Running for Rescue

Every year, Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation and the Pacers team up for an awesome Lost Dog 5K series every Friday night in August. We help with a lot of the Pacer races, but this one is special because runners bring their dogs along to run in the race too! There was every type of dog running, from toy poodles to big hound dogs! Don't have a dog? No problem. You can get a "rent-a-mutt" like Mocha, who enjoys belly rubs before and after the races!

I was busy teaching on Friday nights for most of the races, but thankfully my class ended in time for me to volunteer to help at the last race of the season. I was one of the water stop gals, but my biggest responsibility was to cheer for all of the wonderful people and their pups supporting Lost Dog! The after party at Stray Cat Cafe was a great way to end the summer.

Visiting the LDCRF Ranch

After volunteering and fostering with Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation for almost two years, I finally got to visit the ranch this weekend! Even before we made it through the driveway, there was a turtle to rescue (later released to safety by the fabulous Sarah!). When we pulled up to the ranch I couldn't wait to jump out of the car to look around and meet the barn crew! Now who was I most excited to meet? I must admit that I couldn't wait to meet the piggy wiggies! This muddy man was the first one to meet me at the gate when we entered the barn.

These former slaughter pigs are some of the lucky survivors of the Cedar Rapids Iowa floods in 2008. They are good natured sweeties who love people and were happy to receive my tasty offering of crunchy carrots. Gladys grunted and munched away while I giggled and gave her big hugs covering my LDCRF t-shirt in fresh mud.

It is difficult to imagine that these gentle giants were once confined to small cages and darkness. That they survived being swept up in flood waters and somehow didn't drown like so many others is amazing. I loved meeting them and am happy LDCRF has given them a safe place to be loved and happy!

I got to meet two other groups of piggies while I was at the ranch, both much shyer than the social bunch that met me at the barn gate. The shyest pigs were roommates with the most social of goats! The pot bellies watched us suspiciously as the goats all crowded around for pets and carrots.

I was warned, not to turn my back on señor Paco... So I proceeded to keep a watchful eye on those big ole horns. Thankfully all he seemed to want was extra scratches on his forehead. Charlotte was instantly my favorite goat, a social butterfly who followed us around looking for love and snacks. She also had those floppy ears that I truly adore. I felt like a little girl in a petting zoo.

A local fitness center donated some aerobic steps for the goats to play with so we got them going on it and this guy was a natural! It was so much fun to watch them play and learn.

After saying hello to the pigs and goats, it was time to take care of business. Sweetheart needed some attention and a little extra TLC! Sweetheart is one of the friendliest horses that I have ever meet. She greeted us at the gate of the stall and watched on happily as she got sprayed with fly spray and brushed down. She gently picked up each foot for Sarah as I rubbed her nose and scratched her ears. Sweetheart was the perfect name for her. She proceeded to use me as an itching post and rubbed her face up and down my side as I started to crack up.

Oreo, the older gentleman of the herd, kept more to himself and Holiday, the big thoroughbred, reminded me of home with her long long jumper legs. I'm from Ocala, FL. It's horse town and thoroughbreds are essentially the signature of our town. The mule and donkey kept a safe distance and watched the activities from afar. The shy mule eventually took a carrot from me as I looked away towards the cat house, which would be my next stop.

As Sarah finished up some barn business, I headed off to explore the cat house. The dogs commenced to barking their heads off at my failed attempt to sneak by them. I opened the door and was greeted by a little crowd of kitty faces and a chorus of meows. I used up most of my phone battery camera happy in the kitty room. It was great to get in some extra loving time with all of the ranch cats on their patio while they waited to find their forever homes. 

 

Before we went to leave I took a peek into the dog runs and checked in on some shy pups on my foster list. It's a long list, but I'm getting through it one by one. Lost Dog and Cat Ranch is the wonderful place that I hoped it would be when I first started volunteering. It is a  peaceful sanctuary for a few lucky barn residents and for so many dogs and cats it is a pitstop before their new lives begin. 

Why start a blog?

This blog is the start of a new direction. It's a concrete step away from academia towards something more, something real and meaningful. I began my doctoral studies in economics at George Mason University in August 2009. I was bright-eyed, fully funded, and ready to take academia by storm. My life was going to be an ever exciting whirlwind of discourse and ideas, or so I thought...

