Hello friends, welcome to Ruff Life.
I actually got a lot of good feedback about last week's episode and that everyone really
liked hearing the drama going on down here with the Alabama Shelter and our mayor.
So I just wanted to give a little follow up on that.
I did not go to the protest.
I know a lot of you were concerned that I may have been arrested when you saw my post
on the Fosters Facebook page asking for a lawyer, but I was not arrested.
I was just needing help sending a cease and desist to someone.
I didn't go to the protest A because I forgot about it, but B because they had originally
said that it was going to be a peaceful and silent protest and shocker to no one I cannot
be silent.
But it turned out it was actually a city council meeting and everyone was given the
opportunity to speak at the podium for five minutes.
And are you kidding me?
That's like my dream.
I would have crushed it.
Give me a mic and a captive audience and I would be in my glory.
I am so disappointed that I didn't go.
It got so heated though and so intense.
I watched the live feed of everything going down.
The mayor was there, his wife was there, all the volunteers for the shelter and animal
rescuers from even other towns came just to tell the mayor how ridiculous this is.
So if you didn't listen to last week's episode or if you just forgot, the mayor said that
he would not be allowing the shelter to transport animals to rescues anymore.
They couldn't work with rescues at all.
And thus animals were going to have to be euthanized.
So of course he immediately started back peddling this week and was like, well, I never said
that the animals were going to be euthanized.
But like if you take away transport rescues, there's no other option because there's so
few local adoptions.
So people were just eating him alive at this city hall meeting.
I mean, one guy even got up there and was like, I don't know you and I'm glad I don't
know you, you're a terrible person.
I think I'm actually gonna like take some screen recordings of the meeting because it
was like a two and a half hour long thing.
I think I'm gonna record some of it and maybe post it on the Rough Life Instagram page or
something because some of the things these people said were unhinged and I loved it.
And I know y'all will too.
It was like 1am, my entire house was asleep and I am like under the blankets watching
this in bed having to cover my mouth and be like, yeah, I'll get him.
Oh, and then the mayor's wife got up there and almost got thrown out because she was
so hateful to the people in the audience that were speaking out against her husband.
Anyways, we do have a resolution.
Something good has come from this.
I don't know why he never said this from the get go because I do want 100% understand
his point, but he never he never said this until literally yesterday.
He said for the first time, the reason that they weren't able to use the two transport
vans that were donated to the city shelter for transporting animals was because they
were being driven by people who were not city workers and it was a liability 100%.
So he was saying no more transports.
You can't use the vans anymore and everyone was like, well, what do you want us to do
with them?
Like if we can't drive the van to take the animals to the vet or take the animals, you
know, out of state to meet the rescue, what are the vans for?
So then he was saying that people just needed to do it in their personal vehicles.
Well, you can only fit so many animals in your Ford Focus and nobody wants to take a
gushing blood hit by a car dying dog to the vet and their brand new Tesla.
I'm not that anyone who even volunteers at the shelter would drive a Tesla.
I don't even think anybody in our town drives a Tesla.
That's just the only fancy car I could think of on the spot.
Anyways, he ended up saying that the city would so generously donate one of the vehicles
to a nonprofit that works with the shelter.
So it's like a friends of the shelter nonprofit, not the actual animal shelter so that people
can drive it and use it for whatever they needed to, but it's not a liability for the
city, which again, I 100% agree with.
Like if this is a city owned vehicle, you cannot just be letting some Joe Schmo drive
it to Wisconsin and back.
That's 100% a liability and he's right, but he never said that.
And if that was the case from the get go, which I don't think it was, I think he just
pulled this out of his butt last minute because he was like, Hey, they might listen to this.
Why wasn't he like, listen, we just need to pause transports for the next few days until
we figure out a workaround.
Even though I knew this was going on for the last 15 years and didn't have a problem with
it.
Oh, and the director got fired over it.
He ended up giving her a job back and everything was fine, but still like that's really uncalled
for to fire someone for doing their job or doing what they think is their job and something
that they've been doing for 15 years and no one's bad an eye over it.
I think he just took the side of the disgruntled volunteer and was like, Yeah, we'll shut it
down.
And then when he realized how much backlash he got from this and how he was absolutely
not going to be reelected next term over this, he really started back peddling and
tried to say face and was like, Whoa, whoa, whoa.
It was just a liability.
