The Dog Journal

STUDENTS SAY GOODBYE TO RETIRING THERAPY DOG - “300 children sang to her, presented her with cards and letters and donated pounds of pet food in her honor to the P.A.W.S. Animal Adoption Shelter…”

A therapy dog named Teaka has been loved by students at the Captain Albert Stevens School in Maine for the past 14 years. Teaka helped the children read and also comforted them when they were upset. Now 15-years-old, Teaka suffers from some health problems and will be retiring.  She was rescued from a kill shelter as a puppy and was subsequently licensed through Therapy Dogs International.  Read more from the Maine Sun Journal:

“Teaka can be a real calming force,” she said. “Petting the dog can help them get centered. We pet her while we talk about what’s going on. Dogs are good listeners.”

At times when children were anxious about school, Teaka came to the rescue, Martell said.

“Teaka would meet them at the front door of the building — it made it less scary,” she said.

A few doors down from Dilts’ classroom, past walls decorated with colorful reports on animals and American Indians, Joey — a second grader wearing overalls — was hard at work on the computer. He was writing a goodbye letter to the dog.

“Oh Teaka I love you down to my heart and soul,” he wrote. “You are the best dog in school. I hope you have a good summer.”

Emily Savage, his teacher, said that her students often write letters to Teaka. They drop them in a special mailbox for delivery. And for the all-school assembly, her students drew on pieces of paper that spelled “We love you Teaka.” Some featured paw prints.

Teaka has been a positive influence on hundreds of children during her career. She will now be taking a well-deserved rest. Click here for the full story.

WOMAN NEEDS HELP RESCUING STRAY DOGS FROM DESERT - “Sue said she called animal control and the usual suspects when it comes to animal rescue. However, because the dogs are strays and they’re on federal land, she hasn’t been able to find anyone who can help.”

A woman in the Mesa, Arizona, area named Susan Andre discovered two abandoned dogs in the desert approximately one month ago. Since then, she has been making daily trips to leave food and water for the dogs. She has contacted authorities but has been unable to get anyone to rescue the dogs. Read more from azfamily.com:

Every day she now loads her blue pickup full of dog food, water and ice. She drives to the green palo verde tree under which the dogs have dug a little desert den for themselves. Under that tree she coaxes the dogs with meatloaf, chicken and ice cold water. 

“They’ll eat out of my hand,” she said, although only one dog would come to her with the 3TV camera crew in tow.  “At this point I’m scared to take them to someplace where they’re going to be put down.”

***

Sue said she would love to take them herself, but she already had three dogs of her own – one of them a rescue – and two cats. 

“I just have a sticker on my forehead that says, ‘sucker, she’ll take us in,”’ joked Sue. 

She hopes soon someone will help these pups move out of their desert den and into a loving home. 

“They’re so sweet I can’t imagine how this happened,” she said. 

Andre has been going to extra lengths to help the dogs, but hopefully someone can help rescue them soon. Click here for the full story and a news video. 

DOG FROM BREEDING FACILITY SAVED FROM EUTHANIZATION IN JAPAN - “[T]he occasion marked the end of a journey that involved a 17-hour flight – in a cargo hold – that stretched from Japan to Los Angeles and was made possible by a network of passionate dog lovers.”

A Pug named Meiko had spent most of her life in a breeding facility in Japan. She was discovered in extremely poor physical condition but was rescued by volunteers from Pug Rescue of San Diego County and Doggies Inc.  They arranged to have Meiko transported from Japan and she recently arrived safely in Los Angeles. Read more from  the Rancho Santa Fe Review:

Rescued by volunteers of Doggies, Inc., a nonprofit organization of the wives of U.S. Marines based in Okinawa, Japan, Meiko, fragile and abused, caught the eye and the heart of Kupfer, who already has two pugs, a beagle and a puggle (a crossbreed of a beagle and a pug).

Through emails disseminated by PRSDC, the word went out to find a home for the pug renamed Meiko by Kupfer – it translates from Japanese to mean beautiful, beloved child, she said. The pug had spent her entire life caged in a breeding facility where her sole purpose was to give birth, said Kupfer, who was touched by the sad history of  “this beautiful little girl,” as she saw her.

Over the years the quality and size of Meiko’s litters had diminished and adoption into a local Japanese family was unlikely.

