Shelter mixup to cost small dog his life

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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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‘I Love Rescue Vehicles’ and ‘I Love Construction Vehicles’

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These two kits include everything needed to keep a youngster occupied for hours and hours. “I Love Rescue Vehicles” includes a book about rescue vehicles with great graphics, reusable stickers, a huge poster of a fire engine, pieces to build a fire station, and a model fire truck. Add in “I Love Construction Vehicles” and you’ll have a child who will be entertained for even longer.

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Killed on Clear the Shelter Day; they wouldn’t even give him a chance

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Today was “Clear the Shelters” day when dogs across the nation got adopted for free. The idea was to empty the shelter and get dogs and cats into good homes. But for this dog, a county shelter in Tampa, Florida make sure that wouldn’t happen.

This was written by a volunteer:

“This is Pickle. His owners left him at the shelter June 11. He’s only one year old. He was so shy when he got there, then learned to greet people as they passed him by. A beautiful boy.

Today Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center decided to kill him. Only him. I don’t think his kennel was needed. They had 29 adoptions of dogs today, only 17 new dogs came in. They said the Community Deemed him Unadoptable. CDU. Because no one came for him. The last photo was from yesterday. It breaks my heart again tonight. I wonder who or why they decided he couldn’t have a chance tomorrow, so many more people come on the weekends.”

So why would the shelter kill just one dog when there were empty cages? No one knows and the folks at Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center don’t respond well to questions.

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Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center spends money on the lobby, but dogs still sweltering in the back

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When you walk into the lobby of the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center, it all looks beautiful. The lobby is cool, especially on a 95 degree summer day in Florida. There is fresh paint on the walls, flat-screen televisions on the walls, computers for people to look for pets, even one kennel adjacent to the lobby where dogs are housed in air conditioned comfort.

However, while the dogs in the air conditioned new wing appear to be much more comfortable in their cool kennels, volunteers pointed out that there is no outdoor access for these dogs. When the renovation was done, no one thought to make sure that all dogs would have outside access to relieve themselves. The space was there — there were just other priorities. The dogs’ comfort and ability to defecate away from their living area was not important.

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‘La Madre Goose: Nursery Rhymes for Los Niños’

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Rating: 5 stars

With “La Madre Goose” Susan Middleton Elya crowns herself as the queen of bilingual books. Some bilingual books have an English page facing a translation of the page in Spanish (or some other language). What Middleton Elya does is much more creative — and much more difficult. In this book, for example, she takes familiar Mother Goose nursery rhymes and adds a soupçon of Spanish.

For example, Little Miss Muffet becomes “Little Miss Amarilla.” Instead of rhyming “spider” with “beside her,” the rhyme becomes “big araña” and “very extraña.” They are all clever and culturally appropriate. Instead of putting his thumb in a pie, young Juan Ramón puts his dedo into green guacamole.

Kids who speak English and Spanish or just English will enjoy the combinations of the languages. The rhyme and meter remain true to the original versions of the rhymes. Middleton Elya is also the author of the fabulous “Little Roja Riding Hood,” which is a favorite in dual language classrooms.

Please note: This review is based on the final hardcover book provided by Putnam for review purposes.

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

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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.

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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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Heartless owner dumped senior chow chow in Tampa; he dies tomorrow

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Update: Sammy was pulled and rescued.

Sammie gave his owner 13 years of loyalty and attention. But now, he’s old, his fur is thin, he has thyroid issues, and his anal sacs seem to be impacted. Instead of getting this faithful pet the medical care that he needs, his heartless owner dumped him at a kill shelter to swelter in a hot, airless kennel before he is killed. 13 years of loyalty and this is the end for Sammie.

The volunteers love Sammie and are begging for a rescue to pull him. He does need some medical care, but he could live the rest of his life in comfort and dignity. Sammie is sweet and still has lots of love to offer. If a foster offered to keep him, a rescue might step up and pull him! But his case is urgent! He will be killed tomorrow if the shelter does not receive an email before 9:00 am tomorrow!

