From Making Waves to Making Mom and Dad Proud

My dad always did say I never knew when to keep my mouth shut. For the most part, he's right. But what I've come to find out is that too many people keep their mouths shut when they shouldn't. So, I guess that's where I come in.

For the last week, I've been working to help a family through the process of shutting down a breeder. It's taken a lot of phone calls, press releases, blog postings, and just general email writings to get stuff done. But now the Department of Agriculture is investigating, the CKC is reviewing and possibly issuing a license suspension, and the Tell-N-Sell finally called me today to say they would consider removing the breeder's ads and banning him from their paper. So maybe my big mouth can be productive.

So where does this come in with making Mom and Dad proud? Two nights ago, FOX 28 had me on as a guest to talk about the problems with purchasing puppies from classified ads or at the flea market. I had been out to see my parents earlier in the evening to do adoptions for four of their foster kittens. I told them to tune in if they wanted, that I would be on at 10. My parents usually don't see my TV appearances because they are normally from 5 to 9 am, when my parents are sleeping. But as I arrived home from the studio a little after 11, my phone rang, showing "Mom" on the caller id. She called to tell me that they were proud of me, that I composed myself very well, even with an uncooperative puppy in my lap, and that I looked very nice in my suit. Wow. I'm 29 years old and I can count on less than two hands how many times my parents have actually told me they are proud of me. It's something I strive very hard to achieve, and really makes my day (or night) when I hear those words.

Coping with Parvovirus in Rescue

It has been a very rough year for us with dealing with parvo puppies. Five litters so far have come in having picked up the virus from on the streets or at their animal control shelters. We don't usually see so many litters with parvo cases in just a few short months. But this morning, we lost our fourth pup of the year to the virus. Davidson had been at the ER vet overnight along with his littermate, Phoebe. We sent them and Marley to our regular vet for continued treatment, hoping for the best, knowing the worst may come. No matter how many littermates suvive the virus with each treatment, it still tears me up each time I lose one.

Why does this keep happening? Why do we keep getting sick puppies? Well, let's start off with the number one reason: people are not spaying and neutering their animals. It's not a difficult concept to grasp, and low-cost spay options are available, espcially through our local SNAC clinic. But why aren't people doing this? Profits from puppy sales, long-held beliefs that spaying is cruel, and men who are insecure about their manhood refusing to allow their male pets to be neutered.

Past the obvious reason, what else is there? Moms that are not properly vaccinated have no immunities to pass on to their babies. We saw a case just a week ago of a purebred puppy bought from a CKC registered breeder that died from parvovirus. If mom was properly immunized and the puppies properly vaccinated as the family had been promised, then there should have been no issue. Even after having been notified about the parvo puppy, the breeder sold the remaining eight puppies (an independent third party called over the weekend to check).

So we have the problems with reproduction and negligent care. What's left? The external environment in which the pups are raised. All our puppies come from local animal control shelters. These shelters are several decades old in most cases and completely run down. Only routine maintenance is done, and most cleaning methods are ineffective as the buildings harbour viruses so well. Add to that a climate that never experiences a hard freeze to kill parasites.

Our job as rescuers is to save as many lives as possible. We know the risks with accepting puppies, but our choice is to either accept that risk or stop taking them at all. At this point, we have over $1,000 in vet bills for the three puppies that started aggressive treatments last night. So while we are diligently trying to give them a second chance at life, the costs to do so mean we can't accept other pets that will also need care.

So we push on, praying for the survival of our pups and hoping people will stop purchasing pets that fuel these profit-seeking breeders and instead look.

*Donations are very much in need right now. Every little bit makes a difference. Please consider making a donation towards our puppies today.*

Newspaper and Online Puppy Sale Ads Bring Heartbreak

Every child should be blessed to know the joys of raising a puppy, the fun of learning to play, the warmth and softness of puppy fur, and the pleasing aroma of puppy breath.

But for those buying puppies from ads in newspapers, classified papers, and online sites such as Craigslist.com, that happiness is either a long-time taking or never experienced.

