urgent help needed

Young dog can’t stop shaking; shelter error almost cost him his life

/ Pamela Kramer / Leave a comment

Just published on Huffington Post:

buster

When Buster was put on the kill list at the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center in Tampa, Florida, volunteers knew that they needed to start networking him quickly. He was posted on their rescue Facebook page, Rescue Me Tampa, with the other dogs who were on the list to be killed when their kennel was needed the next day.

Unfortunately for Buster, the shelter notes stated that he had been surrendered because he growled and showed his teeth at a child. That information can make the difference between a dog getting adopted or rescued — or dying. In Buster’s case, that information was especially tragic because it was incorrect. Luckily for Buster, his owner saw the posting on Facebook and posted a long comment correcting that misconception.

Her post made it clear that she was heartbroken at giving him up. She wrote:

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Volunteers heartbroken that two special dogs to be killed tomorrow at shelter

/ Pamela Kramer / 3 Comments
Karma with beautiful blue eyes
Cedes — sweet senior

Volunteers are desperate to save two dogs who are on the list to be killed tomorrow when their kennels are needed. Cedes is a sweet senior dog who appears to have had a difficult life with little love. Yet she is sweet and affectionate. The other dog, Karma, has known only love in her home. But when her owner fell and went into rehab, the foster who was keeping her brought her to the shelter when the owner was not able to take Karma back.

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Young dog can’t stop shaking at shelter; he’s on the kill list for tomorrow morning

/ Pamela Kramer / 21 Comments

buster

Buster’s owner commented about him on his Facebook thread. She was heartbroken at giving him up (please, no negative comments). Here is what she wrote:

Buster was not surrendered for growling at a child – in fact he was never even in the vicinity of a child in his new home – the shelter notes are wrong. He was surrendered because he could not get along with our other dog. We tried everything we could for 5 months using positive reinforcement to break him of starting fights with our other dog – we even took them both to a trainer but Buster just would not quit – and most of it seemed to be him thinking he was protecting me which I read is a very common trait of a black mouth cur. I don’t know much about his history before me but his scars tell a story of abuse. He was terrified and shook the first few days he was with us too but warmed up and was house trained within a few weeks. He’s very smart and very loveable and it broke my heart to take him back Before you start with the insults please know that I sincerely love this dog and it was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. My other dog is much larger and Buster always came out of the altercation with minor injuries – I wrote a nice note on the paperwork that was given to the shelter when he was brought in hoping someone would adopt him quickly. I miss him terribly but I don’t miss the dog fights – maybe he will do better with another dog – we have a third smaller dog he got along with just fine. I will gladly pay the adoption fees and/or make a cash donation to anyone willing to rescue my Buster and give him the loving home he deserves.

It’s great to know he didn’t growl at a child. He is a wonderful dog who gets along with smaller dogs and loves people. He did have some interest, but he is not out of the shelter yet.

Buster is terrified to be back at the county shelter again — and now he’s on the like to be killed tomorrow as soon as his kennel is needed. The volunteers are heartbroken. They fell in love with Buster when he was at the shelter originally.

When he was adopted, they were thrilled that this sweet, happy dog would have a loving home. He had come into the shelter with several other dogs and they noted then that he showed no aggression. Now, though, he can’t stop shaking.  Continue reading →

Dog unavailable at new Miami shelter; is she at the old shelter and why?

/ Pamela Kramer / 3 Comments

olga

A beautiful dog, listed as a mastiff mix, arrived at Miami Dade Animal Services on June 17, 2016. Although the new shelter had been opened, somehow Olga ended up at the old shelter. Yesterday, August 19, that was confirmed by a poster on Facebook who wrote:

Just confirmed Olga is in old facility!

Volunteers are angry that although this dog — labeled by the veterinarian who treated her as “very sweet,” — has been at the shelter for over two months, she still does not even have a picture on her PetHarbor page.

And while her information is on PetHarbor without a picture, when a volunteer inquired about her, she was told that Olga is unavailable. The shelter email stated:

Good morning,

Thank you for showing interest in Olga (A1792731) she’s is currently unavailable now. A copy of your email will be noted in her profile. See attachment for medical.

