Filed under: animal rescue, Guest Posts | Tags: animal rescue, homeless animals, LoJack, Nikki, puppy, shady, shadytales, spiderman, TGTB, this good that bad
Hi everyone, Spiderman here. You may know me from this blog as Shady’s occasional visitor in “Adventures in Puppy Sitting” or from This Good That Bad’s Facebook page as the “office dog”. I am a 5 month old black lab mix puppy adopted from a shelter in NJ by one of Shady’s Mom’s colleagues. I get to come to her office EVERY DAY with my Dad. I didn’t realize it at first, but that was a pretty lucky break for me.
Don't mind me, I'll just soak up some sun here by the door till its walk time.
I have learned a lot around this office so far. For starters, I can use this computer well enough to step in and take over this blog. Someone has to do it. Shady was a little sick yesterday, because her Mom has been sick and home this week and as a result of a miscommunication with the person who usually feeds her, Shady got two lunches yesterday. This sounded like a good thing to me at first but it really wasn’t. Turns out it was very unpleasant for all involved. Let’s just say Shady spent most of the day in the yard—by choice– as a result and leave it at that. Since they are both temporarily out of commission, I figured I’d paw right in and give you some insight direct from a rescued-office-dog. Let’s start with the good stuff, the stuff I have learned that they do not teach in any “puppy school”.
- Naming your rescue dog or puppy: People have mixed opinions about changing or keeping a rescue dog’s name when they adopt. My family kept mine and I am here to say—it does not matter. People tend to make up silly nicknames for you anyway. Shady’s Mom calls me LoJack or Nikki at least a few times a week. When it really matters they get it right and no matter what that name is or was I know the difference when it is said with love and affection.
- The Big Boss’ office: It is okay to sleep on the fancy rug in there, but do not chew or pee on it. It used to never even be okay to go in there but I’m earning my stripes for good behavior! I don’t think he will ever want me to chew or pee on it though.
- “Howl-O-Ween”: This annual ritual is fast approaching and as I understand it, I am required to pose for photos in a silly costume for sheer entertainment value. This Good That Bad is trying to make it worth my while though, and yours. Check out their pet photo contest on Facebook and you could win a cash donation for your favorite rescue. You don’t even need a costume, just a fall theme will do. Hurry up too because it ends 10/31.
- Routine is key: I have learned who wants me around them and when, and I keep certain toys in certain rooms only so I don’t get bored with he same old stuff. I get the really good toys like rawhides when they are doing something called a “meeting”. Squeaky toys, running randomly from room to room (all 40 lbs of me) and tug games are best for late afternoon only when everyone is ready for a break and no one is on the phone or Barkberry.
- “Coffee” is very important. When the office people run out, they can get cranky and start pointing fingers over who had the last cup. Someone is then dispatched to get some right away. Now, they keep doggie treats at the coffee bar too but I don’t get to help myself like they do and they are somewhat less panicked when those run low.
In addition to all I have learned on my own here, I have overheard some really interesting stuff too. For instance, did you know…
- I was adopted here in NJ from a litter of other superhero named puppies that were transported here from somewhere they called “the south”? Some people get upset about that too, but it seems they bus us up here because it is more populated and we have a better “chance”. A chance at what, I wonder?
- My Dad and Mom originally wanted to adopt an older dog? That how they got the boss to agree to let me come in every day. They just kinda found me along the way. Every room here had to be draped in plastic till I was office broken…something about a “security deposit?” The older dogs really need you, though. The “chances” among that group are even less than mine and they still have so much love to give. They can’t help it that us puppies are so adorable—but don’t let us fool you, it won’t last! We’ll still turn into a regular dog someday (though still adorable, no doubt).
- Puppies are not the best choice for everyone? If I was not allowed in this office there is no way I my Dad and Mom would have chosen me because they work a lot. I’d be alone a lot of hours and training me would be a lot harder. So don’t overlook adult and senior dogs at the shelter. No matter what age we are when you bring us home, we will be dogs far longer than we will be puppies.
- 5 of 10 dogs in shelters and 7 of 10 cats in shelters are destroyed simply because there is no one to adopt them? I was in a shelter, so I guess I am one of the lucky 5. Are those the “chances” they were talking about? Those don’t seem like very good odds to me…I am glad I was last in my litter to be adopted because I know for sure all of my family made it home! (Source ASPCA http://dld.bz/3UbJ)
- Black dogs can catch an awful syndrome that makes it even harder for them to get adopted? Just look at this poor guy here!
