Heer To Rescue 501(c)(3)

Heer_O

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Apr 28, 2022
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Lake Elsinore
Going to be moving a thread over so most the pix aren't gonna transfer but I'm gonna cut and paste majority of the thread. We have been at this for a few years now. But if anyone is looking for a pup to adopt, let me know



As some already know, most probably don't, wifey and I have a dog rescue ( registered 501(C)(3) non-profit). We typically take pups that have been abandoned due to medical issues or owner neglect. Some are left on the side of the road in a box marked free. Our goal is to find a family that is a perfect fit for the pup, not the other way around. The wife is crazy knowledgeable with dog and dog behavior. And with the recent state of things, people are just dumping their dogs left and right. We have found forever homes for over 250 pups just in the past few years. But it's been rough lately.

I know everyone has a metric shit ton of crap going on lately, but if anyone is looking for a pup or is all about saving a life, let me know. Or even a $5 or $10 donation helps a lot. All the dogs are vaccinated, chipped and fixed ( dependant on age when adopted). Benefit of a rescue pup is they have someone who can attest to behavior issues or quirks.

Feel free to check it out www.facebook.com/heertorescue

www.HeerToRescue.org

Or hit me up on here
 
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So, wife went to the shelter the other day to return a found dog to the owner. On the way out she ran into a guy who was surrendering 2 chi mix pups. So of course, she came home with them. They were super scared and needed to decompress before we could evaluate them. Once they settled down and relaxed after about a week we were able to play with them. They are super bonded and will be adopted out as a pair. Super fun dogs and their personalities compliment each other perfectly.
So Fluffy and Areia are their names. We didn't name em, that's what their names were, so we kept it.

Now for today, we got a call that someone who has helped us with dogs before, found 3 chihuahuas dumped out on a dirt road. The person dropped them off on the side of the road and left them with a bowl of water and a little bit of food. What makes it heartbreaking is one of the female pups were SUPER PREGNANT!! So the person spent a few hours, in the heat of the day and was able to get the make ( assuming daddy ) and the pregnant one ( even pups are easier to catch when they have packed on a few pounds). Unfortunately she was only able to get the 2.

So she rushed them over here and dropped them off. So i set up the pen in the garage with a "birthing crate" and just let the momma relax. Got em a fan and some water and let em decompress. About 2 hours later, the momma went into labor. And as I'm writing this, we are up to 3 puppies. Poor momma has been super neglected and is in rough shape but she's hanging in there.

Ok now we're up to 4 puppies. Little touch and go with 1 but he's fighting strong now. So we went from 9 dogs total, to now having 2 more adults and 4 newborn puppies.

And now 5 puppies!!! She's pumping them out like a champ. She has kicked into full momma mode and is cleaning them and doing amazing. Just when you think you finally have things under control you, quite literally, get a knock at the door.
 
Good News:

Legend got adopted yesterday to a great family with kids. The kids were super excited and he fell in love with them. Their energy matched perfectly. Couldn't be happier for him and the family.

Not So Good News:
One of our personal dogs ( Lola) a fat little miniature pincher isn't doing well. Backstory on her..... My wife got her from a pet store ( I know I know... But it was before "rescues" were as prevalent as they are now) back in '06. When we first got together I really didn't like small breed dogs. One would say that I had a total distain ( to put it nicely) for little "kick me" dogs. I always had a dog growing up. From spaniels then to pitties then only pitties. So I wasn't instantly sold on small dogs. But this dog was actually pretty rad. She didn't yap like other small shit dogs. She had such an awesome and perfect personality that you couldn't help but fall in love with her. And few non-dog people will understand this next statement, but she had a sense of humor. So I gave her a small dog exception. And seeing what Lola meant to my wife ( GF at the time) I had no choice but to love her. And love her I did. I was even allowed to "adopt" her in '09. In an act that was so heartwarming it would make icy hearts melt and bring a tear of joy to the coldest of eyes, my wife came home with new dog tags for Lola that had my name on them along with hers and she changed the microchip registration to include my info as well. Might not seem like a lot to some, but for someone to give you a gift like that was so damn special, literally brought a tear to my eye. So she kinda was like our first kid. And I loved that little dog. And that poor dog has been through hell and back and never lost her personality. Her eye ball ruptured and she was literally bleeding through the center of her eye due to complications of constant dry eye. So we had her eye removed. She pushed her luck a little too far with a shepherd we had rescued and paid for it with puncture wounds and had to have a drain tube installed in her side to let the infection drain out. But she never missed a step. When she was able to move around again she was right back to her old self. And this dog is the matriarch of dogs at my house. She has top billing and she takes the top spot on the pecking order. So with only one eye she was still getting around pretty good. Then her dry eye ended up taking the vision from her other eye, and she didn't let it slow her down all that much. But without being able to see, she could smell a 4day trail of food like a fun bloodhound. Lol

