Rescue week - Luke's Joys and Nash's Pain

We have had an eventful week!

Our joys this week include Luke's adoption. Many of you have followed Luke's story, from his surrender by his owners when he was injured, through his surgery, physical therapy, and swim therapy, and when he started to walk again. I am so proud of him! Last weekend, Luke went on a "sleepover" with a potential mom and dachsie brother. They are all in love -- Luke has found his forever home. Thank you Kim and Marvin!
We had a very scary time with our foster Nash, one of the dogs we got from the breeder a couple of weeks ago. He came down suddenly with HGE (Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis) -- an often unexplained condition that strikes fast and can be deadly. (My own dog had this last year, and it was terrifying). Nash's human foster brother, Nicky, found him near death, and acted quickly. They got Nash to the vet for stabilization, IV fluids, and antibiotics. His bloodwork was terrible, his body temperature dropped and we were afraid we were going to lose him. Then the vet had to close and his foster mom Theresa took Nash to an emergency clinic for overnight care. In the morning he was much better. He spent the second day back at the normal vet, and went home that evening. It looks like he is going to be fine, but DREAM had a scary time of it there, especially Theresa, Nicky, and Sarah. They had to do all the shuffling from vet to vet to make sure Nash had professional medical care round the clock for a couple of days. He is much happier to be back in his foster home! We don't have the final damage yet, but just the emergency vet part was more than $900. If anyone can help with Nash's expenses, please send whatever you can. Even $10 makes a difference. Our website www.dreamdachsierescue.org will tell you how, and all donations are completely tax-deductible.

The Next Generation

Two things have happened this week to give me special hope. When we started DREAM, one thing we didn't even think about was the children in the foster homes, and how fostering would affect them. But these kids are AMAZING... they see first hand the suffering caused by overpopulation and breeding ... and they are going to DO something about it!

First, Grace. Grace had her 8th birthday party last weekend. Instead of presents, she told her mom that she wanted her friends to make donations to DREAM. And they raised more than $100, which DREAM will use for much-needed veterinary care for the three puppymill dogs we just took in.

Second, Sydney. Sydney had a video project for her school, and she chose the topic "Puppy Mills." It's a terrific video, and you can see it here: www.Myspace.com/arsenalmom13 (click on "Videos"). As if the video isn't fabulous enough, her film won at the "Darlington Oscars" awards! Many of the kids at her school told her they had never even heard of puppy mills. Can you imagine the impact this has on that group of kids -- they will never contribute to the breeding industry. They have an early awareness. Her mom Sherri sure must be proud of her!

And I am so proud of Theresa's teenagers, Nicky and Sarah. Theresa is one of our long-term foster homes. When one of her foster dogs had a medical emergency, both kids jumped in and figured out how to get the dog to emergency care. He would have died without their resourcefulness.

I don't think my generation will be able to fix our problems, but their generation just might. I'm proud to know em!

Update on the 24

Thanks to everyone for your outpouring of ideas and support on the 24 dogs we received. I am still hoping to get more dogs from the situation, with the help of animal control, by the end of the month.

The saddest part is, the AKC had recently inspected the breeder, and she "passed with flying colors." What does that tell you about inspections?

Here is where we currently stand, thanks to excellent collaboration from several rescues. Other groups also stepped up to help, and I plan to call on them when / if we get additional dogs. (Thanks Kentucky!)

DREAM pulled 24 dogs, including 7 young puppies, from the situation. 9 more dogs were in the outdoor kennels, and we don't know how many more were inside.

Southern States Dachshund Rescue (http://www.ssdr.org/), bless them, took 3 adult dogs and all 7 puppies, including 2 longhairs and one wirehair. Special thanks to them for actually driving to meet us, saving those puppies the stress of additional transport.

Dachshund Rescue North America (http://www.drna.org/) took 3. One longhair piebald, one smooth piebald, and one smooth red.

Two rescues in New York arranged transport within 2 days for 8 more adults.

DREAM has 3 of the dogs, and they are all precious. Please check our petfinder listing for Spanky, Sweet Pea (pictured), and Nash.

The dogs were all in reasonable health. I was shocked that all were heartworm negative. They all needed vaccinations, and, of course, spay/neuter. All needed dentals, one significant -- the removal of both upper canines. All were very dirty and smelly, but good natured, if hand-shy.

I had a terrific experience working with Murray County animal control, thanks to the amazing efforts of the 2 women there who move heaven and earth to help so many dogs with so few resources. THANK YOU Pauline and Lisa for all that you do. Generally the rescue community feels that they must "battle" animal control, but at Murray County it is a true collaboration. Those two manage to save more dogs than most of the larger counties, much better funded. DeKalb could learn a lot of lessons from you.

For the dogs, always for the dogs.