This past Thursday, Coastal Pet Rescue released information to local media to warn consumers of a breeder selling puppies with Parvovirus. The breeder, Roy Newsome, is also a local businessman. The owner of Newsome Enterprises normally makes his living selling trailers and signs from his store and website, UncleRoys.com. A local family saw Mr. Newsome's ad in the local Tell-N-Sell for CKC registered Rottweiler puppies.

The Lanes went to get their puppy, Bubba, from Mr. Newsome. They were told the puppies, five males and four females, had seen the vet twice and had two dewormings. After paying $400 and receiving the CKC registration papers, the Lanes left to enjoy their new life with Bubba.

But Bubba didn't feel well. He wouldn't play, and became very lethargic. The Lanes thought he was depressed, having been separated from his mom and littermates. But on the morning of May 21st, Bubba began to vomit, and the Lanes immediately rushed him to the vet, where he was diagnosed with hookworms and parvovirus, which is often fatal to puppies.

The Lanes never received any actual paperwork to prove veterinary care, nor were they ever shown a Georgia Department of Agriculture license which regulates pet breeders.

The Lanes notified Mr. Newsome and went back to get a refund. When the family returned to the point of sale, Mr. Newsome refused to come meet with the family members, instead sending his daughter out the front door with the refund.

The Lanes were hopeful that Bubba would pull through, but sadly, his body gave in and he passed on Sunday morning, May 25th.

The Lanes have notified the Georgia Department of Agriculture, the CKC, and the Savannah Business Bureau in the hopes of getting Mr. Newsome shut down. They are still in mourning for little Bubba and hope no other families will fall prey to puppy sale ads.

Stories like these are not unheard of in our work. Mostly, we hear about them from people purchasing puppies at the local flea market. As long as people are dead-set on having a "purebred" puppy, these breeders will keep selling. There are plenty of puppies available through local animal shelters and rescues. An estimated 40% of animals in rescues and shelters are purebred. But it isn't a specific breed that makes a good dog; it's the unconditional love and excitement a puppy (or even adult and senior dog) brings to its new family. All it takes is for a person to stop being superficial and give a pup a second chance.

Savannah Chief of Police Believes Animal Welfare "is Not a Priority"

I just left a Buy Local Savannah lunch where Chief Berkow was the speaker. I asked him in front of everyone what changes were in store to increase animal control's ability to respond to animal cruelty, neglect and dog fighting cases. His exact words in front of the entire audience were, "it's not a priority to this community." So basically, we're fighting a losing battle. He also doesn't believe they should have a shelter or be dealing with adoptions. He specifically said he attempted to work with the Humane Society here but they would not cooperate. I'm sick of this. No matter how much media, how many times we go before city council or county commission, the people who have the power to make change don't care to.

Needless to say, my blood has been boiling. A group of concerned citizens met with Chief Berkow late last year about their concerns and promises were made about changes to come. I haven't noticed any changes. Three years ago, the county allocated funds to build a new animal control shelter that would accommodate for the increasing intakes as well as reduce the spread of disease. I was working at animal control last spring when the architects came by and had been to see shelters in other areas of Georgia. But I still don't see even a hint of construction.

Chief Berkow was very proud to talk about the three new trucks they bought for the officers. Wouldn't that money have been better spent to increase training for the current officers and hire more to handle the number of calls? He claims he doesn't know anything about any dog fighting calls that haven't been responded to. Funny, because I helped someone late last year compile lots of documentation of the number of times the police department and animal control were called about pit puppies and suspected fighting. No one ever came, so we went to the GBI and Georgia Sheriff's Association, and the other person documenting made calls to the ABC national news outlet. The next day, two members of city council, animal control officers, and a few police officers finally showed up. The dogs were impounded. The owner had just gotten out of jail for murder. The house was actually abandoned and had been condemned. Weapons were found inside the house along with other items. So what happened? The guy was issued community service through animal control, and was told he could have his dogs back. On the last day of the community service, he was arrested for manslaughter. The puppies were not allowed to be released until the owner signed them over, so they sat for several months growing up in the small cages in the puppy side of animal control. By the time they were released, the rescues that offered to take them initially no longer had the room available for them. So yes, I could see how dogfighting is not a concern of our community. We're more than happy to have murderers live among us without them being bothered by police.

