Yesterday should have been one of the happiest days in Reunion Rescue's rocky past, but it turned into a day from hell.
Tara has entered our foster to adopt program after falling in love with William who's since been renamed Quentin. He is named for 'The Sound and the Fury" Quentin Compson, As complex as a Faulkner character, our Quentin had a rough start yesterday.
He made the first leg to meet Tara and our in-house APBT advocate, Adena. First stop was a bath as Quentin has been living out in the country and needed a bit of city-fying.
After arriving in San Francisco, it was discovered Quentin only prefers wire kennels, so yet another trip to the pet store last night to purchase another kennel, dog bed, more food and enticing treats to encourage Quentin to love his new crate and begin serious Kong training.
Our program insures with a good Kong training, any dog can get a full upper-body workout in his crate while mom or dad is otherwise occupied. Then, pup takes a nice long nap until the whistle blows.
Tara took Quentin on two long jogs yesterday afternoon and evening to try and tucker him out. Our boy is going to require some exercise. He is one of those boys who needs to run! Unfortunately, torrential downpours in San Francisco put a bit of a damper on things, but Tara and Quentin trudged ahead. With one minor incident involving a couple having an argument, Quentin remained strong even though as a timid boy, he was frightened by the episode.
Lots of Emergency Australian Bush Flower Essences will be helping Quentin make this big huge transition from country life to city living. We as humans understand these things, but imagine what it must be like for a dog who was nearly starved to death, dragged behind a car, thrown on a bar-b-que grill while burning and then winding up at the worst hellhole on earth, Stockton Animal Control.
Quentin is going to do just fine. It took some work, but an exhausted Tara got him into his new crate last night for his first night in a real home, in a real house, in the big city.
Jump to present....Quentin made it through his first big night. Tara just called and he slept through the night in his wire kennel. He's eating and learning Kong and digesting the sights, sounds and smells of the beautiful city by the bay.
I can finally take a deep breath and know that things might just work out. Quentin is enrolled for his first Better Way Dog Training class tomorrow morning with the best dog trainer in the world, Bob Gutierrez. Bob is the secret reason Reunion Rescue lays claim to having 'the friendliest pit bulls in the world.'
Mom Tara and Quentin
So I'm off now to walk Pip and get her ready for her first night in her new home with Brett and Jenny. Pip has been with me four years and has her own chapter in Pit Bull Nation, been through three high kill shelters and lived to tell about it.
Buster is one of those dogs whose story is so common in rescue work. Buster and his 8 siblings were pulled with their mom almost two years ago in Bakersfield. Bakersfield KCAC is one of the highest kill shelters in the nation.
Buster and his family were found abandoned on S Street, one of the roughest areas in town. They wound up at the county shelter whose intake is 500 animals a week. Their chances were slim to non-existent.
Momma Sadie
Somehow we saw them and worked with HALT Rescue to get them to safety. Shane and family stepped up to foster and took on more than they could possibly have ever imagined. The puppies were only 3 weeks old, but mom, renamed Sadie, was unbelievably trusting for a dog from the mean streets.
They were fostered in the beginning at Shane's place of business where an assembly line was set up to wash the puppies. They smelled so badly, they had to be run through the system twice. Sadie got a spa treatment, a rarity for a dog like Sadie.
Seven of the puppies were placed over the next few months, but Buster and his brother, now Siesel, were overlooked. Buster was nicknamed 'Shy Guy' due to his low key manner.
Amazingly, Sadie was adopted by the foster family and now lives in the lap of luxury. Siesel and Buster took a little bit longer. After boarding Siesel for several months, he was adopted by longtime Reunion Rescue member, Vanessa and her husband Patrick. Siesel is adopted brother to Peugeot, their female pittie.
Buster was boarded for months and months. He was strangely not being noticed, something that continues to happen in rescue. Buster is low key, loves people, loves kids, great with all dogs and gets along with cats! With all those wonderful attributes, he just couldn't find a home.
