Why we do this

I haven't gotten a chance to really lay out here why me and Sam have decided to rescue dogs, just for sheer lack of time and energy (rescuing + a full time job + life is serious business!) but this girl has just laid it out in a poignant way that I hope I'll be able to do someday.  Dogs are being put down every day simply for lack of space (and many times, they're put down quite cruelly).  But really, how much space do they take up?  A spot for a bed to sleep in and some food to eat.  A moment or two during the day to play with you.

I say that at the risk of sounding overly dramatic -- I'm not the type of dog person that is under the impression that "my dogs are like my children" or "I like my dogs better than humans."  They're dogs.  But if you could give them a second chance at life, why wouldn't you?

Go here for a pretty accurate portrayal of the way things work in the rescue business.

P.S.  Pepper's lookin' pretty great, and I'll be back with an update on her in the next few days!

Pepper's Progress: Week 3

Every day that we have Pepper, the more attached we become (but no worries, 2 BTs is plenty for us!).  She's now finding her stride when it comes to potty training, and Toby and Olivia have finally warmed up to her constant begging for their attention. (she literally wouldn't leave them alone until they played/cuddled with her, so now they just give in right away :) )

I've got a lot of pictures of her to get through, here, but here are some notes of her progress, first.  Her scabs are almost completely gone.  Her skin has almost completely returned to it's normal, not-flaming-red-scaring-ppl-at-the-dog-park state, and in the patches where she lost hair, it's visibly growing back in force.

where there was none, now there is some.

Due to the amazing Labor Day weather, we all packed up in "The Hot Burp" to head to the dog park.  The Hot Burp is our second car that is reserved for such potentially stinky and messy occasions as moving furniture and carting the dogs around.  Thanks to my sister Lauren for the name, inspiration for which was drawn from the Oldsmobile's red velvet interior and the fact that the AC is broken.

  

Pepper giving O the stink eye.

T and O are dogs of the "hang your head out the car window" variety...

...of which Pepper is not, so she didn't have the best seat in the house...

Sorry Peps!

Toby and Olivia always know right away what's up when we get in The Hot Burp.

Peps doesn't understand the significance of this outing yet.  All she knows is she has some tail in her face.  

Off we go!

After a summer of record heat, and on the first day of 75 degree weather, needless to say, the park was packed.

This was Pepper's second trip to this park, and she was surprisingly laid back and confident for an 8 month old puppy!

She, T & O made some friends with tons of other dogs...

....and even some humans!

We were lucky enough to run into Tom and Becca at the park, who are new owners of an adorable labradoodle named Luther.

Pepper was such a hit that some nice ladies even offered to give her, T & O their very own stylish bandanas.

Ole blue eye got a perfect color match!

And O got one to match her collar.  I love how that color pops against their black fur.  Rumor is these same nice ladies might be making some "adopt me!" for future rescues -- I'll keep you posted!  

Shwew!  Well, that was a lot of pictures for one trip to the dog park!  But we were there for quite some time, revelling in the sunshine!  Me and Toby even went on a bike ride after we got home, soaking up the last of the Labor Day goodness.  As far as Peps is concerned, I think in about two weeks, she'll be as good as new and hopefully will have someone waiting to adopt her.  Are you interested in bringing her into your life?  I think Peps would be happiest in a family with a kids and a stay at home dad or mom that could keep her busy 24/7!  Comment below or email me to get more details about the adoption process.

Pepper's Progress

Welcome back to Week Two of Pepper's rescue makeover!  Pepper has had quite a week making new friends and learning new tricks!  She's starting to heal, but had another hump to get over before the hard times were done for good -- getting spayed.  The procedure went well, but it put her out of commission for a day or so.  But now she's back at em, so let's see how she's improved!  Make sure you take a look at pictures from last week to get a good idea of what's changed.

After just one week with us, Pepper's already making the transformation back into a puppy.

Though her scars are still there.  After the second dip, her scabs have all but disappeared and the redness is gone, but her skin is still patchy, and in places like her neck and face, very rough.  Hopefully by the time she's done with treatment, that won't be the case.

Pepper and Sam share a moment...

But Olivia, ever vigilant and just a tiny bit possessive, keeps a close eye on the new girl in town.

One of Pepper's favorite pastimes is to keep an eye on the birds out on our porch.  However, with the temps over 100, she doesn't get to stay out there very long!

I don't care who you are, this picture has to make you smile a bit.

It still hurts to look at her though.  As Sam would say, she is starting to look more like she lost a fight with a razor instead of a fight with a lawn mower.

Pepper looking a little wet after her second dip treatment.  You can already see that the places where she has hair are starting to grow in thicker and more evenly.  But she still has a ways to go.

