Hope and Comfort Dogs

This is what dogs can do. 

I'm sure at this point many of you have heard of the K-9 Parish Comfort Dogs.  I literally cannot think of them or see pictures of them without crying. Who among the readers of this blog has not caught themselves crying into the fur of a dog? Who has not felt themselves relax and calm down while petting a snuggly pup?  In the above pictures the dogs are visiting with a victim of the Boston bombing just before she goes into leg surgery, and comforting a Bostonian.

The dogs are trained for and work through Lutheran Church Charities. Many news outlets have covered their work recently, and you may even remember that we talked about them on the blog back in December, when I first heard of them. That post was about the comfort they were bringing to Newtown. Now they comfort Boston. I'm so tired of living in a world that requires such acts of kindness to compensate for such acts of brutality. However, I'm so grateful for the outlets for compassion and comfort provided by humans and dogs alike.

TS Eliot said, "April is the cruelest month," but he also followed that line with "breeding Lilacs out of the dead land." Lilacs are my favorite flower and our lilac trees in my backyard are getting greener every day. Life from death brings hope and comfort. Warm fuzzy dogs bring hope and comfort.

It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway. Pray for Boston, and Texas, and everyone who needs hope and comfort. Hug your dogs and cats and family and friends. Thanks for reading.

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The Great Outdoors Photo Share: DayTwo

This is Riley. Riley's mom, Laurie, left Riley alone with his dad during this snowstorm. I will tell Riley's story in the captions below these pictures. You might want to read the blog first and then all the captions, or vice versa.

 

Spring is trying to spring in Pennsylvania. I know we have blog readers from all over the world, so I'm not sure what it's like where you are, but the past few days have been sunny and quite warm.  Believe me, you won't hear any complaints coming from me. However, in April in Pennsylvania, we are never more than a few days away from a 40 degree temperature swing. 

Laurie's son-in-law was getting his Wings as a pilot in the US Navy, and she didn't want to miss the ceremony.

 To that end, right in the middle of all this beautiful weather, I'm sharing some Great Outdoors pictures that are all about snow. We are sick of winter in these parts, but these pictures are too cute not to share.

Laurie decided, when the storm cancelled her flight, to drive from PA to Texas!

  If you're a regular reader you know that everyone is invited to share their pets for photo shares. The pet does not have to be a rescue (or even a dog). 

Riley and his dad, who had just had surgery, were left to manage on their own. Looks like they made the most of it!

It's a way to get all readers involved, so if you're reading this and you have some fun outdoor pics of your pet, it's not too late to share them with me!  You can see the various ways to share here, or you can email me at pabibliophile@gmail.com

Kami the cutie was featured on the blog last week. This is from her first snowstorm. Click here to read her blog story.

As always, we are looking for your rescue stories too!

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The Great Outdoors, Day One

So, the pictures have been coming in for our Photo Share: The Great Outdoors.  As I expected, many of them are snow pictures.  So many of our pets are just little (or big) snow bunnies. Here's an example of one of the pictures:

That ^ is Riley.  Don't worry- he loves the snow.  Isn't he gorgeous?

So far we have some great submissions, but we are still expecting more. And. . . I didn't even share the cutest Riley picture yet. I'm saving it for next Wednesday! haha

What I had in mind for today is something I've been holding on to for a few weeks now. I'm going to share the rest of Lilly and Leroy's first play-date!  I wanted to include these pictures in their original post, but I had so many good pictures indoors (thanks Luke) I decided to put these aside for this feature. 

                                     

                               

  You remember Lilly right?

 And who could forget Leroy?

In these pictures we can definitely see the balance of power shift from Leroy:

He's getting ready to chase Lilly.

He's staring Lilly down.

Lilly is deciding whether to hold her ground.

Now they are having a stand-off.

And the power shifts to Lilly. . .

She stands up to him.

Leroy runs away in fear.  Ok he kind of just saunters away casually.

