My rescue weekend!

[slartibartfast]

So yesterday we drove halfway to Oklahoma City to meet up with a lady bringing a Catahoula puppy out of a kill shelter south of OKC. She drove like 5 hours to get him! He came home with us, and I spent a good hour bathing him and then picking off the hundreds of ticks that were all over him. He even had ticks on the bottoms of his feet, between the footbads! He was a totally sweet, gentle, playful, goofy huge puppy and I wish I had room to have kept him.

Then this morning I got up early and bathed my foster dog, a brindle and merle Catahoula who has been with us for the last 10 months and who has finally found her forever home in MS. At 8am, we met her first driver of several for the day, heading out on her long trip home. We had a group of wonderful women sign up, some driving as much as 3 hours one way to help her get home.

At 10:30 this morning the adoptive family of the first Catahoula, the big puppy, arrived in town to get him. They'd been driving since the wee hours of the morning from MO to come get him. They have another one just his age, and have promised to send pictures of the two playing.

I live right by the highway, so I walked to the meeting point to hand off the puppy. On the way, I passed an embankment upon which was huddled a small sandy terrier mix. He was outside of a cinderblock wall, and trying desperately to get back in. Collar, but no tags. When I greeted him, he approached timidly but bolted off when he saw the big dogs. He was still there on the way back, but again I could not get close to him. I was sure he was somebody's dog....he was just too little and cute not to be, and that he had escaped from the yard to which he was so urgently trying to gain access.
I returned a few hours later, and he was still there so I took a light leash and caught him...he came right up when he saw the leash, but freaked out when I tried to remove him from the location. The flattened circle of grass showed that he'd stayed in that spot for the whole time. I walked the long way around and found the front of the house, but the kids there denied all knowledge of him, and the neighbor next door said somebody had moved and abandoned him. So he's now in my house, and is as cute as could be, despite the large volume of urine he desposited on the couch cushions. He is intact. :-( I'm going to hang onto him for a week just in case he has an owner looking for him, and then I already have a no-kill rescue lined up to take him. We are calling him Siggy (short for Sigmund, thanks Deadliest Catch!) and I'm guessing him as a Boston Terrier/Cairn Terrier mix...what do you think?

[Entropy]

First off congrats on the awesome morning getting some dogs to happy new homes.

Secondly I hate the idea of anyone abandoning their dog, he was obviously loving and loyal enough to STAY and try to get back in. Poor baby. I can see the Cairn but not the boston, only the shape of the ears reminds me of a boston.

[joyful girl]

you're my hero Jess

I love that people are willing to donate their time/gas for the many drive for life routes that come up. I've done a couple but it's rare for them to be coming through Wisconsin.

you rock!

[slartibartfast]

First off congrats on the awesome morning getting some dogs to happy new homes.

Secondly I hate the idea of anyone abandoning their dog, he was obviously loving and loyal enough to STAY and try to get back in. Poor baby. I can see the Cairn but not the boston, only the shape of the ears reminds me of a boston.

The fur obscures his skull a lot...it was easier to see during his bath. :-) His ears are -huge- and really widely set; with a big domed forehead and a very shortened muzzle (which also doesn't show up well on the pics). He's also really leggy...any of the other flat-faced breeds that might have contributed those traits are just not tall enough to produce him when crossed with a Cairn.

It was heartbreaking that somebody would just dump a guy who is clearly so devoted to them. I suspect there is a story being covered up. I'm reporting him found to the pound, as well as posting him across various message boards so nobody can accuse me of stealing him. CYA policy in full force.

[lillyorchid]

awww man what a great story!