Benny at the beach
There was a reason. Steaven and Ken adopted Benny from Reunion Rescue in early 2002. Benny's story was another one of those rescue stories. He was on death row at SFACC with his sister at four months. The SFSPCA pulled her and left Benny all alone. A shy dog anyway, Benny regressed, lonely and afraid. He knew he was unwanted and just waiting to die.
At that time, Reunion Rescue placed holds on all available pit mixes at SFACC to keep them from being put to sleep. Benny didn't know that, though. We pulled him at the last minute and he went into foster care. We were at an adoption event when Steaven and Ken first met Benny. It was love at first sight and after entering the Reunion Rescue foster to adopt program, they took Benny home.
Benny was always a shy dog, but Steaven and Ken worked hard to teach Benny not to be afraid to walk down the sidewalk and how to go to the dog park. Benny passed away after a long and much loved life.
Steaven just happened to be looking at the dogs for adoption and saw a posting for four puppies. What do you know? These were four of Sadie's pups, but on an old site. All the pups had been adopted except for Buster and Buster was no longer a puppy. He'll be two soon.
They had been thinking about a puppy, but Buster had been waiting for them. How were we to ever have known this was the plan? Steaven and Ken drove the two hour journey to meet Buster where we had him boarded. It was a match!
Buster has fit right in. He's got the right amount of shyness without being too timid. He has his own personality, but also has a little touch of Benny in him. It was as if Benny was directing this from his special place in heaven. I really believe, and so do Ken and Steaven, that Buster has Benny's seal of approval. That's how it works with dogs, you know.
Steaven and Ken took Buster for a vacation at Stinson Beach, probably the closest place to heaven on earth. He looks so happy playing in the surf and sand.
Dogs help us move through the hard things in life. What's more precious than watching a smiling dog on the beach....
We have a local vet around the corner who doesn't plain get it. This morning, I got an email from the office reminding me to bring Girl in for the following:
According to our records Girl is now due for a wellness exam. We show Girl is due for the following treatments: 11-12 0204 Distemper 11-12 0205 Parvo 11-12 0206 Rabies 11-12 0207 Lepto 11-12 0208 Bordatella 11-12 0416 Stool Check 11-12 0422 Heartworm Test
I was astounded. The only answer I could come up with and answered with was 'are you kidding me?'
What is going on? Girl is almost 15 years old and doing great. The last time she went to this particular vet was for blood work. According to the vet, Girl was dying and could not be helped. 'Get ready to say goodbye,' was his advice.
Please don't vaccinate me!
Well, she certainly isn't going to be helped with all those vaccinations which have been proved to cause cancer and all kinds of other diseases. Girl was treated for her infection by her homeopathic physician and she is thriving and living large...emphasis on living.
What kind of 'doctor' would over-vaccinate a senior dog, one he had written off as dying a few months ago?
Fortunately some states have lightened up on the vaccine laws and allow titers and deferments for senior and ailing animals.
Will Texas ever get there? Hopefully, but when and if these dumb laws are changed, what is this vet going to do? Start to actually learn to heal animals? What a notion.
Until then, Girl and none of the other animals here will be returning to this vet. They would rather live than die an terribly early death caused from too many shots from this doctor.
Years ago when I was at UT studying film, I had no idea the the waitress job would be my best training. In fact, I am now a dog waitress. I spend a good deal of my time serving nutritious meals to dogs, cats and birds.
We don't have any help, so I'm the busboy, too. Nothing in life is a more profound builder of humility than serving dogs. I've had food, plates, beer, drinks and all kinds of stuff thrown at me by angry drunk customers back in the day. Nothing equals being vomited on by a dog after you've driven all over creation to obtain quality organic free range chicken and beef.
You just keep trying and start thinking orthopedic shoes.
Friday, Reunion did a Petco Lakeline event and found out all kinds of interesting things. Petco Lakeline is built on top of miles and miles of underground caves.
Petco also had deer antlers on sale for members. After loading up on Petco paper litter, I splurged and bought each of the in-house rescue dogs a deer antler.