If your boss won’t let you have a puppy in your office, please don’t let it stop you from adopting if you really want a dog in your life. Plenty of dogs don’t have a job to go to and they do just great at home. Maybe you have a dog at home already who would like a friend while you are at the office all day? Those adult and senior dogs we were talking about are great for that. Their habits are formed and it is easy to find a match with your life and your pet. Just give it a chance and take your time.
Now that I know all these things, I am worried. I worry about the other 5 of those dogs out of that 10. Hey, that coulda been me or any one of my brothers or sisters. It isn’t fair and it isn’t our fault. If you can’t bring one of us home, that’s okay. Find another way to support your local shelter by donating, volunteering or spreading the word. I would think you people already know it, but maybe you need to hear it straight from the office dog’s mouth one last time: Those odds just are not good enough.
Shady’s Mom, Melissa, is the director of marketing for a firm in NJ by day, and a blogger an entrepreneur by night. She still has good days and bad days since losing two of her dogs last year. She knows they would be proud of her efforts to help animal rescue through her “This good. That bad.” products. If she cannot adopt them all she wants to at least increase their chances any way she can. Please come back and visit us soon and if you are in animal rescue, contact us to learn more about how we can help you fundraise.
Hi all…Shady here with a short note for those who are wondering why we haven’t post in a while. Mom has been pretty sick for a few days now, and according to her dentist it’ll be a while before she is “herself” again. She is trying to take it easy, which means as little of the “day job” as possible and not much energy left for the bloggie. We know you all understand how stuff like this goes…we’ll check in as we can and in between procedures etc. Hope that you are all doing well and trust me when I say we cannot wait till things are back to normal.
Filed under: animal rescue | Tags: animal rescue, assistance dogs, companion animals, dogs, guide dogs, homeless animals, pet adoption, pets, shady, shadytales, this good that bad
I want no part of this. Mom is on her own. She and I were drafting this post together but that was before she told me she STOLE the whole idea from another blogger. I refuse to stoop to that level. It is against my moral code. Now if we were talking about dog biscuits, I’d agree that when acquiring those it’s every dog for herself. Plagiarism is different story and I find it reprehensible…
Oh all right, enough of that Shady, I’ll takeover now. You are excused. Hi all, this is Melissa. Please note that I did not “STEAL” anything. I merely borrowed the concept, almost unknowingly, my online friend Lissi and her guide dog Bradley. I am going to give full and proper credit to a post of hers I read back in January called “Adults Say the Darndest Things”. They explored the comments and misconceptions about disabilities and assistance dogs that they have to deal with daily when out in public. It’s a great read and you should check it out. Anyhow, as Shady and I drafted this blog entry, her title and story came to mind .
Now I’d like to take us back a few years to my stint as a shelter volunteer. Except there was no shelter. Our town only had a small “holding facility” to “process” surrendered and stray animals. Adoptions could only be conducted offsite, at public adoption events. I worked at least one day a week for 18 months at these events. There was the occasional street fair or festival but for the most part the “event” was little more than 1 or 2 volunteers, a folding chair, a sign and a dog on a leash for 3-6 hours in front of a pet supply store. Animal control officers were on duty there and they usually had to leave to respond to calls or tend to the animals back at the holding area. Those were long days, and you would not believe the people we’d meet or some of the things people would say (to us or about us) as they passed!
Allow me to preface my list of 3 particular stand-outs with this; by and large the people I met were kind and generous and many animals found great homes in this setting. The condescending, the uninformed and the unreasonable personas discussed here stood out in my mind because they were more consistent than I would have imagined. They also managed to hamper a dog’s chances of being seen by monopolizing the small space in front of the store with their rhetoric. I believe that they all meant well. It’s just that, well after a day in the heat with a large, intact, male German shepherd pulling on a leash and peeing on your shoe it is easy to lose sight of that. Meet 3 of my regulars, won’t you?
Glinda, the Good Guiltress (“the condescending”)
Glinda usually averts her eyes from me and my sign as she walks into the store, but on the way out she cannot help herself: she is compelled to explain every detail of WHY she would adopt this dog if she could but she can’t. She does not have the room. She has cats. She is allergic to brown. She may just not like dogs much. That’s perfectly okay. Hey-I get it, you came here to shop in the store today, not adopt. You did not come looking for this. Lots of people stop to pet the dog and tell me their stories and I like hearing them. Then they move on or perhaps they even tell a friend who might be interested in adopting. That’s cool. I’m not looking to lay a guilt trip on anyone; Glinda is doing that all on her own. She is hanging out because she feels sorry for me and even that is tolerable until she starts “carnival calling” to everyone else who walks in the store and driving them pretty far away “Step right up, this dog needs a home! This is terrible, we have to do something!” It’s a shame really, because Glinda could channel this energy into a lot of other ways to help.