I love the animals, but the damage is done.
I hope the damage is done.
Anyways, we need a new mayor after this because this was disappointing to say the least, but
the shelters back up and running.
The director was reinstated.
The mayor and his wife showed their true colors and I did not get arrested.
And I found out what a bunch of fosters for Wolf Trap do for a living.
So I will definitely be keeping that in my bag pocket next time.
I'm needing a therapist or a police officer or a dog trainer or a landscaper or baker
speech pathologist.
I mean, we had dozens of other jobs that was a very interesting to hear what you guys
do.
But onto today's transport.
It's been a long time since we had a Sunday transport.
I think I think the only one we've ever done was Easter 2022, the cookie theme transport.
This was a really good excuse though for us to get up at the absolute butt crack of dawn
today and go to my hometown church to surprise my mom and my grandmother.
I haven't been to my hometown congregation since Justin and I got married mainly because
they changed worship time to 930 in the morning.
I think Jesus would have had something to say about that.
But also because it's a 90 minute drive and I really love our home congregation here in
Alabama.
But anyways, no one at our church has gotten to meet Mary Sue yet and I love any excuse
to buy me and Mary Sue new matching dresses.
So we got up at like 615 this morning to make it happen.
And that's like real life morning time for morning people.
It's basically middle of the night for me because I stay up late and I sleep late every
day.
It was I was actually up until 2 30 last night just trying to get everything ready today.
So we were struggle busing it today.
This transport might be one of my favorite ones we've ever done though.
The theme is children's books.
We've done children's books characters before but we've never done just children's books.
Not that I don't love all the dogs on all the transports but I always feel a closer
bond with the adults than like the litter of 11 random puppies that I don't know anything
about.
So I love the fact that this was mostly adults.
This transport started off just being one nursing mom and dog and three pregnant dogs
but because of our insanely amazing fosters and Jacqueline going on a yes spree and all
three pregnant dogs giving birth and ended up being four nursing moms, one mom with a
litter of older puppies, two single adult dogs and four cats.
Love it.
I loved this transport.
Let's get into their story so because it's a lot.
Charlie and the chocolate factory was added as a surprise for the first time ever not
a surprise to the Virginia team on the receiving end.
We've had many of those but as a surprise to the Wolf Drap South team on the sending
end.
This is my stepbrother's dog.
He had absolutely no business getting a puppy when he had just filled a house and has three
small children but as the dummy he is he got a puppy and he regretted it since day one.
Charlie has run away from home causing a massive search through their neighborhood, pulled
up the freshly laid sod he had just put down, tore the gutters off the house, knocked the
kids off their bikes while they were playing, bit a hole in the basketball they used for
practice.
You name it.
He's done it.
He's had no training.
He had never been in a house but they have at the very least kept him up to date on his
vaccines which they only knew to do because my mother talks about all the sick puppies
we get all the time.
Anyways my mother has loved this dog from the day they brought it home.
She brings him treats, toys, beds, brings it to her house when it's below freezing and
bites him over to play when the kids come.
She has tried so so hard to teach this dog how to be a good and normal and lovable dog
because she knew.
From day one she knew.
It may be weeks, it may be months, it may be years but they will ask us to take him and
send him to Wolf Drap and when they do he needs to be an adoptable dog.
It's sure enough.
Right before the last cold spell hit they told my mom they wanted to get rid of Charlie
because they just didn't have time for him.
The kids don't like him because he jumps on them and it was just getting too cold too
often.
So my mom went that night, picked him up and brought him home before they could change
their minds.
She took him to the vet the next morning to be neutered and then paid to board him there
when it was so insanely cold so that he could recover.
She was going to keep fostering him but we actually needed her to take a different litter
so we sent him to one of our other foster's.
He's done fabulous there but he had to be created a lot which he did not love because
he's used to having like the entire outdoors to roam whenever he wanted but he's been
really good, really sweet with them, not destructive, not knocking the children down and he seems
potty trained.
They could only keep him for a week though so then we sent him to Doggy Daycare and
my poor mother has asked every single day.
Sometimes multiple times a day.
How is Charlie doing?
Is Charlie being good?
Do people like him?
Are dogs being sweet?
Is he happy?
Is he going to Virginia?
When can he go to Virginia?
Who will take him in Virginia?
Non-stop!
