I adopted Berkely in 5/06 and wanted to update you. He is fantastic! Everyone loves him because he is so friendly. He never meets a stranger and wants everyone to pet him. He is in agility and doing good. He has a little A.D.D once in awhile and runs around the arena looking for someone to pet him and then will come back to his obstacle. He has been instinct tested for herding and passed with flying colors. I did discover last year he has epilepsy but so far the seizures are few like maybe 1 every 2 months or so, so we are trying to avoid medication. He is a real joy and his aussie brother adores him. I have just applied to adopt again from your organization. There is nothing like a rescue dog in my books. Thanks for allowing me to bring Berkley into my life.
Carol
Carolyn
Just thought I’d drop you a line to thank you for the wonderful dogs that I adopted from your organization. Rocky and Mallory are a perfect match for each other, and it’s been great having them with me. They will graduate from obedience level 1, so that’s been appreciated (especially for Mallory). I thought I’d send you a picture of a walk we took in the off-leash dog park by the Mississippi River on Easter Sunday. Unfortunately, we had a freak snowstorm the night before, but it really brings out the beauty of the dogs in the picture.
Nick
We adopted Bowyer from your rescue organization in March. His new name is Rawley! He was being fostered out of Kansas City. I just wanted to send you a picture and thank you so very much for saving him! He was slated to be put down when you came and rescued him last October. We have another rescue dog, Lucy, who is a Border Collie mix and Rawley loves her! They love to go on walks together and even sleep together. Rawley has won our hearts and is truly a member of our family now. We are so blessed to have him in our lives- THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! Laura
We recently took a family (2 humans, 4 furry kids) camping vacation to New Mexico, and of course we took a lot of pics of the kids. Here are some pics of Pearl at White Sands National Monument, on the paved walkway through the lava fields at Valley of Fire State Park, and in some weeds on the bank of Quemado Lake.
You’ll note that she has her summer cut – I shaved her down a couple of weeks ago; if we let her fur grow in she looks like a little yak, but when she is shaved down people always come up to me and ask how many months old my puppy is. I think that we will keep her hair short all year, because otherwise it gets matted and hard to brush out and keep clean. As you can see, Pearl is a happy little girl and of course we love her dearly.
Eric
I just wanted to give you an update on how Keira (formally Abby) is doing. I rescued her last fall and things were a little shaky at first. My other Aussie, Sammy, did not want to share ANYTHING with “that other dog”. But we kept at it, and I kept reminding Sammy that he too was rescued (from Iowa) so he needed to be patient. Keira had obviously not been allowed in her former house very much and needed to learn how to be a primarily inside dog. (ie – She had never seen TV before and barked at it every time I turned it on!) Sammy would give me looks like “what’s wrong with that dog?”
We’ve all settled in and If Keira could talk…
“Hi Aunt Kay, Just a quick note to tell you that I’m now happy and healthy. When I first arrived here, I was underweight and nervous. And there was another Aussie here named Sammy who didn’t like me much. He would steal all my toys and glare at me.
But my new Mom made sure I had food everyday – twice a day in fact – and my vet says I’m now at the perfect weight of 44 lbs.
Mom takes Sammy and me for walks everyday. It took a while, but Sammy and I worked it out. I just let him be in charge (or should I say, let him THINK he’s in charge) and he’ll actually play with me. We run around the backyard together (don’t tell him, but I’m faster) and play in snow together too.
Mom takes us to agility class every week. I can do all the obstacles now but I still don’t like the tunnel – it’s scary but Mom’s always at the other end to greet me so I’m getting used to it. Soon I’ll be running the whole course like Sammy.
I just wanted to give you an update and say thanks to you and Miss Hope for taking care of me and finding me my forever home.”
Joan
Here is the latest picture of Lucky, he loves the snow. When we take the dogs for a walk they roll around in the snow and eat some as well. Everything is about the same with Lucky. He is still a sweet boy and he is learning more manners and understanding that he has to share attention with our other dog. He has been such a wonderful addition to our family and I could not imagine him not being with us.
We took him to the vet last Friday, good news he is heartworm negative, yeah!!!!! We also saw a dog physical therapist to give us an evaluation on Lucky and he is doing good with no problems. She showed all of us how to give him a doggie massage so once a day he gets one, lucky guy!
Kim, John and Christina
To all who helped us find our forever home,
Ozzy and Maggie want to thank you for all the help in arriving with the Maurer’s in Springfield. We very much enjoy each other’s company and find the Maurer’s to be fairly easy to train. They do have some strange ideas(such as no dogs on the bed if there is more than one human body on the bed), but all in all, we have it pretty good here. Janet only works a few hours a week at the library, so for the most part she is home to cater to our every need. Several trips outside everyday, trips to a dog park, rides in the car(the bank and her favorite coffee stop both give bones), trips to “people” parks for walks, and various other duties that she can’t handle without our help. Christmas brought a bunch of new treats and toys and lots of silliness and visitors who oohhed and aahhhed over us!
Happy New Year to you all!
Ozzy and Maggie Maurer
Dear Aunt Kay, I couldn’t wait to tell you…I’ve found my forever home!!! I knew for sure today. Mommy got these great new slippers, memory foam and everything. Well, she laid down for a quick nap before dinner and awoke to find that I had pulled one out of the bag. Man it was yummy!!! She looked at me while I had half of it hanging out of my mouth, and just laughed and then hugged me!! I thought for sure that she was going be mad, cause she even told me not to even think about these slippers. But you know, I can be a curious boy. Mom said, don’t worry little man, no matter what You’re always going to be my monster!!!
This new place is scary at times. The doorbell is way too much, but I’ve met new friends in the neighborhood. All the neighbor’s got together and put in a play area that runs across two yards, can you believe that!! it’s all fenced in with doors at both ends and in the middle. Man, you should see me run and play with my big sisters and my new buddy Linus!! He’s half grey hound and half lab – he’s funny looking, but even he can’t keep up with me when i pour it on. Little Lucy, the neighbor girl (she’s a Puggle) is really cute, but mommy says girls, like cats, are nothin’ but trouble!!
I still get scared at some things, but now when I do, I lean up against mom and feel better right away. Mom says in January that I’m going to go to school and get edumacated. She’s been taking me to a training center that’s not too far from home and I’ve been watching all the dogs. Everyone is really nice to me and I enjoy watching all the dogs.
Thanks Aunt Kay for hooking me up with my Forever Mom and Dad~ You did great. Mom tells everyone about how she found me, and the whole story. I just shake my head and work the ladies with my big brown eyes. So far all the girls love me!!! I even got to hand out candy on Halloween, I met lots of little kids.
Mom even got me to ‘pose’ for a picture with my big sisters. I’m on the right. I don’t like getting my picture taken, but I guess it doesn’t hurt.
Kay~ Thank you again so very much for bringing this wonderful, gentle soul into our lives. Both Cal and I are amazed at his progress and how much he has come to mean to our family. The girls are really having fun with him and he can blow past them in a full blown run. He’s just such a special, gentle dog. I still can’t imagine how someone could do what they did to him, and how lucky we were to find him.