After a couple of obligatory licks, the antlers were totally dissed and lay there by each dog, expensive and ignored.
Being a good dog waitress, I was not going to let them get the better of me. I did what any self-respecting dog waitress would do in a case like this. I went straight to Facebook. After posting on Reunion's rescue page, I got some pretty good advice.
One of the commenters had faced the same problem and tried boiling her deer antlers to coax out smells and make them more attractive to the dogs. That sounded good, so I collected all the antlers, which unsurprisingly, no one seemed to care in the least.
Placing them in a pot on the stove, I took Peanut outside to throw the ball. Naturally, I forgot about the antlers and returned to a house full of smoke and a pot full of burned deer antlers. Once again, I've failed miserably as a dog waitress.
On the upside, though, it's a job you can't seem to get fired from. No benefits and tips are laughable. You can forget about any kind of paycheck and this job really seems to age you.
I learned an expensive and good lesson from BeBe the other day. People don't give you cookies if you misbehave. Hmmm. For years I've been claiming it's no accident I rescue pit bulls.
I've never been one to back down over things that matter to me. There's an old saying, 'if you stop to fight with every barking dog, you'll never get to town.' That has come back around to bite me in the ass more than a couple of times. I guess the trick is to qualify what really matters.
Peanut sits for a cookie!
So how can I expect BeBe and the other dogs to behave, not bark, sit pretty and be nice without a reward? They all want a cookie. And...the nice girls get the cookies. A little secret, I call them all girls. Little Peanut from Alvin who was salvaged from the Spindletop raid had the hardest time learning a sit, but today he became a man. Today, Peanut offered his first sit for a cookie. Huge.
Peanut has the slim build of a habitual criminal. You know, the guys you see in prison, somebody's punk, like a Barney Fife who just fell in with the wrong crowd. Peanut came here very stressed out. He'd survived the high kill animal control in Alvin only to be pulled by Leah Purcell of Spindletop under Reunion Rescue's 501(c)(3). Slight problem, Reunion didn't even know until long after the raid and Peanut, then known as Feo, was being held at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds by the authorities.
Since I'd written the initial story about Feo, I felt responsible for him. After all, he was a Reunion dog. Full here with the defacto no kill shelter we had to set up with limited resources, Feo was placed in boarding.
Angel, now Hub, was adopted by a longtime Reunion adopter who has relocated to Minnesota which opened up a spot for Feo. When Feo arrived, he was a total mess. He vomited everything and has terrible diarrhea. This went on for a couple of months. After several recent horror stories with conventional vets, I was certainly reticent to subject poor Feo to a battery of tests and what I knew they'd prescribe, nasty ass Metronidazole (Flagyl) which would leave him certainly worse for wear in the long run.
I held true to what I've learned homeopathically and started Peanut on a quality kibble diet, even though all the rescued cats and dogs here at the sanctuary are fed organic raw. I knew the jump to raw diet would stress his system and patience would win in the end.
It took a few weeks and slowly Peanut was transitioned to raw. First he, like Nolan, started on chicken necks and a beef blend, but eventually, he was chomping down on a chicken quarter like the best of them. Little narrow-ass Peanut had won. I knew he was truly on the road to recovery.
I also knew that Peanut would be a hard sell on the sit. For weeks, I could only get one sit per session from him, truly a half-ass sit, if you get my drift, by use of the tennis ball. Peanut is a ball freak. Loves to fetch.
He was not food oriented for obvious reasons. Who knows what and when he was eating at Spindletop and his gastro-intestinal problems dogging him from place to place had been very hard on his little system. Food was not Peanut's friend. He needed time and good nourishment on a steady basis to learn that food was a good thing.
Also, and very importantly, Peanut had probably never even seen a cookie. I had to remember this. Here is a poor boy whose system has been ravaged by bad food and some crazy lady waving more of it in his face saying, 'sit' which sounds like something in German. Poor baby.