I'm absolutely frustrated with animal control in Savannah right now. I will be more than happy to give kudos to Lt. Bouleware for hiring an excellent shelter director who has made so many positive changes with the very little he was given, and I'll extend the kudos to the ladies at the shelter who give their all to try and keep the animals comfortable and as healthy as best they can. But when will there be more officers on the street? How many times does a person have to call about illegal tethering or neglectful conditions before anything is ever done? When will someone be able to call on the weekends and not be told there is nothing that can be done until Monday? What about an actual animal cruelty investigator as other counties in Georgia have? Or even an actual prosecution team that can get jail time for violators instead of just community service hours at the animal control shelter?

Just what is it going to take to get our city's leadership to give a damn about animal welfare in our community???

Recovering from a Working Vacation

Last week, Coastal Pet Rescue had the grand opportunity to send six leadership team members to the HSUS Animal Care Expo in Orlando. (A big THANK YOU to Matt Cohen of The New South Cafe for sponsoring our registration costs.)

First let me say that while this was a big educational opportunity, it was also a small part vacation for me. Two days were planned for visiting the Disney parks before and after the workshops. It gave me a chance to get to know members of my leadership team better.

Before I go into a recount of our week, let me just say that please, for your own sanity, don't ever stay at the Coronado Springs Resort. HSUS has already booked it again in three years, and we're already looking for alternative places to stay. Our room and service was so bad, we got a big gift basket delivered to our room on the third day. I could write a novel of all the things that went wrong, but no need to bother. Just know that what you see and read on the website are not what we experienced during our stay. I also discovered that all the things I loved about Magic Kingdom as a kid and even in my early 20s were no longer the same... no characters walking about the park at random, you can only see Mickey at one spot if you wait in an hour plus line, and the more mature rides were all now G-rated. Even Epcot seemed less fantastic to me this go round... maybe it's because I'm older or just don't like so much change from happy childhood memories. I did, however LOVE Animal Kingdom. I could have stayed there longer and done more, but I wanted the chance to explore other parks.

So back to the conference... we spent the week attending various workshops on animal care, volunteer issues, fundraising, and long-term planning. I taught one workshop on website considerations for adopters, donors and volunteers. I was thrilled at the turnout; more than 200 people and folks were even sitting on the floor due to lack of seats. My Q&A session ran over and I'm still getting emails from people that attended. What a boost it is to see others benefit from my experience.

What I love most about the HSUS conferences is the opportunity to meet with other groups and exchange ideas. I'm hopeful that the rest of our team took away as much as I did so we become a stronger and more dedicated animal welfare organization.

But taking off for a week means coming back to quite a bit of work. Despite our having left auto responders on our email and an outgoing message on our voicemail that we were out of town until the 18th and messages would be returned on the 19th, people still yelled in their messages that we were not responsive to them. Just seems we can't make folks happy enough these days. It's not bad enough they want to dump their problem pets on us, now we have to take their problem attitudes as well. But so it goes in the world of animal rescue.

How NOT to Win Friends and Influence People

I thought I could let this go, but that just wouldn't be me.

Ever since I was a kid, my mom has made me listen to her motivational business/self development tapes. I dreaded them. In fact, I finally learned how to tune them out. Now, all these years later, I spent over 40 minutes listening to a self-proclaimed "success story" who obviously never had a mom like mine.

From the moment this speaker took to the stage, I was turned off. He yelled... a lot. He spoke so fast, we could hardly understand his words. We were told he had a 30 minute limit... pretty much our entire table was turned off by him, so one member actually set a timer on his cell phone. Others at the table took to playing tic tac toe on their programs; others made jokes about his presentation. When the guy would make a joke, we noticed that no one on our side of the room was laughing; it seemed the only people who were doing it were the ones in front that probably did it out of respect. Honestly, had I not cared so much for the award nominees, I would have left. The guy kept on with his screaming; it reminded me so much of Sister Arlene back at St. Vincent's screaming at us in trig class. It seemed this guy was never going to stop, and when he began making his way towards our table, one of the guys grabbed a knife as if trying to protect himself. Several members at our table complained of elevated blood pressure, I myself felt like I had a constant ringing in my ears. But eventually, it stopped, way past the end of our cell phone countdown.

