Safe Hands update 4-6-10

Hello long lost friends,
Here is what I lovingly like to call....How to Sum Six Months in 3000 Words or Less....  (which is a sneaky way of saying this might be a little long).  Here is what the world of Safe Hands Rescue has been.

I don’t know if it is the lingering negative energy of the fateful day – 9-11, but the transport we brought in on 9-11-09 was full of the badness.  It was Angeline in all her frailty, Sadie and her deformed heart, Henry the 2 lb puppy thrown out in a plastic bag like trash, it was Anika lost in a dark web of terror and trauma inside her head.  It was the start of some hard times.
The months since 9-11-09 have been a mass of movement, action, activity, swirling all around.  My head has felt like a carnival late at night, it’s dark and the lights are bright and flashing, blending and becoming one on the Twist-A-Whirl, there’s been too much cotton candy, the bloodstream courses with sugar and adrenaline, there is the sound of children giggling, riding horses on the Merry Go Round, girls screaming on the roller coaster, people laughing, lovers quarrelling and sometimes crying.  It’s all been coming so fast there’s only time to react and move on.  I haven’t been able to make sense of all the data, to decompress, to process, much less push anything back out in any intelligible form.
Lately though, I’ve forced some time for quiet, reflection and enjoyment.  We’ve been going to the dog park.  We usually go to Minnehaha.  It’s beautiful and peaceful.  I turn off the phone.  I take an hour to enjoy the outdoors, the sunshine, the breeze and the happiness written all over my “kids” faces.  They love it and so do I.  It gives me time to think.  Finally.
And so it is time.  Time to fill you in on the last six months.  To update you with more than the too infrequent blog posts.  (Though if you haven’t checked it out or subscribed you might want to, I do post happy endings and updates there and hope to do so more frequently – got lots of good stuff to put up!).
 
Angeline the Bean
Angeline, Sweet Angeline   Angelinie Bellini Stringbeanie or simply The Bean.  Our girl has been through so very much. 
Since I left off with her story she continued to improve and slide backwards, improve and slide backwards.  Angeline has never received an official diagnosis and it’s unlikely one is forthcoming.  She may have food allergies or some sort of IBD.  She may have damage to her insides from being starved or from the meth house she lived in and whatever happened there.  What we know is that her insides are sensitive.  We finally got her to a point where she seemed stable with the aid of just a tiny amount of prednisone each day.  She was eating a limited ingredient food and eating well, her weight was perfect, she was perky, active and happy.  As she recovered she became larger than life with a huge and spunky personality in that tiny and charismatic little being.

Angeline is a girl who knows her mind.  If Angeline wants you to hold her, well, you are going to hold her or she’s going to die trying to get in your arms.  If Angeline is done, Angeline is done.  In this way Angeline is like a small and adamant child quite determined to have it her way.  And why shouldn’t she be?  It is, of course, this very determination that has kept her alive.  She is such a feisty, scrappy little monkey and she’s had to be.  She is very world wise and some days when she seems more vulnerable I think it is world weary.
In December she left my house for a new foster home.  One with two people and no other dogs where she could be the center of attention as she so wanted and righteously deserved.  She was quite happy and content there.  The girls adored her and she them.  For a while, all was well in the world of The Bean.
And then.  There has to be an And Then doesn’t there?  And then Angeline started to have problems with her right eye.  Months of ophthalmologist and emergency visits followed.  Despite our best efforts, all the medications and treatments the doctors could prescribe, Angeline had a detached retina and lost the vision in her right eye completely.  Two weeks ago pressure built in the eye and emergency surgery was required to remove it completely. 
This latest development left me bereft.  Yet, Angeline does not let it slow her down.  She’s still little Ms. Thing, still very happy to be alive.  She still adores the spotlight and is pretty sure the universe should move to her rhythms.  Angeline is now in the capable hands of another Divine Ms. A, our own Angie T, vet tech at Dr. M’s clinic.  Her sutures came out last Friday, her spirits are high and Ang will have her back in top form in no time I’m sure.
What Angeline really needs though is a forever home.  She needs someplace that is just for her and some place she knows she can stay for good.  She’s little orphan Annie (if Annie got tossed around a few more times and lost an eye) with her pluck and charm with a little of the rough around the edges of Rizzo from Grease.  She’s been bumped around, tossed to the ground, held down, fought her way back to the top and she’s had to rely on herself.  She’s ready to have someone she can count on for keeps.
She’ll provide loads of love, kisses, snuggles.  She’s a great lap warmer and loves to sit with you while you do your Facebook games or check out email or snuggle up while you watch TV.  She’ll keep you entertained with her antics as she plays with her toys and make you giddy with glee as prances her happy dance when you come home!  She is quite content to be carried around like the Princess she knows she is.  While she loves to be adored, she will provide you the same.  She’s a great companion and best friend. 
She really does want to be the center of attention and would prefer to be the only four footed barking kind of child in the home.  She can have visits from friend canines but doesn’t really want to live with them.  While she would be fine for supervised visits from nieces, nephews or grandkids she should also be in a small-child free home.  Small kids move fast and it’s too scary for her, especially with only one eye to keep on them!  We hope there is someone out there with a big heart and an open space for a small dog with a big personality to fill.  She’s worth it.
Please help us find the Bean the person she can count on forever, the home that is surely waiting for her out there.  Pass along her story if you know anyone who could benefit from all that Beanie has to offer.
 
