Rudy’s Blog

This started out as a blog in Rudy’s voice.  But that was two weeks before he was diagnosed with cancer, and one week before his cancer was diagnosed as soft tissue sarcoma, a fast moving cancer.  This blog is now in his mother’s voice.

My Rudy was a shelter dog.  My previous dog of 17 years had just died, and I was devastated.  I would come home from work and no huge fur ball was there to knock me down with joy and love because I was home.  Every time I crossed the threshold of my door after her death, I fell apart; she was not there to greet me.  So I started looking for another “Nickie”.  I found “Rudy” instead, online at a shelter in Lancaster (of all places).  Actually his name was “Spike”, but after I adopted him, I renamed him.  He just looked like a Rudy (not a Spike).  I saved him one day before he was to be put down, but really, he saved me.

Rudy is the smartest, sweetest and most gentle dog I know.  He led me home when i lost the trail, stopped me from crossing the path of a bear, and protected our campsite from squirrels.  He’s a therapy dog who comforts retirees, alzheimer’s patients and homeless children. He’s the furry love of my life.

Shelter dogs are the best.  They are so scared, lonely and heartbroken when you find and adopt them.  They spend the rest of their lives showing their love and gratitude.

Could ‘No Kill’ For Shelter Cats And Dogs Be Policy By 2025?

 Neonatal kittens at Best Friends Animal Society’s kitten nursery.

 

A coalition of animal-rescue organizations led by the Best Friends Animal Society based in Kanab, Utah, is aiming to bring the nation to “no kill” status for shelter cats and dogs by the year 2025.

Next week, a new pet adoption center will open in Soho in New York City to intensify no-kill efforts in that city and to bring attention to the national initiative.

The term “no kill” means different things to different people. Some shelters can euthanize up to 10 percent of their animals for reasons of health and temperament and still be considered “no-kill.”

In a telephone call last week, Best Friends co-founder and CEO Gregory Castle said that in terms of the 2025 goal, the aim is to save 90 percent of dogs and cats in U.S. animal shelters from being killed. Based on a county-by-county survey done by Best Friends, Castle estimates the current save rate to be about 69 percent.

I think the 90 percent figure is important to dwell on for a moment, because, judging from what I know of the animal-rescue movement, it’s both an ambitious goal and a realistic one. A 100 percent no-kill rate would be terrible for cats and dogs, because some inevitably arrive to shelters ill enough or badly injured enough to make euthanasia the kindest and most ethical alternative.

But euthanasia, meaning “good death,” isn’t the right term to apply to most shelter deaths for dogs and cats, which are killed because good homes can’t be found for them. That’s where the new national push comes in.

In our conversation, Castle cited what he called the “cause cooperation model” as key to the new initiative. “A major part of our strategy,” he said, “is to lead coalitions of organizations, so that the effectiveness of the animal welfare community within a particular area is maximized.”

Los Angeles is a good example of a city whose no-kill numbers are not far off from 90 percent because of such a model. New York City is another, as we’ll see in a moment.

I asked Castle, what specifically is going to get the national rate up to 90 percent? He cited several action areas:

— Reducing the number of cats and dogs going into the shelters in the first place, primarily through spay-neuter programs.

— Intensive caring of kittens born to feral, community cats and brought into shelters by concerned people or animal control officers. These kittens need, in addition to spay-neuter and vaccination services, to be bottle-fed and socialized so that they’re suitable for adoption.

— Working to overturn what Castle calls “the undeserved reputation of pit bull terrier type dogs” for aggression and “showing them as the great pets they can be.”

The soon-to-open adoption center in New York City will model all these efforts. Its kitten nursery, for instance, will be viewable through a glass wall to visitors, including potential adopters.

Risa Weinstock is president and CEO of Animal Care Centers of NYC, or ACC, which across its five facilities takes in about 30,000 cats and dogs annually in its mission to end animal homelessness in New York City. Weinstock is on the front lines of the animal-shelter system, as her 2015 description of ACC’s scope makes clear:

“We are the only organization [in NYC] that accepts every animal brought to it, whether the animal has been abandoned, surrendered, found as a stray, brought in by the public, NYPD, or our field rescue team, and regardless of age, health status, breed, species or condition.”

I asked Weinstock by email about the feasibility of the nation going 90 percent no-kill by 2025 for shelter dogs and cats. Her answer (reported here in part) highlights both the goal’s importance, and equally, how critical it is to think beyond adoption alone:

“The goal of adopting/placing every healthy and treatable dog and cat is widely accepted as a best practice in animal welfare. ACC’s placement rate in 2016 was 89.1 percent, and is at 94 percent as of February 2017, but as with all open admissions shelters, that number can swing dramatically depending on animal intake, facility constraints and financial resources.