So Lola has a cough and sort of hacking. It started toward the end of last year. We got her on meds, and let the meds run their course and the cough went away and she was good. A lil over a month and a half ago, it came back. This time worse. We told the vet and we got more meds. The vet said to let the meds run their course and that she would need to be on some long term. So twice a day we would give her meds. Not as easy as it seems. This dog was notorious for cheeking her meds, sometimes for hours at a time. So we were able to finally find a way make her take them. So the meds ran their course and we took her back cuz the meds didn't seem to have any effect and she was still hacking. So we took her into the vet today and we're able to get good x-rays. Lola has a collapsed ( almost fully) trachea. She can get air into her lungs but can't exhale completely. Her condition / prognosis was so bad, the vet didn't want to let us leave with her. So we asked if we could have one more day with her. Brought her home and having to explain this to my kids was something I didn't know how to. I was outback trying to figure it out and I heard them balling inside. My wife told them. So I put on my big boy pants and went inside. And when my middle kid asked why "Lola had to die" I broke down. I guess my big boy pants weren't on tight enough. So we sat there and let it all out. The Lola, in typical Lola fashion, coughed.... Then with impeccable timing, she ripped ass, shot her head up and barked and herself farting. Like she knew what she was doing. We all started laughing and crying. It was the saddest/funniest moment in my life.

So today is her last day with us. I'm gonna miss that dog. She truly is a great dog and has been the rock for my wife through all the chaos of her life in those first couple of years of her life. And regardless of what was going on, Lola has always been there.... with a wagging stump of a tail and a excited expression.

Sorry for the long post, sometimes I just need to "vent" and since I don't have FB or any of that shit, y'all become the victims of my spewing.

-AJ
 
And the hits keep coming folks.....

One of the lab/shepherd mix pups isn't eating or gaining weight like her sister ( shes about half the size). She just seems lethargic and not very "puppy like". So we separated them at eating time to control / monitor portions. She wasn't eating at all and her gums weren't pink as we like to see. So we had to give her "sub-Q" fluids ( fluids under the skin on their back) through an IV. She seems a little better but we're afraid she got into something, as puppies do, and might have a blockage because she eats, then throws up and can't seem to keep anything down.

So keep your fingers crossed for this lil critter.
 
Update / New Arrival:

Polly, the little black lab mix from the above post snapped back into full puppy mode and became a little spunky puppy. She was back to playing and running around in no time. She was adopted last week and we have been getting updates and she is doing amazing. We still have her sister, Cora. A potential adopter is coming today for a meet and greet. So keep your fingers crossed that the family is a good fit for her. So far they look amazing.

Momma dog and pups are doing great. All the puppies have their eyes open and are beginning to wander around exploring their kennel. Soon we will bring to ween them away from their momma and we can start working on gaining the trust of momma dog. It's a long process but we're committed to the dogs for their life so it's a sacrifice of time, were willing to make.

As far as the new addition, we just had a 7 week old Jack Russell Terrier ( Skipper) surrendered to us. The pup has cerebellar hypoplasia. His brain didn't completely form with regards to balance and coordination. So he has a hard time standing up and walking. The owners wanted to put him down because they're breeders and don't want the hassle of having to put time and effort into a pup that won't bring them any money. So we were able to convince them to surrender him to us and atleast give this guy a fighting chance.

The website, www.heertorescue.com , is coming along. There are still things were trying to figure out and since we're kinda doing this alone, it becomes difficult. And to those of you who have donated, I can not beging to thank you enough. Even $15-$20 goes a long way. We're still trying to get the PayPal donation thing set up for the rescue so bear with us.

If anyone else would like to donate any amount is greatly appreciated, you can now do it through the website and soon the Facebook page. We're not some massive rescue.. there's only 3 of us that are a part of it, not including the kids who help with feeding, cleaning, play time, and temperament testing.

We have something in the works to move the pups to a most suitable location with more room and a dedicated kennel area. Stay tuned for that.

So it's been chaos lately. Oh and it's looking like I'm gonna need to have another shoulder surgery from a spill I took a few weeks back, walking down my stairs. But I have to ask myself, Where is the good in all of this that I'm not seeing, and How does it get any better than this.
 