Sands of Time
In October of 2009 we turned three and we made a pilgrimage back to Harlan.  The trip, as all trips, has many untold stories and perhaps they will come out in “the book”.  I’m writing Finley Finnegan Begin Again’s story now and hopefully much like Charles Wallace Martin III’s  Love Story you will have Finley’s story too one day.  And some day soon I need to tell you about our very special boy Roger.
November was babies, babies, babies, all around babies.  Laurel’s babies were finally weaned and ready for homes.  Sonja gave birth on November 7th.   Momma Nutmeg and her three teeny tiny babies, Yoda, Monkey Boy Sherman and the Princess, came to the shelter and quickly made their way to my house. 
Fall came in hard and fast and crashed right into winter.  I could sum up those months by saying just this…”it was a long hard winter”.  Perhaps it was the short days, the dark nights, the bitter cold, the unstoppable snow or the doom and gloom on the nightly news, perhaps all of those things, but adoptions were slow, forever homes for our kids hard to come by.  Finley continued to be an enigma, his health never quite right.
After some difficult times, December brought me back my heart in the form of a little boy named Elijah Eskimo or e.e. as he would be known.  Elijah was not yet two pounds when I first found him in the back of a crate.  He was skinny, tired and weak, the runt of a very big litter and clearly on the losing end of everything.  But as strange as it may sound, he was also radiant.  There is something so special about e.e. and it was evident from the very first.  There is a very old soul inside this little man.  So small he fit in the front pocket of my hoodie sweatshirt where he loved to nap, yet so large in spirit.  Elijah and his sister Rahja shone light in the deep winter.  They are both in forever homes with loving families now as are their littermates.
December brought Grace the Face, little girl, big ‘tude, not afraid of anything!  It brought Black Pearl, Miss Missy Mallory, Annie who’s family found her just three days after she arrived and Alyssa (Bebe) who broke her foster mom’s heart when she went but made her new mom’s heart whole again.
January ushered in a new year and it started off with a bang when our boy Finley finally revealed the source of his illnesses.  He’d been shot.  While the wound on the outside had healed long before he came to us, inside it was festering.  His shoulder abscessed and he had the first of two surgeries. 
In January Sonja’s babies were finally ready for homes.  Macalaster arrived looking straight out of Dr. Suess’s Whoville.  Sarabelle arrived so shy but sweet.  Beautiful London arrived, a tall, gangly girl, ribs sticking out.  With some good food and good care she flourished and found the home she was meant to have.  I ran into her and her mom at the dog park just last weekend and wow are they both so happy!  London watches her mom with such adoration and the feeling is definitely mutual.  It made my heart swell to see.
In February we took in a wirey haired “mom” and one of her pups.  At intake the foster mom sweetly asked me if I was sure this was the baby’s mom.  I said “absolutely”, the shelter said the owner dropped them all off.  She turned her new foster over and pointed asking me “what’s this then”?  HE was decidedly NOT the mom.  Sweet natured Henry had been playing “mom” though to a litter of pups in the shelter and what an amazing man he is.  Henry was limping and the limp turned out to be from a broken hip.  He had to have been in much pain but he never once acted out.  So February brought FHO surgery for Henry. 
February also brought Kylie Jo who found her family her first week here.  It brought Mason who is now in training to be a therapy dog.  It brought Carly and her two newborn babies, not even one pound a piece.  Of course February also brought Macy Love, February 14th to be exact.  For Macy life had not been easy, nor the world kind.  She was born to a stray dog, her littermates did not live long, the dozens of buckshot pellets lodged throughout her body tell a chilling story.  Her mom was killed and Macy was hit by a car with a broken hip and a concussion.  But in Macy there is a lesson for us all.  Macy has an amazing capacity to learn and to embrace each new day.  Macy had no reason to trust and every reason not to.  But day by day Macy decided to peek around the corner, to look ahead to the future and to take the chance that had been given to her.  As her body heals, so does her psyche.  Her progress is amazing, her nearly constant smile a treasure to behold.  Today she loves to play with my dogs, loves to snuggle and in the morning loves to take a flying leap and land in my lap.
Finally, February brought Finley’s second surgery when it became apparent that his body would not stop rejecting the bullet inside him and it had to be removed.