So, changing the subject a bit, it's time for the "boy is my face red" photo.  Weeks ago, Meredith shared this precious picture of her girl Nala sleeping on her dad Leroy's head. (Yes, her dad is named Leroy and the dog is named Leroy. It's a weird coincidence that I'm sharing them both on the same day.  Or is it?)

I forgot to include it with my sleeping pets photo shares. :-( How could I have forgotten this picture?  So sorry Meredith and Nala! 

Ok, get your pets to go outside. Take some awesome pictures. Get some Vitamin D.  Get those pictures to me ASAP.  Also, don't forget we always want you to share your rescue stories!

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Sleeping Pets Photo Share: Part Four

Awwwww Jasper. He is the picture of contentedness.

In this picture, Indy isn't the one sleeping!

Time to share the last sleeping pet pictures from this Photo Share.  Since we had such a great response we will undoubtedly run this one again sometime in the future, so keep trying to get those pictures. 

But here's Indy all peaceful and innocent.

Next Wednesday I will explain the newest Photo Share, The Great Outdoors, although it obviously doesn't require too much explaining! 

  Thanks for checking out the blog during our Photo Shares and thanks especially to the people who shared with us. 

Look how cute Jesse is!

Leroy, when he was a puppy, sleeping on his dad's foot.

Isn't Dio stunning?  We hope to feature him here on the blog soon.

Stella sleeping in the car seat

 If you haven’t seen the other Photo Share pictures try to make some time to do so.  Yesterday’s post not only has cute photos, but also explains the logic behind the Photo Shares as part of the Rescue Dog Blog. 

Rosco is sure making himself comfortable.

In addition to sharing with us this way, we also encourage you to share your own rescue story and encourage anyone you can to do the same.

Goodnight Chaucer and Molly.

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Feel-Good Friday: Finley

Finley is our top dog for Feel-Good Friday!  Finley’s story almost seems like the plot of a movie, and it has the required happy ending for all dog movies too!

Finley is a newly acquired service dog in training for Denice DeAntonio. Last week (March 5) Denise and Finley, a golden retriever, were at a shopping center in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, when Denise fell. Ambulances were called and a good deal of people responded, all of which is heartwarming.  Unfortunately, in the commotion that ensued poor Finley got scared and ran off.  How terrifying for Denise and Finley.

The community response was swift and generous.  Dozens of volunteers looked for Finley for several days. They set up organized search parties and used some of the many tips called in to direct their search. 

Finally, on Friday morning, a local woman, Jackie Kauffman, found Finley standing in her gated yard with her dog Kirby!  He took some coaxing, but she was able to lure him with dog food into her garage.  What happy news!

Jackie did some calling around and found that the search team, lead by the group Amazing Tails, was assembling at a local Dunkin Donuts with a search dog to head out again looking for Finley.  Amazing Tails is the group who had trained Finley, and they had been feverishly coordinating the efforts to find him.  Check out their page; they often use rescue dogs for their training programs.  Anyway, Finley was taken to the restaurant and united with Denise!

Click on this picture for a short and heartwarming video about Finley's story.  You'll have to sit through a few seconds of a story about local hikers, but then you get to see Finley reunited with Denise.

So much of this story fits the criteria for Feel-Good Friday.  It also makes me proud of Pennsylvania and the people of Berks County for being so persistent in their efforts to find the dog and help Denise. Previously Wyomissing got a lot of attention for being the epicenter of the mess that was Jon and Kate Plus 8, the “famous” reality show family with sextuplets.  Most of the people I knew down that way could have done without that claim to fame. Now they have something much better to hang their hats on.

You can read more about the search and rescue in the local paper, The Reading Eagle, which is where I got the information shared here.  All of the pictures are from the Amazing Tails website except for the one directly above.

Keep your own personal rescue stories coming, and don't forget you can submit photos for our sleeping pet series too!

