HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY Rynn's babies!!

Many of you may not remember this picture.  For others, as for me, it is a picture we will NEVER forget.
It is a picture I received via email with this picture:

I forwarded the email to Erica and called her. You see Erica is the rational one in this partnership. "Is she good with other dogs?" "How bad off is she?" "Are you going to get her and all those puppies????"

I could hear her thinking, "She is nutz! She is going to get that mom and babies!", but Erica knew the answer to the last question.  The first two questions I ignored and was already making transport arrangements with the wonderful Laura Oesterhaus that works with the Manhattan, KS shelter.  Was there any question about me rescuing this poor girl and her 9, yes NINE, babies???  She had been brought into the shelter by a gentleman that said he found her on his property with the puppies.  Someone dumped a momma dog with 9 puppies out in the middle of nowhere with no shelter, water, or nutrition??  I will not take responsibility for my actions should I ever meet that person face to face. How in the WORLD are they still alive??

The thing about this girl and her story is it spread like wild fire to Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri, and of course, Kansas.  When word got out that Crossroads was rescuing her, suddenly we had emails of offers for sponsorship, adoption, and $150 in donations!

I took my teenage son and we met Laura in Topeka on July 28th, 2010 to pick her up with her babies.  She was so skinny we were almost scared to touch her, but at the same time wanted to hug her and tell her everything was going to be okay now.  She rode all the way home snuggled next to my son.

We got her home and gave her a much needed bath. This is what we pulled off of her - in all, seven engorged ticks, mostly from under her chin and on her neck. *blech*

After her bath, she continued her bonding with my son, David. We were trying to think of an appropriate name when David asked if he could name her.  He came up with Ryne. No particular meaning, it just sounded good to him.  She seemed to like it and she stayed close to David all night.

We also got her puppies settled.

Warning!! CUTE Alert!

As emaciated as Momma Ryne was, look at how healthy these approximately four week old puppies were! Nine precious, adorable, beautiful babies - 2 girls and 7 boys!  Love at first sight for sure.  You can see these and over 150++ more pictures on our Facebook page. Look for "Momma Ryne and babies" and "Ryne's babies 8 weeks and up".  The pictures say so much more than I can put into words here.

Ryne was an INCREDIBLE mother to these babies. She willingly nursed and cared for them. She socialized them and disciplined in such a gentle, loving way.  The following is one of my favorite mother/kids pictures:

"I'm gonna miss these boogers when they leave."

And so the puppies began to find furrever homes.

This is Ryne kissing Riley good-bye. Still brings tears to my eyes.

In the end, all 9 puppies ended up in AMAZING homes. I am so blessed to be able to keep in touch with many of them through email and Facebook.  This is full grown Riley with his friend/sister (and the next Crossroads' momma) FLASH! Yes, we are blessed to already have repeat adopters!

And then there is our dear Biffle, originally Green collar.

He was accidentally hit by a truck in December and was our first Crossroads' baby to go to Rainbow Bridge. The day I received that email will forever be etched in my brain. I bawled for the longest time and it still brings tears to my eyes. He will forever be in our hearts, and I'm sure he is watching over all 8 of his siblings and momma!

(Note: We may finally have some progress on his memorial sign,

 as we renamed the puppy run out back BIFFLE'S RUN!)

But what about Ryne? Well, a lady from Wyoming inquired about Ryne middle of August. We began emailing back and forth. It had been laid on her heart that Ryne could possibly be a good companion for their other sweet girl, Auri.  Email after email, back and forth, an increasing comfort came over me that this is where Ryne should go when the time was right. Sometimes a family comes around and there is just a solid feeling, a God Wink I would call it, that says - give her to that home.  Ryne meant the world to our family. She was so loving and gentle - practically the perfect dog in every way. There was no way I could let her be adopted by just anyone.  

