Hello friends, welcome to Rough Life.
There's no transport again this week, but make sure you hit that subscribe button so
you're notified when next week's episode drops.
We still don't have a transport next week, but I am going to tell you the backstory on
all the puppies that we sent on our airplane transport last month.
A few of them have been adopted, but the majority of them were so young and tiny that they've
still been with their nursing mamas.
So they're finally being split up and sent into regular foster homes next week, so I
thought that would be a good time to talk about all of their stories.
But today I want to tell you about Sadie's story.
This is a story I've shared before, but for the sake of time I didn't go into all the
crazy details because I figured people wouldn't read the post.
But now that y'all get to listen to me tell my stories, I'm going to tell this one so
that I can do it the justice it deserves.
For any adopters out there, Sadie was WTAR Suleimura, and her puppies were the 4S puppies
from the September 19th 2020 cheese transport, so that was smoked cheese, soy cheese, string
cheese, and Swiss cheese.
So it was Tuesday after Labor Day in 2020 and I got a frantic call from one of my friends.
Her son and daughter-in-law had gone on vacation over the long weekend and came home to their
dog missing.
They had checked their ring doorbell camera and saw on Saturday an older woman came up
to their door, knocked, and when no one answered she walked back to her car, got a dog leash,
unclipped their dog from its chain, and put her in her car.
I want to make two things very clear before we get this story rolling.
Number one, this was 100% without a doubt a well-meaning lady.
Sadie was tied up outside in the heat with no visible food or water.
She absolutely wanted what was best for Sadie.
However, there are rules and procedures for this, you cannot, unfortunately, just go into
someone's yard and take their dog.
Number two, the owner's 100% realized how stupid and irresponsible it was to leave Sadie
tied up outside while they were gone for so long.
They said they had someone coming by once a day to give her food and water.
I don't know if that's the truth because why didn't that person notice she was gone
Sunday and Monday, but either way, once a day is not good enough.
And they of course realize that now, but it is technically legal to feed your dog once
a day.
So because this well-meaning older lady probably realized she was stealing a dog, she didn't
take the time to look inside Sadie's dog house.
She just grabbed Sadie and left.
If she would've, she would've seen four 10-day old puppies inside.
By some miracle, all four puppies survived until Tuesday morning when the owner got home
and realized Sadie was gone.
They brought them in and they started to bottle feed them, but they were not taking a bottle
well at all.
Okay, so back to the phone call.
My friend was asking if I could take the puppies for them because they weren't able to get
them to eat.
Of course I was willing, but that's not what was best for these puppies.
They needed their mama and we needed to find out who took her.
After some digging, we realized the woman who took Sadie was a board member of a local
shelter, not my local shelter.
Just a shelter a few towns over.
The owners said that they had already called the shelter and were told that there was no
female German shepherds up there.
Unfortunately, this is very common.
I don't know if it's just the people who answer the phone at shelters not realizing
what all animals are there and they're just innocently telling people the wrong information.
Or, especially in this case, since they knew they obtained the dog illegally, if they just
thought if they told the owners they didn't have a dog there matching that description,
nothing would come of it.
I told the owners to go to the shelter and look around just to be sure.
And sure enough, they walked in and saw Sadie.
When they told the employees that that was their dog and they needed her back because
she had puppies, they were told they couldn't have Sadie back because the shelter was going
to press animal neglect charges on them.
So in Mississippi, and probably 99% of animal neglect cases, there really is no punishment
for the owner.
Really the main goal is just to get legal ownership of the animal or animals.
I'd be willing to bet 9 out of 10 cases or at least the vast majority of them are settled
when the owners just say, if I surrender the animal to you will you drop the charges?
Because the animal laws down here are so loose, it's not really worth spending the time and
money going through most cases.
Especially in this specific case where technically no one knows whether or not the dog was given
food and water every day and there's no way to prove she wasn't.
The chances of the shelter winning this case if it actually went to court was very slim.