Thank you,

Pets

Olga had arrived at the shelter very underweight. However, in two months she must have made progress and should be available for rescue at the minimum. There is interest in Olga. The shelter is not responding. Olga does not seem to be at the new shelter. The big question is: Why? Continue reading →

Volunteers at county shelter begging for access to pet information to save them

/ Pamela Kramer / 3 Comments

brenda

Rescue Me Tampa (RMT) is a group that for years has been aggressively promoting and publicizing the dogs at the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center in Tampa, Florida, in hopes of getting them adopted or pulled by rescue before their time is up. And they’ve been very successful.

The shelter management worked with the group, giving them a volunteer login to the computer system. This allowed the volunteers in the group to access medical information, notes from playgroups, owner surrender comments, and other information vital to networking a dog. In fact, the shelter would provide RMT with a list of the dogs who were likely to be euthanized the next day unless they were pulled or adopted before their kennel was needed. RMT would then go into action, posting pictures of those dogs, including their medical information, their personality, their playgroup information and any other information that the shelter had — information that potential adopters or rescues needed before committing to a dog. Often, because of that posting, the shelter would receive that all-important email stating that the at-risk dog now had someone committing to adopting or pulling that dog. A life saved.

In 2013, the board of county commissioners passed the “Be the Way Home” plan. Under the “Technology” heading, the plan states: “Hosted Screen Shot 2016-08-10 at 7.00.29 AMsoftware allows employees and volunteers to use it on any device and in any place with internet access. They only need log-ins to the shelter website which can be customized to allow access only to information for which the person has permission to access. This functionality is critical to remote operations like off-site adoptions or customer assistance in the kennel areas of the shelter. However, as in the current system, varying levels of security access for staff and volunteers will protect sensitive data.” In spite of this county plan, the shelter is now claiming that they can’t provide the volunteers with any access — even restricted access — to the program. The offered nightly reports instead. The volunteers say that they would be happy with the reports the shelter provides — so long as they get complete and correct information (like weight and medical information and which dogs are actually still alive).

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Two fabulous friendly dogs out of time at county shelter

/ Pamela Kramer / 1 Comment
reddick

Reddick is the perfect dog!

lauren

Lauren is sweet and puppy-like.

Looking for a dog you know will be sweet and friendly? Want a companion who will love you with all his or her heart? Look no further. In Tampa, FL, right now, two of those dogs sit in kennels waiting — but they won’t be given much longer to wait. They are on the list of dogs who are at high risk of being killed because of limited space at the shelter. Please share their story!

Lauren has been called “awesome” by the volunteers and her foster. She was in foster (probably while recovering from a doggy cold) and is now waiting for a home of her own. She knows sit, she loves to swim in a pool, and she sleeps in her crate. Lauren is still very much a puppy. She has puppy energy and needs a bit of puppy training, but she is very smart and very eager to please.

Lauren is ID#A1643464. There is more information on her Facebook thread. Her current status: high risk.

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Corpus Christi Animal Control kills 7 dogs in spite of 33 adoptions at Clear the Shelter event

/ Pamela Kramer / 2 Comments
chow)

The volunteers and animal rescuers in Texas are furious that even after the Clear the Shelter Adoption Event last weekend when 33 animals were adopted (and the shelter had many empty kennels), seven animals were killed at the Corpus Christi Animal Control since last weekend with more scheduled to die.

Britta, a senior chow who was “normal” according to her kennel card was killed. Penny, a young staffie who was confiscated as part of a cruelty case and who was described as submissive, was killed. Taken from an abusive situation, she wasn’t give a chance to get a loving home. Would she have been better off with a hoarder? At least she would have been alive.

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Daryl was also killed. He was heartworm positive. Princess, also killed, had been labeled fearful although volunteers had little difficulty handling her for photographs. Little Drake was a two-year-old rottweiler mix who was killed. He had also been labeled “normal” by shelter staff. Most of those dogs arrived at the shelter the week of July 20th and we killed on July 26th and July 27th — they were only given an average of five days to find rescue or adoption. Volunteers had almost no time to photograph them and network them.