But, today, he made the final step. Peanut sat for a cookie. And sat for another cookie. And again and again and again. I was ecstatic. I had to stop, because I knew I'd give him an upset stomach if I kept it up. Peaunut is a winner. He is going to be a wonderful pet someday when he learns he can trust people. I don't blame him for being a little slow to believe. I'm still trying to learn to trust people.
I'm also learning to be a good girl since good girls get the cookies in life. It works on people, too.
I was speaking with a fellow rescuer yesterday who shared a horrible experience with me. He had saved a little bulldog from a certain death. Her ears were consumed with growths, what looked like polyps gone insane. He raised a chip in to administer the surgery and the little dog died during the surgery.
Beautiful Fu
He still owes $1500 for the bill. I hear this story over and over. How many animals are being subjected to high priced vet treatment never to see the light of day again? Hearing this one story reminded me of Fu Manchu, my beautiful black chow chow saved from the mean streets of Dallas, Texas only to die at the hands of a careless vet.
The opening chapter of my book Pit Bull Nation is the story of Fu. It was some 20 plus years ago and I'd not even begun to entertain the idea of rescuing, especially not pit bulls.
Fu was a bedraggled street dog who roamed the neighborhood we lived in. The story was he'd been turned out by a crack dealer and was surviving on whatever scraps the neighbors threw out for him to eat. Fu decided to belong to Scott. That's how it always has been with us. We didn't pick out a rescue. They seemed to always find us.
Fu began to sleep on our front porch and we began to feed him. This was back in the day when I knew nothing and was at the mercy of vets. The first time Fu and I visited the vet, I actually believed the Science Diet which lined the walls was a healthy choice for nutrition. This vet was actually a kind hearted soul who was honest about not keeping up with the latest trends in pet care.
Fu was diagnosed with heartworm, cherry eye, a horrible skin condition and, of course, needed neutering. We began the old-style heartworm treatment which at the time, entailed a shot of arsenic and a 50/50 chance of survival. During the next several months, Fu underwent his treatment like a champ. He even made it through the invasive, painful and dangerous heartworm treatment.
Back in those days, I fed what was recommended and Fu at store brand kibble. He was vaccinated and given all of the toxic drugs for fleas and parasite prevention. I didn't know any better. Now, I cringe at the thought of all those nasty things I subjected my dog to.
I was working part time at another vet to save up money to move to California and discovered employees could have their pets' teeth cleaned at a reduced rate. The day before Fu's appointment, I gave him a three and a half hour spa treatment. His former bald, scaly and oozing patches had cleared up and he sported a lustrous coat of shiny black fur. He truly looked like the majestic chow chows who'd once been bred to guard ancient Chinese emperors.
I remember being in the middle of learning how to prepare a stool sample when I heard the frantic announcement the next morning at the vet office. It was one of those moments in your life when you know something horrible has happened and you keep doing some mundane chore in hopes that it will just go away.
They came to get me from surgery and took me upstairs to see my dog lying dead on the table. The vet had given Fu a huge shot of sodium pentothal to prep him for surgery. It immediately killed him. There was no bringing him back. He was dead and gone.
What happened that day started me on a long hard path which eventually led to rescuing pit bulls. Over the years, I've looked for alternative and healthy answers. I have been most pleasantly surprised and have been able to give some animals a much better life.
Today, if we acquire a heartworm positive animal, that animal is fed a healthy organic raw diet and treated for the heartworm herbally. An animal with tumors or growths is treated with a gentle detox, quality organic raw diet and homeopathy to deal with the tumors and/or growths. Amazingly, most of the tumors and growths encountered have been related to over-vaccination. A good detox is the first step toward regaining good health.
Misha living a healthy cancer free life
Misha is a poster girl for clearing the system of tumor causing vaccination residue. Misha continued to grow a nasty 'meatball' looking tumor on her face. The vet actually removed it twice and finally threw his hands up in surrender. After re-vaccinating her one more time for the road, the vet gave up.
Misha was treated homeopathically and given a thorough Waiora detox. That was nearly three years ago and guess what? Misha is 'meatball' free...the tumor has never returned. Misha is lucky enough to live in a part of the country which defers rabies and other vaccinations for sick and old animals. This should be the standard everywhere. It is criminal to force loving pet owners to kill their pets just to abide by an unnatural law.
