Obama Family Dog – Rescue Information

Dedicated to Dr. Frank Wolf

Thank you for your love of animals, and helping me not only see my potential but reach for my dreams with The Fetch Foundation

It has taken me several weeks to write this story, and it will take me even longer to write it or tell it without tears being shed.  As many of you know I am an animal lover to the extreme.

24 Days ago after a weekend spent volunteering at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary my mom and I were driving back from Utah.  Both happily exhausted from our weekend of physical activity at the gorgeous Utah facility we drove down through Page, AZ and through the reservation.  It was there on a desolate stretch of highway a hundred miles from nowhere that lives would be changed forever.  Mom was driving and busy hwy 89 was humming with semi trucks and speeders rushing to there destinations.  I heard moms breathe intake a second before I saw the little brown puppy dart in and out of traffic.

Mom hurled the mini van across traffic to the opposite side of the hwy and I jumped out running while it was still in motion armed with nothing but a bag of Bugles.  Yelling directions at my mom (I am a bit of a take charge kinda person)  “Get a leash”  “Bring some food”  I yelled as mom rushed back to the mini van to grab what was needed.  I watched in horror as the pup was almost run down 5-6 times by other vehicles until I decided to step out onto the highway.  Sad but people will stop for a person and not an animal.  My only goal when I came on the pup was to get her off the road.

We could catch her later.  She was so scared and she kept running onto the road and then back to a tall patch of grass.  I couldn’t catch her and I couldn’t figure out what she was doing.  And then I saw her… In the patch of tall grass there was another dog.  Just laying there.  My heart dropped and my hands flew to my face.  Her head slowly turned and looked at me with such sadness.  My mind was racing,  I assumed she had been hit and her back end had been crushed or ??? even worse.  What were we going to do?  We can’t leave her here, we can’t move her,  and there is nothing around for miles and miles.  At this point mom is about 30 feet away and has stopped dead in her tracks from the look of horror on my face.  I will urge you to ask her to describe this look as I am sure I cannot do it justice.  I approach the dog in the grass and she wags her tail pathetically I offer her a Bugle and she gently takes it.  The puppy will not eat out of my hand but she will eat if I throw the chips in her direction.  By now we are only about 3 feet off the road and the cars are still going 80 miles an hour past.  Mom has kicked into overdrive and ran to meet me on the scene.  She has brought pizza and bread sticks!  I am focused on the dog in the grass her feet are gigantic and she has no hair at all on the underside of her.  Her face is gashed and she is missing hair on patches of her back.  Both her eyes and her feet are oozing green pusey fluids and she has managed to sit up for a half a second to eat a Bugle.  The pup is running around and both are COVERED in ticks so big that they look like growths, between their toes, behind their ears,  just all over.  Mom is running around looking like and madwoman trying to pick up the wiggling puppy.

I have eyes only for the dog in the grass.  Her underside is so bare I am wondering if she is the puppy’s mom.  I just keep feeding her Bugles and pizza (she liked the Bugles better).  Mom has now coaxed the little one close enough and grabbed the little pup right up into her arms.  The problem is the mini van is too far away.  Mom hands me the puppy whose hair is so thin and just the right color that she looks like a tiny orangutan.  Mom runs break neck speed back to the van (I swear I can’ even run as fast as she did that day).  She drives that mini van like it is a silver bullet and speeds closer to us.  When she comes back I give her the little monkey and it is now time to see if the grass dog can move coaxing her with string cheese.  She stands and wags her tail and sits. Walks a step and then sits.  We repeat this several times until I realize she is not physically hurt.  She was dyeing.  She had stopped on the side of the road and chosen that patch of grass to just lay down and die.  She was malnourished beyond comprehension, dehydrated and quite possibly her organs were failing.  At the risk of being bit I gave up on the string cheese and picked her up.  She was a bag of bones and she just let me carry her to the car.  Mom and I settled them in the van and I got out the best weapon in my arsenal…my cell phone.

My first call went out to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, All I could do was leave a message.  Next was a text out to Joey Ogburn at The Luv Shack Ranch.  This is the text that saved their lives.  I remembered that Joey and I had been on a rescue 3 months ago that had included 6 dogs, and although I had never met the woman responsible I knew that someone had arranged care for those dogs.  All that was left to do was wait.  In less than an hour Joey had contacted Marie Peck of The Fetch Foundation and she had arranged medical treatment for both of the dogs!  It is important to know the The Fetch Foundation is NOT an animal rescue,  she was doing this just because it is the right thing to do!  In that long 4 hour drive back to Phoenix, those 2 precious souls slept the sleep of the dead.  We worried and fretted the entire way to the arranged location.