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New Miami-Dade Animal Services lacks many basic necessities

/ Pamela Kramer / 21 Comments

IMG_7291

Before even walking into the  brand-new, multi-million dollar Miami Dade Animal Services building, it became obvious that the shelter still has serious problems. The parking situation is a huge one. It was poorly planned and is inconvenient for those trying to visit the shelter. On a Monday at noon, there was not one parking space available. To make a poor situation worse, when trying to find a parking space on one side of the building, there is nowhere to turn around at the end of the lot, so if there are four cars in the lot looking for a space to park, all four cars must back up through the lot to get out. I was forced to park across the street from the shelter outside the UPS facility, next to their fence, on grass and dirt. This was on a Monday afternoon. It’s difficult to imagine what the situation is like on a weekend. Whoever designed this parking lot and planned for the number of cars sorely miscalculated.

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Before and after: Sweet healthy dog returned to shelter 4 months later shot and heartbroken

/ Pamela Kramer / Leave a comment

zeus

Update: Zeus/Janko is safe!

This is what happens when a shelter allows anyone to adopt a dog. When there are no background checks, no home visits, no follow-up phone calls, dogs can be abused, thrown into the streets, shot, or worse.

Zeus was a sweet, happy and loving puppy in March of this year. Volunteers met him and were enchanted by his playful demeanor. He was adopted, but now is back at the shelter — a different dog.

Now he sits in the corner of his kennel, terrified. He arrived at the shelter with multiple gun shot wounds on his neck, head and back leg. This is a dog who was mistreated and is now frightened. His adoption to an uncaring — perhaps even abusive — family will cost him his life. Continue reading →

10-day foster would save this sweet, scared girl’s life

/ Pamela Kramer / 1 Comment

natalia.jpg

Sweet Natalia is frightened of thunderstorms and has a painful fractured upper canine tooth. But the issue that will cost this friendly girl her life is that she has a doggy cold — an upper respiratory infection — and she will be killed when her kennel is needed.

There is a simple solution that will save Natalia’s life. She needs a foster home for ten days while she gets medication and recovers from her virus. Then she can go back into the general kennel area and be put up for adoption. The isolation kennels are limited and dogs are at greater risk there. And Natalia’s time is up. She should be considered urgently in need of foster (or adoption).

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Shelter mixup to cost small dog his life

/ Pamela Kramer / 2 Comments

luke

Volunteers who found a rescue to take Luke, a small dog at Miami Dade Animal Services, were beyond frustrated as one email told them that Luke was on hold, the next said he wasn’t available, and the next said he was.

The veterinarian there told several people that Luke and another dog, Kimbo, only have until 6:00 pm on Wednesday and they will be killed. So the volunteers have frantically been working to save this little, scared dog. While he did bite someone, the rescues and volunteers believe it is because of his fright at the shelter, and they believe that he can be rehabilitated and successfully adopted to the right family.

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A puppy who had a litter of puppies; sweet loving pittie urgently needs rescue

/ Pamela Kramer / 1 Comment

Jackielovely

Jackie is a once-in-a-lifetime puppy. She is mature beyond her years — especially since she’s not even one year old yet. She’s already had a litter of puppies when she’s just a puppy herself.When she was found as a stray, there were no puppies in sight. Did her owner sell the puppies and then dump her? Did she have them in the scrub where they died? Were they waiting for her return when she was picked up? We will never kno.

jackie breasts

Evidence of having a litter of puppies at her young age

If you watch her video, you see a dog desperate to get out of the cage and be close to people. She loves being touched. She adores people. This is a super loving dog. While she is still a puppy, Jackie is calm and gentle for a pup of seven months. She loves attention and petting. She gives kisses and takes treats very gently. Volunteers are very worried that sweet Jackie will have a hard time getting adopted in Dade County because of the BSL (breed specific legislation that prohibits pit bulls from living in the county). There is also the possibility that Jackie will be adopted by a family who will keep her in the back yard. Jackie is a dog who deserves to be indoors, sharing all the love she has to offer! And that’s a lot.

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