Bella and Buddy - An Amazing Story

I think this post is a must read for everyone.  It is long, but please read to the very end.  This is a subject that I am extremely passionate about and I think everyone will learn something by reading this.

2 weeks ago Scott and I went to my parents lakehouse on Lake Livingston.  When we got there, we saw 2 precious puppies that were extremely emaciated wandering around.  Someone had dumped them!  Lily and Richie so graciously shared their large breed dog food with these small pups.  They ate as if they had never eaten before.  It was so sad.  They tummies were bloated from being starved and they were extremely skiddish at first.  When they realized that the 3 big monsters weren't mean, and us humans were full of hugs and pets, they came around and soon we all were friends.  We fed them all weekend.  We didn't know names so we were calling them Little Girl and Little Boy.  The little girl had a tick in her ear that we removed.  Both were just infested with fleas.  It was so sad.  Jennifer and I sat out on the porch and just picked them off, but as fast as we were killing them, more were coming to the surface.  By that Sunday, their protruding bellies had strunk to a more normal size, and they each got a bath and flea preventative put on them.  The fleas were disappearing.  All weekend we were trying to find a no kill shelter or rescue that would take them.  The problem is, all of these rescues are full and just can not accept any other dogs.  Jennifer actively volunteers for Golden Beginnings Golden Retriever Rescue, where we rescued both Lily and Richie.  Because of her connections, she was put in touch with several rescues who were working with her to put these two precious pups in a shelter to be adopted out.  CAPS of Houston is not a no kill shelter, but they do keep dogs longer than most before euthanizing them.  A lady with a rescue in Lufkin put Jennifer in touch with them, and they agreed to take them.  So it was all settled, on Monday, my mom and Jen were going to take Little Girl and Little Boy to CAPS to then be placed in a forever home.

Puppies sleeping

Little Boy with a Toy

Little Girl with a Ball

Monday came and went and I didn't hear anything.  I figured that was a good thing.  I was really attached to Little Girl and really wanted to take her home with me.  So I thought that my sister was sparing me the heartache of telling me that they were taken to the shelter.  Tuesday came around and I got an email from Jen.  Turns out, they took both of the pups to the shelter but Jennifer didn't want to sign the euthanization form.  This just states that they reserve the right to euthanize the dog if they feel necessary.  Jennifer made the guy promise that if that was to be an option, they would call before they put them to sleep.  After all, they were puppies and shouldn't have any trouble finding a forever home.   The problem was that Little Girl had a sore on her front leg.  The vet at the shelter looked at it and thought it was a fungus... a very contagious fungus that while easily treatable, the shelters just don't have the time to deal with that when there are other puppies that need nothing done to them as far as treatments.  They were going to put her down.  The guy that Jennifer had talked to called her and told her what their plan was.  She started crying and she and my mom went back there the very same day and took both of them home.  We were not going to let these sweet babies be euthanized.

So, long story somewhat shortened, we are fostering the pups until we can find forever homes.  We decided to come up with a more suitable name and they are now Bella and Buddy.  The fungus is treated very easily by bathing and dipping her once a week for 4 weeks.  We are into the 3rd week of taking care of these precious babies and what a simple treatment.  It stinks, but her sore is better and Bella and Buddy are growing fast.

Buddy on the Left and Bella on the Right

Buddy Left & Bella Right sleeping after playing super hard

I know that many think that they have to get a pure breed and they pay lots of money to do so.  But please, for everyone out there, please look into rescuing a dog.  All 3 of our dogs are pure breeds and 2 were rescued.  Lily was an owner turn in and Richie was left tied up in a back yard after the family moved.  Just because they came from a rescue doesn't make them any less of a wonderful pet.  AND PLEASE, don't buy from puppy stores without doing research.  Many pet stores get their dogs from puppy mills which is absolutely awful.  They are mass breeding facilities that are in awful condition.  For those who don't know what goes on at puppy mills read below from The Humane Society (stoppuppymills.org)

"...dogs who live their entire lives in cages and are continually bred for years, without human companionship and with little hope of ever becoming part of a family. These dogs receive little or no veterinary care and never see a bed, a treat or a toy. After their fertility wanes, breeding animals are commonly killed, abandoned or sold to another mill. The annual result of all this breeding is hundreds of thousands of puppies, many with behavior and/or health problems. "

Please watch the following video from Oprah's show last year on Puppy Mills... scroll to start at 4:00 if you just want to see the portion on puppy mills... it's all good, but that's the most important part.

Source:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km1_h7eGiKU

Here is an example of what Puppy Mills look like:

http://www.monroehumane.org/news/article.php?id=251

If you do go through a breeder, make sure they know what they are doing.  A professional breeder will work to breed out hip displaysia and other known problems associated with dogs.  Some people think that it is just fun to breed animals... there is such an over population of dogs that we do not need to breed animals just because.  Also inbreeding is a huge problem.  Dixie, one of our dogs was inbred...  we of course didn't know it until after we got her paperwork, but she has skin problems, ear problems among others that had the breeder we used been licensed, they wouldn't not have allowed that.  We wouldn't trade Dixie for anything, but people are allowing things like this to happen when they could easily be prevented.

There is way too much information out there for people to allow all of this to continue.  Please help in doing something about it.  Before you consider just breeding to make some money, consider those animals that are being euthanized every day because there is such an overpopulation of animals.

Below are some Dog Rescues in Texas: 

• www.austinrescue.com/
• www.bluedogrescue.com/
• www.dogpack.com/directory/txnokill.htm
• www.operationkindness.org/
• www.goldenretrievers.org/
• www.gbgrr.org/testweb/index.htm  -- This is where we adopted Richie and Lily from

There are so many more.  I literally just typed Dog Rescue Texas. If you are interested in a certain breed, just type the dog breed + Rescue + where you are.  So easy.  Please help these innocent creatures by giving them a good home.  Let's help to stop irresponsible breeding and stop the Puppy Mills!

I know that this post is sad, but for so many dogs it can have a very happy ending.   Please take this to heart and consider saving an animal!