Now the owners were 100% in the wrong here.
But they really could have had someone coming by taking care of Sadie and maybe that person
just thought Sadie was in the dog house Sunday and Monday.
We don't know.
But the shelter especially didn't know that.
So the owners were well within their rights to go up there and raise Cain demanding their
dog back.
They probably could have even pressed charges and won against the shelter.
But they didn't.
They were very embarrassed that this had happened.
They felt awful.
They offered to just surrender Sadie to the shelter so they wouldn't have to go through
any legal troubles.
They just wanted them to take the puppies too so that they would be able to eat since
they weren't able to get them to and they were so worried about them.
The shelter told them they would not be taking the puppies but that they could bring them
back when they were 6 to 8 weeks old and they would probably take them then.
When the owners told them they had no idea how to bottle feed puppies, they were told
to have some friends help and just pass them around.
So when they called me and told me this, I couldn't believe it.
I had a great working relationship with the director of the shelter and we actually had
a good partnership with them.
I assumed this had to be just a misunderstanding or a lack of communication so I sent the director
a text explaining everything.
I told her that the owners were already surrendering the puppies but that I completely understood
if she still wanted to press charges on them for the mama dog.
I also offered to just foster the mama dog for the duration of the court case until everything
was settled just so she could be with her babies.
Then she could go on transport to Virginia.
Again we had sent numerous dogs for them before so they knew we were a great rescue and they
liked partnering with us.
But I got no response.
I tried calling, no answer.
I called the shelter and was told she'd call me right back.
Never did.
Called again.
And again.
And nothing.
Finally towards the end of the day I just decided to go up there.
In my mind there was no way this wasn't just some big miscommunication.
Because this was in the height of COVID you couldn't just go into the building without
them coming to the door and letting you in first.
I can't remember if you rang a doorbell or called a number listed on the door but I
cheerfully told one of the volunteers that came to the door that I was just there to
talk to the director about fostering a dog.
I was completely shocked when the volunteer left and an employee came to the door and
immediately told me to leave or that the cops would be called on me.
I mean I was absolutely shocked.
I don't think anyone had ever threatened to call the cops on me before and definitely
never have since then.
She told me the police had already been there and knew all about the situation.
That turned out to be not true whatsoever.
But I told her go ahead, ask them to come back because you're in possession of a stolen
dog anyways.
Y'all, I acted so big and bad saying stuff like yeah go ahead call the cops.
I didn't actually really appreciate that.
And as soon as she walked inside to call them I got my phone out with my shaking hands and
called one of our rescue partners who lived in that town.
She was a court reporter and she has a lawyer for a father.
I begged her to come up there with me because A, I needed legal advice, B, she knew all
the people that I knew there, plus more that are in the court system that could help us,
and C, I was absolutely terrified.
She must also have a lot of cop friends and not be afraid of speeding tickets because
she picked up the owner of the puppies, the puppies, a judge's wife and still got to me
faster than the cops did.
From the moment the cops got there, they were on our side.
They 100% agreed there was no reason the puppies shouldn't have at least been taken to just
so they could be with the mama.
But unfortunately it wasn't up to them and they couldn't legally make them give us the
mama dog or make them take the puppies.
While the police were taking the statements of the owners, I got to see the puppies for
the first time and I was absolutely horrified to see the condition they were in.
I mean, obviously, to go 48 to 72 hours with almost zero water, I guess I should have expected
what I saw, but it was just so shocking.
The runt especially was on death's door.
This particular shelter also has a vet clinic attached to it.
I don't fully understand the ins and outs of it.
I know they are open to the public for certain things, but I don't think it's just a regular
vet's office either.
Like I think they'll do low cost spay and neuter surgeries and vaccinations for the
public, but I don't think you can just go there just for regular vet care if that makes
sense.
But because it was in a separate building and because I was desperate for anything I could
do to help these puppies, I went in to see if I could buy a bag of fluids.
Heck, even a glass of water.
