So friends, welcome to Rough Life. If you have
been keeping up with the foster coordinator saga,
I am so excited to say that this is my last transport
as foster coordinator. Melissa officially came
on board full time with us yesterday and she
will start doing the coordinating on Monday.
Have no fear though, I will not be going far.
I am still and always have been the foster coordinator
who sends you all of these precious pets, but
I will also switch back to my robot handler role
and add in a little social media manager just
for fun. I actually had to have a come to Jesus
with the robot company this week. If you didn't
know, we implemented a new AI software literally
just days before our old foster coordinator went
MIA and I had to jump in and take over her role.
So we dove head first into this robot program
and then I was like, okay, bye. And the robots
have just run amok. Last transport after I called
and confirmed all 50 fosters and got them all
scheduled. the robots reached out to more than
half of them and canceled their appointment the
day before they were supposed to pick them up.
Then this week, a foster who was scheduled to
pick up on the 15th tomorrow, like everyone else,
got a message from a rogue bot telling her that
her spot was canceled for the 15th and instead
she needed to go to the Wolf Trap Hospital that
day to pick up a puppy. It was the middle of
the week. we had no puppy at the hospital for
her. So she rearranged her entire work day, drove
all the way to the hospital to get this puppy.
And then we were like, we have no idea what you're
talking about. We don't have a puppy here for
you. I don't know what happened. This is a total
mix up. She was literally, truly the kindest,
calmest person ever in the entire world. She
handled that so well. But I... I lost my ever
loving mind on that company. So they were like,
okay, we're scheduling a Zoom meeting with you
and Dr. Burton the next day so they could apologize.
But. Right when the meeting got started, I was
even more mad because the tech guy on the Zoom
call kept saying things like, I think your customers
are just misreading or misunderstanding the robots
messages to them. The robot is not canceling
their appointments. They're just not reading
it thoroughly, which if it was one or two people,
I would absolutely be like, yeah, this is totally
just human error. They didn't pay attention.
But when it's more than 25 people and they're
all getting the same message, It's your robots,
my guy. I could not believe he was trying to
blame my fosters. One person even texted me and
showed me a screenshot. He was like, hi, your
robot just messaged me and said my appointment
time has been changed to 1 .45 in the morning.
I'm just checking to make sure you don't really
want me to come to the hospital at 1 .45 in the
morning. I'm like, no, please. Please don't go
anywhere at 1 .45 in the morning. So I'm telling
the tech guy all of this and he's like, that's
impossible. This has never happened before. Send
me the screenshots people are sending you. So
I sent him to him and he immediately changed
his tune. It was like, OK, we are bumping this
to the top of our priority list. This is ridiculous.
I cannot believe this is happening to you guys.
We're going to get to the bottom of this today.
So all of that being said, I turned the box off
this week. I could not handle the stress of having
to go behind them and reread all the conversations
they were having to make sure everything was
happening like it was supposed to. But I am still
really excited for them. I think they're going
to be a fantastic tool for us once I have more
time to really jump back in and give it my total
focus. So all that being said, if you talk to
Alex from Wolf Trap this week or last week, he
was a robot and his life mission was to stress
me out. So I am so sorry for anything he might
have said to you. Okay, on to the stories. I'm
trying to leave the foster coordinator role better
than I found it. When it got dumped on me, we
had like 50 puppies leaving on transport the
next day that didn't have fosters that I had
to find fosters for. And like 20 animals that
were already in Virginia and needing reassignments
in the next 24 hours. I'm pretty sure I lost
like five years of my life that weekend. I literally
have PTSD from that weekend. So I'm trying really
hard not to do that to Melissa. So everyone who
needed a reassignment during the week next week,
like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I had them come
to intake tomorrow and I'm going to reassign
them Sunday morning instead. So that'll give
Melissa a whole week just to focus on getting
backup fosters for the animals in the adoption
event on next Saturday. Because of that, a lot
of you may be going home with a reassignment
instead of a brand new foster. So I'll just run
through them really quick so that you know which
episode to go to, to hear their story, because
I know some of these names are wild and you have
no idea what the theme could possibly be. So
Danny, Dawn, Tanner Smith, Spectrum, and Shelly
are all from the Love on the Spectrum April 19th
transport episode. Pump Boy and Pizza Planet
are from the Toy Story Transport on May 31st.
Adrienne was on the Formula One May 17th Transport.
