Luna the Tooooonnnnaaa

Luna, known on Instagram @lunathetoona, is a hoot. Her face is ridiculously expressive, which makes her photogenic to the extreme.

 Every picture seems to pack a little personality in it, and her mom does a great job keeping the pictures coming. 

  Luna lives in Chicago now, but she started out in Oklahoma. When Kimber first adopted her, all she knew was that Luna was about four months old and had come to Chicago via a rescue group in Oklahoma.

 Kimber assumed Luna was the by-product of an amorous farmer's dog on the loose or something similar, but after a few months she decided to do a little digging around. 

 She went on the Facebook page of the shelter in Oklahoma and the rescue group who transported Luna.

  Oh, the wonders of the world wide web!  Kimber was able to get in touch with Luna's actual rescuer and find out the real back story.

Luna's rescuer and her husband were driving late at night on a very rural road in Oklahoma when they saw something cross the road.

 They stopped to check it out, but immediate gratification was denied. 

 

They had to search for, follow, and chase Luna until they found her and her sister sitting next to a dead deer carcass near a creek. Gross! 

 They were very smelly and very scared of humans.

Given the distance they were found from anywhere residential, their rescuer believes they were dropped off there. 

 

No wonder they were scared of humans. :/

Now both Luna and her sister have been adopted into awesome homes.

 

 They got to catch up a bit when they took the same obedience class.  

 

And Luna's rescuer now follows her on Instagram and checks up on her all the time.

 I figured if Luna's fame extends from Oklahoma to Chicago, we might as well propel her to stardom here on the blog. BOL. 

FREE Butt Sniffs!?! That's a bargain at any price. You just keep doing what you're doing Luna you sassy girl. Enjoy your furever home and tell your mom to keep the great pictures coming. We love featuring puppies and doing updates as they grow. 

Readers, if you like Luna's story share it on Facebook or Twitter or with anyone else you think would enjoy it. If you have your own story, please email me at pabibliophile@gmail.com. 

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Gander Service Dog

Today’s post is a heartfelt and sincere thanks to our American veterans.  I need to share this incredible man and his journey with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  

This is Lon Hodge, and his “battle buddy” is Gander. Their hearts and souls are forever linked due to Gander’s role as a service dog for Lon.

Lon served in the Vietnam War, working in the medical field.  His life was mired in the horrible and gruesome injuries the soldiers sustained.  When he returned from the war, he not surprisingly had frequent nightmares. However, about ten years ago his mental health took a turn for the worse when the nightmares increased in their impact and he also began having daily panic attacks, some of which lasted up to 25 minutes.

When the panic attacks began he was diagnosed with PTSD, and continued to battle his mental demons.  Life got even worse two years ago when he developed an autoimmune disease that caused severe arthritis. He hit rock bottom, becoming dependent on his pain meds. He could not leave the house for any reason, not even to see a doctor. At that point the doctors at the Veterans’ Affairs hospitals suggested a Service Dog. 

Enter Gander.

Gander was a death row dog in Colorado who was chosen for a program in which prisoners help train dogs to become service dogs.  Freedom Service Dogs was then able to provide Gander for Lon.

Since being paired with Gander, Lon’s mental health has improved considerably.  He seldom has panic attacks, and when he feels one approaching and his anxiety and heart rate rise, Gander puts his paws on Lon’s chest and snuggles in. Lon’s resting heart rate has dropped 30 BEATS PER MINUTE! 

I know Lon would want this post to be all about Gander. He takes Gander to the VA hospital and lets him not just socialize but also “work.”  In fact Gander’s sense of empathy is beyond most humans, and he will actually approach people, even if they aren’t showing him any interest, when he senses they need his support.

Many times these people will then wind up opening up to Lon about a current crisis, which is what Gander can sense.

Lon, being the best friend any dog could ever ask for, makes sure that Gander gets plenty of down time, where he gets a break from sharing others’ burdens and just gets to be a dog.

I’m writing about Lon and Gander for so many reasons today. For one thing, I want to encourage you to donate to Freedom Service Dogs, which is a non-profit and amazing organization. You can click here to read about them, but you should know that no dog they rescue ever goes back to a shelter. If the dog doesn’t work out as a service dog they keep it until it’s adopted.  They do not breed any dogs. 