Steve, the Street Savior (“the uninformed”)
“Are you gonna kill him? I know they kill them. Promise me that you won’t kill him.” Steve may sound harsh but those exact words were uttered (and sometimes shouted) to me on many occasions. I should not even have to answer that and I was rarely given the chance to anyway. If he did give me a chance I’d have told him I am spending my Saturday out in the hot sun/rain/wind/cold with this animal because I don’t want that to happen. I’d also tell there is no way to promise what will or won’t happen to him (just so you can sleep at night) because I don’t know for sure. I can say he’s safe but that will not make it so. I know it isn’t fair and I know it isn’t the dog’s fault but he may pay with is life anyway. It isn’t really my fault either, except to the extent that it is yours too—as residents we need to make our town responsible for its pets, demand a shelter be built and managed with reasonable polices to give these animals a chance.
Simple Susie (“the unreasonable”)
Susie has it all figured out. She also cannot help herself. She is going to march over here and solve this problem for me. “Why don’t you take him home? You are getting along all right, he seems like a great dog. Then you would not have to stand out here.” Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? It’s not like I don’t have three of my own and a foster right now. It’s not like there will be, oh I don’t know, DOZENS of others after him. He’ll be the last homeless pet in town. If not, I’ll just sell my house, move to a big farm and take them all in. No problem. To Susie it is all about this one dog and she does not like to take no for an answer. Of these 3, she was probably the most frequent visitor to the adoption table.
"OK, enough of this chit chat--who is ready to take me home today?"
I recognize my pet adoption setting was a little unique, in that we did not have a shelter to back us up. I am pleased to report that is no longer the case. We have a brand new facility that is run by a dedicated animal control officer (one who stood dutifully with the volunteers in front of that store without pay and on her time off, each and every Saturday) and a whole new crop of wonderful volunteers. Did our presence in front of that store help to make that happen? I am not sure, really. I had to step down well before the real push for the shelter began after a new circumstance consumed most of my weekends.
The uniqueness of the setting did serve me well though…it condensed a lot of valuable lessons about pets, people and local politics into a very short time. The front of that store became the shelter to an extent, with people showing up to adopt and surrender regularly. The insight I gained was invaluable. I learned a lot about different breeds, animal behavior and making solid “matches”. Despite the strong personalities of passers-by and the naysayers, there is no question that those dogs would not have found their forever families without the volunteers and the shoppers wandering in and out. Recalling the dogs and remembering the moment their new families decided to adopt reminds me that it was the most rewarding thing I have ever done. By my calculation I got that reward at least 30 times. I’m sad I cannot volunteer to that extent anymore, but so grateful that I made a difference for those 30.
So what is the point of this post? What kind of rescue story is this? This story is supposed to make it clear that it isn’t just the homeless pets that need you out there volunteering—it is the people too. Not just the people who are trying to adopt and looking for the right dog. The people like Glinda, Steve and Suzie need you too. Each and every one of them cares. They just need to be led by example. They need a little hope to see that they can make a difference too. Get out there and show them. You won’t regret it no matter what they say.
Shady’s Mom, Melissa, is the director of marketing for a firm in NJ by day, and a blogger an entrepreneur by night. She still has good days and bad days since losing two of her dogs last year. She knows they would be proud of her efforts to help animal rescue through her “This good. That bad.” products. If she cannot adopt them all she wants to at least increase their chances any way she can. Please come back and visit us soon and if you are in animal rescue, contact us to learn more about how we can help you fundraise.
Filed under: animal rescue, dogs, Guest Posts, pet loss | Tags: dog food, dog recipes, dogs, labrador, LoJack, pet adoption, pet grief, pet loss, recipes, shadytales, steak, TGTB, this good that bad
The following is a reprint of Shady’s guest post on a friend’s cooking blog. She addresses two topics very near and dear to a dogs’ heart–food and love. Update 5/2011: Our sympathy to Linda, the cooking blog author and Mom to Duke, her beloved labrador and star “taste tester” who recently succumbed to the same cancer that took our LoJack. Please feel free to leave your remarks and support for Linda here and we will pass them on to her. Rest in Peace Duke. Please tell LoJack we miss him when you see him.
For those of you who do not know me from my own blog. Dog Eared Tales please allow me to introduce myself; I am a Shady, an 8-year-old blog dog. More specifically I am a black lab who recently lost two pack members to old age. My people-Mom and I have been blogging ever since. It started out as a way to cope with the loss of our family members but we have met so many wonderful people along the way that even though we are doing better we decided to keep it up.