And P is for Pterodactyl, which can I just say
I'm very proud of that name. She was on the February
23rd Baby Books Transport. So head over to those
episodes if you're fostering one of those puppies
and their full story will be on there. The theme
for this week's transport is dad hobbies since
pick up is on father's day. Once again, I think
this is like the third or fourth transport in
a row where I didn't have to do any of the names
and it has been glorious. Now that I'm not still
super busy, but having that taken off my plate
has been such a huge help. So thank you, Melissa.
So if you are fostering an animal with a hobby
or an activity name, Your animal came up on the
van this weekend. They are brand new to our system.
And this episode will cover all of their stories.
So let's get into it. Traveling was being given
away for free on Facebook. One of our rescue
partners saw and went to get her by the time
she got there. Traveling, who they have been
calling Paisley down here, was the only puppy
left. They had given the whole rest of the litter
away. We're told that the parents are Yorkie
and miniature Schnauzer. I don't believe that
for a minute though, so I would love to see a
DNA test done on her. Origami was an owner surrender.
A lady saw this litter of puppies, it was four
puppies, and the mom get dumped out of the vehicle.
in front of them, they loaded them up, posted
them on Facebook, but by the time we had any
space available, they had given away the mom
and three of the puppies. So we ended up sending
this puppy to our jail fosters. We haven't sent
them a foster in a while because they've been
having some issues for a little bit. So I'll
just give you a quick reminder of who they are.
We partnered with our local jail to send some
of the inmates foster dogs for us. It's a program
that like they have to work up to. You have to
be there for so long and do so well and pass
so many tests before you're given this privilege
of fostering. They haven't had any inmates able
to do it for like the last six months or so,
but they finally have a couple of really good
guys in there and they're qualified. They were
like little boys on Christmas morning when they
got origami last week. This also made me think
of something hilarious that my husband said to
me a few years ago. We started this program probably,
I don't know, two or three years ago. It was
right when I started the podcast. So I talked
about it a ton on those episodes. And one night
I was talking to Justin and I asked him if he
wanted me to bring a specific dog home or if
I should send it to the jail. And he was like,
I wish you wouldn't call it that. That's so confusing.
And I was like, call it what? He said, the jail.
And I was like, what do you want me to call it?
And he said, um, the animal shelter. I was like,
you know I am talking about the actual human
jail, right? With prisoners who foster for me.
no idea that we had started this program. And
I was like, tell me you don't listen to my podcast
without telling me you don't listen to my podcast,
Justin. Landscaping is from our bottle feeder
foster. They were contacted by a lady who needed
them to take a puppy. It was teeny, teeny tiny,
and it was in an outside kennel with a huge adult
dog that was beating it up literally all day
long. DIY project is from the kill shelter. Animal
control got a call from a landlord saying that
tenants had moved out and just left the puppy
in the unit. Ultimate Frisbee was found by our
bottle feeding slash zero willpower foster family.
She was sitting in the parking lot in the pouring
rain one night when the lady was leaving work,
so she just loaded her up and brought her home.
She has spent the last week at Doggie Daycare
though, and she has had the absolute best time.
Okay, y 'all are really gonna have to focus with
me on this one. History, knitting, kayaking,
yard work, and yoga are all from the same home.
It's a very complicated story, so try to keep
up. We were asked by our wonderful Dr. Jamie
if we would help with some puppies. Dr. Jamie,
if you didn't know, was Dr. Burton's student
at Mississippi State who then became her lifelong
best friend. Dr. Jamie has a veterinary clinic
in a nearby town. She helps us with low cost
surgeries and we help her when animals get dumped
on her. She said that one of her clients messaged
her and asked if she would help her find homes
for two puppies. It was a male and a female.
I said, yes. By the time word got back to the
owner, she had given the male away. So it was
just one female puppy. I got her number, I started
coordinating things with her, and that's when
she told me that the person who was supposed
to come pick up a second female puppy didn't
show up and we could have two female puppies
now. Those are now the Y litter of two. While
we were talking she told me that they had a mama
that needed to be rehomed as well We were all
set to take her and then she told me yeah, she's
super weird with new people She bit the vet earlier
this week when we were there She hates being
in a crate and she does not do well in a car
at all Well Seeing as she was going to be Loaded
in a crate to go for a 14 -hour car ride where
she would arrive at a vet clinic and be given
to a stranger I Had some concerns That's when
she told me she also had an older puppy needing
a home as well. He is now kayaking. She said
that his mom was dumped at her house and she
took her in. She ended up being pregnant and
she had a litter of puppies in October. She kept
one, she gave the rest away, but she couldn't
find anyone to take kayaking. I asked if we were
talking about the same mama dog that bit the
vet and she was like, no, no, this is another
mom. Oh, and I need you to take her too. So mama
knitting got added to the mix. I have told her
that we would need to hold off on taking the
biting mom until I could find a foster locally
down here to take her in and try her out and
see how she does, see if she is actually feral.
