It has been an interesting week, in good ways mostly. Things are changing quite a lot up at the Lodges. Our long term plan has been made a little longer-term because BF will be receiving about twenty dogs from a rescue group in Texas that took dogs from BF during the Katrina rescues and is now shutting down. As per the contracts that BF signed with groups that took in their rescues from Nola, BF is still ultimately responsible for the care of any animals, so now, three years later, we are taking in twenty dogs for whom they can no longer care. We will be getting several up at the Lodges, but nothing is for sure until they get here.
The trainers have been trying to get Jerry Lee into a run with a group but it hasn't been going very well. 
Interestingly, we were told that Jerry Lee doesn't do well with other males and so he wasn't put into a group, but he hasn't shown any dog aggression to speak of at BF so a few weeks ago they did an assessment and determined that he isn't really dog aggressive in spite of what we were told when he came to BF. They first tried him in a run up at Conrad's and Leopold's and the male dog in the run jumped him, which terrified Jerry Lee, but he didn't fight back. Then they tried him in a run at Octagons 1 & 2 and again the male dog chased him around and jumped him, so he is back at the Lodges until we can find a place for him where he isn't going to get harassed. He is an incredibly good dog, I have never seen any aggression from him and I am really hoping that we can try and get his collar color reassessed.
Interestingly, we were told that Jerry Lee doesn't do well with other males and so he wasn't put into a group, but he hasn't shown any dog aggression to speak of at BF so a few weeks ago they did an assessment and determined that he isn't really dog aggressive in spite of what we were told when he came to BF. They first tried him in a run up at Conrad's and Leopold's and the male dog in the run jumped him, which terrified Jerry Lee, but he didn't fight back. Then they tried him in a run at Octagons 1 & 2 and again the male dog chased him around and jumped him, so he is back at the Lodges until we can find a place for him where he isn't going to get harassed. He is an incredibly good dog, I have never seen any aggression from him and I am really hoping that we can try and get his collar color reassessed.As I mentioned before, Rex has gone home and his runmate, Sophie, has an application and her new people will be coming out later this month to meet her.
As well, sweet little Ophelia is going to become a Maryland dog, she will be leaving to go to her new family once transport can be arranged, I am so happy that she has found her forever home!
And, Savannah has an application, so she is going through heartworm treatment (she was rescued from a shelter after Hurricane Gustav) and then her prospective people are going to come meet her with their dogs and if that all goes well, she will go home, too.
And finally, I got a call a couple of days ago that Oreo has a really good application as well. His prospective mom will be coming out later this month to meet him and if it all goes well, she will take him back to Vegas in February. 
Of course, none of these are completely definite but they are all very good prospects and it will be nice to see so many more dogs going into forever homes!
As well, sweet little Ophelia is going to become a Maryland dog, she will be leaving to go to her new family once transport can be arranged, I am so happy that she has found her forever home!And, Savannah has an application, so she is going through heartworm treatment (she was rescued from a shelter after Hurricane Gustav) and then her prospective people are going to come meet her with their dogs and if that all goes well, she will go home, too.And finally, I got a call a couple of days ago that Oreo has a really good application as well. His prospective mom will be coming out later this month to meet him and if it all goes well, she will take him back to Vegas in February. Of course, none of these are completely definite but they are all very good prospects and it will be nice to see so many more dogs going into forever homes!I have also started taking dogs home occasionally on sleepovers. My first guest was Tasha (of course) and she did wonderfully. 
She met my friend and former roommate Carissa and her dogs and did great with all of them. Back at my house, she did really great, there was almost not growling or snapping - the few occurrences all happened when I was intentionally pushing her boundaries and she stopped as soon as I let her know that her behavior was not acceptable. She is becoming very trusting with me and really starting to let down her guard with new people. I also too Ophelia home for a night and she did very well, too. She has been a sleepover superstar for a long time now and she was delightful with me as well. She tends to get a little nervous in new situations, so I want to get her exposed to some new things before she goes to her new home so that the transition won't be as difficult for her - though really, I think she will settle in very quickly.
She met my friend and former roommate Carissa and her dogs and did great with all of them. Back at my house, she did really great, there was almost not growling or snapping - the few occurrences all happened when I was intentionally pushing her boundaries and she stopped as soon as I let her know that her behavior was not acceptable. She is becoming very trusting with me and really starting to let down her guard with new people. I also too Ophelia home for a night and she did very well, too. She has been a sleepover superstar for a long time now and she was delightful with me as well. She tends to get a little nervous in new situations, so I want to get her exposed to some new things before she goes to her new home so that the transition won't be as difficult for her - though really, I think she will settle in very quickly.The other major change that is happening up at the Lodges is that we are splitting the Lodges into two areas to bring down the number of dogs that we as caregivers have to monitor. So, starting this Sunday, I will be part of the Lodges A team (we will come up with better names) and will only be caring for the dogs in seven lodges, rather than fifteen. I think it is going to be a really good change for the caregivers and the dogs alike, but it will be hard to not be working with some of the dogs that I have grown to really love. Tasha is still in my area, so I will get to continue to work with her, but Jerry Lee will be in Lodges B, so I won't get to spend much time with him anymore, of course he is probably going to be moving out of the Lodges all together, soon, when they find a group that won't pick on him. And there are many more that I will miss, but it will be nice to have fewer dogs in my care and fewer people to have to work with - I don't mean that the way it sounds, but when you and your coworkers are going in fifteen different directions all the time, it can be really hard to come together and have a discussion about anything and it always seems to take several days for suggested changes to take place because ideas have to be run by everyone and discussed and it just gets tricky working with six people, now I will have two other people on my team.
If you haven't had enough BF talk after all this, you should read this article - http://celebrate.bestfriends.org/news/cancer-survivor-gives-the-gift-of-membership.aspx, Nicole is a volunteer that just survived breast cancer and came to volunteer for three weeks at BF and she spent the majority of her time in dog and most of that was up at the Lodges so we all got the chance to get to know her and love her. On her second to last day in town (this isn't in the article but it should be!), she took a day off from volunteering at the sanctuary and drove the 160 miles round trip to go to St George on a major shopping spree for the dogs of the Lodges. She came back with a rental car crammed with beds, blankets, leashes, harnesses and treats, just for the Lodge kids. Some of her friends donated cash to the venture, so now we have lots nice, new goodies for our dogs. She is a really amazing person and I can't wait to see her on her next visit . . . did I mention that she arrived at BF just three days after she finished her last radiation treatment - what a woman!!!
I will bring this one to an end now, it has been a while since I posted and this one has gotten a little out of control, but stay tuned for an upcoming post about my recent adventure to Las Vegas . . .
(All photos copyright Best Friends Animal Society.)
1 comment:
I found your blog via John S. and I love it! and all the insightful information on the puppins!
Post a Comment