Anything for these puppies.
I had syringes in my car to administer the fluids.
I just needed the actual fluids.
The lady there was so kind to me and told me she would go and ask if that was allowed.
And a few minutes later, the employee I had talked to earlier came in flipping out.
We went around and around in circles with her saying her only concern was the well-being
of the mama dog and me saying, well, how do you think her mental state is right now after
being ripped away from her 10 day old puppies?
To her saying, I don't have anyone here that can even administer fluids and me saying, I
can administer the fluids.
I just need to buy them from you.
And here's the thing.
She may be totally right.
Maybe they couldn't legally sell me fluids.
I get that.
She never said that.
But that could be the case.
But if you are truly interested in the welfare of animals, these animals specifically, then
why would you not just say, I'm so sorry, I wish I could sell them to you, but I can't.
However, there is a vet's office here, here, and here.
Maybe they can help you.
I ended up googling vet's offices anyways in the area and they were all closed.
Luckily, for me though, I have a veterinarian at my disposal 24 seven and unluckily for
her, I use and abuse that privilege way too much.
I call Dr. Burton.
Y'all, let me just tell you the amount of times I have called her totally frazzled,
completely out of breath and just fired off random symptoms or ailments without even telling
her the full story.
She deserves a medal for the five star advice she gives me without even knowing what's going
on.
I think I literally just called and said, 10 day old puppies, no food for three days in
my car.
What's that a gas station?
She said, do you have syringes?
I mean, what kind of animal rescuer would I be if I didn't keep an entire case of three
milliliter syringes with me at all times?
Of course I do.
She said, you could go buy Gatorade just to get them some electrolytes for the time being.
So we raced to the gas station next to the shelter and I handed out syringes and puppies
to everyone there and showed them how to syringe feed Gatorade into puppies who could literally
barely swallow at this point.
They were absolutely dying.
And the cops showed up again.
They told us the employees had called again and asked that we be removed from the premises.
We hadn't left yet because we were all calling everyone we knew trying to figure out what
could be done to get that mama before they closed.
And we were so worried that they would move her to a foster or send her off somewhere
and we wouldn't know where she was.
They could have very easily and illegally sent her to another rescue and just pretended
she got loose and they lost her.
So we were staying in the parking lot until we knew without a doubt one way or another
who was getting Sadie that night.
The police did say we could just move our cars to the gas station parking lot that was
attached to the shelter parking lot and the employees wouldn't be able to do anything
about it then and we would be able to see if they tried to take Sadie out and send her
somewhere else.
So it's now been four hours.
Three of the puppies are starting to perk up from the Gatorade but the run is still scary
sickly.
The owners had officially surrendered the puppies to me and we were all just standing
around trying to figure out what could legally be done and how to go about it.
It sounds easier than it really was and honestly I lived it and I still don't even fully understand
it.
It was something like we thought some court would be able to handle it but then found
out it was going to have to be a higher court and then we thought someone would be able
to just sign off on getting the dog back but then it turned out it had to be an actual
judge signing off on it.
The judge had to talk to the owners and me over face time to be able to legally draft
the court order.
Anyways at nine o'clock that night we had a judge out of bed and down at the courthouse
signing off on an emergency court order demanding the shelter hand Sadie over to me that night.
Now this was not permanent custody this was just a temporary emergency order but that's
all we needed.
Then the paperwork had to be sent to the police.
The police had to come back out there.
They had to inform the shelter director.
Of course the shelter was already closed and no one was there.
Luckily I had her cell phone number to give to the police.
The shelter lawyer needed a phone call to like I'm serious.
We went through so many chains of commands it was unreal.
Anyways an employee finally gets out to the shelter and tells the police she's refusing
to hand the dog to me directly.
She would hand the dog on the leash to the police.
The police would hand it to me.
I would load her in my car and then the police would bring the leash back to her.
The whole thing was so childish.
She also told the police to tell me that I was banned from ever coming on their property
again.