Martha on a happy day
Some of the animals, we can't save due to years of over-vaccination and toxic drugs. I saw Martha at PetSmart five years ago. She was sitting in the corner of her cubicle and her eyes were a mess, inflamed and crusty. According to the notes, she had been diagnosed as allergic to corn.
When I met Martha that day, I thought based on some vet's notes, we could help her transition out of those problems with homeopathy and a healthy raw meat diet...what cats are supposed to eat. What began was a five year long battle. Over the years, Martha saw five different conventional vets, each armed with toxic antibiotics and drugs. She'd already been vaccinated at least five times and the true source of her issues.
Martha
Over the years, her problems escalated to ear issues and then a tumor. One vet even had me bring her in weekly to manually dig the tumor out, removing subjugated pus which had gathered. She sent me to a big money 'specialist' who wanted to remove Martha's ear canal to the tune of $5K along with biopsies and sonograms. Vet 'specialists' like this are big money businesses Martha and I were finding out.
Crawling back to my regular homeopath where I should have taken Martha originally, Martha began treatment which would have cured any animal not beleaguered with years of vaccinations and drugs.
Martha
Sadly it was too late. He treated Martha for the next four months, but we lost the battle yesterday morning when Martha left this life.
Today, I'm taking Martha to be cremated. Her ashes will be placed next to Fu Manchu and the others who are resting and happy in a beautiful place...a place without pharmaceutical companies, veterinarians and cash registers, nasty kibble for food.
There is a better world for our animals. It's a crime that they must die to get there.
The difference between me and Ingrid Newkirk is when I see a hurt or sick animal, my response is to try and find a cure. In fact, I've been able to help more than a couple of dogs and cats who were given no chance to survive.
Benny that last night in Turlock
A couple of years ago, Benny was at the Turlock Shelter in California. I just happened to see his picture on one of the 4 thousand emails I receive every day. For some reason, I just couldn't get his little image out of my head.
Turlock Animal Control is much like the Maryland ACC which hired Ingrid Newkirk, poor and ill-equipped to deal with the many animals they try and care for.
I called the shelter and was told Benny was so sick, he was scheduled for euthanasia the next morning. His body was covered in infected and bleeding sores and he was in extreme discomfort, but Benny was certainly not ready to die.
Reunion Rescue is way down the scale from a group like PETA which racks in about $32 million a year, but when I saw Benny, I knew I had to try and save him. Benny's story is like most of the stories at Reunion Rescue. We're always begging for dollars. Last week, Reunion brought in a whopping $21. After paying out our boarding fees this morning, Reunion is yet again in the red. We pretty much stay in the red, but when you are spending every penny on saving animals, the bank account is never going to show a profit.
Benny enjoying his Texas summer
Turlock gave me until 7 p.m. that night to pick Benny up. Luckily, Samantha, not only a die hard pittie lover, but also very pregnant, hopped into her car and drove from Sacramento to pick Benny up for us. He was boarded overnight at Bradshaw vet, one of the few honest vets I've been able to find who honored our request to keep Benny off toxic medication.
Patti, Raven's mom, drove to Sacramento and picked Benny up to bring back with her to the Mendocino area. Like many scared and sick babies, Benny had a long road to go. Raven helped. In doggy terms, she let Benny know he was going to be ok. Raven had almost been killed at Antioch ACC when Patti answered a last minute plea and saved her.
Benny and the gang
Benny was completely cured through holistic and healthy means. He never had one drug or toxic dip. Patti has kept a blog for him which is linked to Pit Bulls and Other Animals. When Benny was ready to travel, Patti drove him all the way to Texas where he went into foster at Doug's. As luck would have it, Doug fell in love with Benny and adopted him where he lives with all the other happy dogs at Doug's doggy daycare. Raspberry and Casper had also been adopted from Reunion by Doug and were able to help Benny find his place.