And the hits keep coming. When my wife was working for the other rescue, we came across a bunch of French Bulldogs that were dumped in the night drop at our local shelter. All were female and all were heavily bred. And to top it off, all of them had the same congenital disorder of massive polyps in their ears. It was so bad, the ear canal was completely blocked and the dogs couldn't hear. So obviously they were dumped by a back yard breeder who no longer had a use for them. And seeming how Frenchies will sell for well over $3k a pup, the person was pumping out as many as they could to make as much as they could, regardless of the condition of the pups. So we secured them and the rescue paid for the surgery, sometime multiple surgeries per dog, just to be able to give them a chance at a normal life. And one of the pups, my wife took a strong liking to and fell in love with her. We named her Honey. She became comfortable at my house and with my kids and other dogs, but she was up for adoption. People came and had meet and greets with her but we never saw a connection with her and the potential adopters. So my wife talked to the rescue and we were able to adopt her. And she was safe and happy.

But as anyone knows, Frenchies are not without their medical issues due to line breeding in an attempt to keep the breed "pure" and keep specific traits ( as is with any "pure breed" ). She started having intestinal issues and cause minor prolapsing, which yes is disgusting, but meaning there is a more serious underlying condition. So we took her in and the surgery was going to cost upwards of $5k. But we made a commitment to this dog and we're going to do what we could to help her. So we started to save what we could, where we could and continued to treat her symptoms the best we could.

We noticed she was losing a little bit a weight and wasn't eating much of her food. And what she would eat, she would walk outback and vomit. Then she quickly lost a lot of weight and we took her into the vet. She was diagnosed with pneumonia do to her aspirating on some of the vomit. So we had her on antibiotics and changed her food to cottage cheese. Something that is easy to digest and easy on her stomach. And Honey was doing better with less vomiting and such but she still had a cough. So we continued the antibiotics and we're letting them run their course.

We noticed she started throwing up just foam like vomit. And it was hard to tell because it wasn't easy to spot on the ground. And unless you were hovering over her 24/7 you most of the time didn't know. That with the propensity of our other frenchy to come behind her and eat it ( fucking disgusting, I know 🤢🤢🤢), most of the time we weren't 100% sure. Over the past week or so, we noticed a sharp decline in her health. So we scheduled the next available get appointment, which was for today.

Unfortunately, Honey didn't make it and she passed away early this morning. Wife went to let her out of her crate in out bedroom and noticed she didn't get up like she normally does. Reached in to give her some pets on the head in an attempt to gently wake her up, buy she was cold to the touch.

What makes this even more painful for me, wife and I got into an argument last night over dogs being on our bed. Due to Honeys prolapse condition, when we didn't catch it, she would jump on the bed and leave blood spots on the bed. And usually on my side because my wife goes to bed before I do on most nights. So we were constantly washing sheets, blankets and comforters. And when I was heading to bed last night, I noticed a huge foamy puke stain where Honey was laying, that went over the side of the bed, all on the comforter. So I was upset, not at the dog by any means, but the fact that I now had to find another blanket and go through the hassle of changing bedding and I was tired, in pain, and just in a funk mood. So I picked her up as gently as I could and put her at the entrance to her crate. I gave her some nightly neck scratches and some butt pats and sent her into her crate. But she was reluctant to go in her crate. Almost as if she knew she didn't have much time. Hindsight is a fucked up thing and the worst super power to possess. And when I went to change the bedding, the WW3 argument started between me and the wife ( but that's another topic for a therapist).

I get it, some people act like it's "just a dog" and why get so upset and emotional over a "pet". To us, she was more than a pet. She was a family member. She was a good dog that was saved from the brink or being euthanized due to her ear condition. But I loved that dog. She was so just chill. Never barked, never really did anything wrong. She didn't chew shit up, she only shit in the house when myself, of the kids forgot to open the doggy door. All in all, a great dog. She did really good on car rides. Wasn't much for going on walks, didn't like a leash all that much. But a good dog.

Sorry for the vent/rant/long post..... I apologize even more for those of you who read the whole thing just waiting to see how far this Trainwreck would go.

RIP Honey, I miss you and always loved you
Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
 
Dog pix
 

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Since y'all like pix.... No idea why someone hasn't swooped on her yet
 

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She might be out at the clean up if she's not adopted before. For her sake I hope she is, but if not she'll be out there representing the cause
 
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Just picked up 8 pitty mix puppies. 5 boys and 3 girls. They're dirty, covered in fleas and have yet to see a vet. Gonna get em all cleaned up and squared away and will post pix when we can.
 
are you in COMMIEfornia or AZ? idk why but i keep thinking you're here or something, maybe im just getting you mixed up with another mawmacita
 
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