I’d like to throw out an idea that’s been bubbling in my head since the WA trip. Not so long ago, dogs were tools. They were companions, too, and often protectors, but they were first and foremost tools built – in this case bred – to make their owner’s harsh life easier. Nowadays, that’s not so much the case. All dogs would like to have a job to do that they were trained for, to know what’s expected of them, but we don’t live those lifestyles any more. Nowadays dogs can still be tools as opposed to a luxury or member of the family or they can even be nothing more than something for the kids to play with when they want to, but stuck in the back yard and feed when you think about it once they lose interest. There was no pattern to how these opinions of dogs broke down as we traveled across the states. Rather there were different pockets of the one attitude or the other. But I can tell you this, when I would see abandoned dogs on the side of the road or dogs running lose, or an excessive number killed by cars on the roadway, or clearly none were spayed or neutered, I saw something else. I saw more trash littered on the streets. And I saw more people wearing ragged closes and sleeping in alleyways or at bus stops. They reminded me of the dogs with nowhere particularly to go and no job even though they wanted one. So I’m beginning to think that the way our society treats our dogs is a symptom, not the disease. Disposable litter, disposable pets … disposable people? Yes, it’s a simplification, yes there are exceptions to every rule. But the more I look around, the more I see a correlation. If we treated the smaller disposables better, would it trickle up? If we treated the more important disposables better, would it trickle down? Of course that idea led to lots of other thoughts and ways to educate and improve the situation. We really want this project to be all about coming up with answers. But we’d like to see comments and ideas instead of me rambling on. What do you think?

As I promised, or some of you may say threatened, I’m writing again. Here is the list I came up with as to why fostering animals helps the humans in the family as well as the pets:

1. Are you or someone you know looking for a dog or puppy, but you aren’t sure you have the time? Maybe what appeals about renting a dog is that it is only for a day or two at a time.

Why don’t you foster for a foster family? Take a rescue dog for a day or a weekend when a regular foster family needs to go out of town for a couple of days?

2. Will the kids be able to give up a dog once we’ve had it in the family?

Okay, anyone can put anything in a positive light – if they try hard enough or get corny enough. But this isn’t one of those “anythings”. Fostering helps the pet and the family. You can educate yourselves on the different breeds or mixed breed traits as you foster different dogs. It will help you discover the right dog for you when the time comes. You can test the waters to see if the kids are responsible enough for a pet. You can see if there is time in your routine for a dog – you may think there is but this gives you the chance to be sure. You may be surprised to find out you are much happier with a one or two year old dog that is housebroken, knows a few commands and has calmed down from it’s puppy stage. And the kids get to learn so many layers of kindness – taking care of an orphan dog or puppy, responsibility, and even giving up their new friend to make another family happy.

When you give a puppy or dog to a new home, you make new friends. You can stay in touch and watch the successful adoption grow.

3. “What if we get a dog that doesn’t fit with our family?”

If you’re working with a responsible rescue group, they will unhesitatingly take back any pet that doesn’t work out in a foster family, document what didn’t work (maybe that particular dog doesn’t like cats) , and find another foster family (one without cats).

4. What if we get stuck with a dog no one wants to adopt?

You’re never “stuck with a dog” from a responsible rescue group. But most of the dogs find homes surprisingly fast. Often that is thanks to the foster family who helps socialize them, plays with them and teaches them to trust people.

5. “I don’t know these dogs – what if they’re dangerous?”

There are so many wonderful, gentle, playful dogs and puppies that need foster families and forever homes, you can always get the pet that fits best with you as the foster family. Temperment testing is done when dogs and puppies are taken from the shelters. And there are foster families that have experience with the shier, fearful, etc. dogs and they are the families that will take those dogs and socialize them for new homes.

So, if you’re thinking about renting a dog or bringing a dog into your family, why not consider fostering? The important thing is to choose a responsible rescue group to associate yourself with. PAWS is a responsible, realistic, non-profit group. There are lots of them out there. The bus is still on the job. So come along for the ride and bring your friends.

I wrote a bit about “rent a dog” services vs fostering rescue dogs. The first one amused me with its existence. The second one amazes me with the wonders it can work. The trip to WA really brought home the value of foster homes and giving a dog a loving environment, if only for a little while. It might surprise you to know that many of the dogs we took to WA were deemed unadoptable simply because they were too shy; might even bite out of fear. They had spent at the most a week with foster families and then four days in the bus with us playing with them and letting them sleep on the bed. Like most dogs, they completely entertained us with their antics. And, because of that little attention in a short time period and learning they could trust people, by the time they were handed over to their new families – Cringing? Flinching? Nipping out of fear? Are you kidding? They went right into their new families homes to be petted, played with and loved.