March marched in and took the adoption world by storm.  As the world thawed so did the adoption freeze and dogs that had been in our care for many months were finding themselves finally “home”.  A flurry of new faces came and many quickly made their way home, that whole thing about March and the roaring lion I suppose.

March Madness
March also brought huge financial obligations that have been troubling.  Still financially recovering from Finley’s two surgeries and Henry’s FHO, things were about to get a whole lot worse.  March brought big lug of a sweet guy Paulie who’s limp revealed an old and particularly nasty fracture to one of his legs that had healed all wrong and caused constant pain.  Again we found an exceptional guy, living with exceptional pain, and still happy and full of love and joy.  Orthopedic surgery requiring the bone to be re-broken, re-set and plated soon followed.  Paulie is doing well an on the mend now thankfully. 
March also brought sweet and demure Olivia Jane and her cherry eye.  Yes, you guessed it, another surgery!  And of course, Angeline had surgery on her eye in March as well. 

Sarah Vargas Memorial Trip to Harlan
And so we find ourselves at now, April 2010.  ¼ of the way through the year.  Once again we find ourselves preparing for the pilgrimage.  A journey to where it all began.  The native land of all of our Safe Hand’s dogs and pups. Our Away Team will be leaving next Wednesday, bright and early and returning on Sunday, April 18th.

This trip is special as it will be the Sarah Vargas Memorial Trip.  Sarah and her Aunt Betsy fostered pups for Safe Hands.  When I first met Sarah I was struck by how vivacious she was, how full of life and energy and happiness.  Sarah came to live out loud and live out loud she did.  She stood up for what she believed in and worked to be the change she wanted to see in this world.  Sarah was an amazing and special young woman.  It did not seem like it could be real when I got the news last summer that Sarah died tragically in an accident.  A brilliant star, dimmed entirely too soon.
Sarah’s family asked that donations in her name go to Safe Hands or one other organization.  The money donated to Safe Hands will pay for our vehicle to get us to Harlan and get us and the new bunch of Safe Hands dogs and pups safely home.  Sarah’s spirit will be with us on our journey.  I think it always is though.
I'll send an email in the next couple of days with pictures of some of the dogs and pups needing a safe harbor, a landing place on their journey "home".  If you are able to foster please let us know and if not please forward to anyone you think might be able to help!

So now you’ve had the Cliff Notes on the last six months in the life of Safe Hands Rescue.  You are up to speed and ready to go right???
To sum up, things are good, things are tough and it’s sort of how it goes in the world of Safe Hands Rescue.  We have great dogs waiting for homes, given a second chance by the network of friends and family that make up Safe Hands Rescue.  To meet these kids and see them shine and to know how close they walked to the edge, how so many seemingly small things conspired to give them such a big thing as a chance to live life, well – to me it is breathtaking.  It makes my heart feel too full to fit in my chest.  Even if you are not in the market for a new dog or pup I encourage anyone to stop at our meet and greets and see the kids whose lives you helped save by donating your homes, your time, your energy, supplies or making financial contributions or even just spreading the good word.  If you really want to feel good about doing something come see them smile and see them shine.  I appreciate so much all that everyone does for this group and hope you know the dogs and pups do too, and they are worth it. 
We have an adoptable dog Meet & Greet this Saturday at Fetch Delivers at 2303 Kennedy St. NE in Minneapolis between noon and 2 pm. 
That's all for today.  Thanks for reading and for supporting Safe Hands!

