I started fostering dogs in 2009, a year after I vowed in front of 140 of our closest friends and family during our wedding, to not bring home any more animals until we have a home with a yard. First came Max, then Orly, followed by Four, Benny, Lucy, and finally, Jonny. Six dogs in seven months shared three things in common. They were all pit bulls. They were all homeless. And they were all in dire need of getting out of a high-kill animal shelter where they wound up through no fault of their own.
Sure my husband Jason delights in reminding me that I have broken one of my wedding vows, but lucky for me, and the dogs, he has been amazingly supportive. And then I got pregnant. It was during the end of my second trimester last year, after a particularly unfortunate foster dog named Jonny, now called Sunny, got his forever home, that we took a break from animal rescue.
That was…
Until I recently saw a shaking and terrified Miniature Pinscher being dragged through the front doors of Brooklyn Animal Care & Control. Her people were about to pay the $35 fee to relinquish her because they no longer had time. I was eventually able to talk them out of leaving her at the kill-shelter, but not without giving them my phone number. One week later, here she is.
Annie dutifully waiting to be examined by a vet.
Annie is about 3 1/2 years old and is a very timid girl who never got walked (look at her nails in the photo), was most likely bred and only gets excited when she sees a crate. Sad, right? Well sad no more.
After some proper vet care and some much-needed TLC, this little girl will be ready for her forever home! Annie is great with dogs, cats and even babies. I tested her out on mine. Do you have space in your heart and home for this little orphan Annie? Please feel free to share her story with your friends…
The Mini-Pin meets a Great Dane.
This story and your previous post brought tears to my eyes! I would love to know how you talked the owner out of relinquishing Annie… and do you work there? Or just nearby it?
I very much want to get involved in dog rescue (particularly corgi rescue) but as we currently have three dogs and are downsizing to an apartment I don’t see getting to do that anytime soon. But in the meantime I’m active with CorgiAid and do my best to pass information about dogs that need homes to the folks I know (i.e. all my vet tech friends) so I’ll definitely send this link to folks I think that will be able to help, although I don’t really know anyone in the New York area so I don’t know how you feel about long-distance adoptions.
On a lighter note, I finally posted some pictures of me and my new do’ on my blog.
I also had an earlier post asking about milk substitutes and I couldn’t remember if you are a vegetarian or vegan? Either way, if you have any good ideas I would love to hear them!
Hey Kira! So I’m standing at the intake counter at ACC and Annie’s owner is dragging her begrudgingly through the front doors. She actually got out of her harness, which was too loose on her, and ran around the parking lot scared out of her mind. They caught her and then brought her in and I could tell they were hemming and hawing about leaving her there. So I told them the truth. Which is that there’s no guarantee that she would get adopted. That it’s a kill shelter that euthanizes anywhere from a dozen to two dozen dogs a day. I think it also helped that I gave them my phone number and told them to go home and think about it and to call me if they reallllly wanted to go through with it. I don’t work at the shelter, but I have my own rescue group which is approved to pull animals out of there for rescue and adoption. All I know about breed-specific rescue is that they start out saving these dogs from puppy mills. They build a reputation for themselves and city-run shelters give them first dabs if that specific animal comes into the shelter.
Can’t wait to check out the new do. I HATE that I can’t subscribe to your blog. I would like it very much if I could add your blog to my reader and I cannot. I can only get email updates of your posts and that’s not what I want. Do you know why this is? To answer your question, I am vegetarian and use plain soy milk for pretty much everything that one uses milk for. I tried almond milk as it is healthier but I can’t get past each sip tasting like a handful of almonds less the salt so I pretty much just stick to soy. xoxo
As far as breaking vows goes, I think you picked a good one! 😉 I hope Annie finds a forever home soon. She looks like such a sweet girl.
I hope she finds a good home soon!