Can you help these animals?

This week a massive fire severely damaged a rural shelter in WV killing 65+ cats and dogs. The shelter is struggling to find places for the surviving animals.

Visit their website to view a listing of animals that are still searching for a place to go.

http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=14460768

If you can foster or adopt one of these animals, let us know and we can make arrangements to get the pet to you. Thanks for your generous donations and support.

PAWS made the news!!!

Shelly was interviewed along with Percy and Scout this morning on FOX 5 news in DC. It was a great opportunity for PAWS. Please spread the word how important it is to have fosters as well as donations. Because PAWS doesn't have a physical shelter we can only save as many dogs as we have foster homes.

PAWS also gets a lot of dogs that need medical treatment when they come to us. We can only help them if we have money to pay the medical bills. Donations in any amount is always appreciated.

Take a look at our video and pass it around.

The World of Transport

I've referenced transport a couple of times, but never really talked about the details of it. Transport is something that just amazes me. The amount of effort, coordination, and dedication that's shown to pull this off is impressive. Before we meet transport, we are sent what is called a "run sheet". This run sheet is incredibly detailed. It has all the drivers listed as well as meeting points, mileage between hand off points, detailed descriptions of the dogs, pick up spots, and final destination for every dog. It also has details on drivers picking up the dogs - names, phone numbers, car descriptions. Some of these stretch across the country either vertically or horizontally and some are a bit more local.

For me, I have mixed feelings when I meet transport. Of course, I'm thrilled for all the animals that are ON transport and headed to a better place. I still can't help thinking about what the poor dogs have been through to get to this point and how relieved I am they are here with me and all of the other rescue groups now. I just can't help but wonder who was left behind and if anyone will be able to help them the way these animals have been helped. I also wonder about the dog(s) I'm picking up. Will they be frightened? Will they be excited? What type of shape are they in? How stressed are they? Are they going to cry while we're driving back? I think that's the one that gets me the most. I have to drive, so I am unable to provide much comfort in that case. There's also the normal stuff like will I get there on time? Is the transport running on time? Is everyone going to have a safe drive? What's traffic like?

The number of dogs, cats, rabbits, and any other living creature moved through transport per year are unknown. The groups we work with generally have large run sheets with many dogs every time and I have seen very large run sheets for other groups. If you are involved in transport and are reading this, THANK YOU for all you do. It can't be an easy job tracking and coordinating everyone or transporting a van full of animals, but it is very much appreciated.

We Reached Our 50th Dog Adopted This Weekend!!

What a week! We officially adopted out our fiftieth dog since incorporating!! Blue, our Husky / Akita mix was our fiftieth dog to find his forever home. We also have almost 20 adoptions currently pending. We are incredibly excited about this and very appreciative of all groups and volunteers that have supported us so far. The list of thank yous is very long and includes all of the local business, veterinarians, foster homes, transporters, donors and volunteers that have supported us. You are our backbone and we could not do any of what we do without you. Thank you!

Sadie's puppies are doing great! They are at the stage where their eyes have opened. I will get some pictures up soon with some more information about how everyone's doing. I just haven't had a chance to get over there and take some pictures. As soon as I do, I'll post them here!

We had another very successful adoption event at the Sterling PetCo on Saturday. Thanks to PetCo for having us! Six of our dogs are currently pending adoption as a result and we are working to get them home as soon as possible. We are still a little backed up on spays and neuters, but have been creatively finding other ways in order to get our dogs home. Hopefully things will be back to normal next week! Well, normal on that front anyway. I'm pretty sure nothing is ever "normal" in the world of rescue. ;)

Puppies, Spay and Neuter Problems Continue, Adoption Issues...Yup Another Week at the Rescue!

Well, we're wrapping up another week here at PAWS and what a week it's been! First off, let me get to the cute! Sadie's nine pups are doing fantastically and are growing well. Sadie has been such a great mom - we haven't even had to supplement the puppies with formula. She's also bounced back very well from the birth. They turned a week old on Friday! At this point of their development, their eyes have not yet opened and they are still unable to hear. We should be seeing them open their eyes in the next week or two with the ears shortly after! Without further ado, pictures of the little babies:



Sadie is doing very well with me coming and looking at her puppies. She got a little nervous when I was holding the black and white one, so I was unable to get a picture of him...didn't want to stress mama out!

What started out a mostly quiet week, most certainly did not end that way. Wednesday, we received an email from someone who was supposed to have an adoption finalized this Sunday. They had discussed it as a family and had too many reservations about the dog to be comfortable with the adoption and chose not to go through with it. While it was disappointing that we did not find the dog a forever home, I know I am appreciative of the family for being honest enough with themselves (and us!) and not going through with the adoption. It is a much better option than going through with the adoption only to regret it and potentially return the dog.

Thursday we were supposed to have four dogs spayed and neutered. None of these things happened. Two dogs came down kennel cough and it was recommended they not be neutered until they had been on antibiotics for a couple weeks. One dog had something going on with her ears and the other had a bit of an upset stomach and it was advised he not be neutered. So, we're back to being behind getting some of the dogs fixed. Hopefully things will clear up nicely and we can get them in as soon as they rebound. The dog with the upset stomach is back to normal and everyone else is well on their way to recovery.