Fostering is literally a lifesaver for so many dogs, but Pets Across USA is all about helping the humans who care about dogs, too. And education. Like I said earlier, I’m just like many readers. I’m learning how dogs think, how they help their owners and how rescue groups work. Tomorrow I want to post a list of reasons to consider fostering dogs and how it benefits the families as much as the dogs. The truth is I want to print the rest tomorrow to keep these as short as I can because you’ll be more likely to read. And make comments. I’m learning, too, and these are just my observations. I’d like to know where I get it wrong and what other ideas you come up with.

Imagine you’re a dog in the shelter. Your time is running out. What kind of a dog are you?

Are you the healthy pure breed that knows you’ll get a home? Or are you a little sick and just need time and love to get better? Are you a confused 7 or 8 year old – You’re a good dog, practically baby sat the family’s kids while they grew up; you’re well behaved, but one day, because you were “older” they dropped you here. Are you the mixed breed that no one takes the time to get to know? Or are you shy, you’ve been hurt before and growl because you don’t know who to trust?

There’s someone coming, they look nice. They’re looking this way.

“Ask for me. I’ve got a little eye infection, but after a tube of eye cream I’ll be as good as new.”

“Ask for me. I always mind. I’m house broken. I’m a good dog. I loved my owners for eight years. I can love you for many, many years to come.”

“Ask for me. I’m ‘so ugly I’m cute’. When you walk me and play with me, you’ll get as much attention, maybe more, as if you had a purebred.”

“Ask for me. I have heartworms, but the medicine can cure me. It doesn’t cost much.”

“Ask for me. I’m playful and I’m healthy and I’m smart as can be. I can love you lots and lots if you’ll just notice me.”

“Ask for me. I don’t bite, I’m just scared. All I need is someone kind I know I can trust.”

What is Rescue?

Ask For Me.

Hi – My name is Mitzi Gillis. This is a bit of a test to see if I’ve got the blog thing figured out. I’m behind the learning curve for all things internet. You never know what you’ll learn when you get involved with a rescue group.

My first experience with PAWS was to be able to rescue, foster and reunite pets with their owners after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Reuniting a pet with its family or introducing a dog or cat, puppy or kitten to its new forever home – It’s something you don’t forget and don’t really ever get over. I’m privileged and excited to be a part of the trip to Washington.

We’ll start selecting the pets soon. And we’ll be getting to know our new volunteers. I hope I get lots of chances to help take anyone reading this blog along for the ride.

I’m not a dog trainer, or a dog specialist, I’m certainly not very internet literate and I don’t have any real experience with rescue groups. I’m truly not big on volunteering. I’m still learning. There are things that dog specialists or rescue groups or volunteers know that, well, sometimes they forget that the rest of us don’t know. I hope what I can do is recognize this interesting and helpful information and pass along what I have learned and will learn.

Along those lines, here’s something interesting I came across yesterday. A headline in the Austin American Statesman newspaper reads “Little Time For A Dog? Rent One”. It’s about a business that will lease a dog to a family for a daily, weekly or monthly fee.

No, the fact that there is a doggie rental business in California is not what I learned today. But it made me think about what I have learned about foster families that take in rescue dogs until they can find their forever home. And you don’t pay a fee to foster a dog.

PAWS uses a network of foster families as temporary homes for their dogs. The dogs live in a home, not a kennel. It’s good for the dogs and it’s one of the many ways PAWS stretches its rescue dollars. You’re going to be amazed at how much they can do with the donations that they get. Volunteers, very little overhead – it really is all for the dogs. But you’re going to also see how much the humans get out of it, too. By helping the dogs, we help others and ourselves – but that’s for another time.