Once at Animal Health Services in Cave Creek, AZ we met with Marie.  What a firecracker!  Both dogs were hustled into the back and looked over and given fluids and antibiotics and every other conceivable medical treatment.  Marie went in the back with her high powered camera and came back to tell us she had named the girls Page and Pickles!  We had some new information as well… Page (the older dog from the grass that we thought was the mom)  was not a mom, and was only 8 months old herself!  Marie braced us for the very real possibility that Page might not make it through the night.  She had mange so bad she had become septic.  She quite possibly had tick fever, Lyme disease and was so dehydrated her organs may not be functioning.  Little Pickles would likely make it, but would suffer greatly at the loss of her friend.  They would spend the night being observed and hours upon hours of the dedicated staff at Animal Health Services removing every tick from their skinny little bodies.  Again,  all we could do was wait.

Mom and I were exhausted and the one question on our minds was would Page make it through the night.  In our exhausted states we went home and didn’t sleep at all.  The next morning I got a call from Marie bright and early.  Page had made it! Her mange was NOT contagious but Page was still very sick.  Both needed to be kept ANOTHER night for more treatment.  I stopped by that night just to see them,  I was amazed that they remembered me.  I sat down on the floor in that room and cried.  Page could still only stand for a few seconds before she was tired.  Imagine an 8 month old puppy so tired and beat up that she curls up on the side of the road to die.  What she must think of this world.  And here she is wagging her tail happy to see me.

The next day was a big day for us.  No one had come forward to foster the dogs as of yet.  Marie had put out an email and as the community rallied around these 2 she had raised the money to pay the vet bill, but in the end, they were going home with mom.  Her house already filled with 4 dogs she had not yet wrapped her head around this but her gigantic heart filled with compassion for these 2 lost souls in need.  Over the next couple of days the pups seem to gain strength by the gallons and even started to play!  My mom had now accepted that she would be the foster for a little while and embraced the little imps.  As the email network of The Fetch Foundation, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and Facebook started to kick into gear the potential foster homes started to come in.  But none panned out.  Little Pickles went to see a couple of fosters and even stayed at one place for a night but in the end it just wouldn’t work out.  And as for Page… there just wasn’t any interest.  As the weeks wore on my mom and I got more attached and the pups got more energy, and oh so playful!  Most nights my mom actually falls asleep with little Pickles (she calls her “my sweet little gherkin” aka sweet pickle) on her chest on the couch and mom won’t go to bed until 1am because she is loath to put her down.  Amazingly both seem to be potty trained (Page a little more so than Pickles) and they play so hard it makes me cry to think if it wasn’t for every tiny little detail of that day…stopping to get gas…getting lunch…taking the tour at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary…every little detail that delayed us could have changed their lives forever.

Now you may be thinking this story is over, but you would be wrong.  In the course of this experience I somehow through tears of joy, tears of sorrow, chasing Mini Horses through the desert and begging people to help, I managed to get the attention of Marie the founder of The Fetch Foundation as a person of interest to her.  And after my overwhelmingly positive experience with her I had decided I wanted to help spread the message of The Fetch Foundation.  Here comes the truly life changing experience for me:  Remember the dedication?  Dr Frank Wolf?  Marie contacts me a mere week after I met her and only 4-5 conversations under our belt and says that there is a doctor that heard about our rescue and would like to help in a different way.  He would like to sponsor a ticket to a seminar in San Francisco that would help the foundation go to the next level.  And between him and Marie they have collectively decided that I would be the person that he would sponsor!  Understand this seminar would help The Fetch Foundation in ways they had never even imagined.  Just think of the generosity!

