Archive for the Burns Hoarding/Neglect Case Dec 09 Category
I’ve been meaning to email you and give you an update on Maggie, our Princeton rescue.
I really don’t even know where to start. Maggie, who we fondly call “Sissy” has grown leaps and bounds. The scared, shy puppy has grown into a sweet, strong and very confident dog. The puppy who once cringed at the touch from a human now relishes in hugs and kisses from us. She loves to go for hikes, car rides and is a fetching machine. She just got back from her first visit to the beach where she ripped through the sand like there was no tomorrow.
Maggie is madly in love with our other 3 dogs. She has very much bonded with all of them but has a special connection to our special needs dog Frank. He is a 14 pound Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix (also a rescue) who is completely deaf. We call her his hearing aid. She is always looking out for him, making sure he never gets to far away. Whenever he strays a little far, we tell her to go get her brother and she runs off, finds him and promptly herds him back to us. It’s truly amazing to watch.
We are really blessed to be part of her life and everyday are thankful that Maggie is living a happy, fulfilled life outside of that small cold cage she was forced to call home in Princeton. She is our family and we love her.
Thanks for heading up the charge to save the Princeton dogs. Our life wouldn’t have been the same with out Sissy.
Lisa
I’ve attached a few photos. Enjoy!
(Click any for a closer look)
Here is a happy tail about Riley (aka Ajax) from the Princeton rescue. You may remember Riley; he looked so sad in his before photo. Well, after being in a foster home, and being adopted out a few times, he has finally found his forever home with Kathleen. She is committed to giving him the time and patience he deserves!
Things are going pretty well. Riley has warmed up to me a lot and is getting better around my boyfriend. My girl dog is starting to like him, but my boy dog is showing a lot of dominance. I did expect that though. They do run and play together at the river, but my boy dog is still resistant to him. It will take some time!!
Riley gets to play with all the other dogs that want to play with him and he plays very nice. Yesterday there was lots of dogs there, he ran and played in the water like he was in doggie heaven. He wasn’t sure of the water at first, but is getting braver and braver. He is still very scared of everything when we are not out in the open spaces, but with each day I know he will learn to trust us more. He really is a perfect angel, he just needs to come out of his shell.
YAY for Riley!
Daisy was being “picked” on by some of the other dogs so she had been penned for several weeks out on the Princeton property. Thanks to foster mom Eileen, she has a chance for a new beginning. Eileen writes:
Daisy is one of the dogs from the Burns hoarding case. She has been with us for five days now and has made great progress– though it is definitely two steps forward and one step back. Still, it’s delightful to see her wandering around the house exploring. She is staying in a 4 x 4 pen in our living room. We keep a 6-foot leash on her so we can get some control when needed.
Sometimes we use a crate but mostly not. Daisy is eating and drinking well now and eliminating outside. It’s still kind of tricky maneuvering her with the leash, it’s part pulling and part herding her out. I was worried about Daisy wanting to escape over the fence but what she really wants is to get back inside the house!
Daisy is a rather pretty girl who looks like an over-sized Schipperke or a tiny black German Shepherd. She weighs about 25 lbs.
An interesting thing about Daisy is that while she is still fearful of us, she doesn’t want to be left alone either. I guess she figures that after
being kidnapped and imprisoned, her keepers are all she’s got. But that gives us a tool to work with her, knowing that she wants to trust us and link with us.
This is our second Burns dog and we got so very much help from following the FurKidz 911 blogs. FurKidz 911 fostered many of the Burns dogs. After reading their stories we knew what to expect and were not alarmed by the dogs shutting down at first. Thanks so much to FurKidz 911!
Gordo always hid out under the old trailers on the property so I don’t have a before pic of her. She was fostered, and then adopted and now she’s doing GREAT!
This was a dog you could not even touch or dare let off leash in the beginning but look at her now…priceless!!
Silver Bell now goes to the beach and plays with off-leash with other dogs. She is now playing in the back yard and wagging her tail; she even wags her tail at her human mom!!!
She is still a little scared she runs to her box and hides, but going to a safe spot is so much better than “run and hide”.
