I want Sasha the dog to come live with us
The poor sweetie was a puppy mill dog that was deemed "no longer useful" by the puppy mill people (read:assholes) and was left at an animal control center to be euthanized. Someone came along and got her and tried to bring her back to good health (she had no fur and was covered in scabs), but couldn't afford her medical bills. So, Sasha has found her way to an animal rescue in Atlanta. She is currently not available to be adopted, but I am going to try my hardest to get her when she is available...I have officially fallen in love with this dog.
Look at this little cutie's smile!
http://www.atlantapetrescue.org/www_ver2/pet_pages/toy/images/Tsasha_DSC6883.jpg
Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah
http://www.atlantapetrescue.org/www_ver2/pet_pages/toy/images/Tsasha_DSC6915.jpg
...jeebus, the Atlanta Pet Rescue and Adoption site is just loaded with heart-meltingly adorable doggie photos. especially the toy dog section (featuring Sasha and Sassy) :)>>>
-click and *squeee* at Your own risk-
Fair warning...a lot of the dog's stories will make you so sad and cry...especially the newest addition, Christine.
:'( :'( :'(
WOW, what a great site! They are all so adorable & I love the stories of their struggles & victories. I really hope Christine makes a full recovery & is able to be adopted....side note-my neighbour rescued a 3 legged dog named Stitches. She is the sweetest thing. Having 3 legs hasn't slowed her down. She loves to chase the ball.
Sasha sure has made a remarkable recovery too. Good luck tomorrow :)
I hope Christine gets better, too. Reading about her broke my heart this morning.
Thanks for the well wishes! I'm going to ask if we can meet Sasha tomorrow, too.
.....taps fingers on desk.......CK! How did it go?
.....taps fingers on desk.......CK! How did it go?
We didn't get her. The rescue thought she wouldn't be good for Katie's allergies.
:(
But, it's ok. We are still going to get one soon enough.
;)b
Awww, I'm sorry to hear that :( There is a dog out there for you & Katie....hoping you find him/her soon.
I found a great poem last night while I was looking at my local SPCA site & I thought of you....wanna hear it? :)
I Rescued a Human Today
Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her. I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so she wouldn't be afraid.
As she read my kennel card I hoped that she wouldn't feel sad about my past. I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone's life. She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds at me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her. Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship. A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well.
Soon my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms. I would promise to keep her safe. I would promise to always be by her side. I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes. I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor. So many more are out there who haven't walked the corridors. So many more to be saved. At least I could save one.
..I rescued a human today.
Aww, jessesmum! That brought tears to my eyes.
:-[
Awww, I'm sorry to hear that :( There is a dog out there for you & Katie....hoping you find him/her soon.
Thanks, JM! Currently, we are looking at a few more places. We're interested in Marley (Havanese) and Charlotte (Schnauzer) who are at the Clayton County Animal Shelter, but they say that they won't adopt to places that are an hour away. We're going to email them and ask them if they can make an exception.
Here's Charlotte and Marley:
http://photocache.petfinder.com/fotos/GA18/GA18.14045865-1-pn.jpg
http://photocache.petfinder.com/fotos/GA18/GA18.13968718-1-pn.jpg
Oh, and I loved that poem! Thanks for sharing it!
that's sad you couldn't take Sassy or Sasha home with you, CK, but oh dear, I think I might have fallen even more in love with Charlotte!! She's absolutely adorable....
realllllly hope one of these lovely ladies gets to move into your house soon : )
:)>>> Aren't they sweet :)>>>
To me, I would think that any animal shelter would be thrilled to have someone, anyone who shows serious interest in adopting an animal. I don't understand their reasoning behind the 'one hour away' rule.
Good luck....keep us posted :)
One breed that is pretty good for folks with dog allergies is the greyhound, and there are thousands of retired racers waiting and hoping for homes. (I have 4 now--that's Wizard in my photo). They are gentle, sensitive, low-energy dogs.
I think it may be that shelters want to be able to follow up on dogs they adopt out and be sure the dog will be returned to them if things don't work out. That may be the reason for the 1-hour rule. Some also do home visits, which is hard so far away. Don't you have any shelters closer to you?
jessesmum,
The animal rescue I volunteer with prefers to adopt animals out nearby because if it doesn't work out, we need to be able to get the animal back easily.