After we approved their application and continued to communicate, we decided that we wanted to meet in person, meaning I would personally transport her halfway (7 hours one way).  So on a Sunday, end of September, I got up early with Ryne and headed towards central Nebraska.  Ryne was an angel girl the whole way. When I finally met up with this incredible couple that I had been communicating with, it seemed as  if we had been friends for a very long time.  We found a beautiful park to walk Ryne and her new sister, Auri, and spent a long time chatting, sharing, and watching Ryne and Auri get to know each other. (Okay, now I'm crying just remembering that beautiful day.)

I said my good-byes to Ryne as we put her in this soft bed next to Auri in the back of their SUV - just within reach of her new mom and dad.  Ryne was not 100% sure what was going on, but I knew she would be fine. I got back in my car and drove to a gas station. I sat there for quite some time having a good cry - a bittersweet, happy/sad cry.  With that said, to this day, I have never been so confident in my decision to drive 14 hours round trip and take a dog to a furrever family.

Here is Ryne's (now Rynn) first Christmas in her new home:

And here is her running free and happy.

Enough said.

Happy 1st Birthday to Rynn's beautiful babies!!

You did an amazing job, Rynn.

To Rynn and her children - we love you!

HOT, HOT, HOT!!!

The next week or so is going to be treacherously hot. You may be hearing it on the news and other animal pages you follow, but it does not hurt to repeat this warning. Our dogs need to stay cool just like we do!

For Lawrence, KS, we are under an Extreme Heat Watch and the temperature will not be below 90 (mostly upper 90s) for the next 8 days at least.

Please do not leave your dog outside for very long. Do not exercise your dog for very long periods of time - even early morning or late at night when it can still be high 80's, low 90's.  A dogs' normal body temp is higher than ours - 100.5-102.5 degrees F, so they are already higher than a human. Plus they carry a coat and if it is dark, it will be that much warmer.  Their bodies are not as efficient at cooling itself either - only through their paws and panting.

Speaking of their paws - do not walk them on hot surfaces. If you would not walk on hot cement or asphalt, neither should they.

So besides being inside in the air conditioning, how else can we help dogs stay cool?

1. Obviously, ample cold water to drink. 
2. Plenty of shade
3. Limited physical activity
4. Kiddie pool - Titus loves having the pool outside.
5. A cold toy - I put a few rubber toys in a clean ice cream bucket then fill it with water and put it in the freezer. Once it is frozen, I run the outside of the bucket under cool water which allows the big ice chunk to easily fall out on the patio. The dogs love licking it and working their way to the toys.
6. Frozen treats - Spoon all natural pumpkin (No spices) into an ice tray and freeze.  These are healthy, cold treats that are great for their digestive system.
7. Misting fan
8. Obviously the best option is to keep your dog indoors and only allow outside briefly for potty breaks.

So what to do indoors with a dog that needs to burn off energy?

1. Play "Hide & Seek". This is a great way to work on recall. When they find you (or the kids) they can reward with a small treat.
2. Fill a Kong toy (on sale cheap at Amazon) with a treat, all natural pumpkin, yogurt or cottage cheese. This will keep the dog busy for a while while he/she works it out.
3. Kong and Nylabone are the favorite toy brands around here - many are mentally stimulating and almost indestructible.
4. Puzzles - Kong has the beehive shaped one. There is a puzzle cube that you can fill with part of their meal for them to work out. Frank LOVES these.  If your dog doesn't destroy stuffed toys, there are some great ones available as well.

Last but, certainly not least - Do NOT ever leave your dog in the car in the heat.  If you see a dog in a car, have the owners paged and/or call the authorities. Do SOMETHING. It will not take very long for the dog to overheat.

Thank you for loving and taking good care of your and other furrkids!

Extreme Home Makeover - Crossroads edition?

Those that know me well, know that I am very bad about asking for help, or anything else for that matter.  I am also very bad at accepting offered help or gifts too. I am a take charge kind of person that wants to take care of everyone else, and of course have a passion for the plight of homeless dogs.