Thursday night, I also went out to meet a potential new foster dog. What I knew about him was he was a Pomeranian who needed rehoming and had some problems with the kids in the house. Having a soft spot for Poms (my current foster is a 14 year old Pom), I agreed to go out and meet the dog and potentially take him in as a foster. So, off I went to go meet the dog and his family!

I showed up and was welcomed by his family - all of whom were very nice. Unfortunately, the dog was not appreciative of my presence. Every attempt I made to get close to him ended in him either gnawing on me, going after my legs, or some serious growling. I've never had a dog be that aggressive towards me, nevermind a Pomeranian. It saddened to tell the family that we would be unable to help at this time - we just don't have the resources available at this time to give him the type of training and help he needs. He was very sweet with his family, but he would try to bite anyone who came near them. Living in a populated area with no yard, he could not come live with me since he couldn't be trusted out on a walk. We also would not be able to bring him to adoption events with the behaviors he is showing.

Not having the resources to help a dog who needs it is certainly one of the harder parts of rescue work. I had to remind myself (and have some of our board members remind me) that we can't save them all...as much as we'd like to. I hope things work out for this little guy. He shows promise, but will need some intense work with a trainer to turn around. I've definitely been thinking about him since Thursday.

Saturday morning, the lovely folks at Bark 'n Bubbles and All Friends Pet Care held the first K-92k and Doggie Expo. They were gracious enough to invite us to sell prepackaged food and drinks to the participants. Thank you to Bark 'n Bubbles and All Friends for thinking of us! Every little bit certainly helps when it comes to fundraising. During the event, I ran into one of our past puppies who went home a couple weeks ago. She's doing great and getting big!

We also had a FANTASTIC adoption event on Saturday and now have seven dogs pending adoption. Reggie, Al, Angel, Blue, Docky, Red, and Rusty (the puppy) all had great applications and will hopefully be going home within the next week or two. Thanks to the Sterling PetSmart and to everyone who came out to see us! As always, a HUGE thank you to all of our volunteers for your help this week.

Another Busy Week at PAWS!

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend! We had another busy and exciting week here at PAWS! Sadie had nine puppies on Friday and is being such a good mom! All the pups continue to be healthy and Sadie is starting to relax a little. When I was over on Saturday, she was coming up to me asking for some attention. She is such a sweet, pretty girl. I think she will find a home as soon as she's able to wean her puppies.

We have about 10 dogs waiting to go to their forever homes and seven more that got to go home this week. We'll be getting caught up on some of our spays and neuters this coming week, so we should be able to get more dogs home this coming week.

On Saturday, I borrowed the president of our rescue's Jeep, packed up my foster dog, and headed out to Hagerstown, MD to meet transport. I was picking up four puppies from a rural West Virginia shelter. Thankfully, we missed most of the bad Memorial Day traffic and arrived just in time to meet transport. It was quite full this time around. There were at least 15 dogs that were on their way to rescues. Our four are Lab / Mountain Cur mixes - three girls (two black, one tan) and one boy (cream colored with a black tipped tail).

The condition of dogs off transport always varies. Sometimes they are very clean, sometimes they are covered in dirt because they've been living outside as strays, sometimes they have had accidents in their crate and are covered in that and everything in between. They are almost ALWAYS happy to be there though. Occasionally, we have incredibly shy ones, but even then, the tails usually start going at some point. I can't imagine what the dogs think is happening to them when they go on transport.

In the case of these four, they were in ok condition. They needed baths and some flea/tick treatments, but still happy to be there. They weren't sure where they were going, but they seemed to figure out that it's better than where they came from. I pulled them out of their crate and moved them into the crates in the jeep and we headed back to PetCo for the end of our adoption event.

As usual, a HUGE thank you to the Sterling PetCo for supporting us during our adoption event! Unfortunately, due to the holiday weekend, not much was going on when I got there. I had some of our Key Club volunteers help me unload the dogs and bring them in. It was there we realized that the dogs were covered in fleas and baby ticks. We got some flea and tick medication for them, but it wasn't enough. We saw the fleas jumping off the dogs and onto the volunteers. Definitely not a good situation! Thankfully, we were able to bring them to the groomers in PetCo who gave them all a flea and tick treatment before they went to their new foster homes. Keep your eyes on the website for pictures of these new additions!

Welcome to the New Members of PAWS!!!

What a big day for little Miss Sadie!! Her first pup was born at about 2pm and the last pup was a little after 6pm. In all we have 9 healthy little pups - 6 boys and 3 girls. Sadie is doing very well and everyone appears healthy and strong. Without further ado, let me introduce you to Sadie and her new family!!






From what we can tell, this was Sadie's first litter...and most definitely will be her LAST! She's an excellent mom who is taking great care of her newborns. With so many puppies on hand, we are going to have to bottle feed them to supplement Mom's milk. We'll be watching them closely over the next weeks and once everyone is old enough, they will be up for adoption (Sadie too!). Congratulations Sadie!! You're a great new mom!