She sure has that head tilt on tap!

I might start posting bi-weekly updates on Pepper, depending on how quickly the healing process goes.  Either way, check back here for Pepper updates as well as some posts on rescues past!  I can't wait for you to meet some of the sweet pups we've helped to find new homes.

Meet Pepper

As I promised, I'm bringing you a post today about my brand new foster puppy, (Yes, puppy! She's only 8 months old) Pepper. Or Pepper Potts, or Paprika, or Paprikash (Any "When Harry Met Sally" fans out there?) or Patches, or the myriad other names I call her. This lucky girl came with her cute name, but Patches, as you will soon see, might be more fitting for her.

(A heads up to you now -- the photos below of Pepper aren't very pretty! There's no gore or anything, but she's got a skin problem and if you have a weak stomach, you might want to skip this one. If not, read on!)

See, the reason Pepper was surrendered to us was because Pepper had a severe case of demodex, or as it's more commonly known, mites. Her owner couldn't afford the treatment, so she surrendered her to us.

And are we glad she did! We immediately took P to the vet and got all of her shots taken care of, in addition to getting her dipped (she has 4 dips to go before she'll be completely healed of the mite infestation) and getting her medication (as a result of the mites being untreated, she contracted a bacterial infection on most of her skin).

When Pepper first came to me on Saturday, she was extremely timid and seemed very exhausted. After our visit to the vet, she curled up on the couch and slept for hours. But once she got her nap, her medicine and some food in her, she turned into a puppy again! She does the adorable puppy run that we all know and love, and she loves to wrestle and play with Toby and Olivia. She's already mastered "sit" and "stay," and follows me when I go to get the mail.

Pepper's a good dog that got caught in a bad situation, but I'm so glad she's here now! Pepper will be available for adoption in about a month, once she's all healed up. During that time, I'm going to share some photos of her with you, and we can track her healing progress together on a weekly basis so you can see some of the good work that the Boston Terrier Rescue of North Texas does (they paid for all of the vet bills, and will also pay to have her spayed next month!). It's also a good way to demonstrate that a lot of dogs come to us, young and cute and healthy like Maggie and Buster, but more often than not, there's a little recovery involved for these poor pups! But if you put in the time and the love, you'll get a best friend in the end. (So cheesy! But it's true.)

So let's take a look at Pepper as she is now (but hopefully won't be for long).

Is this Pepper? Not yet! But I took a photo of Pepper to Pixelmator to draw out a cartoonish idea of what Pepper might look like in about a month! Please excuse the rendition, it was my first time and I'm no graphic designer. On to the real Pepper!

It's easy to see how infected Pepper is, but especially when she's laying next to healthy-as-a-horse Olivia. Maybe soon they'll start looking more alike.

There's a whole lot of CUTE under all of that RED!

Here's the before. Check up a few photos for the after!

The vet said that Pepper's mite problem was worse than the illustration in his handbook!

She may be a little beat up, but she still has that adorable "Huh?" puppy move down.

Check back here for more updates on Pepper and life at Brooklynne Boston! I'll be posting a weekly assessment of her recovery in addition to regular updates of goings-on around here!

Happy Trails

My second foster was a little different than my first. Meet Buster. Well, actually, when he came to me, his name was Tennessee, which was kind of a mouthful, albeit cool, so I just called him Buster while he was with me.

Something I've learned about adopters is that they tend to want to change the adopted dog's name once they get them, almost invariably. So I just find a name that fits them (to me) in the mean time to get them used to being called a name they don't respond to :)

Buster definitely fit his name in that he was a bit of a handful. Buster was (I talk as if he's dead or something) as sweet as pie, but had a knack for getting into trouble. Not to mention that despite being 30 lbs, he had paws the size of a labrador's and was, thus, quite clumsy. Despite that, however, Buster's forte was climbing fences, one time escaping from a dog run and hi-tailing it into a nearby lake. But he was definitely fun to foster when he wasn't getting into actual trouble.

Btw, I hear his name has now been changed to Simon.

In other news, I got a new beach cruiser a couple of weeks ago and have been looking for new places to take it. Toby and I snooped around a little and found this awesome bike trail. It winds through the woods, goes across grassy plains, and crosses over big, awesome-looking bridges.

Even though the trail was cool, it was still pretty freaking hot out (no pun intended). You can see how ridiculous it was by Toby's face. He's like, "Wth, I'm standing here in 100 degree heat and you're taking PICTURES?!" Toby sounds a lot like my husband Sam, sometimes.

Toby and I found a little stream at the end of the bike trail, so we took a minute to cool off before turning back around to go home.