I told her there was absolutely no way he would go on this transport because there were just
too many adults in the system already plus it's a mom and me transport and he ain't a
mama but then on a whim I pitched it to Jacqueline and I played the stage four terminal cancer
card because it is unfair that my mom has so many other things to be stressing out about
but instead she's constantly worrying about someone else's dog and how she can make his
life better.
Oh and her husband, my stepbrother's father also has stage four cancer so they just, they're
a mess right now and they don't need this on their plates too.
So I pitched him to Jacqueline and in a moment of weakness she says fine but only if you
can find a foster for him maybe Catherine McClure will take him.
I was on that like white on rice.
Now I'm not going to say that the McClure's are my favorite fosters because I might need
to use that line to get someone else to foster for me down the road and I cannot have proof
out there that I've said it about someone else before.
But let me just tell you, the McClure family are the only people from Virginia that have
been to my house down here to visit me and I do love them dearly.
I love them enough that I'm not scared to cold text them out of nowhere and play the stage
four terminal cancer card despite Catherine also being a breast cancer survivor herself
and also not needing more stress in her life.
But like always they came through for me.
Now are they going to pick him up tomorrow morning and return him tomorrow evening because
he's so awful?
That I don't know but I do know that'll be Jacqueline's problem not mine.
Oh, but so back to my mother, she had no idea that he was leaving today.
She thought we were making her pick him up from doggy daycare this morning because they
wouldn't be able to keep him any longer because he was terrible.
Really he was fantastic.
They had no problem keeping him and that we were struggling to find another foster friend.
We didn't know what we were going to do.
I was so excited to bring him out during transport and surprise her and tell her it's actually
getting his freedom ride.
You don't have to worry about him anymore.
I even recorded it because I thought this would be some big like what?
No, this is the best news I've ever heard video.
No, that's not at all how it happened.
In true Becky Nelms fashion she was more upset with me and Jessica for lying to her for the
last 24 hours than she was happy that he was going.
And then she called me a jerk for trying to trick her.
I will definitely be posting it so you can see all the abuse I endure down here.
Oh, but my stepbrother has promised to never get another dog again.
I've loved you since forever was found as a stray on my road but far enough down that
I don't know if she was meant for me or our veterinarian.
Did I tell you that the town's veterinarian lives on the same road as the doghouse?
We are drop off central.
Okay.
Anyways, she was dumped but someone else noticed her wandering around for a few days.
Actually coincidentally, the girl who found him, her dad used to be my transport driver.
So we've got the Wolf Trap headquarters, the vet and the transport driver all on the same
road.
His adult daughter found her and posted on Facebook looking for an owner, took her to
the vet, didn't have a chip, asked around for several weeks if anyone recognized her.
And then finally asked me and Jessica if we would take her, which ironically was the same
day we sent Scout, the male golden retriever on transport.
So we had about like 50 million people and their mothers all asking if they could adopt
him and I knew that this one wouldn't be a problem to find a home for either.
So Scout went to one of my OOG fosters like I'm talking way back in the heyday of Wolf
Trap, a one from actual day one, Kelly Epps.
I don't know if she knows this, but what made her stick out to me and my mom down here the
most so you know, we don't actually like know you guys, we just know you on Facebook and
your Facebook profile pictures and things like that.
How we remember Kelly though is because a picture was posted during intake one day when
intakes were done outside of PetSmart in the parking lot.
When Kelly was wearing the same kind of shorts my mom wears, which no offense Kelly, but
are not like the hip and popular trendy shorts.
So this was like very much like, hey, my mom has those shorts, and she had on the same
shoes as my mom.
So all you could see in this picture was her waist down and I sent it to my mom and I was
like, is this you?
Did you go to Virginia this morning?
Like we could not believe how identical their legs looked.
So now anytime we're talking about her, we say, Kelly, you know, with your legs, you
remember the girl who has your legs, Kelly.
Anyways, we've always loved and remembered Kelly for this.
But also, if you're an OOG too, you may remember my viral, we're dying post from early 2019.
It was puppy season.
We were slammed.
I was crying every day.
And I posted about it and Wolf Shrap literally flocked to my aid, covered me in encouragement,
buried me alive in dog food and other supplies, shut down the town's post office for an entire
day because we had so many packages they couldn't get through mine to get to other people.
It was truly one of the most incredible experiences of my life and I will never forget it as long
as I live.
