WITH A LITTLE LOVE....

Blogs are easy to write when the pictures do all the work. Such is the case with Miss Penelope!

One of our volunteers pulled this puppy from Georgia. She had a severe case of mange and required a lot of special care and a lot of special love.

Just look at her scared little face!

Penelope's Mom is no stranger to special love for special needs precious fur babies. She adopted Puggles from BTRNC. Puggles has some issues with his feet and paws but that doesn't slow him down nor did it cause his Mom to skip a beat when she adopted him. Puggles and I discussed this and he said it was o.k. to call it issues, but certainly not a deformity or a handicap. Thank you Puggles.

Now Puggles has a new fur sibling in Miss Penelope. If you did not scroll ahead, then it is now time for everyone to see what tender loving care can do. Introducing Penelope today!

How about that? Some require extra effort but they are oh so worth it. I don't really need to say anything else- the pictures say it all! Cheers to Puggles and Penelope and to their Mom who chose to do something rather than nothing!

THE MANY TALENTS OF THIS COOKIE

If you check the website often, you may have noted our adorable Cookie playing the piano. Apparently this was just the beginning of her many abilities. Cookie will follow any command for a treat including commands given to other dogs! She's one smart Cookie! Add to her list, Olympic swimmer. If you or any of your nearby friends or relatives have a pool, you may want to give this little girl a second look. Here she is preparing to make a big splash with her entrance!

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When she is finished swimming or more likely when her foster family determines that she is finished swimming, she can exit the pool on her own thank you very much using either the ladder or the stairs! Hey, she's seen people do it, so why can't she!

Cookie is also smart enough to tell when children are afraid of her and this makes her uneasy so she would be best in a home with dog savvy older children. She may even be able to teach her new family some new tricks, or at least a few new piano pieces!

Cookie's foster mother says that over all Cookie is a wonderful sweet, smart and loving dog and her forever family would be lucky indeed! Not to worry either, when day is done, this sweet girl is happy to snuggle and nap. Don't they all look so angelic when they are sleeping?

Hurry and check out this Cookie on our available dogs page before the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street finds her!

PANIC

That about sums it up - sheer panic. That out of control, I don't have control and I have to fix this right now feeling and the strongest desire to turn the clock back 30 seconds before "it" happened.

"It" in this case, is that split second when your newly arrived, long awaited rescue boston forever baby bolts out the door, slips her collar or escapes through a unseen hole in the fence or an open gate.

It is an awful feeling to watch this baby that came to live with you disappear from sight at a dead run. You can't catch them, you know that, yet you still try and running toward them only makes them run faster. They don't know you yet, after all, they were rescued from one home or shelter, placed in another home for foster care, then delivered to another strange home. Makes you think you would run away if that summed up the last 6 months of your life too, doesn't it?

BTRNC is thrilled to report that the last 3 dogs who made such an escape hours after arriving at their forever homes were all eventually recovered, unharmed to their new families. The families grew a whole lot of new gray hairs during the period of their adventure on the lam. One dog was gone for 2 weeks in a wooded area near his new home and eventually trapped in a humane possum trap. His new family drove the trap with the dog still in it home and into the garage and closed the door before the door was opened. In a second escape, a good Samaritan called someone who knew someone who knew someone that was looking for another lost angel and she was eventually corned in a parking lot. Our most recent escapee took off leash and all as her new Dad was trying to leash her up to take her for her first walk. Though the help of neighbors and friends, she was found and surrendered by rolling on her back.

The three sweetest words that anyone who has ever lost a dog are, "we have her."

The new family is heart sick and feels like it was their fault, the foster family who just said goodbye to the latest foster that they have fallen in love with is heart broken and thinks they should have kept this fur baby for themselves.

It is not any one's fault, it just happened! So for all your prospective pooch parents, keep in mind that your new arrival is scared and confused. They don't know you, your house your animals, your neighborhood. Some may escape from fear, others from excitement as they bounce themselves out your door and still others may suddenly be bitten by wanderlust and want a great adventure.

Keep their collars no looser than the width of two fingers under the collar, or harness, leash them inside, don't open any door in the house without securing the dog first, don't let younger children hold the leash outside the house, and never assume anything with your newest addition. These tips won't guarantee the avoidance of panic but may improve your odds.

We wish for no more panic and for very many more happy endings!