Recently, a woman who couldn't keep a cat she adopted from us actually put the cat on Craigslist to find a new home for it because she didn't want to bring it back to Baton Rouge (we would go get the cat, but she didn't tell us what was going on until the cat was on Craigslist for a week and no one had been interested).
If you adopt an animal nearby, the people are more likely to stay in contact (which is great because the best part is knowing you found a home for an animal where it's happy and well taken care of), and they also feel more comfortable calling you if something doesn't work out... instead of surrendering the pet to a local animal control or putting it up on Craigslist or in the paper.
People are nuts.
That makes sense JC.
We got Stu out of town. He comes from Burlington & we're way down in southern Niagara. If you know southern Ontario, then you know, it's quite a distance. DH was working there at the time & he went on a whim, fell in love with the puppy & surprised me with him the next day. They didn't raise an eyebrow when they found out where he was going. All they wanted was the name & phone number of our vet to check with her to see if we were responsible pet parents. We even brought him back for a visit after a few months just to say Hi :) They really like that!
Maybe our case was allowed because they talked with our vet.
I'm so excited to see whichever cutie you bring home!
I'm so excited to see whichever cutie you bring home!
Yeah, we were told that it would probably be best to get a poodle or a bichon frise. We emailed a place that has two bichon frises and told them about Katie's allergies. Katie asked if it would be possible to foster them for a little while to see how bad of a reaction she would have before we adopted them. They asked us to fill out an application, and if we were approved then that would be fine. We decided to wait until after we get back from Chicago to do this. Here is a picture of Gordon and Saki, the two bichons in question:
http://photocache.petfinder.com/fotos/GA119/GA119.14135592-3-pn.jpg
Don't you have any shelters closer to you?
We do, we just have to get specific breeds, and not all of the shelters / rescues have them. My girlfriend has severe allergy problems, and we just want to make sure we don't have to take any animal friends back because of that...we already had to do that with our lovely guinea pigs.
We watched Angel, who lives with my little brother and sister, over the weekend. She is a shih tzu or a peekapoo or something like one of those, which are supposed to be pretty good with allergies. While Katie didn't have a terrible reaction to her, she didn't have a great one. But I think she didn't have a very good one because Angel was determined to sleep in the bed with us, and she liked to snuggle up to Katie...Katie seemed to have the most trouble in the mornings.
Some of my worst reactions have been to poodles, oddly enough. Greyhounds did way better for me, but I did have a rash on my forearms for about 2 months after we got our first greyhound. Then I adjusted to him, and we went ahead and got 3 more. Now the only allergic reaction I notice is asthma problems following a cold.
My hounds have also desensitized me to other dogs, so whereas I once even avoided petting dogs because I knew if I touched my eyes or lips, they'd swell up and itch, I can now wallow in dogs as a volunteer at our local shelter with no problems at all. And our hounds all sleep in our bedroom; we often have 1-2 in bed with us (and these are 75-85# dogs!)
Of course allergies are funny things, and it may not work that way for your partner. I still have to use meds during summer allergy season (steroid nasal spray, oral antihistimine, Patanol eye drops, antihistimine eye drops) but not year round due to dogs.
I wish you both luck. I just couldn't face life without a dog, allergies or not.
Awe, CK, Gordon (I think Gordon, the one of the left looks more like a Gordon) reminds me of my dog. We think hes a poodle/bichon mix (funny after 10 years or so we still havent figured it out). They're cuties! Good luck with it all, i hope it all goes well.
Fostering is a FANTASTIC idea, CK!!!!
APAWS (rescue I volunteer with) fosters all their animals before putting the adoption paperwork through, and it usually works out great! It's so hard to get to know an animal at a shelter or adoption day. They act completely different when they get comfortable in a home environment.
Plus, with Katie's allergies, you would be better off to give certain breeds a test-run before formally adopting.
Just keep in mind when you bring foster doggies home that they might not be staying. It'll be hard to give them up if she does have a bad reaction... but I'm sure there's a doggie (or two) out there for Katie! Just keep trying!
:)>>>
I can now wallow in dogs
You have no idea how much pleasure I got out of this mental image. ;D
Good luck on your quest CK!
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