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Monday, February 6, 2012

Here Weego!

I must admit I did an un-American, even worse, un-Texan, thing and chose to skip watching the Superbowl this year and opted for the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet instead.  I don't care how cute Eli Manning is, he just doesn't compare to puppy. lol After I saw some folks posting on facebook about the Budweiser commercial I had to check it out.  I have to say it is a pretty awesome commercial.  It is nice to see a large, very well known company such as this do something to promote such a good cause; especially one so near and dear to my heart because 3 of my pack of 5 are rescue dogs. 

This is Penny's favorite place to sleep!
 We adopted Penny, a lab/pit mix from the local pound.  Penny became a part of our pack in June 2010.  She was only about 8 weeks old and was just the sweetest little thing I had ever seen.  The very first time I held her she just looked at me with her big green eyes like she was saying, "I know you are taking me home today" and then laid her head on my chest and fell asleep.  After I filled out the paperwork to make it official, I called my husband and cried my eyes out.  Penny filled a huge void in my life, she gave me a purpose.  I couldn't take her home for a few more days, but I went to the pound every day after work to see her and would just sit in the lobby and hold her.  When she finally was able to come home several days later she took to her home like she had always been there.  She has been, by far, the easiest of all of my dogs to train in obedience and housebreaking.  However she was also known as "The Chewmanator" for a long time because she wanted to eat everything!  I am glad to say that she has gotten past that stage for the most part, but I still can't leave her alone with my chicken nuggets; the little devil on her shoulder is just too much for her to resist.  Now she is a 40 lb force of nature that doesn't know the meaning of the word walk.  She is either sleeping or going 90 mph.  

I just love those little ears!
 Riggs, our Siberian Husky mix, is also a pound puppy.  He came to us in January 2011 to be a playmate for Penny which has worked out famously because now she has a buddy her size that can keep up with her.  When the pound employee brought Riggs to us in the observation area he was such a pitiful sight.  He was about 4 months old by our vets estimation and was completely terrified.  He would not even come close to us; he would just sit as close to the wall as he could and just trembling in fear.  If either one of us went near him, especially my husband, he would just cower like somebody had hit him.  We spent a lot of time with him that day and finally decided to adopt him because he and Penny got along so well.  Riggs has been with us for a little over a year now and has come a long way.  He is still leery of strangers and terrified of loud noises; we suspect the latter to be because of his time at the pound.  He has become affectionately know as a "mama's boy" because he makes every step that I make.  As a matter of face he is lying on my feet under the desk as I type. lol  

I caught him mid-sneeze.
Ratchet, our male Great Pyrenees, we got from a farmer in Oklahoma in June of 2010.  He was my birthday present from my husband that year.  When we got him he was completely infested with fleas and ticks so the first order of business was a good bath with a puppy flea shampoo.  After a few days I started to notice he had little green scabs all over him.  (Yes, I said GREEN.)  I took him to the vet to have him checked out and found out that he was severely anemic from the flea infestation.  The vet said that his blood count was supposed to at least be 8 but was only 4.7; when they drew his blood it was pink and clear.  And the green scabs where from infections from where the previous owners had pulled live ticks off of him and left the heads embedded in the skin.  He ended up getting antibiotic and steroid shots and went home with an oral antibiotic and liquid iron supplements.  The vet opted not to give him any vaccinations at that point because the vet felt that he was too weak.  Literally the next day after we gave him his last antibiotic pill he ended up with Parvo.  After a 3 day stay in the hospital and a $500 vet bill he bounced back with a vengeance and is now a 100 lb slobbering, butt wiggling fur ball of a beast that I wouldn't take a million dollars for.

In closing, I don't think you could do a better deed than to rescue an animal from an otherwise cruel existence or worse, euthanasia.  Too many wonderful potential pets are needlessly destroyed every year so than you Budweiser for your support of rescue dogs!

Do you have a rescue story?  If so I would love to hear it!