And just for kicks

You may call her Nay Nay.

Nay Nay/Naomi is going to a new home next week. Another woman with Cavalier Rescue is really interested in adopting her. She's going to do so on a trial basis, just to see if her current pup gets along with Naomi. If not, the woman will be her foster mom until she does find a home. So good luck to Naomi!

Hey Girl

This is Girl, a 7-year-old husky Kyle and I saw running down the road on Friday. We pulled over to see if she would come over and she hauled off in the opposite direction.

Having already been through this with Naomi this week, I knew what the owner was probably going through. She had her collar on with a leash dragging behind her, so I'm assuming she got loose while on a walk.

I tried calling AC, and we just slowly drove along side of her so I could tell AC what direction she was running in (and to attempt to protect other cars from hitting her). She got tired and sat in someone's front yard, then slowly approached our parked car. I slowly opened the car door and she trotted off. I kept trying to lure her to me to no avail, but I left the door open when I got out, and she eventually wandered back over to the car and hopped right in!

She had no tags, so we took her to the Humane Society where they scanned for a microchip and called her owners.

Yippee!

I'm on a mission

Last Saturday a new pet store opened in town. It is the first pet store in at least a decade that has sold dogs in Columbia. This, my friends, made me angry. Really, really angry. 98% of dogs sold in pet stores come from puppy mills. The other 2% come from backyard breeders, but that is another topic for another day.

After pretending to be interested in buying a puppy, I was told the name of the "breeder" they get their inventory from. After about 1 minute of investigating (thank you Google), it was verified that this store does indeed sell dogs from a local puppy mill. Kyle and I drove to said mill yesterday and took a few pictures.

That reflective plexiglass is holding in dozens of dogs, packed like sardines in that cage. They will likely live their entire lives imprisoned there, only to breed time and time again to refill the empty cages left by someone who purchased a puppy in a pet store.

I'm working with friends, other interested parties, and representatives from Columbia 2nd Chance to urge this store to stop selling dogs since it directly supports the animal abuse in puppy mills.

Here are some interesting puppy mill facts:

• 5 million animals die in shelters annually
• 30% of shelter dogs are purebred
• There are 6000 USDA licensed breeders (puppy mills) and many more that are unlicensed.
• The highest concentration of those puppy mills are in the fine state of Missouri. All 1,525 of them. The state with the second highest? Pennsylvania with 195.
• Many dogs lose feet and legs when they are caught in the wire floors of the cages and cut off as the dog struggles to free themselves. This doesn't stop the puppy miller from breeding them though.
  
• Puppy mills maximize their profits by not spending adequate money on proper food, housing or veterinary care.
• The dogs are kept in small wire cages for their entire lives. They are almost never allowed out. They never touch solid ground or grass to run and play.
• Dogs in puppy mills are debarked often by ramming a steel rod down their throats to rupture their vocal cords.
• Female dogs are usually bred the first time they come into heat and are bred every heat cycle. They are bred until their poor worn out bodies can't reproduce any longer and then they are killed. Often they are killed by being bashed in the head with a rock, shot, or drowned. Sometimes they are sold to laboratories or dumped. This is often by the time they reach five years old.

The only requirements to license a puppy mill:

• Cage must only be six inches longer than dog’s length
• They must have "adequate" shelter, water and food. Does this look "adequate" to you (for 6-12+ dogs per cage)?

According the the USDA regulations, puppy mill dogs can legally live its entire life in a cage.

Check out this website for more information: http://www.prisonersofgreed.org


If you're interested in stopping the store in Columbia from knowingly supporting this abuse, please let me know. There will be a letter at a few local businesses for anyone to sign, which I will then send to the business. Write letters to the editor. Write letters directly to the company expressing your discontent. Tell your friends why buying a pet store dog is so bad. Any little bit you can do helps.

New Fritz pictures

For your viewing pleasure.

Naomi

We got another foster yesterday, this time for Cavalier Rescue. Her name is Naomi, she's about three and a half, and was relinquished to rescue because her previous owners had too much on their plates and wanted to lighten their load.

She made herself at home as soon as she got here. She's a total velcro dog, and loves being by our side all the time. She's constantly laying across one of us, perched on a pillow, or giving Miles kisses.

Cute as she may be, I am convinced that she tried to kill me today.

Basically, I was letting Fritz inside, Naomi squeezed out the door and took off running. Fast. I followed in my untied drawstring, butt-bearing sweatpants, Kyle's winter coat, and kitten heels.

I sprinted until my body physically gave out, and then I flagged down an old man driving down the street and begged him to help me. She was gaining so much length on me, so I hobbled back to my house to get in my car. By the time I made it back to my driveway, Naomi had turned around and was running back in my direction. The old man nabbed her, and stayed there until I drug my ass back down to him.

Kyle heard the commotion, came out, took her from me, and helped me to the bathroom, where I proceeded to dry heave and collapse. I was pretty damn convinced I either had a heart attack or a collapsed lung. I have never experienced burning pain like that in my life. It's been 9 hours, and my chest still burns, though not as intensely as it did this afternoon.

She should thank her lucky stars that she's adorable, or I would be much angrier at her.

Meet Fritz

That adorable guy is Fritz. He's a 2 year old Dachshund mix, and foster number...hell, I lost count.

I honestly was a little hesitant about starting fostering again so soon - we've kind of enjoyed the break - but he's an absolute doll and makes the transition much easier. Very quiet, potty trained, not overly needy. Tolerant of nail trims, dogs, cats, random noises. Likes to snuggle on the couch while watching The Office.

As long as he goes into the crate nicely tonight, Fritzy boy is a winner in my book!

Fabulosity

Blaire just pointed out that I say fabulous a lot. Should I cut back on my usage of the word? Vote - yes or no.

I've been a bad, bad blogger

Quick update:

Penny left us to go to foster care in Illinois. She has already had her first patella surgery (which was quite successful), and she'll have her second in about a month. The foster family loves her, and their son may be adopting her after her second surgery.

Walter snagged a ride with the same guy who took Keko to Pittsburgh, and he's now in a foster home in New Jersey for Japanese Chin rescue.

Keko is doing fabulously in her new home, which makes me extra happy.

We overnighted a couple of Cavaliers this week, making me further realize what a sucker Kyle is for dogs (he fell in love with one of them immediately, then didn't bat an eye when he had to clean up his shit the next morning). I love that man.

We're foster free for the first time in roughly 5 months. It's weird. But kind of nice. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.