In the past 3 years, I feel like I have finally found my calling and that is in dog rescue.  These precious, helpless animals need a voice.  They need someone to step up and show the world how much love they have to offer if only given the chance. They also need help being spay/neutered.  This is what I believe I was called to do.

Rescue, as in life, is not without challenges.  Shelters are overflowing with animals needing rescue and adoption, and it is heartbreaking to have to "ignore" many, many emails and Facebook postings with pictures of dogs that look so sad, or are sick or injured.  The number of animals in need is way more than there are volunteers and rescuers can help.  Sometimes it seems even a momma and one litter of puppies is a lot for just me to handle. But our goal is to do it RIGHT and to do it WELL.

And then there is life... During the past 3 years, we fought diligently to figure out what was wrong with my youngest son, Jeffrey. He screamed since birth and very little gave him any relief.  Finally, at the age of 20 months, other life threatening symptoms appeared that finally got one of the many doctors we had seen to order an MRI of his head.
Diagnosis: Severe Chiari Malformation of the brain blocking all cerebral spinal fluid from flowing freely down his spinal cord.  Due to the lack of medical understanding of this condition, it took further pushing and fighting, until finally a doctor at Cleveland Clinic listened. Jeffrey had decompression surgery (craniectomy at the base of his skull and laminectomy of the C1) in Cleveland on May 11, 2010.  This may have saved his life, as well as prevented him from being paralyzed from the neck down.

Due to the amount of time it took to get the decompression, there is some brain damage - IGF-1 deficiency, hypoglycemia, Intracranial Hypertension, and Severe Apraxia of Speech.  With this information under our belts, we are now using it to see if it is the cause of our 2 daughters' health issues, including gastric vulvulus, headaches, body pain, ketotic hypoglycemia, exercise intolerance, and frequent dislocation of their joints - at the young ages of 5 and almost 7 years old.

I do not share this information lightly or for people to feel sorry for us.  It is what God gave us, and we believe He does not give us more than we can handle. But as Mother Teresa says - we wish He did not trust us so much. :-)

The animals in our home are therapy for our family. I only hope and pray that we can give these animals half the love and loyalty that they give us.  With every extra ounce of energy I have, I want to save more animals from being euthanized. I want to educate the community of resources available to help with the cost of spay/neuter, and the benefits and life long reward of adopting shelter/rescue animals.

It is a two fold request that we now ask for your support by nominating us for Extreme Home Makeover - to raise awareness about Chiari Malformation, to raise awareness about the plight of homeless animals and spay/neuter, and obviously, have the home that will allow us to not only care for our medically challenged children, but continue to rescue dogs in need.

The information is posted on the Crossroads Dog Rescue Facebook wall as well as here:
Taken from Pilots N Paws Facebook page:  NEWS FLASH! After seeing a news article on one our rescue flights, Pilots N Paws was contacted by Extreme Makeover-Home Edition. Pilots N Paws would love to nominate a family who is making a difference in the animal rescue movement to bring about change and awareness to the cause. If you know a family that are heroes to animals and that and need a home, please send an email to producer Kelly Mooney ExtremePets@EMHE.TV as soon as possible. Let's get moving people! 


Thank you will never be enough if we are chosen. For now, thank you for considering us and supporting our rescue cause!!
~Stephanie Richardson & Family
Crossroads Dog Rescue
crossroadsdogs@gmail.com

Callie's Babies

Meet Bubba - one of 8 adorable puppies from Callie's litter. There are 5 boys and 3 girls. We believe momma Callie is an Australian Cattle Dog mix (not sure what). The puppies appear to be mixed with Keeshond or something similar. All of the puppies will have been vet checked twice, given first shots and wormer prior to adoption. They are available June 10th, 2011. If you are interested in adoption, go to our website and read through the adoptions page: http://www.crossroadsdogrescue.org