Love Thy Neighbors

"Love thy neighbors as yourself." Mark 12:31
Ugh. I wish this was not so difficult lately.

Here is the back story and the reason for me needing to move all but four dogs out of my home.

We bought our home here about six years ago and it just seemed perfect for us. We met our neighbors and everyone seemed really great.  I started getting involved in rescue about three and a half years ago now. Since we already had a dog, we were conscientious of our neighbors by making sure the yard was clean, free of smell, and not excessive barking - certainly not after 9 p.m.

No! Not this sweet face. ~Frank

Then Frank started jumping our fence. He barks at people, but it is all bark - fear bark.  My neighbor behind us, Cindy, freaked and started calling animal control. There was only once that I did not catch him before they arrived.  We made accommodations to our fence to prevent him from jumping, and he also gained enough weight he is too fat now to jump anyway.

After I became a Kansas State Licensed Group Home Foster Rescue, we had always tried to keep the number of dogs in our home as close to the city limit of four as possible, but as is the case lately, there is so much need. I began recruiting foster homes, however I also fully understand that not everyone is "the crazy dog lady" like I am, so dealing with certain issues is more challenging. I do not ever want my foster homes to feel trapped or stuck with a dog, so I always provide support and take the dog back if necessary.

Well, between my four children and four (or more, but I never have more than four in my yard at once)  dogs playing in my backyard, it was too much commotion for Cindy. Over the past 2 years I am aware of two calls to child protective services and over thirty calls to animal control. The calls to animal control were for excessive noise, bad smell, not picking up when my dog eliminates on walks (but I have a box of poop bags by my front door - those are just for decoration), and dogs at large (when dear Titus was jumping the fence, but I always caught him before he got in trouble).

Then came the visit on Wednesday.  My husband was in the backyard with the kids and our personal dogs. They were barking for him to throw the tennis ball. He noticed that Cindy was peaking through the fence slats. We both kind of blew it off since she is so nosy. But about an hour later, Chad woke me up from a nap saying that animal control was at the door.  This time she was not so nice.  Cindy had called them 12 times in the past 4 days with complaints of all kinds, including way too many dogs.  Unfortunately, even though my state license allows me up to 19 dogs, the city limit is 4 and takes precedence.  While they have always known about my rescue efforts, due to the number of complaints from Cindy, they are having to enforce the city ordinance. They gave me 48 hours to be back down to 4 dogs and/or puppies under 10 weeks of age.

Did I mention that the north edge of our property is the city limit?  Yes. If I lived across the street, this would NOT be an issue.

So needless to say, I would have to find a new home for even one of my personal dogs to continue with adult dog rescue.  I can have orphaned puppies, but they have to be gone by the time they are 10 weeks old.  I will not give up one of my personal babies.

I am so thankful to be a part of a WONDERFUL rescue community that all came together to help in this situation.  Within minutes of AC leaving, the animal welfare director at Lawrence Humane Society offered assistance. By end of the evening, I had offers of help on almost every dog and puppy.  Many people have asked about Nani. While I miss her immensely, Nani is in GREAT hands at Winding River under direct care of Julie Jones and her colleagues.  I will be visiting her, covering the costs of her vetting, and getting regular updates.

Two reasons that I got into rescue: 1) When I was younger and more naive, I bought a 12 week old puggle puppy that needed to be rehomed... little did I know it was a backyard breeder who wanted the puppy gone because he was too old. That puppy is now my whole heart - Frank, aka Butt Munch (when he's in trouble). It was him that had me doing research on animal welfare and how I could help make those breeding conditions STOP!  2) I also wanted to do dog training to help prevent families from taking dogs to shelters for what seemed like dumb reasons. However, once I spent a little time in the shelter environment, I found a passion for wanting to get them out of there and rehabilitate their fears and pain. So my rescue efforts began.

At this point, I am not sure what direction Crossroads Dog Rescue will take. I LOVE the rehabilitation and training side of rescue. I also really want to help families that are having challenges so that dogs will not end up at the shelter.  I am not sure I could turn away a plea for help bottle feeding puppies. I am going to take some time with my family and we will see. One thing is for sure - I will ALWAYS be available for our adopters - please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions or concerns about your dog if it is a Crossroads' Alum.

There are no words to express my level of appreciation to our adopters, volunteers, supporters and friends.

New Life for Nani

The opening sentences of our mission statement are:
"Crossroads Dog Rescue specializes in the rescue and placement of abused, unwanted and abandoned companion dogs. We never discriminate on the basis of health, age or breed."  
Today's rescue pull, I believe, epitomizes our goal to not discriminate on the basis of health.  While I am fairly new in rescue (about three years), many others I spoke with said they had never seen a case this bad.
Meet Nani.

This was the first picture I saw of her when she was posted on Facebook.  Nani (meaning "beauty" in Hawaiian), was a stray brought into the shelter. She is only about 8 months old. My heart sunk, tears came to my eyes, and I immediately shared.  But that was not enough for me.  I had to do more. I shared her over to the rescue page and begged (I don't like to beg, but Nani was worth it!) for our supporters to help foster a couple other dogs in our rescue.  My heart NEEDED to help her.

As is always the case, our amazing supporters stepped up within minutes! So I emailed the shelter and said I would take her.  While I did have a moment of extreme anger - WHO DOES THIS? or rather does NOT do anything for a dog that is suffering? - I quickly moved past that to thinking, "how quickly can I get to her to start her on the path of healing, toys, hugs, and a new life?"

When I arrived at the shelter, the coordinator took me back. As I looked in her kennel, she wagged her tail! We carried her to the car and I put her in the kennel with quite a few towels. I looked down at my sweatshirt and I was covered in scale-like dandruff and had drops of blood on me. Again a moment of - WHO DOES THIS?  Moving on...  While driving home we had to have the windows partially open. The smell... there are no words to describe the smell.

When we got home, she stood up and wanted out!  I put a loose lead on her, but she was so excited to be free that I had to hold on tight.  We went for a short walk and she had to potty!  Then I took the following pictures:

Looking back at these pictures bring tears to my eyes. No living thing should have to live like this. She kept shaking and trying to itch her face, which is already torn and cracked.  Every move of her face and blood and puss oozes out.  Her left eye is almost swollen closed with green puss oozing out. 

I took her in to get her settled in my master bathroom. The smell... oh. my. goodness.  Nothing can prepare someone for the smell of mange.  Then I made her some boiled chicken and rice, mixed in her antibiotics and pain meds, and she snarfed it down! Well, at least she is eating well. I walked her again and then came in to get a treat - YOUCH!  She likes treats - watch your hand if you have one around her! :-D

Upon putting her in her kennel for the night, she was shivering. We put a t-shirt on her and gave her more towels to stay warm.  I will go buy some fleece tomorrow for her to sleep on, as that is easily washable too.  Here are some pictures I took before saying good night:

Nani, our beautiful girl, has an amazing future ahead of her. Today is her first day of a new life. Tomorrow we see our vet and get her on her way to being the healthy, happy puppy she should be.  It will be a long journey, but so worth it.

If you'd like to make a donation to Crossroads Dog Rescue for Nani's care:

You can also contact us at crossroadsdogs@gmail.com.