To wrap this up in a neat little bow for you, I have heard my name coupled with terms such as “marketing genius” “truly gifted” and even “powerhouse”  The word I would have used to describe myself was lost.  I hopped on a plane and headed for a seminar that I understood would continue my education in social media,  the reality was an education in partnerships.  After an energy charged weekend of me emotionally breaking down every time I told the Page and Pickles story and my moving NUMEROUS people to tears with the heartbreak of their reality 3 very positive outcomes prevailed:

1.  I am going to keep that precious dog Page that almost died on the side of the road

2.  My mom is keeping her little sweet Pickles that saved her best friend and we will have play dates all the time.

3.  I am going to dedicate myself to spreading The Fetch Foundation message in the community, throughout the state and across the country.

My mom and I may have found those 2 little pups that day but it was The Fetch Foundation that found the passion in me again.

A special thanks to Marie Peck at The Fetch Foundation.

If you would like to donate to the foundation please Donate Here

Follow The Fetch Foundation on Facebook:

Sherry L. Krueger

Please visit: http://www.playindangerously.com/Animal-Rescue-Stories/Life-Changing-Dog-Rescue.html for more information.

A yellow lab is rescued from the water after falling threw the ice! A man hears a dogs cry and finds it stuck in the icy waters of the Indian River! Theresa Fire Dept. responds and rescues the dog after several close calls of being swept under the ice by the currant!
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Question by klm63: What questions to ask a potential dog rescue?
I may adopt a 10 month old female Brussels Griffon that is a puppy mill rescue. What questions should I ask about the dog & rescue?

Best answer:

Answer by gary b
What type of conditions did the pup face. What condition was in in when rescued. Are there any temperment issues with the pup. Are there any behavioral issues with the pup. How long has the pup been in rescue. These are starter questions.

Add your own answer in the comments!

It is really sad to think of the number of dogs being put to sleep because they are battered, abused or simply unwanted.  These include a great number of dogs that would make excellent house pets and companions for someone.  When you think of getting a dog, why not consider one of these poor animals that are destined to die if no-one saves them.

Many dogs are abused by their owners, through lack of care (not getting enough food or water even) or through simple neglect (simply being tied up and left in a backyard and forgotten).  These poor creatures are starved not only for the essentials of food and water, but for companionship as well.  Sometimes caring neighborhood people will notice these neglected animals and report the owners to the SPCA or other animal agency.

In severe case, the SPCA will take the animals away and try to rehabilitate them into becoming adoptable.  Sometimes the animals can be saved in this manner, but too many times the dogs are beyond help and are tragically put to sleep.  The SPCA only has so much funding and resources for these poor neglected creatures. They can only do a fraction of what really needs to be done to help these animals.

Dog rescues work in somewhat the same way in that they try to rehabilitate the dogs into becoming adoptable and try to find homes for them, but they are often breed specific.  For instance, there are dog rescues that are specifically for Boxers or for Pit Bulls or for any other specific breed.

One type of dog rescue that you may not know about is for Greyhound dogs.  Typically Greyhounds are bred for racing.  When they become older and cannot run as fast, or start to lose races, these dogs are often discarded by the owners because they are not profitable anymore.  A dog rescue geared for Greyhounds will take these animals under their care and try to find suitable homes for them.

Other dog rescues will take animals that have been abused and are somewhat disabled.  The SPCA often will not be able to find homes for these types of dogs because most people don’t want to bother looking after a pet that may need a bit more care.  Dog rescues will help find homes for these disabled animals as well.  Recently there was a case of a totally blind Boxer that needed a home, and a Boxer dog rescue centre was able to place him with a loving family.  If that family had not taken that dog, he may have been euthanized.  Instead, he is able to live a good life with a family who has gained a lovely companion.

If you are thinking of getting a dog, you may want to check out the dog rescues in your area.  Often you will be able to get a breed of dog that you like (for a lot less money than paying for a pure-bred puppy).  You will get a loving pet and you will also have the satisfaction of knowing that you have probably saved a dog’s life.

Choose life for a battered, abused or unwanted dog.  Check out the dog rescues in your area and save a dog.

Question by Ricky H: Dog Rescue?
Is there a place in ohio that rescues lab mix’s. She has a small problem sometimes with bitting and she is getting aggresive and I know we have to deal with it. But she is a sweet dog and if I could find a her a place[t really bothers me if it comes to putting her down. I’ve spoken to trainer but he says it might have to be,but my kids would not understand and really be hurt. Can you help me please and find a solution. Parent and animal lover in really in pain!

Best answer:

Answer by roy_marzoed
Just throw your dog to professional trainer. She will be fine.

Give your answer to this question below!
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