Best to you and yours,
Lynne
Wish List
**Any contributions towards our surgical bills!**
**Gas cards to help us get to Harlan**
**Small collars and small leashes**
Medium sized crates
Toys - particularly rope toys, stuffies, nylabones or Kongs Medium sized crates
Baby gates
Paper towels
Purell Laundry detergent (or other mild detergents)
Puppy pee pads
$25 pays the transportation cost for one dog or puppy to get to safety
$50 pays for one dog to be altered at the low cost spay/neuter clinic in Harlan
$80 buys a tray of 25 lifesaving puppy vaccines for the shelter
 
Mailing address:
Safe Hands Rescue
P.O. Box 19623
Minneapolis, MN  55419-0623

Safe Hands Update 10-08-09

Hello!
I looked in our draft folder this morning and counted the beginnings of no less than five updates on Safe Hands.  I am good at starting I guess, not so much at the finishing.  I hope this update finds you well, enjoying what is a lovely fall day today after our endless rain.
 
Time, time, time...
Time has a way of slipping by doesn't it?  I'm unsure whether it simply slithers stealthily by under cover or flies by at mach speed on it's way to the big black hole in the universe that sucks it up.  But either way, it is a great magician, it disappears. 
 
Yesterday was our anniversary.  Three years and 812 dogs have passed through our rescue on their way to new homes.  Three thousand dogs have been moved out of the shelter and into other rescues with our assistance.  Over fifteen hundred animals have been spayed and neutered in the community by Woodstock Animal Foundation since we helped organize the first low cost spay neuter clinic in Harlan.  Margie who started out transporting for us now has her own organization Starfish Animal Rescue and provides transportation for almost all of the animals leaving the shelter.  The food donations that Safe Hands, Starfish and Brighter Days for Shelters provide have allowed the shelter to spend money on vaccines for the puppies.  When they don't have the money we help out and provide them.  In the past three years your donations of towels and blankets have ensured that the dogs all have a soft place to lay down in their cement floor kennel runs.  The shelter turned their office into a puppy quarantine room to keep the puppies healthier and to help stem the parvo outbreaks.  The shelter has a computer and a camera so they can send us pictures and information to help get the dogs into rescue.  There have been so many changes.  We still have a ways to go, but we are going.  Three years ago the euthanasia rate was 98%.  Last year it was about 50%.
 
Harlan Bound
And so once again we find ourselves Harlan bound so that we may bring some four legged furry friends homeward bound.  It's our journey to the homeland, where Safe Hands all started.  I have such mixed feelings when we prepare for these trips.  I'm anxious to get back and see how things are, I am anxiety filled about what we will find, the dogs we will leave behind, and often times, I just feel crazy.  I am reminded to look at my own Harlan fur kids though and look at them I do.  I love them, as I tell them daily, with the madnesses.  They are amazing and special and I can't imagine them not being.  And so even though we can not save them all, we go to save the ones we can.  Because we can not do everything does not stop us from doing something.
 
Small dog, big shadow
Angeline has cast a big shadow over all that I do lately.  Her health, happiness and well being have been tantamount.  She is doing so well!  I marvel that she is here, that she survived, that she is so small and yet so strong.  She has gained two pounds (and remember she only weighed 4 1/2 pounds when she arrived).  She is funny, sweet, spunky, loves to snuggle and be carried around like the Princess she is sure she is.  She take a little while to warm up to new people but every now and then she meets someone she just goes right up to and kisses!  She has a new sweater which she LOVES.  She does not like it when I try to take it off and was quite unhappy with the vet for taking it off to weigh her yesterday. (see our blog at www.safehandsrescue.blogspot.com for a photo) She still has a tender tummy and we are still working to improve that, it will take finding the right medicine, right foot and our old friend time to heal the damage done to her "little gut cells" but she'll get there. 
 
Meanwhile Angeline needs a home.  I adore her.  She is a very special little girl.  But she would really like a home with someone who has more time to dote on her, and she does deserve it.  She'll repay the favor in spades with snuggles, kisses, and adoration.  We are looking for someone who might be interested in taking over her foster care while we continue to get her back to health that would also be interested in adopting her once she is ready for that step.  She is currently fed five times a day and she is on several medications so she needs to go with someone who has a flexible schedule, could take her to work or perhaps works from home.  If you know someone who might be interested have them email me and I'll get them more information to see if it could be a match!
 