I also want you to check out Lon’s various social media sites.  He posts uplifting pictures and quotes, and best of all he gives us great updates on Gander’s outreach and his own progress. All of the pictures on this site are from his Facebook page, and clicking on any one of them will take you back to their original source. 

Click on any of the words below to go to the links.

Veteran Traveler, Lon's personal blog

Gander: Service Dog, Facebook  

In Dogs We Trust: Twitter  

He has also put together a book, with all proceeds going to charities that support trauma recovery and other military causes.  You can see more about the book here.

Mainly with this post I want to call attention to mental health, specifically that of our military and their families. Currently the VA has stopped providing service dogs to veterans until their efficacy can be researched. Readers, you wouldn’t be reading this blog if you didn’t know the effectiveness of animals on our mental health.

Lon is doing the most important job he can for his fellow vets; he is calling desperately needed attention to PTSD. Lon, with Gander, is proving that there are many effective ways of dealing with mental illness, so no one ever has to feel like he or she can’t fight and conquer their own brain when it turns against them.

I’ve discussed dogs and veterans before, way back when I started blogging. You can see this dog here, who stopped a suicide in progress.  I’ve discussed my own mental health and Wiley’s role in helping me.  

I am so grateful for Lon and Gander, who together share their journey of being battle buddies, as Lon says. 

I'm including a few other links here for anyone who is interested in or needs the following information.

The Huffington Post's page devoted to military PTSD.

National Institute of Mental Health, PTSD  

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

A list of agencies who provide service dogs

Please remember to thank our veterans and current military personnel, and remember that their sacrifice doesn't end when they are discharged.  Oh, and don't forgot: GANDER WAS A THROWAWAY SHELTER DOG. 

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The information in this post comes from the links above and these two sources as well:

http://pets.chieftain.com/2013/06/13/american-hero-pueblo-natives-service-dog-in-running-for-national-award/

http://newssun.suntimes.com/news/20025168-418/vernon-hills-service-dog-nominated-for-american-humane-association-honor.html

Ginger

Charlie was a neurotic death row dog when Amanda and her husband saved his life. If you haven't read his story yet you should probably do that before you read Ginger's. Just click on his name above.

Anyway, once Charlie found his furever home his humans started getting to know him, and they were gradually pulling him out of his shell. That lasted approximately one week.  Triumphant Tails called Amanda about another Code Red dog they had just pulled from a shelter.

 The organization really wanted to give her more time because they saw how well-behaved and sweet she was and were confident she would get adopted. 

This put Amanda and her household in the position of going from no dogs to two dogs in about a week. 

However, Triumphant Tails was only asking her to foster Ginger until they could get her spayed, recovered, and adopted. 

 

Amanda and her husband couldn't bear the idea of another dog like Charlie in such dire need so they agreed.

When they brought Ginger home, Charlie finally showed the animal he was deep inside. BOL. He was in love. 

Amanda says he barked and danced around and flirted constantly trying to get Ginger's attention.  He became a completely different dog in Ginger's presence, and his love was contagious. By the time Ginger had fully recovered from her spay Amanda and her husband knew they wanted to keep her.

Since Ginger stuck around they have discovered a number of things about her, particularly that she likes people food, and has a "00001 second rule." 

 

If the food is on the floor for .00001 of a second, she is eating it.

 

 

She also loves riding in cars; she doesn't care where she's heading.

She is a very people-oriented dog. She wants to be with people all the time. She tolerates and even likes other dogs, but will choose human company every time.

Ginger is quite smart and learns commands very easily.

 She also, perhaps not coincidentally, does well with agility.

 Even her manners are lovely, always allowing her humans to go through the door before her.

The outdoors is very inviting to Ginger. 

She has a purpose out there, and that purpose is to search for and destroy her enemies. . . grackles, squirrels, opossums, and dragonflies. 

The best news about Ginger is that she is a great foster mom. So far she has welcomed two labs and two shih tzus into her comfy home with Charlie. How wonderful that Amanda and her husband get to keep saving dogs while still enjoying their own special pair!

Ginger,  you have it good and you know it.

You're a beautiful, silly girl who is bringing so much light into this world, just like the rest of your family.

Whenever I have such a great duo, I can't help but cheat a bit and save all their together pictures for a whole other post. So stay tuned to see even more adorableness!

If you enjoyed this story, share it with your friends on Facebook or Twitter by clicking the small icons on the bottom left of the page. And get your own rescue stories in to me at pabibliophile@gmail.com.

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