The police told me but uh this is public property so she can't really do that.
But she told me to tell you so.
The moment Sadie saw her puppies again is the moment I will never forget.
You could see her physically take a sigh of relief that they were okay and that she was
with them again.
She instantly laid down and started cleaning them up while they all nursed on her.
It was I can't even put into words how priceless that was.
I'm going to upload a bunch of videos and pictures of this whole story on our Instagram
so make sure you're following us so you can see it for yourself.
It's called Rough Life Podcast.
The next morning we had our emergency court hearing.
We all met up again at the courthouse minus the owners since they had legally surrendered
the puppies and the mama to me.
They weren't really a part of this anymore.
It turned out the lawyer for the shelter was the director or maybe the shelter veterinarian's
husband.
I don't know if that counts as a conflict of interest but it should.
Anyways the judge took me and the shelter lawyer to a separate room.
The lawyer said I spoke to my client.
Oh you mean your wife?
Oh okay.
The shelter is prepared to let you foster Sadie and her puppies until they are weaned
at which time the shelter will take them.
Um I'm sorry what?
You want me to foster this mama dog and her puppies and then give them to you to send
to another rescue?
I told him um no I'm a 501c3 northern rescue so if I'm going to foster them they're going
to go to my rescue.
He left to go confer with his client and then came back and said the shelter has agreed
to let your rescue take the puppies with the agreement that the shelter can come to your
facility which was my house to be sure the animals are receiving proper veterinary care.
I'm sorry is this the same shelter that was going to let 10 day old puppies starve to
death because they didn't want to give back the mama dog that their board member stole?
I said something like I'm sorry but I don't trust the veterinary opinion of someone who
was so willing to let four puppies die yesterday.
I work for a veterinarian who was actually the only one to give these puppies veterinary
care yesterday.
She will be in charge of making sure the animals receive proper veterinary care.
He left to go confer and then he came back and said the shelter has agreed to allow you
to have ownership of the mama and all the puppies.
I think I even made him say and they can go to your rescue and you can use your own vet
and all of that too.
Then the judge actually had us wait in his chambers until the shelter people had left
because he didn't want us to be subjected to any possible harassment or bullying.
But oh man we were so excited.
I didn't think we were going to have a problem getting custody of them but just to finally
have it solidified and legal it was such a relief.
We actually ended up sending Chick-fil-A breakfast and I think cookies or brownies to the police
station and the courthouse just to thank everyone for going so far out of their way that night
to make this happen for us.
Any time I tell this story, everyone's first comment is always why would the shelter not
just take the puppies?
And honestly I don't know.
They did say one time something about them not thinking Sadie had any milk, which she
did.
But even if she didn't, that's not a reason to take puppies away from a mama dog.
Aside from the psychological and emotional damage you do to the mom, there are so many
other benefits that the puppies get from being with their mama even if they're still having
to be bottle fed.
So I truly don't know, especially with them knowing their board member literally stole
the dog.
I can't imagine why they wouldn't have just taken the owners up on their offer to just
surrender the mama and the puppies to the shelter and avoid all legal action.
I truly just don't know y'all.
But anyways, that director ended up getting fired a few months later.
I don't know why, I don't think it had anything to do with this.
And I don't think the employee that was so hateful to me still works there anymore either.
Sadie and all four of her puppies lived, they more than lived, they thrived.
Sadie was the best mom.
She completed her heartworm and early key treatments in Virginia and she is so loved
in her new home.
Her puppies are all two and a half years old now, which is crazy.
And they're all in loving homes.
And best of all, I think the owners realized they weren't quite ready for the responsibility
of being dog owners because to my knowledge, they haven't gotten another dog again.
If they did, they do at least keep it inside this time.
So yeah, that's the story on how I got myself banned from a local shelter.
And honestly, I would do it all again tomorrow.
I do make sure I carry fluids around in my car now at all times.
It's a rough life, but someone's got to do it.