She's like, that's fine. With you taking these
other four, that just leaves me with one other
dog to get rid of. I'm like, oh my gosh. OK,
who the heck are we talking about now? She said
I have a Boston Terrier that I got from one of
my friends a few years ago when they couldn't
take care of her anymore. Can you take her too?
And that's how we got history. So she brought
mama knitting and kayaking. Kayaking is the puppy
of knitting. She brought them to Dr. Jamie's
last night along with the two Y puppies whose
mom we are not taking and then the random Boston
Terrier history. So she brought all of them to
Dr. Jamie's clinic last night to leave them there
so we could pick them up. Once she got home,
she just decided that she loved that little feral
aggressive Chihuahua mix mama too much to let
her go. And since she only had one other dog,
the older puppy of knitting that she isn't giving
us, she felt like things were much more manageable
with just the two of them. And she's decided
she just wants to keep the mom. She doesn't want
to stress her out and risk her biting anybody.
Oh, and so this whole thing got started because
she said she needed to re -home her animals before
she could have surgery. She told me she's got
a hernia so big it's about to fall out of her
and she couldn't have the surgeries while she
had this many dogs. I didn't ask any questions,
guys. I was just like, okay, what do you want
me to take? The M letter of three are from one
of our rescue partners. Tasha has been trying
to trap this feral mom for nearly a year now.
She had babies under an old shed that was just
falling down all around the babies pieces by
piece. So they went and got them before that
the puppies were killed and they were praying
that the mom would eventually go into the trap
and they even put the babies in the trap hoping
to entice her. But she ran off and they didn't
see her for days. So these were bottle fed babies
and they are still trying to trap that sweet
mama. The N letter of four were seen running
through the woods with a feral mama. Someone
picked up the puppies and brought them home,
but they did not take the mom. So when our rescue
partners were contacted about these puppies and
they agreed to take them, they went looking for
the mom, but they never found her. C, letter
of 11, our owner surrenders. A lady messaged
us about a week after her dog had given birth.
It is a sweet and pretty poor family that has
been trying to get the mama spayed for over a
year but never had the funds and or a vehicle
to get it done. So when Jessica went to see the
puppies the first time, the lady was telling
her that she just finished chemo for cancer and
she also has an aggressive brain tumor. My mom
who has stage four breast cancer Ended up being
the one who went back to get these puppies and
she was talking to her as well about you know
Just their cancer treatments and stuff and the
lady told her her brain is slipping out of her
of her skull and is like falling down her spine
basically is what's happening, which is the absolutes.
Like, can you even imagine anything worse than
that? That is that is so scary. Anyways, she
teared up when she was talking to Jessica and
said the idea of having 11 more dogs has been
very overwhelming and very stressful for her.
So she was very relieved that we were gonna be
taking them. Her son is just a little elementary
school little kid, but he took such good care
of these puppies and he made sure that they were
so well socialized so that they would be super
easy to adopt out. The mom, the owner, is super
relieved that we're gonna be paying to have her
mama dog spayed for free now and we are really
glad that this is something that we could take
off of her plate with everything else she's having
to go through. Mama Gardening was a pregnant
stray we were contacted about by multiple people.
But we literally had nowhere to put her and so
we basically just told them she's on our list
and we'll get to her as soon as we could. Jessica
had plans made to go pick her up on a Thursday
after a litter that had been at the doghouse
went to a new foster. The people who had been
feeding the mom texted Jessica Wednesday night
that she had shown up to eat and she wasn't pregnant
anymore. So Jessica went there on Thursday and
the guy led her all through the woods to where
the dog had given birth and they gathered the
puppies up and Jessica was able to coax her out
of the woods to where her puppies were to get
her loaded in her car. Mama Pickleball was dumped
as a pregnant stray. The homeowners took her
in and a few days later she had nine puppies.
We have a little booth at a flea market in town
where we sell things that get donated to us that
we can't use. So like mega huge crates that won't
fit on the van or excess collars and leashes
that, you know, we don't need or sizes that we
don't need. And then the money that we get from
these goes for surgeries and heartworm treatments
and things like that. Just that bills basically.