Wish List for Pets Across USA program (needed before Aug. 8, 2007):

• Foster Homes
• Wire Crates
• Paper Towels
• Air Miles
• Towels
• Gallon water jugs
• Batteries (AAA, AA, D)
• Rawhides
• Dog toys (new or gently used)
• Clorox disinfecting wipes
• Small collars
• Leashes
• First Aid Kit
• Fire extinguisher
• Trash bags
• GPS navigation system
• Cash donations

Visit Pet Across USA main website for more info or to make a PayPal donation: http://www.petsacrossusa.com/

Re-posted from The Chonicle, Centralia, WA, Saturday, July 28, 2007

 

Doggy Delivery

Small Dogs Coming for Adoption

 

Amanda Haines

City Government and Health reporter

 

If it’s true that good things come in small packages, Lewis County is in for a whole lotta good.

 

A bus loaded with small breed, homeless dogs is headed to Chehalis from Austin, Texas, in the first ever pet exchange through Pets Across USA.

 

The Friends of the Lewis County Animal Shelter (FOLCAS) has partnered with Protection for Animal Welfare Services (PAWS) of Austin, Texas, to bring the canine cargo to Chehalis, where small dogs are at a premium.

 

“They have tons of little dogs in Austin – Chihuahuas, dachshunds, Lhasa apsos. They can’t get rid of them,” said Patty Kaija, FOLCAS president. “But in our area, we get plenty of large dogs, though most of the requests are for little dogs. We have a waiting list for the little dogs here.”

 

Kaija and PAWS’ Executive Director Prima Mosi first realized this regional difference two years ago. The two women met in 2005 while doing pet rescue in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. While Mosi was lamenting the alarming number of small dogs being euthanized in Austin, Kaija was lamenting the shortage of small, adoptable dogs in Lewis County and elsewhere in Washington.

 

Casually, Kaija mentioned that maybe Mosi should send her unwanted dogs to Washington. Eight months ago, Mosi called Kaija with just that proposal.

 

“After Katrina, everyone wanted to help. We had an unbelievable response and saved more than 1,200 pets,” said Mosi via telephone Thursday. “But, once it was over and everyone went home, they forget that there’s a disaster every day. Thousands of animals are being killed every day. So, we decided to go ahead and create a partnership. The more hands, the more people, the more good you can do.”

 

PAWS has moved small numbers of pets around Texas to find them homes, but next month’s trip to Lewis County will be the first pet transport to cross state lines.

 

“We had other cities on the West Coast wanting us to come there. San Diego, Calif., wanted us to come and it would be closer for us to go there, but we didn’t get as much excitement from them as we got from the people in Washington,” Mosi said.

 

On Aug. 13, the first busload of 25-plus dogs will arrive in Chehalis from the shelter in Austin. Mosi said she will also include litters of newborn puppies since the shelter there has no means of caring for them.

 

“Newborns under six weeks, with the mother, are put down immediately,” she said. “If there are foster families in Washington who can take the mom and puppies and get them adopted when they’re old enough, you bet they’ll be on the bus.”

 

The specially-converted bus will be followed on its journey by a crew of documentary filmmakers, who are chronicling the efforts for cable network Animal Planet, said Mosi.

 

She’s hoping the cross-country attention will result in more awareness of the problems of pet overpopulation nationwide.

 

“In our community here, pets are looked at as disposable,” she said.

 

Mosi remembers several disturbing cases in which people have abandoned their pets at shelters before going on vacation, only to get new ones once they got back. In Austin, between 12,000 and 13,000 animals are killed every year, she said.

 

Lewis County’s shelter kills about 1,000 cats and 100 dogs each year, mostly due to overcrowding.

 

FOLCAS is working to bring those numbers down by raising money to build the county’s first no-kill shelter. A two-acre lot on Kresky Avenue was purchased in June by Darren Pritt, FOLCAS treasurer, for $225,000. He donated the property to FOLCAS for a combination no-kill animal shelter and medical facility for low-cost spay and neuter services.

 

The pets from Austin will arrive at this site on Aug. 13. The dogs will be posted online for adoption Aug. 1 (see accompanying story).

 

Kaija said a celebration is planned to welcome them in.

 

“(Radio station) Live 95 will have a remote broadcast, there will be veterinarians available, and dog trainers,” she said. “We’re all really excited about this. This is just the first trip of what we hope will be a longtime collaboration.”

 

Added Mosi, “It’s no problem for us pulling 30 dogs and bringing them to Washington if it means they’ll have families waiting for them. I’m hoping people will see what we’re doing and know that every little bit helps these animals.”

 

For more information, visit the program Web site at www.petsacrossusa.org.

 

•••

 

Amanda Haines covers municipal government and health for The Chronicle. She may be reached at 807-8245, or by e-mail at ahaines@chronline.com.