The shelter email said:

“A1649676: Sammie is a 13 year old neutered male Chow Chow. He is an owner surrender. His owner reported thyroid issues but didn’t provide us any medical records. Testing would definitely be recommended based on his appearance. He has marked dental tartar and would need a dental cleaning. He has thinning hair and lesions on the lenses of both of his eyes. He has two masses associated with his anal sacs (possible impacted anal glands vs. anal sac tumor). He is heartworm negative. He is very friendly.”

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There is more information on his Facebook thread. Sammie is ID#A1649676. He is urgently in need of an adopter or rescue. He is at the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center, 440 N. Falkenburg Road, Tampa, FL 33619. The phone number is 813-744-5660. The shelter is open daily from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.

If someone is interested in Sammie, they must email rescuepets@hillsboroughcounty.org and rescuemetampa@yahoo.com as soon as possible. In the subject line of the email, write: Do Not Euth Sammie ID#A1649676. In the body of the email, include your contact information. You must be willing to pick Sammie up tomorrow by 3:00 pm.

Please note: Only comments that are respectful and profanity-free will be published.

Volunteers and former foster begging for help for this overlooked dog

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Mater when he arrived as a stray — note patchy fur and skinny body

Update: William/Mater was adopted! Cross fingers for a permanent home for this poor dog who has been in and out of the shelter for too long. Maybe if the shelter counseled adopters on proper introductions and how to ease a new dog into a household there wouldn’t be as many returned dogs…

Mater is a dog who is confused. He has been in and out of the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center (shelter) since the beginning of March. At first, luck seemed to be with this handsome and goofy guy. When he got an upper respiratory infection and was going to be killed, he got a temporary foster with Melissa. She couldn’t say enough wonderful things about him, except that he was way too interested in her cats. And not interested in a good way. He wasn’t offering to share his dinner with them. He might have been thinking that he would like them for dinner. He didn’t share his exact thoughts with Melissa, but she said he shouldn’t be in a home with cats. (Note: all her cats made it through the foster unscathed.)

Dog, however, are a different story. Mater seems to love dogs of all sizes. While one note stated that Mater didn’t get along with intact neutered males, all the other shelter notes seem to indicate that he is good with all dogs. In fact, one note says he was used as a greeter dog. Watch the video of him in the play yard with another dog.

 

By April, Mater was urgently in need of adoption or rescue. Everyone loved him but he was getting passed over. Finally, he was fostered to adopt and he was treated for heartworm. However, two months later he was back at the shelter. The owner returned him for being aggressive with her daughter. She believe that Mater was trying to protect her, but it was unprovoked. There was no puncture or injury.

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Sweet rottie abandoned because of illness, shelter is begging for rescue

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Update: She was rescued!!

A beautiful young Rottweiler’s life may be tragically ended tomorrow unless a rescue steps up. Dana is only two years old, but she was surrendered to the shelter by her owner. According to a volunteer, her owner requested that Dana be killed, but the shelter declined to kill her. They have asked for a rescue to step up and save Dana. However, they will not keep her very long if there is no rescue. She may only have tonight and tomorrow to find rescue before the shelter kills her.

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Dana walks nicely on a leash. A volunteer petted her and she was very responsive and sweet. Dana was calm and did not react to other dogs when walking through the kennel. Watch her in this video — note her tail wag, wag, wagging. She’s adorable!

Her medical notes from the shelter indicate they think she might have kidney problems. That’s unusual in a dog as young as Dana. The notes say that she needs rescue so she can be diagnosed and treated.

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A post by Urgent Dogs of Miami (UDOM) on Facebook says:

URGENT!! Super sweet young rottweiler, A1612413, needs rescue by 6:30pm tomorrow for workup of distended abdomen!!!