Mr. Sweets at Riverside Shelter
When Mr. Sweets from Riverside came to Texas, Benny was able to help him. Now Mr. Sweets has a wonderful home in San Antonio with Brad. These dogs prove if you just open your heart and become willing, a miracle or two might just happen. In fact, a miracle will happen.
Mr. Sweets catching some z's
So, when I happened to see that old blog of Ingrid's "Why We Euthanize," it gave me pause to consider. The pictures weren't pretty and looked like the fundraising television effort on the Sarah McClachlan commercial. There is a cat with a big face tumor and a dog's paw with a huge nasty lesion. On down are some other hard to view photos, a dog on a heavy chain and one who looks almost dead with a horrible skin condition. The last one is being held up to have his picture taken probably before being humanely euthanized...the subject of the blog entry.
Shirley's Wellness Cafe has some of the same types of photographs, but the difference is Shirley's animals lived. They were holistically treated with quality diet and homeopathy so that their immune systems could overcome the disease and injury.
Mr. Sweets
My question is this...if Reunion can save hard cases on a shoestring, couldn't PETA spend a little more than the cost of a syringe-full of blue juice to try and help these animals? If these dogs and cats are still sitting up and trying to survive, who are we to decide when they should die? Bottom line, these animals want to live and it's my job, my duty as a rescuer and as a human caring being to reach out and try to help them.
I'm not saying every one of these animals could be saved, but I'd be willing to bet some of them could have made it. I'm wondering if the folks over at the PETA place ever heard of healthy diet and holistic supplements? I wonder if they'd be open to a little homeopathy instead of euthanasia fluid? It takes a little bit longer, but the payoff is priceless! You get to hug a living soul instead of "holding them in my arms and gently helping them escape an uncaring world,"....Ingrid's words.
I've had to put down a few animals in my time and it sucks. When there is no choice, I'm certainly not going to keep any animal alive and in pain. However, I've been taught by more than a few to listen and let them tell me when they are ready. Way, way back in the day, I came across an old Siamese cat. Butch was a registered Siamese who wound up at San Francisco Animal Care and Control. He was left to die there by PAWS, a group whose mission is to help pets of people afflicted with HIV. When this cat's owner passed away, he was left at the city's animal facility.
Butch had been fed a horrible cheap grocery store kibble his whole life of 13 years. He'd been over-vaccinated, once a year for the entire span of his life. That's one thing PAWS had seen to, that his vaccinations were continued until he wound up at SFACC.
Alibaba 'Bobby'
I happened to see him sitting on the counter...well, to hear him on the counter. Anyone who knows Siamese cats knows they are pretty vocal. Long story short, he wound up with me and my old cats before we established the cat sanctuary. He'd been diagnosed with terminal cancer so I brought him home to die in peace.
Butch was renamed AliBaba, more fitting his regal demeanor, but we called him Bobby. He was placed on a raw diet and treated homeopathically to support the effects of his illness. The resident cats accepted Bobby, but being registered and all, he thought he was better than them. He never did accept them as part of his clan.
Bobby taught me a lot about the life force. He lived over three more years with me. There were times he'd get down to an extremely low weight. My husband, Scott, even warned me to put Bobby down, but I knew he was not ready to go and I also knew when he was ready, he would let me know. And he did just that. The day Bobby was ready, he laid down on his side and cried. He was given Valium to make the euthanasia easier as older animals have a much longer process than young ones. It still was long and a difficult euthanasia. Bobby had a very strong will to live. He will always be remembered.
I take life and death very seriously. Like the old song says, 'death don't have no mercy in this land..he'll come to your house, but he won't stay long...' Once the life force is gone, there is only an eternity left to reconsider.
Lots of Emergency Australian Bush Flower Essences will be helping Quentin make this big huge transition from country life to city living. We as humans understand these things, but imagine what it must be like for a dog who was nearly starved to death, dragged behind a car, thrown on a bar-b-que grill while burning and then winding up at the worst hellhole on earth, Stockton Animal Control.
