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!
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*
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!
Thank you for your post about "our" dog, Rynn. I say "our" dog because I know that we are just the ones that are blessed to have Rynn in our lives. We actually share Rynn with many others who loved and cared for her, either face-to-face, or from afar that were touched by her story. I have another chapter to add to her story. I saw Rynn's picture and read her story on a cross-post of an email from a rescue organization I am in contact with. I had this feeling that we were supposed to bring Rynn into our lives. I felt like, after all she had been through and as hard as she fought to keep herself and her nine puppies alive, even though she was emaciated herself, that she deserved the best life she could possibly have. This "God-wink" kept nagging & nagging at me and I could not get her off my mind. We wanted a companion for our dog, Auri. We had just had a heart-wrenching experience with a foster dog that we wanted to keep, but unfortunately, she, herself, had been through a horrible life, and did not want to share her new-found love and security with our dog, Auri. We had to find her a new amazing, wonderful one-dog home (which was another God-wink all in itself). After that experience, Auri was very discriminating about her buddies. I kept thinking to myself, "Am I crazy?" "What if they don't get along, after we have taken Rynn 12 hours away from HER new-found love and security, and it doesn't work out?" I was afraid, but I just kept feeling that Rynn was supposed to join our family. When I told my husband about my scheme to bring Rynn home, he said "Tracy, there are plenty of dogs right here in our own town who need a good home. Why do we have to travel 12 hours away to get one?" I told him, "I don't know ... I just feel like we are supposed to share our lives with this dog." So off we went to meet Stephanie & Rynn, our kindred spirits from afar. We felt so comfortable with Stephanie from the beginning - like old friends who had not seen each other in awhile and were just catching up. It was love at first sight with Auri & Rynn. Today Auri loves Rynn like a little sister, worries about her when she is out of sight, plays with her, and they share kisses galore - something that Auri does not do with just anyone! And now the ending (or perhaps a new beginning) to the story. We now have three dogs in our home. A little Pomeranian/terrier mix, less than 6 months old, that had been abandoned on a country road (that my husband brought home this time) has joined our family in the last week. Rynn has had so much fun playing with her. I think she reminds her of her precious little babies of just a year ago. It warms my heart to see pictures of Rynn's babies - they look SO much like our Rynn. Thank you to Stephanie & her family & Erica who saved those 10 lives the day they gave Rynn & her babies shelter. They were in danger of being put down because no-one had room for all of them. What a tragedy that would have been to waste those 10 precious, gentle souls. If I could encourage those of you who read this post, it would be to financially support this wonderful rescue organization so that they may continue to help those who cannot help themselves and save other lives as well by adopting from them or another shelter when possible. Rynn sends her love and birthday wishes to all of her babies. P.S. She weighs a healthy 41 lbs now - a far cry from when she came into rescue at half that weight!
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