The shelter veterinarian told a volunteer that as long as Dana is stable, she will have time to find rescue. But no one knows how long she will stay stable, and volunteers worry that if a rescue is not found by tomorrow evening, Dana may not be given more time.  There may be more information on her Facebook thread.
Dana is ID#A1612413. Please share her story. There may be more information on her Urgent Dogs of Miami Facebook thread.  She is at the Miami Dade Animal Services, 3599 NW 79 Avenue, Doral, Florida 33166. The phone number is (305) 884-1101. The shelter is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 am to 6:30 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Email: pets@miamidade.gov for more information.
Please note: Comments will only be published if they are respectful and profanity-free.

Diamond of a dog dies tomorrow in overcrowded shelter

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Diamond has been overlooked because of her color and breed. She is a four-year-old black pit bull mix, and one post says she has been at the shelter for almost two months. The volunteers describe her as sweet and loving. Watch her video and see how attentive she is. She sits for treats and takes them gently as her tail wags. While waiting for the next treat, she sits calmly, watching, waiting. She’s very gentle and affectionate.
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Three picture books with animal duos

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Three recently published picture books offer children charming animal duos with sparkling repartee and shared adventures. These are books for young readers — aged three to eight.

“Hog in the Fog” is the charmingly British story of Harry and Lil by Julia Copus and beautifully illustrated by Eunyoung Seo (Faber & Faber). Written in triple meter (a very pleasing rhythm), it’s the story of Lil and her friend, Harry the Hog. Harry has been invited over for tea, and when he doesn’t show up, Lil becomes worried. She sets out to look for him, and along the way she encounters several animals who haven’t exactly seen Harry, but have seen something unusual. So they all set out to look. And together, they have an adventure with a very satisfying (and tasty) conclusion. Young children will be delighted (and appalled) at what those two consider tasty treats: southern-fried lizard, earwig fudge and barnacle sludge. Yum! The illustrations are delicate and filled with the green of an English countryside.

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Cover-up in Corpus Christi? Dog killed before hold time up

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Update by Stacey Palacios on Facebook:

Today, I went downtown to CCPD and spoke with Commander Houston with my two kids in tow. We spoke about the dog named Geralt. He played for me the call to police that was made on July 4th. The caller explained that a gray pitbull that had been chasing children earlier was attacking another dog, you could hear another person come up and say it was their dog being attacked by the gray one. You could hear the dogs fighting on the tape and the location of the call matched the location were Geralt was picked up. He also showed me the report of investigation of Geralt running loose in his neighborhood were neighbors stated he was constantly loose and aggressively chasing neighbors to where they couldn’t leave their houses at times. He stated the owners were cited at that time and the owner was cited again when surrendering Geralt before he was EU.

Commander Houston told me he wondered why Geralt had been photographed and advertised and I told him that if I had been told any of that information, I would have never photographed or posted him.

I’m grateful the owners were cited multiple times and had I known any of this information at anytime leading up until this point, several things would have played out differently.

I hope in the future the communication between employees and volunteers that give their valuable time freely becomes clearer to avoid frustrating situations like this one.

Geralt never showed any signs of aggression with me the several times I was with him, so reading CCACS statement appeared very contradictory to me and at no time did any employee take the time to speak to me about this issue until today with Commander Houston. Geralt had always clearly been dog aggressive and now hearing the call and knowing there had been an investigation into him and his owners before ending up at CCACS again assured me that this dog sadly did not belong in general population.

Additionally, Commander Houston said that CCACS is currently working on an ordinance similar to Austin’s that would allow rescues to immediately take possession of dogs and become theirs after the three day hold period.

A dog arrived at the Corpus Christi shelter on July 4th with clear signs of having been in dog fights. This poor dog’s nose had been torn and a piece was hanging down. One eye was injured and swollen shut. He was covered in scars from old wounds and bloody new wounds on his legs. His back was missing huge patches of fur. And this dog, Geralt, was microchipped. He had been adopted from the shelter almost exactly one year ago. A picture shows the difference in Geralt’s condition in just over 12 months.

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