transported to New Jersey!

Lulubelle the little pink girly dog - UPDATE

Lulubelle is still with us, heading into week 4. I know some foster homes who have had a dog for months, but I have trouble believing that this beautiful little girl isn't just flying out my door. Last night she slept on the foot of Maggie's bed. This is good, but this is also bad because Maggie is becoming attached. Lulu is definitely good with kids and even good with cats.
Every day I take Lulu to work with us at our retail jewelry store. She accompanies me to the post office, to Elsie's or the Bagel Oven, to the bank. Lots of people in town recognize her now and fawn over her and tell her how beautiful she is. She stops to greet everyone (even if they don't necessarily look like they want to be greeted!) She is Miss Congeniality. Lots of people say they want her, but still no applications for her adoption. What's up with that?
She is totally housebroken, crate trained, super trainable (comes with an assessment from Urban Dawgs - copied below) and is without a doubt the friendliest foster dog I have ever had. She is also a fun, playful puppy who walks well on a leash. She is not a dog-park dog, meaning you can't really let her off leash because she dislikes strange dogs, but she can be introduced to other dogs and could certainly live happily in a house with another dog. Teddy Bear is going to miss her terribly when she goes. They romp together like old pals. And they clean each others' faces in the morning when they get up. SO cute! She is also very good with my cranky old cat, Butterscotch, who generally avoids my foster pups, but stands his ground with Lulu and even tolerates her wet puppy nose inspections. Butterscotch doesn't really go for the flying, bouncing puppy play, but there's no harm in it.
Most of the time, Lulu camps out sleeping in the cushy chair at the store. She is so quiet you'd hardly know she is there. Except when customers come in, she slides off the chair and gives them the whole-body wag greeting, and then goes back to sleep. Good dog. Perfect dog really.
Lulubelle is a socialite. She needs companionship and is NOT the dog to be left at home alone for a long, sad day. She needs to be someone's go-everywhere co-pilot. Surely there is a family with a pack of kids who needs a dog - or a young guy or gal who wants a dog to follow them everywhere - or a shopkeeper who would like a greeter-dog. So who is going to make this dog their own?

Urban Dawgs/Pitbull Guru Assessment by Drayton Michaels:

Lou Lou Belle is a great, small, quiet and easily adaptable dog. Here are her stats below. 


Name Lu Lu Belle
Terrier mix
Age 4 – 5 months
Female – Spayed.
Weight – 30lbs
No apparent dietary issues, allergies or health concerns. 


Rescued in Greenville SC transported to NJ. 
Currently lives in quality foster home with one dog, one child a teen. 
The neighborhood is active and busy with people and dogs.


Working on Sit – Down – Leave it – Touch – Stay 


Generally Quiet – Likes chew toys – Tug – knows drop it relatively well. 
Responds well to prompts


Not jumpy unless people bend over and gets super duper baby talk – a little is all you’ll need with this dog. 


Not barky – May bark upon seeing dogs on leash. Easily brought under threshold with “leave it” or a simple prompt. Fast bounce back – seconds after reactivity Lu Lu Belle is back to sniffing and on her way. 


Walks like a dream – very little pulling – easily reduced with gentle stop start and or lengthen – shorten leash. 


Overall Assessment – 
Lu Lu Belle would do well in a home with dogs and kids or as a companion for a couple or single adult. 
As long as they are committed to a kind consistent approach and are looking for a dog to have as a companion she’ll fit right in. 


  