Linda is one of those people and one of my favorite things about her is that she loves food just like me. Another thing I really like about her is that she lists her own dogs Bubba and Duke as part of her “support staff”. I am guessing this means they get to do a lot of taste testing and I think a lot of people could learn from that example.
When Linda invited me to guest post here I was flattered. Although my blog is about pet loss and animal rescue, food is one of my favorite topics! Mom used to be pretty stingy with the people food. She used to claim it is wasted on me, that I would eat a lint ball with the same zeal I would attack a steak. I’ll concede it may look that way from the outside, but I assure you my palate is refined as any human. Mom knows that now too, but it was not an easy lesson and that is part of what I want to tell you about.
You see, last year my golden retriever brother LoJack developed tumors in his mouth. They were small and undetectable at first but he stopped eating because he could not work his tongue correctly. The whole pack knew with all our doggy senses what was happening but we had no way to tell anyone (this was before I had a laptop). Mom could see he was trying to eat and was still hungry, so she started helping him. She began to make burgers and cakes and out of his prescription dog food to make it easier for him. She cut them into chunks and literally tossed them in his mouth to the back, where he was still tumor free and could swallow on his own. This worked for a while, but his condition worsened and he started to lose interest in eating.
Mom was really stressed out about it because LoJack had a liver problem and he needed this special dog food. It had changed his life and saved him from grave illness four years earlier. He also needed about 6 pills a day for his liver and he would not put anything in his mouth. Mom tried everything she could think of to get a proper balanced meal into him but it took hours at a time and still he lost weight.
Then one day the vet laid it out for my Mom in simple terms. She sort of knew but needed it hear it out loud. He told us LoJack’s liver dysfunction was nothing compared to what he was battling now. Since he remained a happy boy in every way except at mealtimes and at this point his pain was minimal all Mom had to do was keep him from starving. The vet made it clear to us; it did not matter what he ate anymore—just that he ate something and maybe had a painkiller now and then. “Let him eat steak.” he said and this became our new strategy.
A diet of the finest people food was prepared and hand fed to him daily. I am not sure how much he could taste anymore but the idea was the smell is what held his interest. My older dog sister Nikki and I were given tastes here and there but for the most part we kept our distance and let Mom and LoJack dine alone. Steak, seasoned and grilled, and spicy venison sausage were his favorites.
The pills he needed now were hidden inside grape tomatoes and bits of garlic bread. He even got vanilla ice cream and yogurt pops on the hottest summer nights. For a while, he seemed to enjoy eating again-or maybe it was just all the one on one Mommy time? Whatever it was, he regained his spark during this time and the whole family was glad to have him back to his old ways for at least a short time. All the food smelled delicious but Nikki and I knew the trade off and so we happily kept to our regular diets. Let him eat steak…
You probably know how the story ends; LoJack was gone before summer was over. The food was not enough to battle the illness and it made his eventual turn for the worse feel very sudden to us. Soon Mom had hours of time on her hands that she did not know what to do with. She could not remember what she used to do in the mornings before she started spending 45 minutes feeding LoJack, or at night before she spent hours precooking his meals.
That is kind of how the blog was born, and how Mom started to meet people like Linda. Everyone who came upon Mom’s blog posts about rescuing, loving and losing your dog took the time to leave comments and they were very kind to us. We could not have gotten through it without them.
Though it took her some time to get back to it after that, Mom does really enjoy cooking. I am an only dog now, and I am afforded a lot more slack than I ever was before when it comes to food. I usually get a few bites of any meal that is leftover (if there is nothing in it that is dangerous for me) and so I have a vested interest in getting Mom to try new stuff. This week she is going to try Linda’s recipe for “Potato and Egg Bake” and she promises to share. It isn’t exactly “eat steak” treatment, but I also get some homemade treats just for dogs made for just for me.
I would like to share the recipe for one of my favorites with you here—maybe you can whip up a batch for your own pets, or a friend’s, or maybe even drop by your local shelter with some treats and share the love. Spend some time walking the dogs there and getting to know them. I bet you’ll like it so much that you’ll be back again and again and I promise you will be welcomed with open paws even if you arrive empty handed.
Dogs appreciate food without question, but we appreciate the love that is behind it much more and it does not matter one bit how you choose to show it.
CTOTD blog author Linda is just one of the many friends my Mom met online a little over a year ago as she mourned for our LoJack and started her This Good. That Bad. fundraising company for animal causes. Linda is a dog lover herself and her own dog Duke was recently found to have tumors in his mouth too. She has kindly dedicated a post to the pooches in honor of October’s “Adopt A Shelter Dog” month. You can find all kinds of recipes and cooking reference materials at her site every day.
Kibble again? Let him eat steak!