The night ended, and as everyone was filing out, I noticed not a single person stopped at this guy's booth to talk to him. I guess most everyone had had enough. I heard lots of comments in the parking lot... "that was nothing new," "of course you have to put people first, who does he think we are?", "I can't believe the Chamber paid for THAT," and my favorite, "why would anyone bring a 7 am speaker to a 7 pm function?"

Overall, it seems this speaker should stick to writing books. He claims a lot of success for motivating his team to the top sales position in the country for a network affiliate. I honestly have no idea how that is, other than they just don't want him yelling at them.

Off The Leash

April was an incredibly busy month for me. Then again, most always are. But primarily, there were so many emotional ups and downs, which finally culminated in my first vacation in nearly seven years.

On April 15, I officially adopted Hemingway. I knew I was hooked the first day he arrived at the ranch. In fact, Tim made sure that was the last puppy handed to me out of the crate. It was like looking at a darker baby of DaVinci. We named all the other puppies after Harry Potter characters, and I reserved the right to name my new little husky bear. I swore I wasn't going to adopt him, but everyone around me knew better. I have been in love with DaVinci since I first saw his photo, and Hemingway was no different. As he's gotten older, his coat has changed color a bit, and people who don't know better think he belongs to Vinnie. However, if you watch, Hemingway really thinks he belongs to Hannah, following her everywhere and even snuggling with her in the crate. He's still a wild puppy, never wanting to come inside because playtime ends. But with those eyes and his spirit, he'll be an excellent addition to our pack.

So that was the fun puppy stuff this month. Since the last of Hemingway's litter was adopted by mid-month, I ventured to take a few more puppies from animal control. I went in to get two and left with eight - that seems to keep happening to me. Within just a few days, we realized we were contending with Parvo again. Knowing we couldn't make the entire litter through hospital stays, we got the first puppy to the ER and had her put on IVs through the night. Then I had the tending vet give us a prescription for the other seven to start on Tamiflu. I had read where other rescues were having great success at saving parvo puppies by using it. I was willing to try anything to save these puppies. It was 8 pm on Sunday and I worried about losing puppies while I slept through the night. By 9:30 (and after an excruciating wait at Walgreen's) I was home and medicating the other puppies. The next morning, the puppy at the ER was moved to our regular vet, and I arrived for two other appointments that morning. Sadly, halfway through our second appointment, we lost the puppy. I hadn't had her very long but it still hurt so much. A few days later, two more puppies died over night. I still haven't gotten over them. The other puppies are still pulling through, though we found out last week they also have coccidia and still had hookworms after their first deworming. Two puppies also have kennel cough, so we're really just having loads of fun at the ranch.

I don't think anyone can ever really fully understand the emotional roller coaster I live from one day to the next with these dogs. They never come to us in perfect health, and lots come with baggage. I honestly don't even know what attracts me to those special needs pups, but something always does. Which is how I ended up with Millie, Vienna, Maddie, Cisco, Summer and Candy as well within the last two weeksm not to mention eight kittens from animal control. (For those of you keeping count, that is 14 canines at once - the kittens, aka "snacks" according to the pups, are at two other foster homes.) Needless to say, my patience had been wearing thin, as had my appetite and sleep routine. So last weekend, I took my first vacation in a long, LONG, time.

It's hard to remember a time I didn't have a cell phone or email, but for four days, I shed my electronic leashes and just enjoyed life. I went to an aquarium and took a behind-the-scenes tour, enjoyed a beautiful dinner on the levee, and even spent an entire day at a roller coaster park. Granted, the weather was well below temperatures I like to endure, but being able to sleep in, go to bed early, or just rest on the couch for a few hours and read a book was amazing. But back to the grindstone I am again, prepping for a big morning tomorrow, a volunteer social on Saturday night, and a week-long animal welfare conference in just two weeks. I'm quite sure my next vacation won't come soon enough.