Anyways, we've gotten quite a following from
this little booth. Like we were at one flea market
and we ended up leaving there and going to another
one and the the one that we joined was like oh
my gosh we've had such an influx of customers
and they're like where's the dog booth they have
to tell me where our booth is because there's
so everyone comes to our booth anyways one of
the customers actually asked the store owner
to put her in touch with my mom who is the one
who runs the booth so that she could ask her
if we would take this mama and her puppies. And
I love that. Oh, and so the Virginia foster who
is taking this mom is Zoe Foose. I think we all
know Zoe and her dad, David. Anyways, Zoe, Zoe
cracked me up this weekend. She sent me a picture
of the whelping box that the mom and this and
her puppies are going to be in when they get
to her house. Inside the whelping box is this
beautiful, huge, super nice area rug. I said,
Zoe, why does your whelping box have a nicer
rug than my living room? That is ridiculous.
But I'm so excited for this mom that she's going
to have such a nice rug. As for the cats, Stoxx
is from our wonderful Dr. Jamie. She said that
one of her clients found him in the road right
in front of her house. By the scrapes on his
face, Dr. Jamie thinks he was probably in someone's
motor of their car. When the client brought him
to the clinic, he was covered in something oily
and he smelled super weird. So she asked him
what she put on him and she said she lathered
him in coconut oil because that's all she had.
Why? What would possess you to do that? Robotics
is also from Dr. Jamie and he might be one of
my favorite stories ever. I love this story.
Dr. Jamie's clinic has a very big heavy front
door and then a little small flimsy screen door
on the other side. in the mornings they open
the big door and they just leave that open all
day and they have the screen door that's closed
in front of it. It doesn't close all the way
though, it just kind of like pulls to and it's
a push open, not a pull open. Wow. The other
day the receptionist was sitting at the front
desk and she heard the screen door open and close.
But when she looked up, there wasn't anybody
in the lobby. And so she was kind of freaked
out about it. So she stood up from her desk and
up jumped this sweet kitty. He had let himself
into the clinic, walked right in and came to
the front desk like, Hi, you need to make an
appointment, please? He had a collar on so they
posted him on their website to see if they could
find his owner But nobody ever came forward for
him, but I just get so tickled every time I think
about that He literally took himself to the vet.
I love him Video games was supposedly seen being
thrown out of a moving truck by the finder. She
picked him up and kept him in her lunchbox until
she got a hold of our bottle feeder foster and
convinced them to come pick her up from her at
work. Writing is from a lady with a feral cat
that she's been trying to catch for years. There
are several siblings that she's trying to catch
and tame as well and we will either send them
later if they're sweet and they end up being
sweet. Or we will just spay and neuter them for
her and she'll just re -release them. Breweries?
Okay, so someone saw it sitting in the parking
lot on their way to work one morning. They picked
it up. They posted on Facebook. Multiple people
commented that they had seen it there for the
past couple days and you know, no one owned it.
So Jessica said she'd pick it up the next morning.
She had the cat for several days when she noticed
something was off with its tail. So we took it
to the vet and we found out the tip of its tail
was dead. Our vet thinks that it was like shut
or closed in something and it broke the tip of
it off and then it just died. So we had to have
the end of it snipped off. So it's got a little,
little wonky tail. The A letter of four, our
owner surrenders from a lady. She has apparently
had a lot of trouble getting rid of fleas in
her house, and her husband was threatening to
take the kittens and dump them somewhere. We
gave her flea medicine, but I don't know. Anyways,
we ended up taking the kittens for her. J letter
of four, our owner surrenders. The lady posted
them on Facebook that she wanted them gone that
day, but she had taken really good care of them.
She got them vaccinated and dewormed, so I'm
not sure what the rush was. Our fosters ended
up getting in touch with her and they went and
got them that day. Okay, that is everybody that
is on my van. Coming up from a local Virginia
rescue is the D litter of three and the P litter
of five. These guys all have dad nicknames, not
hobbies. They are from a rescue in Prince George
County that does TNR, that's trap neuter release.
So I imagine that they trapped the feral moms,
it's two moms, but the kittens must have been
sweet enough that they could go to homes and
they didn't just want to turn them loose. I don't
know that though, I'm just using my context clues.
But that is - all the stories for this week.
Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for
fostering. Thank you for helping me battle through
my algorithm fight on Facebook. I am so proud
to say that despite Facebook's never -ending
attempts to shadow ban me, I have still managed
to find fosters for every single animal that
needed to go on transport and all the animals
already in the system up there that have needed
reassignments since the end of March, beginning
of April. So I am super pumped about that. Can
you even imagine though how much more I could
have gotten done if Facebook actually showed
my posts to people like it's supposed to? So
frustrating. It's a rough life, but someone's
got to do it.