Pitbulls - Puppy Number 11

One of my first dilemmas was this: Do I pull dogs from high-kill shelters where it's easier to kill (did I say "kill?" Oh I'm sorry, I meant "euthanize.") the dogs than it is to make an effort to work with rescues and find homes for them, or do I work with those shelters that are kill-shelters but who work closely with their communities and with rescues to place as many dogs as they can and to kill as few dogs as possible? My decision was to mostly pull from Greenville County Animal Control in South Carolina. They have developed a really good system for taking in large quantities of dogs (and cats) sometimes up to 150-175 dogs PER DAY in the summer. They manage to deal with kennel cough, mange, and parvo virus outbreaks. And the director of dog rescue, Lauren, is really good about helping me with accurate temperament testing, which is super important when you have a dog with issues like my Teddy Bear. I like to save the ones that are shelter staff favorites...dogs with great personalities in not-so-exciting bodies. Some people call them the underdogs. Pitbulls are almost always underdogs. Which brings me to my second dilemma and my most recent foster puppy: Lala.
Lala is a four-month old pitbull mix. Maybe a mix, but there is unmistakably, undeniably pitbull in her appearance and her personality. The dilemma is, do I take a dog like Lala who more than any other dog needs me to help her find a home and is one of the most likely dogs to be euthanized just because of a label, or do I just keep pulling the doofy, happy-go-lucky, easy-to-place golden retriever, lab and border collie mix puppies that are super-easy to find homes for?
Here is what I have learned about her in the last week:
First of all, she didn't respond to the name Lala, but does come when you call her Lulu or Lulabelle in a southern accent, sickeningly sweet, sing-song voice. Lulu was billed to me as the most loving dog in the shelter, which she absolutely is...to people. When she sees someone coming down the sidewalk, she begins to wag her whole body. She will accept the slightest (even unintentional) invitation to climb into your lap and kiss your face or any bit of bare skin from the feet up - whatever is within reach, or lick your clothes if there's no skin she can get to. She adores my Maggie and is even more smoochy when Maggie giggles. The markings on her lips make her look like a little girl who tried to put lipstick on herself, so she even looks smoochy. She's definitely a people dog, and there is not the slightest bit of aggression towards people...absolutely ZERO aggression with kids, even when they are running and rough-housing...not even a nip.

She is not so warm to other dogs though. It took me and Ian quite a long time, standing out in the yard in the rain, holding Lulu and Teddy Bear by their harnesses and trying to calm them with bacon training treats while they lunged at each other, barking wildly. We finally brought them into the house and continued the treat-giving, setting up the baby gate between them, and slowing working them toward each other between more bouts of wild barking, snarling and lunging. Until finally we could drop one leash and let them explore a tentative interest in one another. There was a little more snarling at feeding time. But by the evening, they were romping on and off the livingroom sofa as if they were lifelong friends. So I can say that she will do OK with other dogs given the proper introduction. To anyone else, it must look and sound a little scary when she and Teddy Bear are rough-housing, but I never worry about stepping into the middle of it or putting my hands in between them.
Today we went for a walk around Red Bank with Drayton Michaels from Urban Dawg. We came across another dog in front of Zebu that was off-leash. Lulu was a little startled and barked, but Drayton drew her interest away with his hand and she forgot the other dog almost instantaneously. She then walked by two pomeranians and a sheltie without even noticing them. Yay!

In terms of other training, Lulu is a great dog. She is very interested in pleasing her people. She understands "NO." This is especially important because she is a curious puppy when it comes to the cat. She wants to stick her big, wet puppy nose into the cat's butt, which the cat is not having. So "NO" will spare Lulu's nose leather from being swiped by the claw of doom.

She's not much of a chewer, although she did get one of Maggie's flipflops today. I'm actually happy about that because I've been yelling at Maggie on a daily basis to put them away and not leave them laying around the house. (Thanks, Lulu!) Mostly she is happy with the dog toys that we have...bones, rawhides, tennis balls, tug-o-war ropes, kongs, etc. She doesn't really need to look elsewhere for things to play with like shoes and furniture!

She is also not much of a barker, unlike Teddy Bear. She is certainly alert to things moving in and outside the house, but is quiet. She'd be a good apartment dog.

She is crate trained and is quite happy to amble into her crate and curl up for the night, although she won't turn down an invitation to sleep in the bed! She also likes to sleep on the chair by the window in my room. And she makes it through the night without accidents.

Generally speaking, she is housebroken. She still has an occasional pee-pee in the house, but as long as I take her out on the leash every couple of hours, she does her business immediately outside.

Really, she's a great pet on so many levels, but I need to be sure that she gets placed with someone who is a strong, calm, consistent dog owner. Today Drayton said that she is a "soft" dog who never needs you to raise your voice to control her. She is so willing to please, and when I saw Drayton handling her, I could see that with training she could be an amazingly obedient dog - like a therapy dog or one of the dogs you see in agility trials.

Ideally, she will find a home with someone who just wants a super-loving dog - just one dog by itself or maybe with cats and/or kids. She is a sit-on-the-couch-with-you and kiss-your-face dog. She will love you forever, and I love her enough to find that person for her even if it takes a little longer.