Lucy

March 11 - Lucy update

2006-03-12T02:45:00.000-05:00

Well, we have had a busy weekend so far. My 6 1/2 year old daughter's friend stayed over Friday night. Of course she fell in love with Lucy--she loves every one of the fosters she's met at my house and each time begs her mom to adopt him/her. Lucy just loved her right back. Yesterday she got to meet my 80 year old grandfather and my aunt. She's become quite the little social girl, greeting visitors like an old pro and soaking up the attention they give her.

She has become in just 1.5 weeks an absolutely perfect adoption candidate. We are no longer crating her at night as my ES Magnum would wake her up and even after letting her outside to take care of business would howl and whine when we put her back in her crate. We decided to experiment with letting her sleep with the other dogs but reducing the area in which she could wander/chew if she decided to wake up and we didn't hear her. This has worked out beautifully. We block the dogs off into the kitchen/hallway (my kitchen is 16 x 24) and she sleeps through the night and no accidents. Of course we still crate her when we aren't home but that's very seldom. She sleeps most of the day anyway unless it's a nice day like Saturday where she spent a lot of time outside playing. When she came in she picked a sun-drenched spot in the kitchen and took her nap.

What a great dog!
Sheila

2006-03-09T20:45:00.000-05:00

Lucy snuggling with her fur-brother Magnum.

Lucy's Story

2006-03-09T06:05:00.000-05:00

Lucy was dumped at the Rutherford, NC Animal Control along with her mom and 4 siblings. Two of her siblings didn't make it out. This is a facility that Above & Beyond English Setter Rescue has pulled English Setters from before thanks to some wonderful volunteers who go in and take pictures of the dogs and gather information, find out how long they have there (owner surrenders are euthanized before strays) and then send out the information via a network of rescue lists and contacts through the magic of the Internet.

People may not realize just how many puppies are put in shelters in the south and due to that and lack of funding, they don't have much time once they get there. Strays at this facility are held for a mandatory 72 hour period pending owner reclamation but owner surrenders can be put down immediately and often are. Many of these facilities are at the county landfill and Rutherford, where Lucy came from, is staffed by inmates of the county jail. Unfortunately, without enough foster homes to go around, many don't have the opportunity at a new life. Through A&B I heard about these pups in need and said I could take puppies as they are placed very easily up here in the northeast.

That's how I got Lucy. I spoke for her and a wonderful Angel named Denise pulled her and had her vetted and then drove her from NC to ME never stopping, bringing with her about 21 dogs that were going to two local shelters. One in NH and the other in ME. Thus she saved these dogs from certain death and I saw them with my own eyes. All beautiful and all deserving of their very own furever home. I hope you take the time to read this story and realize that without all of the volunteers that put in their own time and money to do this, that there would be no such thing as rescue and dogs like Lucy wouldn't be here.

I'd encourage anyone reading this to think about what you might be able to do to help. It could be as simple as donating your time and gas to help transport a dog via the "rescue railroad", either from a shelter to foster home, or foster to furever home; you can become a volunteer with your favorite breed rescue and help do reference checks on adoption applications or help with fundraising efforts. You can also help by spreading the word about rescue, or maybe, just maybe you could foster a rescue dog to evaluate in your home to help make that dog a perfect candidate for adoption. Many people say they can't foster because letting the dog go is too hard--think of the alternative. I tell myself that by letting this dog go I have made room in my home for another in need. In the past 18 months I personally have fostered approximately 12 dogs. Getting updates from their new homes makes it all worth it. And my little piece of heartbreak in seeing one go is worth it knowing that I made a difference. . .the difference between life and death.

And that's why we do what we do.

Update March 8, 2006

2006-03-08T23:24:00.000-05:00

Lucy is really settling in nicely and is learning to love human affection. She's a little lover. I call her Lucy Lou and she's responding to her name now.

Miss Lucy

2006-03-03T03:11:00.000-05:00

SSHHHH,... Lucy is sleeping right now, but quick, take a peek,..isn't she sweet??