Thursday, May 30, 2013

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Gomer has a home...

Hub's new life
Well, Hub gets a great home. Hub used to be Angel from Spindletop. In a joint effort, Angel was saved from Garland Shelter and boarded at Spindletop Refuge which had us all fooled. I had Angel placed several times, but for one reason or another, Leah would throw up a road block on every one. When dealing with as slick a con-artist as Leah Purcell is and was, it's common to fall prey to their line of bullshit. I fell for it hook, line and sinker for one year and three months.

I'd finally taken a stand on Angel and told Leah he was going to Barbara, the wonderful woman who adopted Murmur sight unseen nearly four years ago from Kern County in Bakersfield. Barbara and Murmur had relocated to Minnesota and she'd been following Angel's story.

Hub came to Reunion Rescue No-Kill Refuge to decompress with the other Spindletop refugees after the seizure in which 300 pit bulls and other dogs were confiscated. The Labor Day Labor-of-love transport was arranged to bring Hub and two other Texas dogs to their new homes. 23 legs were lovingly driven with precious cargo. Each portion of the journey was updated with funny stories and pictures from each of the volunteer drivers.

Barbara, Hub and Murmur have settled into a very Norman Rockwell existence in the tiny little town in which they live. Almost daily, I get a sweet note from Barbara about living life with Hub and Murmur.
Miss Murmur

"The three of us had a beautiful late afternoon outside together yesterday. Freshly mowed lawn to the side of the bank building and the air smelled like beautiful sweet grass. There was a cool breeze and the two of them sat by my side just watching the tiny bit of activity taking place.

A momentary bit of barking at a huge white feral cat that lives in the big abandoned grain silo in town. It's so large I can see it clearly at a long city block away. Hub leaves the birds alone now. He realizes our territory is theirs too."

This past week, Barbara's sister Kathy came for a visit. "Murmur and Hub were so beautiful with her yesterday. I was thrilled for both of my babies. She said it was so obvious they feel happy, safe and loved. And they have a complete family - animal and human."

"I told her how I had been very patient and just let Hub adjust to being around his own person for the first time. I told her the bond between Murmur and Hub was immediate, but it was going to take him a while to understand and feel safe around people - that I knew it would be confusing. So I've let him go at his own pace and not pressed. She said I wasn't like the dog whisperer - but I reminded her of the horse whisperers who wait with patience for the horses to want to follow and be with them. I loved that."

Murmur and Hub
"I told her that I'm glad you had faith in me with two very special dogs - as if they're not all special;-)"

I've been rescuing dogs and other animals for a good long time. I've always believed there is a person for each dog and their union is perfect. Barbara, Hub and Murmur are all examples of this perfect concept at work.

Reunion does a lot of good work with herbal and homeopathic support, detox and diet, but even though the body heals as does the spirit, nothing completes the circle like the right home. I've been very lucky in my rescue career to have witnessed more than a couple such as Hub and Murmur find their way home.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Just another raw deal


Sasha at Martinez shelter
When Sasha was in high kill Martinez shelter way back in early 2010, she had no idea what was in store for her....judging from her picture, she was like, 'Get me outta here! What's a supermodel like me doing in a prison cell?'

Reunion Rescue can't pull them all, but when I saw that picture, I was like, 'get her out of there. We'll figure something out.'

It was touch and go, a couple of inappropriate foster homes and then to our good friend, dogwalker Jeff who always comes through in a pinch and when we're broke...like most of the time.
Russell catching some zzzz's

By pure fortune, my good friend and old neighbor in Pacifica saw another dog on our site and I didn't know about Pearlie Girl with cats...but pitched Sasha...who was on her fourth name, Little Mama by that time. She'd gone from Marla at the shelter, to Taffy by Cindy, then La Reyna which happens to be a bakery in Austin to Jeff's where she started answering to Little Mama...although it was way beneath her dignity and future plans.

Adena and Matt are longtime pit bull advocates as is their incredible son, Reed. Sasha couldn't have

drawn a better home dash castle had she won the lottery for pit bull homes. She immediately became Matt's dog and Adena, Reed and Russell, their good-natured roll with any punch pittie took a back burner.
Sasha and sugar daddy Matt

When Adena started feeding a raw diet, Matt, like most people thought it was going to be too expensive and time consuming, but now, the family is die-hard about feeding their dogs healthy raw organic sources...and have not one, not two, but three robust thriving never sick dogs to show for it.

When Adena accompanied her good friend to pick up a Reunion dog near Bakersfield, Adena saw a
scraggly pup on the kill list. Percy joined the family and was over his tick and flea infestation pronto once introduced to raw diet.

Reed and Adena
The other night, shopping, Adena suggested picking up some canned food 'just in case.' She was met with a big, 'no way!' from Matt, who added, 'I'd rather feed my dogs canned soup than that crap.'

Boy, when things get tough at Reunion...which can be pretty much any day....all I have to do is remember this wonderful family who loves their pit bulls.

Sasha and Percy aren't the only ones who hit the jackpot....Reunion Rescue is very grateful for our good friends and their perfect raw-feeding home of the luckiest pit bulls in the world...and down the road from a real castle.

Sasha, Percy and Russell