Certainly placement/adoption of dogs and cats is part of our strategy to end animal homelessness and to that end we work with Best Friends along with over 300 adoption partners. However, adoptions alone won’t solve the problem of animal homelessness.

It is not just about reducing euthanasia by increasing adoptions; the only way to effect real change is to address its root causes and what drives our intake of 35,000 animals annually. ACC has incorporated programs that not only advance adoptions, we have also added programs that help families and their pets stay together; target low-income areas where many strays are born; and provide surrender prevention community outreach like food pantries, behavior counseling, low cost medical referrals and vouchers, and vaccine clinics to keep the community healthier and safer. It is our collective progress that should be the ultimate barometer of the work we do on behalf of NYC’s homeless animals.”

Through my conversations with Castle and Weinstock, I realized that two things can be true at once.

Reaching for a quantitative goal — the 90 percent national no-kill status in this case — can be exciting and empowering. It gives everyone a target to shoot for and steps to track along the way. It’s important and deserves our full support.

Yet the very term “no kill” can be a fraught one, because it brings a laser-beam focus to the question of which animals remain alive.

That’s an extremely worthy focus, as I have noted. At the same time, quantity of lives saved without assurance of quality of those lives means very little.

Best Friends Animal Society and its organizational partners’ commitment to bothquantity and quality of animal lives are at the heart of this story. The individuals who work hard and creatively to ensure the physical and emotional well-being of cats and dogs at and beyond the point of adoption make all the difference.

What good — measured in both quantitative and qualitative terms — can a society achieve for its cats and dogs over the next eight years?

We’re about to find out.

Abused dog saves naked, abused toddler

An abused shelter dog with a “sixth sense” left quite an impression on her new owners after finding a naked toddler in a ditch in Michigan last week, prompting the removal of two girls from their “unsafe and unsanitary” home.

The dog, Petunia, was dropped off at the Delta Animal Shelter in Escanaba last April with two broken legs, a “belly full of carpet” and broken ribs. Recovered and renamed Peanut, the dog — whose last owner was convicted of animal abuse — was recently adopted and given a new chance at life before she saved two others, according to a Facebook post by shelter officials.

“She was running up and down the stairs, barking and yelping,” the dog’s new owner wrote to the shelter. “She then went and got my husband, who was in the garage working on some projects, and alerted him that she wanted to go outside.”

Peanut then dashed outside at “full speed” into a field behind the couple’s home, where the man found a “naked, shivering, 3-year-old girl curled up in a ball. He scooped her up, wrapped her in his sweatshirt, and brought her inside.”

The couple then called police to report the dog’s “sixth sense” discovery as they waited with the unidentified girl, who only had one thing to say as they waited for authorities to arrive: “Doggie.”

“Thanks to Peanut, a little girl’s life was saved today,” the post continued. “She has been such a blessing to us, and now to others. Words cannot express how grateful we are that we have Peanut in our lives and how amazing she is.”

The girl eventually was rescued Friday amid near-freezing temperatures near Rapid River in Michigan’s Delta County. Deputies found the girl’s parents after a search of the neighborhood and found their home to be “unsafe and unsanitary.” Employees from Child Protective Services later took custody of the girl and another young girl found in the home. Investigators have since referred their reports to prosecutors, MLive.com reports.

The Facebook post detailing Peanut’s unexpected find has been shared more than 2,500 times since Monday, garnering scores of responses from animal lovers around the country.

“Dogs truly are man’s best friend,” one post read. “Anyone abusing a helpless animal [needs] to be dealt with.”

Peanut’s new owner, meanwhile, is just happy to consider the dog the newest member of her family.

“She has truly been a blessing to our family and we love having her around,” the post read. “As you know, her background was so heartbreaking and we are so happy that we were able to take her into our home and give her the love and the family she deserves. However, I think she still has some ‘sixth sense’ about her past life that she has carried with her.”

Sled dogs save car stuck in snow

Getting towed has never been so cute.

A team of Alaskan sled dogs helped save a group of tourists who were checking out a scenic river near Fairbanks, Alaska, on Sunday when their SUV got stuck in the snow.

Musher Neil Eklund and his son were on their way home when they came across the hapless sightseers and called their nine dogs into action to pull the vehicle free, The Fairbanks Daily News Miner reports.

