Today is the Terrible Iggy Dammit’s first birthday. A year ago today, he was born in a tiny dog house in a below freezing back yard of a dog hoarding mailman. He lost all but one of his siblings and got frostbite on his leg before he was rescued by a wonderful woman who saved the lives of Iggy, his mother, and one of his sisters. His first adoptive home was a disaster and he spent all his time either being beat up by a cat or confined to a crate. We were his second set of emergency foster parents. We failed miserably. It only took meeting him to make him realize that we were his new family.
Iggy and his sisters Ginger and Holly (our other adopted fuzzy kids) are the loves of our lives. They make our family complete and we can’t imagine life without any of them.
Iggy has come so far from the scared little puppy we met last spring. He is fighting Ginger for leader of the pack status but he also worships the ground she walks on. He loves to antagonize Holly but when he’s done being a butthead, he also loves to snuggle up to her and sleep. He’s a 25 pound lap dog who is happiest when he’s close to his family.
Iggy was probably a day or two away from death when Karen showed up at the mailman’s house to photograph his horde for Good Dog Rescue. She wasn’t authorized to foster Iggy’s family on behalf of the rescue but she took them anyway, knowing it was their only chance for survival. Good Dog Rescue agreed to take them into the family and made sure they got the medical care they needed.
I really can’t express how much I respect and appreciate Karen the foster mother, Mike from Good Dog, and the Good Dog foster mother who took care of my girls. So, all I can say is thank you from the bottom of my heart. The day Iggy came to us
What a happy ending! I love stories like this. Thanks for giving the doggies such a good home.
I’m just a few days short of having my Nathan for a year. He came from the shelter, given up by somebody when he was just seven months old. It was a Doper who gave me the name. Nathan is a dachshund “such a good hotdog!” I can’t imagine being without him either.
Cute dogs, congodwarf! Yay for failed fosters. I have one of those too; Deefer my Labradork.
I’ve been active in rescue/fostering whatever for…close to 20 years by now, I guess. Spent this afternoon pimping my current foster dog and several others at a pet store adoption event in town. Tomorrow morning early I’m heading out to help with a monthly low-cost spay-neuter transport.
The bestest, BESTEST thing ever in doing this is knowing an animal has gone to someone who loves it and will give it a good home. Seriously I know that sounds glurgy but it’s true.
I am not a hard-core rescue person and have nothing at all against people who purchase well-bred dogs from good breeders. But I really do with more people realised that most dogs and cats [del]dumped[[/del] left at shelters or with rescues are not fundamentally flawed or “worth” less; and that most are perfectly fabulous pets with the right family.
I just signed up yesterday to volunteer at a new horse rescue here in town. I went to their open house yesterday and absolutely fell in love with an 8 month old Appaloosa filly there. She was rescued from a kill buyer and is an absolute love, sucked up attention like a sponge taking water.
I don’t know if I am going to be able to swing adopting her…horses are a bit more pricy than a dog… but I am sure going to look into it.
I just adopted a brother/sister cat combo who were 8 months old and had been in foster care their whole lives. Thanks to the animal rescues who saved them from the street and to the fosters who were able to be so kind to them and then give them up (I could not have done that last part!) I really really admire all of you who work in animal rescue and animal care. Thanks and Happy Holidays to all of you. (Hopefully none of you are offended by the Holidays greeting.)
My girl KC was going to the pound if I hadn’t taken her. From the day she came here, we bonded. She hid behind the couch for a few hours and I let her be, but then I finally coaxed her out, pulled her into my lap and told her that she was a good girl and that if she allowed me to, I would love her. Then I gave her some food and tickled her belly and from that moment on, she has followed me around. (It was the food.)
She is the sweetest girl I have ever had and she listens like a dream. Even strangers on the trail remark how good she is and all the people who work at the vet’s office tell me how sweet she is. The vet says every single time I go in that she just loves to see the look on love in KC’s eyes when I come into the room.
She is a good girl and she has made my life better for being in it.
This is the single most common reason I hear why people think they can’t foster or help because they “won’t be able to give an animal up.”
Seriously, this is a bullshit excuse for not putting money where your mouth is, so to speak. The implication is that one is so soft-hearted that once an animal is in your care, you suddenly love it unconditionally and can’t comprehend that someone else could give it a better home than you could is illogical and selfish, IMHO. If you care enough to foster, do it. If you don’t, quit with the soft-hearted excuses and just be honest and say you don’t care enough.
Every rescue in the country is crying out for foster homes - the more we have, the more animals we can save. I’ve answered hundreds of phone calls from weeping people looking for a home for their pet and all I can tell them is “I am sorry, we don’t have anyone who can take your animal.” Because there are thousands of people who care more about their own feelings of attachment and loss than about actually DOING something. You think those of us who take in dogs and cats (or rabbits or whatever) care LESS than you? Seriously. We care MORE than you, it’s why we put our own feelings aside and do what is right.
KayT, I’m not directing this specifically to you but to everyone that says this sort of thing and you are legion…it comes across like a lame excuse for not taking concrete action; I hear it all the fucking time and it makes me :rolleyes: and I guarantee you it makes everyone who fosters and is involved with rescue crazy. We hate people who say “I would love to but I care too much!”
He and his wife weren’t cruel to him but were neglectful, as in only taking him out for a few minutes a day for toilet duties and never paying any attention to him.
The dog adopted me, I used to let him sleep on my bed and took him for long walks lasting hours, and play fetch.
I was genuinlly gutted when I had to leave the place due to work.
congodwarf, nothing makes rescue people happier than to know that one of their beloved fosters has found a good home. If you have time to write a letter to them, please send pictures. We (adoption people) love to show them around.
chiroptera hush! While I’m in agreement with you, you are maybe scaring potential foster familes. They aren’t saying that they care more than we do, they are saying that they don’t know how to handle their love.
They don’t know how good it feels to foster a litter of kittens and see them go off to good homes and then get another litter to save. They don’t know how good we feel when we read threads or letters like this. They probably do donate food and money to help us foster critters.
I’m great with kittens, I get to enjoy them bouncing around and then they get good homes. I’m not so good with old, sick, beat up cats. They tend to end up with me until they die.
The folks in my group are all the same, so we rotate them. It stops us from getting too attached and sometimes we find them a forever home.
To those people who are afraid to foster, that’s OK. Give us money. Give us your pocket change if that’s all you have. Give us pet food. Give us litter and thrift store blankets. Give us helping hands when we are trying to put up dog runs.
Tell us thank you. We do this out of love, but knowing that other people appreciate our efforts really does mean a lot.
Most of our critters have been rescues, three literally from off the streets. Going into Petco when they have adoption days is tough, but I’ve learned to resist. I’ll skritch the kittehs, then buy a raffle ticket or drop a couple of bucks in the donation jar. I’ve thought about fostering, but I’d be divorced before I could finish saying “Honey, I’d like to foster some cats.” It’s not that he hates cats - he’s just decided that the 2 current household felines are quite enough. In fact, I still get grief for bringing home the second one…
But hurray for those who can open their homes to poor little cats and dogs! Now if we could only persuade idiot owners to spay and neuter their critters, the need for fosters would drop off a bunch, I’m sure!
Chiroptera - I have 6 rescued dogs, 3 rescued cats and two rescued horses. Take me at my word when I say I can’t foster. I have provided 11 lifetime homes for animals.