One of the dogs pictured in that viral post was our girl Bonnie.
Truly, the sweetest soul.
This was not her first life.
She just knew how to act in any situation.
She was the goodest good girl.
One of my rescue besties, Kelly, who tragically passed away in a car wreck not long after
this, spent five hours under an abandoned house trying to convince Bonnie and her only
surviving puppy to come out.
Kelly had no life, 1000 bug bites of all different kinds covering her whole body from this adventure
she had been on.
But she got her.
Kelly saw my post with Bonnie's picture and the first thing she said was, I want her.
To my knowledge, which could be completely wrong, but as best I can remember, Kelly wasn't
really our go to dog foster.
She may have my mom's legs, but she did not have my mom's heart for fostering dogs.
She fostered some puppies, but she mainly stuck with cats.
She was our cat foster.
So no one really thought anything would come of her fostering Bonnie.
She's not going to foster fail.
I even told her she couldn't foster fail because she didn't let dogs on the furniture.
And I had promised Bonnie that she could live in a house where she would sleep on the couch
whenever she wanted.
Long story short, she foster failed.
They were the absolute most perfect family for her.
She broke their one rule about being allowed on the furniture and she got to live out my
promise to her.
So when Kelly commented on scouts post the other day saying she would foster him, I told
Jacqueline we had to let Kelly have him because she hasn't fostered her dogs since she adopted
Bonnie.
And maybe she's looking for a friend for Bonnie after all these years.
She had fostered in years, but she was still sending us donations literally every single
time I make a post asking for help.
She reads all of my stories.
She almost always comments the most uplifting and encouraging things.
So she was by no means in the shadows, but she hadn't fostered in a while.
So literally as the van carrying Scout was on its way to Kelly, I learned about this
dog.
I've loved you since forever.
The more I was hearing about her, the more I was like, no, no, no Kelly cannot foster
fail with Scout.
This is Bonnie's soul sister.
They would be so perfect together.
And then the van crashed and everything was in a tailspin.
And we were up to our necks and puppies down here and I forgot to tell Kelly.
I eventually got on Messenger one random day a few weeks ago because I never check my Facebook
Messenger.
It's a very scary, anxiety inducing place that I do not like to go to.
But I randomly clicked on to message Kelly and tell her to forget she ever even met Scout
and I had a new best friend for Bonnie coming.
When I clicked her name, I had an unread message from her from several weeks prior and devastatingly
they found out just before Thanksgiving that Bonnie was in end stage liver cancer and she
was gone just a few days before Christmas.
Kelly had given Bonnie a life Bonnie could have never even dreamt of.
Taking her to work with her, getting her certified as a therapy dog, going on long hikes, spending
her days being loved and adored by all who met her, especially her neighborhood children.
They went everywhere together.
And now I have no doubt that Bonnie waits patiently at the Rainbow Bridge to be reunited
with Kelly again so she can introduce her to Kelly.
The two people who loved her the most in this world and the two people who saved her.
I don't know if Kelly even plans to keep this new dog.
I don't know if she's even thinking about foster failing.
I know it's really soon after Bonnie's passing, but I hope she sees the same similarities
that I saw between them and I hope at least for the next few weeks she helps fill the
Bonnie shape hole in their hearts.
Plus, I'm just so glad to have the girl with my mom's legs fostering with us again.
Wyn Dixie and her four W puppies are from the Crazy Lady.
Now I know what you're thinking, what?
You have so many Crazy Ladies, but this might be the craziest lady that we've ever had.
This is the same home as Nessa Rose and the G Litter of Three from the November 23rd,
2024 Wicked Transport.
If you missed that story, trust me, you need to go back and listen to it.
This home is at the top of the worst animal situations we've ever seen.
When Jessica went there back in November, there were dead puppies walking skeletons
of dogs, dogs fighting literally to the death over scraps of food they would find.
It was awful.
We took what we could from there, which at the time was a mom, a litter of puppies,
and then a single puppy.
The mom we took ended up having to be euthanized.
Unfortunately, after working with her for almost two months, she was just too aggressive
with other animals for us to keep or send to another rescue.
And this wasn't like, oh, she'll snap and growl at another dog.
This was like, she will fight to the death because that's all she's ever known.
If she sees another dog, she will do everything she can to kill it.
So it was heartbreaking, but Jessica gave her the best weeks of her life and we loved
on her so, so much while we had her.
