The Cyberactivist

Yes, I know that I was going to post about this yesterday, but by the time I finally got the pics sent to me, it was late, and we were too tired to mess with it.

We were supposed to get a "hunting dog" and a beagle, but that isn't what happened. What they are calling a "hunting dog" really doesn't fit that description. More of a brindle, though I guess he could have been taught to hunt. Don't really know. Most of these dogs come with very little information if any at all. We do know that his name is Spaz.

The other little dog is more of a terrier mix, maybe a little bit of schnauzer, and has been very abused. Now I see why they had such a hard time catching him. Both of them were afraid when I went out there yesterday and picked up a stick to turn over their food bowls to feed them, but this little guy, named Bill, went up into the dog house and wouldn't come out. I had to come in and get Laura to come out there and coax him out of there to eat. He seems to be afraid of men especially and always keeps his eyes on me, even if she is petting him. You can see that in the pictures of him that he isn't looking at Laura and the camera, but at me, standing off to the side.

Anyway, here are their pictures. You can see the fear in their eyes. Neither one of them has lived a very good life. That is obvious. But now all of that has changed. We intend to spend a lot of time with them, especially Bill, to help him recover trust in humans, especially in men. He won't come to me yet, but he will come to Laura. We don't think he was fed well, either, because he always growls and tries to estblish control over both food dishes, even though we have them as far apart as possible in the pen. This little guy will need lots and lots of love to rehabilitate him. We can't imagine the kind of home he came from. Don't even want to think about it. Laura's heart went out to Bill immediately when he arrived. He was too afraid to even get out of the carrier crate. She looked him in the eyes, petting him, and assuring him that he would never, ever be hurt here. Not anymore. Not ever again. She finally helped to get him out of the crate very gently and get him stnading on the ground, always petting him and talking to him in a loving, soothing voice. Then he wouldn't even walk with us on the leash. I finally had to pick him up and carry him to the yard. Sad. Heartbreaking in fact. It made Laura cry, and she has made up her mind that she will love this dog back into trusting her, then trusting me, then onto trusting other people. She has also decided that she may be the one to find him a home that we know we can trust. All these groups do to find these dogs homes is sit outside of stores and hope that the people who take them will treat them well. she doesn;'t trust that, and she has decided to put extra effort into finding this little guy a special home with someone we know. when you see his eyes, you will see why she instantly bonded with him and was so distraught at his absolute fear.

Here's Bill"





And here is Spaz:



With his head hung low - we couldn't get him to look up at us.



Laura reached out to him in this one and got him to hold his head up so that you could see his face. And those eyes...



As for the others we already have, well, they are doing much better. We are gaining trust with the ones who were too afraid even to be petted at first. They will now come to us and get some good petting and love. The female, whom we have now named Sophia, has had her eyes clear up considerably from when she arrived. She must have been living in filth. They were all crusted, red, and starting to get infected. She was one of the ones who would not come to us, though we could approach her and pet her. We named the male with her Jake. He is playful and happy now. A whole new dog. As soon as we get him fixed, he will be ready to be adopted out.

Speaking of which, For the Sake of Animals isn't doing too well financially. I had told you about them having a thrift store that we shopped at often. Well, they had to close that because they didn't sell enough to cover the rent. So, that money is now gone. We talked to Diane, the lady who brought the dogs to us, yesterday, and she told us that they have 100 dogs on their hands right now and can't afford to fix them all. They are even struggling just to feed everyone. It's hard here. Not enough people care.

In fact, I was talking with some of the local cops in this area that were very appreciative about what we do - taking dumped dogs in, rehabilitating them, and finding them homes. Because you know what happens to the ones who don't get found by people like us on the other end of the county, where no one exists that takes them in? We didn't know before they told me.

They have to go out to the complainant's property and shoot them.

They hate doing it. They love dogs themselves, but this county has no Animal Control, no shelter, no nothing except for the few people like us. They were quite thankful that there were people like us that saved them the horrible task of going out to someone's house to shoot a stray dog who someone else had dumped and who only showed up because they were hungry. They even told me that they get calls from upset tourists who see dogs and chickens run over and splashed all over the road. The sheriff said that these are the people who come to our area and spend money that goes into the county coffers and that pays all of their salaries. So, apparently, we are not only saving lives here, but also saving the county money. And this is a poor county. A very poor county. That's why there is no Animal Control or shelter or anything but the few of us who care to help. This county needs to take in as much money as it can.

Every dog we take in makes a difference. It really does. Every one of them is a saved life and a call that the county sheriff's office didn't have to make - a shot they didn't have to take. An innocent life they didn't have to take. It's that bad here. That's why it is so important that we stay where we are and do what we do. If we ever left, like so many have suggested in the face of all of our harassment for our work, then more innocent and loving dogs would die. Right now we have six total foster dogs. I am only aware of one other person in the county who is a foster to dogs for Warm Hearts (the group that works in our county), and she can only hold 3. We have a neighbor not too far away that will take them in, but many of those end up getting run over in the road, as she has no pens. The rest of them, well...

That's why I appreciate every single donation someone sends. Every life I can save makes a difference. Every chicken, every dog, every cat. The costs are mounting as we take in more and more animals, as are the amounts of time and energy spent taking care of everyone. But what else can we do? When you look into the eyes of these animals, your heart just breaks, and you take them in. But we are worried about getting to the point that we will get so many that we won't be able to adequately take care of them all. Already we spend more on that than we take in each week in donations. It comes out of our own skinny pocket. Someone wrote me the other day and asked if there was any amount to small to send. I told them no - that every little bit helps. And it does. We are now going through 100 lbs. of food here a week on the dogs and the same for the chickens. At $10/50lb. bag, that adds up. There have been several times that we didn't know how we were going to feed everyone another week, only to check our mail and find a $10 donation that kept us going another week. So, every little bit really does matter.

I want to thank everyone again for your support. We couldn't do what we do without you. You are helping to save lives here. You really are. Thank you.