Red and the gang : East Lubbock rescue run

Thank you everyone for the kind comments on the canvases.  Grace’s dad picked up the one of her today and I think he was pretty pleased.  On a less happy note, this week Ken and I joined some others from the HSWT at a home on the east side of town to help a woman with over twenty dogs.  This gal actually called us while we were at Petsmart on Saturday requesting help with some puppies.  She said a stray had given birth to a litter a few weeks ago and wasn’t showing interest in feeding them.  One of our volunteers agreed to pick up some puppy food to take to her and to help her see if the puppies were big enough to try eating mush.  When she got out there, she realized that we needed to help this woman with much more than just these puppies.

She lives outside town, relatively close to an area shelter.  When this shelter is full (and even when its not) she says folks just dump their dogs out and leave them to run wild.  This woman lives in a tiny house all by herself, and her only income is a social security check… $66 dollars a month.  And yet here she was, trying her best to keep all these dogs fed.  Surprisingly, most of them (with the exception of the nursing mothers) looked fairly well fed.  Clearly, she was sacrificing her own well being to help dogs that others had abandoned.  In the last week, she has put up several large, makeshift kennels, using tarps and plywood to give the animals shade.  She did this all by herself, with no assistance from anyone.

We took her enough dog food to last her a while and some flea and tick spray for everyone.  We also wormed everyone we could get a hold of, and several of our volunteers headed back last night to take those dogs they could catch to get their rabies shots.  A local groomer/boarder picked up both litters of puppies and took them to their kennels where they agreed to care for them until they are old enough to be adopted out.

Now, meet the dogs…

This is Red, a lab mix and recent mother to nine puppies.  She is very sweet, but incredibly timid. Red was dumped so we don’t know her exact age or story but she looks to be rather young.

This is Blondie, a yellow lab mix and mom to a litter of seven puppies.  Blondie is probably older than Red, but not much.  She too was dumped.

Ladybird is a shorthaired pointer mix.  She is the shyest of them all, and my personal favorite.

Little girl is a lucky girl.  She has a home all lined up and is just waiting for them to come pick her up.

Radar (left) and Pakito (right) are chihuahua mixes of some sort that have also been dumped.  Radar is rather skittish, but Pakito doesn’t mind having his ears scratched a bit.

Throwaway (top) is a 4-5 year old GSD mix who was hit by a car and rescued by this gal.  He is not a fan of vehicles, for obvious reasons, but loves people.    Cotton (bottom) is a beautiful, white GSD.    She was shot in the chest at some point in the past and is a bit touchy about the area where she was hit. She is at around 5 years old and nervous around people, but with some time and a lot of love, she will warm up.

This guy is a handsome pit mix, whose name I forgot to write down.  He can be somewhat aggressive so he will likely stay with his current owner.  But he’s handsome so I wanted to post him anyway

Pigtail is red pitbull with a curly(ish) tail.  He is comical and sweet, and he loves to wrestle with Ladybird.

Cutie Pie is a 3 year old black lab.  She’s a bit overweight, and needs more exercise than she can get in her kennel.  She is incredibly sweet and loves people.

And lastly, just for some happy, cuteness… the little guy on the left is one of Red’s pups and the little guy on the right was just running around.  I never got the story on him, but he’s awfully precious.

Tomorrow morning, I am heading out there to pick up Ladybird, Cutie Pie, Red, and Blondie to take them to our adoption event at Gander Mountain.  We are desperately hoping that we can find them some good homes.  We have Throwaway and Pooh Girl listed with a GSD rescue group in Texas, but their fosters are full and they aren’t able to help us with housing.  Radar, Pakito, and Pigtail will continue to stay on her property until we free up some resources to help them out or until we find some place to put them.  The black pit mix, as well as two other large dogs that are somewhat aggressive are going to stay with the owner.