When Dixie is her puppy from an older litter.
Back in November, the owner wouldn't surrender any of the other dogs to us.
We barely even got away with taking the ones that we did, but we continued to bring them
food over the winter and we knew eventually someone would get pregnant and she would call
us again.
And sure enough, three months later, that's exactly what happened.
She promised to be nice this time and not cuss and threaten to kill Jessica if we would
still help her.
So Jessica went by the next day just to assess the situation, see how many puppies there
were, see how old, if the lady was really going to be nice or not, things like that.
Soon as she pulls out in the driveway, when Dixie runs to Jessica, like they were long
lost best friends.
If you've seen pictures of her, you know, she was literally just skin and bones.
She didn't have much nutrition to start with and these puppies have sucked the life out
of her.
She's done so well taking care of them though her four puppies are the roundest, fattest
little things you've ever seen.
So when the owner came out of the house, she went up to Jessica and threw her arms around
her neck and Jessica didn't know if the lady was going to hug her or strangle her, but
it was just a hug this time.
We were about to get another round of snow last week, like where do we live?
I thought it never snows down here.
Because snow and freezing temps were coming, so Mama Becky sent Charlie to another foster
and then she and Jessica went to round up this family so we would know that they were
fursher, safe, and warm and fed.
Little Red Hen and her six L puppy story was shared on the fosters page, so if you read
that you can fast forward a couple minutes, I'm just going to be saying the same exact
thing that I posted there.
I have been sitting on pins and needles waiting to share the story with you.
It is quite a shocking story.
One, because it's from Jessica and y'all know she never has a good background story for
any of her polls, but two, it's because we were actually told to euthanize this mama
dog when her puppies were just days old.
Let me start at the beginning.
We got a call about a possibly pregnant dog right before the winter storm that canceled
my January 18th transport hit.
Many of the pictures of this dog gave me PTSD flashbacks to my Jane girl.
I know you OGs remember, but for you newbies, she was a dog I pulled thinking she was insanely
pregnant and going to give birth any day, only to discover literally immediately that
her belly was so bloated, not from puppies, but from fluid backing up from being in congestive
heart failure caused by heartworms.
She lost 27 pounds, I think it was like in 36 hours, just from peeing it all out.
She had 27 pounds of fluid on her.
It was so devastating.
It was so so devastating watching her fight so hard to live only to have her life cut
short just a few weeks later.
Single-handedly my most heartbreaking pull to date.
So when I saw the pictures of little red, I told Jessica there is no way she's pregnant,
it had to be heartworms and we would not put her through the agonizing treatment like we
did Jane.
The shelter ended up picking her up that afternoon and we scheduled to take her to the vet the
next morning.
Well joke was on us because we got a call first thing that morning saying she was actively
birthing puppies on the cold cement floor of the shelter.
Now remember we are in fight or flight mode down here.
Transport has just been cancelled a few days earlier.
50 plus puppies that were supposed to leave didn't.
So 50 plus puppies that we were counting on going into those foster homes couldn't.
Everything was on fire, temps were well below freezing and we were in crisis mode.
The best we could do for little red at that moment was get a kiddie pool, blankets, and
a heat lamp set up for her at the shelter.
So finally transport leaves, we get everyone resituated, the doghouse freed up so we could
take her and get her set up there.
Unfortunately in the two days that it took us to get a foster spot open for her, four
of her puppies froze to death at the shelter.
Jessica went to get her just before transport left on the 25th and we were stunned at how
sickly she was.
She couldn't walk, she could barely stand, she wasn't eating, she had to be carried around.
It took all of her strength just for her to lift her head up.
We started on some meds right away and then we took her to the vet as soon as the doors
open Monday morning and that's when things went from bad to worse.
The vet who saw her explained to us that she was septic, heartworm positive, suffering
from severe endometriitis and had a retained placenta.
She was eaten up with internal parasites and had horrible blood work.
His recommendation was an immediate full body blood transfusion, emergency hysterectomy,
and remove her puppies from her care permanently.
Not only were we talking about thousands and thousands of dollars, but severe emotional
distress both mentally and physically for her and us honestly.
He said even if we followed his advice to the letter, she had maybe a 25% chance of
surviving.
He really thought it was more humane just to euthanize her, but if we wanted a last
ditch attempt to save her, this might work.