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Sleeping (Grab) Bag

I took the above picture on a summer day when Wiley was just not interested in getting out of bed.  As you might be able to infer from the alarm clock in the top right corner, his back legs are on our pillows. I think he looks like an orangutan in this picture, because his front legs look freakishly long from this angle.  And yes, he does have them resting on a pile of blankets, extending straight out into the air.  There are cuter pictures than this one of sleeping pets, but this is one of my favorites anyway.  Wiley seems so relaxed and comfortable and at peace. Readers, I know some of you know exactly what I mean when I say he was a scared shell of a dog when we brought him home.  This pose, this moment captured in time, reminds me that we have brought him as much happiness as he has brought us.   

 

Now a humorous segue.

Okay, onto the rest! With winter limping along to a close, I guess I'm celebrating the concept of hibernation with all these sleeping posts. Nonetheless, I spend a lot of time on the internet looking at images of animals. Seriously. Way too much time for a grown woman.    Today I can at least justify that time spent by sharing some of my personal favorites about sleeping. They all produce reactions, whether I'm laughing or "squeeing" as it's called these days.  The pictures are hyperlinked to their sources if you want to track them down.

I just . . . can't. . . even. . . 

These dogs are brilliant.

This is how I feel every day when I get home from work.

 When I first looked at this I thought "Is this a Husky or is it a Malamute?"  Then I thought "Who cares?  It's flippin' adorable!"

I am terrified of visiting Australia. Between the poisonous insects and serpents, the "dust-wave," the exposure to sun (I am so white I refract sunshine), and the chances of running into Russell Crowe, I'm totally okay with the idea of never going there. But if I could just see this one time, in person, I would go.

And now,  I treat you to one solid minute of warm fuzzy feelings via this pug puppy who cannot stay awake. Click on the pic.

Okay, that should bring you enough smiles to get through the rest of your Thursday.  Don't forget you can still submit your sleeping pet pictures for next week. Check out what everyone else has submitted so far on yesterday's post.  As always, we welcome your own rescue stories.

Calamity Jane

This story got a lot of publicity a few years ago, so some of you may have heard it before. If so, too bad! Read it again. It's worth it.

 Calamity Jane was abandoned, shot and left for dead in Texas. A veterinarian had to amputate her leg to save her, and then the news got worse. . .she was expecting a litter of puppies.  Poor Jane just couldn't catch a break.  However, Shar Pauley saw this beautiful three-legged Golden Retriever one day when she had taken her other rescue dogs to the same veterinarian. She felt a soft spot right away for Calamity Jane and decided to foster her as well.

A few weeks after the leg amputation and delivery of the puppies, Shar took her dogs out at the end of the evening to do what dogs do in the yard. Calamity Jane, who up until this point had been a very docile and low-key dog, began barking aggressively and ran off the Pauley property over to the neighbors' house.  Shar had no idea what was going on and was actually mortified at the sudden show of aggression from Jane.  She went over to drag her back when she heard a car door slam.

Soon after, the neighbors came to Shar's house to ask for her assistance in calling the police. They had just been held at gunpoint by two men while they were robbed!  When the criminals heard the dog barking they got freaked out and ran off, although they were later caught.

What alerted Calamity Jane to their plight?  It could have been many things, including pheromones, a strange vehicle, or just a heightened sensitivity towards violence, having no doubt suffered some herself.  Shar Pauley said, "From all of my adoption and fostering experiences, I have learned that it is infinitely better to adopt a rescued dog. It has never failed that these grateful souls know it and give their new family endless gifts in return for ending their suffering.”

Wow. I can't say it any better than that, and I won't even try.  


I hope you enjoyed the heroics of Calamity Jane, and I also hope you're ready for BOWL weekend. The Puppy Bowl airs this weekend and Wiley and I have been getting ready all week. I can't wait to share some pictures with you on Sunday.  In the meantime, inspired by our response to Animals Behaving Badly, we want to do another photo request: SPOILED PETS. We want a picture or pictures of your pet being pampered or spoiled. Please share!  And don't forget we are waiting to hear your rescue stories.

This story was culled from many sources including:
Land of Pure Gold Foundation.
"10 Pet Heroes to the Rescue." US News: Science. 12 Dec. 2011. web.  29 Jan. 2012