Eklund said he had never pulled a car out the snow with his dogs before, but they had plenty of power to free the SUV and send the tourists on their way.

“We all tugged and pushed,” he said. “The dogs had a lot of fun with it. When you have them all synced in unison, they can really pull.”

He added: “At least it’s a good story for them to tell when they go back home.”

The tourists with the SUV were taking a risk by driving to the Chena River area, Eklund said.

Eklund participated in the famed Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1981 and 1983.

Cars that have traveled on top of its frozen surface in recent years have fallen through, he said.

Friar dog adopted by monastery becomes online sensation

A sense of humor may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of a monastery, but it turns out some monks have a great one.

Photos posted to Facebook of a dog adopted by a Francisan monastery in Cochabamba, Bolivia, have gone viral. The poster, Kasper Mariusz Kapron OFM, wrote that his theology students started dressing the dog in traditional Franciscan garb as a “nice joke.” (OFM stands for the Order of Friars Minor, a Roman Catholic order commonly known as the Franciscans.)

Friar Bigoton (Moustache), aka Carmelo, as the pup is called, is pictured running through the monastery, peering into a pool and being cuddled by several monks.

St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of animals and the founder of the Franciscan order.

New app lets anyone report and get alerts about coyote sightings

You’re walking your dog early in the morning, when suddenly, she begins to growl. The fur rises on her neck. You look up and see a coyote trot across the street and disappear into a vacant lot. In the past, you might just have told your partner about what happened, or maybe posted it on Nextdoor, and that would be the end of it.

But now, you can pull out your phone and report your coyote encounter directly to scientists and wildlife agencies. And you can get email alerts when there other sightings in your neighborhood.

The “Coyote Cacher” is a mobile app designed by the University of California Cooperative Extension. It has two aims: to take the guesswork out of coyote management and to let people know about coyote activity nearby.

It’s the first goal that Niamh Quinn, the human-wildlife conflict advisor at the UC Cooperative Extension’s Orange County office is perhaps most excited about. She designed a series of questions the app prompts users to answer.

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” she said.

Right now, there is very little reliable data on coyote sightings, attacks on humans and pets or the coyote population in Southern California. That makes it difficult to know if attacks or aggressive behavior are actually the rise, as many claim, or if that is purely anecdotal.

In the absence of that data, Quinn said, it is hard to know the most effective way to respond.

Adopt a Pet and Save a Life

Each year, approximately 2 million dogs and cats are killed in our nation’s shelters. But it doesn’t have to be that way. An estimated 17 million people will add a new pet to their families this year. If more of them would choose to adopt a pet, instead of buying one, we could reduce the number of animals killed in shelters significantly.

Reasons to adopt a pet:

• You will save a life.
• If you adopt an adult pet, there’s a possibility you can avoid some of the hassles related to house-training and teething, which are associated with puppies and kittens. Of course, if you prefer a puppy or kitten, rescue groups and shelters have plenty of those available as well.
• You’ll save money because adoption costs less than buying an animal from a pet shop or breeder.
• Perfectly “perfect” animals of all breeds, shapes, ages and sizes are available at shelters and rescue groups. Just because an animal ends up there doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with them. They are just in need of a second chance.
• You just might meet your best friend.

Rudy’s Mom

This started out as a blog in Rudy’s voice.  But that was two weeks before he was diagnosed with cancer, and one week before his cancer was diagnosed as soft tissue sarcoma, a fast moving cancer.  This blog is now in his mother’s voice.

My Rudy was a shelter dog.  My previous dog of 17 years had just died, and I was devastated.  I would come home from work and no huge fur ball was there to knock me down with joy and love because I was home.  Every time I crossed the threshold of my door after her death, I fell apart; she was not there to greet me.  So I started looking for another “Nickie”.  I found “Rudy” instead, online at a shelter in Lancaster (of all places).  Actually his name was “Spike”, but after I adopted him, I renamed him.  He just looked like a Rudy (not a Spike).  I saved him one day before he was to be put down, but really, he saved me.

Rudy is the smartest, sweetest and most gentle dog I know.  He led me home when i lost the trail, stopped me from crossing the path of a bear, and protected our campsite from squirrels.  He’s a therapy dog who comforts retirees, alzheimer’s patients and homeless children. He’s the furry love of my life.

Shelter dogs are the best.  They are so scared, lonely and heartbroken when you find and adopt them.  They spend the rest of their lives showing their love and gratitude.