So I called Dr. Burton half to ask her if I could spend thousands on a dog.
I hadn't even told her that I had pulled yet.
But also to see if she thought this would be cruel to put her through all of this too
and if we should just euthanize her.
Her response, like always, was hilarious.
What?
No, we're not doing any of that.
What is this vet talking about?
Send me all the lab work.
I sent her the results of all the tests, the lab work, the ultrasound, everything.
She goes, absolutely not.
Take her home, deworm her, put her on fluids, and let her be with her babies.
She'll be fine in a few days.
I'm like, what?
No emergency surgery, no abandoning her puppies.
I was skeptical to say the least, but she has never steered us wrong before.
So we went with it.
Shout out to Jessica for taking on the role of tactfully telling the other vet that we
respectfully agree to disagree.
And we're going to go with the advice of a vet who has never seen this dog before.
We did agree to compromise and let them prescribe some really heavy-duty antibiotics for her,
despite Dr. Burton thinking that they were pointless.
You just can't keep everyone happy.
So Jessica took her back to the doghouse to doctor her up.
She started on fluids, gave her all her meds, and cooked her up some boiled chicken that
combined with the hamburgers that Mama Becky would come by and hand-feed her every day,
she was finally starting to eat something at least.
About 36 hours later, she started standing up and getting out of the kiddie pool to potty.
And two days later, she met Jessica in the garage when she came by to check on her.
She was very surprised to see that.
Day three, she started wagging her tail.
And day four, she no longer needed fluids because she was eating and drinking enough
on her own.
And by day five, she happily went in and out of the doggy door to potty anytime she needed
to tail wagging as she romped around the yard.
She's been with us just shy of one month, and we have watched an absolute miracle unfold
before our very eyes.
This dog had three feet in the grave when we got her.
There is absolutely no way she would have survived if we didn't get her out of the shelter
when we did.
Would she have survived the blood transfusion in the emergency spay that the vet recommended?
Probably.
I don't think he was necessarily wrong in his advice, but it is absolutely 100% safer
for her to have a scheduled routine spay now that she's completely healthy and feeling
great again and has gained so much weight.
Plus, just the psychological toll it would have taken on her to have her puppies ripped
away.
She is one of the few mamas we've had that genuinely loves being a mama and is happy
to spend all day with her babies even now that she's feeling better.
The four of us, me, Jessica, my mom, and Dr. Burton have saved a lot of dogs in all our
years of rescue, but I can say without a doubt that Little Red Story will be one that we
all will remember forever.
And if you're ever wondering if Dr. Burton is a good veterinarian, I can tell you dozens
of other stories just like this one where she's saved an animal's life over the phone
without ever even seeing them.
And if that doesn't tell you how experienced she is, I don't know what will.
P is for pterodactyl, which if you haven't read that book, it's hysterical and you absolutely
need to go buy it.
P is for pterodactyl was found as a stray.
Jessica's neighbor called us a few weeks ago about a dog that had shown up at the county
school where she works.
She said she was very pregnant and about to give birth any day.
We had a transport leave in the next day and a foster opening, so the neighbor loaded her
up after school and brought her to transport for our bottle feeder foster to take.
Two weeks later, she had six puppies.
One was stillborn, but the other five were very healthy.
Now, if you're fostering this family, you may be doing a headcount and thinking my
math is wrong.
Pterodactyl had five healthy puppies.
But just before the mama gave birth, our bottle feeder foster got a call from the shelter
in a neighboring town that they had six newborn puppies whose mama had been run over and
killed.
The shelter was going to euthanize the puppies at the end of the day if they didn't find
someone who would take them.
Obviously, our foster ran over there to get them and she and her family immediately got
to work bottle feeding them.
These are experts at bottle feeding.
I can't even tell you how many hundreds they have bottle fed for us, but despite doing
everything they could for them, none of them took to the bottle.
One by one, they all died, except for this one.
The day after the last one died, the mama gave birth and they decided just to see if
she would take the remaining puppy in.
That puppy latched on like it had been waiting for a mama this whole time and was so happy
to finally have one again and mama has her six puppy once again.
I usually keep everyone under the same letter in situations like this because obviously
they're all one litter now, but how could I let the opportunity to name this little
orphan puppy, are you my mother?
I could not let that pass me up.
Maybe we'll just like put a silent P at the front like pterodactyl.