I have always loved animals. I grew up in a household filled with dogs, cats, and horses. A house without animals and a dusting of fur as decoration has always been a foreign concept to me. I was the little girl in pigtails that was constantly bringing home stray cats and sneaking out food to them in my playhouse. I took agriculture so that I could pet pigs, walk goats, and coo with birds on my shoulders. Plants, well... I've never had much luck there.

The first thing I did when I moved out on my own was adopt a dog. I walked into a crowded rural shelter and saw a single puppy in the lobby. Her hair was all splotchy and she was recovering from mange, but her eyes sparkled. She gave a little woof in my direction and I knew that this little one was supposed to be my dog. I went straight to the front desk, filled out the paperwork, and away we went. I named her Mamah (pronounced MAY-MA) after Frank Lloyd Wright's mistress, a spunky woman full of life. She has more than lived up to her name and, though a stinker, is truly the love of my life.

Shortly after I started graduate school, I came upon one of Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation's weekly Petsmart adoption events on a Friday evening. Mamah loves other dogs so we walked around meeting everyone. I started talking to one of the volunteers about her foster dog and decided to fill out an application and give it a shot. LDCRF was different than any of the other rescues that I had experienced. They are the "people-friendly" rescue. They want you to go home with a dog that fits your lifestyle and they don't discard people without fenced yards. It was refreshing since finding Mamah as an apartment dweller had been such a difficult task. I filled out a foster form the same night and the next weekend I picked up my very first foster dog.

Pearl was a very shy hound with a perfect little diamond on the top of her head. She had been with LDCRF for over two years and was in desperate need of an advocate in her corner.

I quickly fell in love with Pearl. She was super shy and we had a lot of work to do, but every day she became more confident and even more loving. She got used to walking on a leash, going potty during our walks, and taking treats from strangers. Pearl, my gentle soul, was blossoming and I found that helping shy dogs was my true passion in life.

We went to an adoption event every weekend for two months. It was always the same, Pearl would sit on my lap pretending to be a giant lap dog and people would ask me "Why does she look so sad?" and tell me "Well, she doesn't seem to like me.." before they moved on to a bouncing happy dog. I started posting pictures of our adventures and her cuteness on her bio page and the emails poured in. Pearl was soon adopted by the most wonderful family. I cried and cried... and cried some more, but then I got an email with the picture below saying that Pearl was home and how much they loved her. So I bucked up and picked out my second foster, and then my third... Two years later, I have had thirty-two foster dogs and counting, most of them very shy, even feral, and special needs long-timers.

At first, I simply updated the bios to show off each dog's unique personality and list desirable things like housetraining, crate training, and basic commands. I always added a Picasa photo slideshow, which I updated frequently with new pictures. Dogs that had been sitting at the ranch with no interest for years started getting adopted after a week or two of being in foster care. In fact, many times there would be multiple families interested in them! These once "throw away" dogs were suddenly in high demand. Why? Because they stood out and adopters were able to get a glimpse of their personalities at home. They got to see the dog they could have with some patience and extra love. Eventually, I started adding YouTube videos and finally I began creating individual blogs for each of my shy foster dogs. Here are some example foster dog blogs: Greta, Pebbles, Margarita, Laura, Monkey, Deena, and Buster. 

I also started fostering litters of kittens as well during this busy busy kitten season. Here are their blogs: the Chapman Clan and the Lucky Charms. 

Every one of my adopters have told me that the blog sold them on my foster. They felt like they knew the dogs before they met them and they could see the potential, rather than the shaking pup at an adoption event. Social media like blogs and Facebook pages offer so many wonderful tools to increase adoptions and decrease euthanasia. Lets face it. If you aren't online, then you don't exist. In order to get more dogs and cats adopted, rescues and shelters need a social media presence or at the very least good pictures and a bio on petfinder.com.

I still plan to complete my dissertation and receive my PhD in economics next year, but my goals have changed. My new mission in life is to merge my economic research in social network theory and my experiences as a volunteer and foster at LDCRF in order to increase adoptions at local shelters and educate the community in order to advance animal welfare campaigns. By establishing a social media presence, I am confident that even more dogs and cats will find loving homes. My hope is that this experience will be the start of my new path, not as an academic, but as an animal advocate.