***

“Dogs like these get five days in a Kill Shelter, and if no one comes forward to adopt them they are pushed into a room together and are mass-gassed,” said Angela Brewer, co-founder – with Donna Stock – of Doggie’s, Inc. “It’s a horrible death especially for the older dogs like Meiko; she had no chance at all. Sending her to the U.S. was the only chance that she had.”

Meiko will soon be up for adoption. She will certainly be an amazing addition to some lucky family. Click here for the full story, here to learn more about Pug Rescue of San Diego County, and here for more about Doggies Inc. (Photo from their Facebook page)

LOST DOG REUNITED WITH DYING OWNER - “[A] Chihuahua that Simpson rescued, had been to the hospice home to visit Simpson the day before, and friends said he was probably trying to get back to his owner.”

A Chihuahua named Mr. Cutie became lost after he ran away.  Mr. Cutie’s owner, John Simpson, suffers from terminal pancreatic cancer and lives in a Florida hospice. Fearing that he has only days to live, Simpson said his last wish was for Mr. Cutie to be found so he could see him one more time. Fortunately, Mr. Cutie was found on a street and brought to Simpson at the hospice.  Read more from myfoxtampabay.com:

A dying man’s last wish was granted Friday night: he was reunited with his lost dog.

John Simpson has pancreatic cancer, and is in hospice care, where doctors say he only has days left to live.

Last Sunday, his dog escaped the house, dug a hole under the fence and took off while a neighbor was checking on him.

“Mr. Cutie,” a Chihuahua that Simpson rescued, had been to the hospice home to visit Simpson the day before, and friends said he was probably trying to get back to his owner.

It turns out Mr. Cutie was running around the area near where he escaped…Simpson describes Mr. Cutie as his “spark of life.”

“I’m about to cry,” he said.

Undoubtedly, Mr. Cutie has been a great comfort to his owner during difficult times. It’s great to see Mr. Cutie back with his owner where he belongs. Click here for the full story and a news video of the dog’s return home.

dirtypawsdogtraining:

Marley loves his thundershirt! #thundershirt #love #adorable #cute #lhasaapso #lhasapoo #dogsofig #dogsofinstagram

Hello dog!

texonomy:

Posey holidaying-schnauz. #schnauzer #minischnauzer #dogstagram (at Airey’s Inlet)

Awesome!

DOG NURSES ORPHANED PUPPIES FROM OKLAHOMA - “A pregnant dog that was saved from a scheduled euthanasia at an Indiana shelter…has come to the rescue of six orphaned puppies taken from an Oklahoma shelter affected by recent tornadoes.”

A two-year-old Rottweiler mix named Bertha was recently rescued from a kill shelter in Indiana. Bertha was pregnant but unfortunately all of her puppies passed away. The Second Chance 4 Paws Network  put out the word about Bertha and partnered up with a nonprofit organization called Lakeshore PAWS. The two groups arranged to have a litter of orphaned puppies transported from a shelter in Oklahoma to be “adopted” by Bertha. Read more at nwitimes.com:

Lakeshore PAWS, a Porter County-based rescue, had just acquired six newborn puppies from an Oklahoma City shelter through a volunteer who went to help in the wake of the devastating tornadoes there.

The puppies’ mother, a pit bull/shepherd mix, was deemed aggressive and put down before she could be rescued.

Lakeshore PAWS brought the six orphaned pups to the bereaved Bertha at the foster’s Merrillville home to see how they would get along.

“She was unsure at first, but the foster got into the pool with her and she started cleaning them right away,” Pelko said.

Jeanne Sommer, director of Lakeshore PAWS, said the partnership with Second Chance was “just awesome.”

“Here they had this sad mom and we had these puppies who needed help,” Sommer said. “It worked out great for all of us.”

The puppies, who are just over a week old, are thriving, Palko said.

“She’s a fantastic mom,” Pelko said. “My foster says she doesn’t even want to go outside to go to the bathroom and leave her puppies.”

Second Chance is now considering training Bertha to be a therapy dog.

Sommer said volunteers from Lakeshore PAWS returned to Oklahoma this past weekend and brought back seven more dogs in need following the tornadoes.

It’s great to see dogs and organizations from other parts of the country help out shelters in Oklahoma. Click here for the full story, here for more about Second Chance 4 Pets Network, and here for Lakeshore PAWS. (Photo from the Second Chance Facebook page)