Mother Goose and her eight M puppies are from the same home as the C litter of 11 from the
last transport that SNL skits to our knowledge.
The mamas are not related, but the owner thinks that the puppies all have the same daddy.
When Jessica was picking up the 11 puppies last week, mother Goose came waddling out
with her belly almost dragging the ground.
Jessica asked the lady if we could have her to and she said go for it.
She had taken her in as a stray several months ago and just never got her fixed.
We were hoping that she would wait and give birth in Virginia, but she came up just short.
We also found out that the mama of the C litter of 11 is being given away for free now.
The owner told us that she was an animal rescue, which she's not.
They're just what people down here say when they pick up stray dogs and keep them at their
house.
But she told us she wanted to keep the mom, so we gave her a spay voucher.
But now that she's trying to give her away on Facebook, we're going to see if she'll
just let us have her too.
Or if that's even the same dog and not just a third mama that we don't know about yet.
This lady has so many dogs.
It's insane.
Guess how much I love you and her 12 G puppies.
Okay, if you're the foster, don't freak out and start counting your puppies.
It may not actually be 12.
The shelter workers told us 12, but when Jessica went to get the genders, she only sent me
11 genders.
And I feel like I can safely trust the information of a person I have never met in my life over
the information from Jessica, who I work with every single day.
So we're going with 12.
But if you're looking at them right now and you're only counting 11, even a broken clock
is right twice a day.
So Jessica may have just gotten lucky this time and gave me the correct information after
all.
Anyways, this mama is from the local kill shelter.
She and her almost full grown daughter named baby girl were left at a rental house tied
to the front porch.
Animal control picked them up and another rescue who works very closely with the shelter
found a northern rescue to take the puppy in New Hampshire.
She actually left the day before our transport.
But when they were doing the work up on the shelter mama, they realized she was definitely
pregnant and they took her to the vet to confirm.
We were hoping that we could get her to Virginia before she gave birth, but she did not quite
make it.
The workers came into the shelter one morning and found a kiddie pool full of 12 or maybe
11 puppies and one very proud mama.
I told Jessica to ask the shelter volunteer to get a pitiful picture of the mama to help
find her a foster because no one wants to foster a cute happy smiley dog.
But everyone will jump up to save the pitiful lonely sad dog in the kill shelter.
So the girl said she did everything she could to get a sad picture of this dog, but she
is the happiest dog in the world.
No matter what, she's always smiling, tail wagging in all of her pictures.
As for the cats, they are all from our Alabama shelter friends.
Jacqueline told me that I could send two neutered males who would go to the cat condo.
And then I sent her a picture of the super cute Siamese mix and told her that we needed
to take it this weekend because it would definitely be adopted before the next transport.
So she was like, oh yeah, that's a good point.
Okay, yeah, we'll take it too.
And then I told her that the shelter worker loves the black and white kitten and she's
so desperate for love that she cries all day in the cage until someone comes to pet her.
And we really need to take her to...
And Jacqueline said, obviously.
But then I asked her to take a puppy with a prolapsed rectum this weekend and she said,
hard no.
So I guess good mood Jacqueline was over it by that point.
Velveteen rabbit, that's the black and white kitten that is just so pitiful and the great
begging for someone to come pet it.
She came in as a very sick kitten a few months ago.
The shelter manager worked night and day to get her well and refused to let her be adopted
out many times because she wanted her to go to Wolf Trap.
Fancy Nancy, the Siamese mix.
She has been a stray roaming the town for over a year.
Someone finally brought her in when it was getting cold out.
One and only Ivan and Never Touch a Grumpy Bunny.
That's actually one of Mary Sue's favorite books.
If you have a little baby in your life, you have to buy these.
Never Touch a...
Whatever animals, they're the best.
Never Touch a Grumpy Bunny are from the same home.
But they don't think that they're related.
They came in together after their owner died.
The family loaded them up in the crate the same day the man died and handed them crate
and all to animal control because they wanted nothing to do with them.
That is all for this transport.
I hope y'all believe me when I tell you how much you mean to me.
Last week was a hard, sad week for me.
But starting this week off saving 47 lives, emptying all of our foster homes down here,
and getting new matching dresses with my baby sure turned things around for me.
And it's all because of you guys stepping up to foster.
You guys are the best.
I love y'all forever.
It's a Ruff life, but someone's got to do it.