Psycho was one of the Princeton dogs I was told was BAD with everyone and everything. Below is a picture of her “before” in her horrible sad state:
And now, and in her new home:
Jetson the Awesome Mix
Hi, My name is Tiffany and I adopted Jetson, a Harney County Puppy from Furkid911 last March. Jetson was a beautiful white pup with one blue eye, one brown. You call this coloring “double merle,” and his coloring also resulted in deafness in both his ears. With help of a vibrating collar and American Sign Language, Jetson is growing up like a normal pup and already knows 5 commands and learns a new one practically every week.
Last weekend we thought it would be fun to enter him in Pet Pro’s 1st annual Amateur Dog Show, Seattle, WA. To our surprise, Jetson won 1st for Best In Show! I think it’s so ironic that a puppy from such a terrible circumstances could come out on top as he has. It’s really a testament to a changing trend in dog ownership. Mutts and rescues are HOT right now. This Aussie mix, I will now call an “Awesome mix.”
You can find Jetson on Dogster.com” which is like a “facebook” or social networking website for dogs: http://www.dogster.com/dogs/1131655
I’m touched that people like you give up your time, effort, and most of all expose yourself to heartache and emotions to help save these wonderful dogs so that people like me can find the most interesting companions in the world.
I’m super proud of this pup.
Tiffany (Jetson’s skin mom)
On April 29th, five more puppies and two more adults were rescued. That brings our count to 131!! A big thanks to Safe Haven Humane Society in Albany for taking 5 more puppies for us and Tracy from Vashon Island and Jen and Mike from Mount Vernon for each taking an adult this trip to foster. That leaves 4 more and we will have rescued them all. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be so close to seeing an end to this rescue. I have so many people to thank, all of the rescues, shelters and individuals that have taken these dogs and puppies in are the true heroes!!
He is now in foster care in Olympia and ready for a new home! Ajax is approximately 6 months old and is a Lab/ Dalmatian mix. If you think he might be a good fit for you, please call Melanie for more info. Look how happy he is now, he is smiling!!
I just wanted to let you know what wonderful and important work you are doing to save these dogs. I just moved to Eugene a few months ago and am currently a graduate student in college……I adopted one of the Aussie puppies from the Burns hoarding seizure and he has been with me for about 2-1/2 months now. I named him Zephyr and he and I have grown inseparable. I never knew that I could love something so much. You have truly done both of us an invaluable service and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping bring Zephyr into my life. Attached is a photo I found of him on your web site and a photo of us now!
Thank You again.
Warmly,
Annie
We are so CLOSE with about 10 more dogs to rescue!
Can you believe how far we have come since December? Counting all the dogs and puppies born before or after they were rescued, our new count is <drum roll> 123 rescued from this situation!! Every dog that was in a pen or living at the end of a chain has now been rescued thanks to SO many wonderful people that have stepped in to help out!
The really good news of the moment is that the court is giving us more time because rescue continues actively moving forward.
I know I have been saying “about a dozen more” for awhile now. Here’s why: it becoming harder and harder to find places for the dogs to go. Many of the people who so generously offered to help back in January and February are no longer in a position to do so. We’re down to about 10 dogs that need placement.
If you, or someone you know, could help out with fostering, please email me!
My deepest thanks to everyone who called, emailed and sent cards about my dad’s passing. He loved hearing about this rescue and during our last visit he asked me how it was going with these dogs. It meant a lot to him too, things will never be the same without him there in Burns every time I go “home”.
I also owe a great big THANK YOU to Keleigh Schwartz of beachdog.com, our HCSAS webmaster! In the very early stages of this rescue she knew I needed to get the word out if these dogs were going to be saved so she took up the torch and created the website and she continues to do all my postings and updates. I couldn’t have done this without her help and support!! <webmaster’s note: ::blush:: >
Also, a big thanks to Maria and her FurKidz911Connection team who have gone above and beyond with the last group of dogs that were rescued on March 13th. Check out their blog and read all about some of the dogs! If you live in or around the Seattle area and can help the FurKidz team, they could also use a few more fosters with the rescue dogs in their “camp” right now.
Melanie
