A FLOWER BLOOMS AND BECOMES THE MOON

Lily was one the recent group of bostons BTRNC rescued from a puppy mill "bust". Her foster mother thought she was the most timid of the group. Lily had not had the opportunity to experience all the wonderful things about a family, a warm bed, a house and unconditional love. Her foster Mom worked with her and slowly she began to trust.

Along came a wonderful family who fell in love with Lily from our website and asked to adopt her. One application and a home visit later, Lily came home for good. No longer timid, but embracing the world with the courage that comes from love and safety, she was renamed Luna which means moon in Spanish. Instead of a soft white flower which only blooms at certain times of the year, she is the moon shining bright every day and night. Luna has her own page on My Space and her own blog. She now enjoys hiking and painting. Luna recently enjoyed "holding" the painters tape for her Mom while she was painting! Luna has a canine brother Scrapper who protects her and is also good to blame when cookies go missing!

Luna is another example of why we rescue and why we have the strength to keep on! Luna is a very lucky little girl and we hope her light shines for a very very long time!

EVEN THE MOST SEASONED FOSTER MOM CAN FALL

Fall in love that is, with that one special foster who convinces Mom can he or she is already home.

Meet Elaine, one of our "back bone" volunteers who is always willing to drive, attend, fund raise and of course foster. Elaine has fostered more fur babies in the last 5 years than the Boastful Boston could ever try to count. Along the way, she has served as sanctuary for the un-adoptable and whelped a few litters of puppies. All in a days work, she would tell you. There is always room for just one more on a temporary basis.

Now meet Terri, the little girl that came to Elaine's house and never left. Can you blame her - just look at that face.

Terri came into rescue mostly blind and needing cataract surgery which she got. Elaine helped Terri through her recovery and that dreaded cone that many dogs need to wear for a variety of reason and none of them enjoy.

Terri can see now! She sees her forever boston siblings and the parade of fosters who pass through her doors on the way to their forever homes. She sees her forever Mom who rescued her, helped her to see and who loves her for today, tomorrow and always. She has her own toys now and her own blanket.

Terri is home now and if Elaine looses her, she need look no further than her heels because Terri sticks close to this wonderful woman who decided she was there to stay!

THE HEART OF A DOG...

is not selfish, is capable of pure unconditional love, is forgiving, is loyal, can be broken and can be mended, knows no prejudice, and can be destroyed by a tiny baby heart worm.

The Boastful Boston apologizes for that less than subtle attention grabber, but heart worms kill thousands of dogs each year and it is completely preventable with 1 little pill every 3o days. The cost is about $30-40.00 for a six month supply. The medication can be purchased at your veterinarian's office or on-line. There are a great many otherwise very responsible and loving owners who choose not to place their pet on heart worm treatment. Maybe it is because they don't realize how great the risk, the suffering to their beloved fur baby or the difficulty of the treatment. Just one mosquito bite can provide one of these worm larva access to the heart. Gone untreated, heart worm disease is usually fatal. Please don't take the risk.

Ask Spankey who is currently undergoing treatment. Spankey is on our available dogs page.

BTRNC foster families have seen over 10 of our foster babies through the treatment of this disease in the last 5 years. The treatment is very expensive and very hard on the dog. During treatment, the patient must be kept quiet - no play time, no running, no strenuous exercise. Dogs do not understand that this is for their own good - ever try to keep a boston terrier quiet? It's not a fun task.

Fur babies everywhere ask you to please get them tested for heart worms during their annual vet visit and to always keep them on a heart worm preventive medicine. They are counting on you!

For more information on heart worm disease and treatment, see www.heartwormsociety.org