And I have let Angeline's shadow block a few other updates from the sun.  So here is some overdue news.
 
Remington aka Griffen
OK, so my friend with a sick sense of humor has lovingly nicknamed our gun shot boy "Remington".  His name, however, is Griffen.  We don't need to remind him of that painful and scary past.  I would like to not be reminded myself.  Griffen was found on the side of a little used road, shot clean through but still alive.  His sibling was not so lucky.  Griffen arrived with a bad case of demodex that left his head nearly bald with bloody entry and exit wounds on his shoulders.  He also arrived as sweet as the day is long, loving to be loved, reveling in any and all attention and affection thrown his way.  Even in that state, he was a beautiful boy with a beautiful spirit.  Griffen's bullet wounds have healed, the hair is growing back and soon you will not even be able to see where they were.  The hair on his head and face has grown back.  He is loverboy and still eats up all attention he can get.  He is now ready for a home of his own.  One where he will be loved and cherished for the rest of his life, as it should be.  One that will be lucky to have such a sweet guy to share their days with.  Look for him on our website soon!
 
Henry aka Walmart Puppy
Henry weighed just over 2 pounds when he arrived.  He was found tied up in a Walmart shopping bag in a dumpster.  Thankfully the employee who took out the trash heard a squeaky sound and located the ailing little boy.  Henry was nearly bald all over from both demodex and sarcoptic mange.  His stomach was enormously bloated.  He had a raspy cough and wheezy lungs.  He was, in short, a mess.  But he was.  He was still here, still alive, still wanting to be.  We believe all life is precious, even 2 pound puppies with no hair.  They want to live too. 
 
Henry slammed his way into foster mommy's heart before she even met him.  Janine took him home, loved him up, gave him good food and good medicine and Henry is flourishing in her care.  His hair too is nearly all back.  His cough is gone.  The only real remnants of his former life are his slightly crooked front legs, a bit malformed from malnutrition.   He's lively, playful and sweet and very soon Henry too will be ready to meet his forever family.
 
So much more...
There are many new kids with stories to be told.  I do them a disservice by leaving them out but my time is short with trip preparations and my mind is occupied with the future that will arrive in one week.  We leave next Wednesday and return home the following Sunday.  We are looking for foster homes upon our return and I have attached photos of just a very few of the dogs and puppies at the shelter needing a safe haven for a while, a port in the storm that has become their lives, a bridge between their present and what can be their future.  If you can help or know someone who can please let us know.  It is really hard to journey to the shelter, to meet the fur kids, to look in their eyes, and to leave them behind.  It is important to us to bring as many home as we can.  If you were ever considering foster, now is a great time!  New foster folks can fill out the foster application on our website at www.safehandsrescue.org.
 
Speaking of our website I want to let you know that our current site is not functioning well.  Adoption applications and Foster applications can be accessed from the home page and those do work but many other pieces do not.  However, Janine has been hard at work getting a brand spanking new website set up and we hope to debut it very soon!
 
We have an adoptable dog Meet & Greet this Saturday at Fetch Delivers at 2303 Kennedy St. NE in Minneapolis between noon and 2 pm.  Whether you are in the market for a new dog or pup or not, please feel free to stop by, say hi, meet our Safe Hands kids.  Guest stars include Griffen, Henry and Angeline!
 
That's all for today.  Thanks for reading and for supporting Safe Hands and helping us make it to our third birthday!
 
Best to you and yours,
Lynne, Janine and all of the Safe Hands pups!
 

Safe Hands Update 9-14-09

Hello,
In doing animal rescue there are sometimes great highs and sometimes great lows.  We relish the happiness and the success stories, we struggle through the hard times and the horrible things we sometimes see.  Without mincing words, today is not a high, today is a low.  It's been a very rough weekend with us receiving a tiny baby boy puppy found tied up in shopping bag in a garbage can in very rough shape, a boy puppy found on the side of the road with a hole through his shoulder made by a bullet, and Angeline.  And I'm writing to ask for your help.  Here is the story so far...

Angeline, sweet Angeline

I am following the blue dots to Angeline.  I have been instructed to follow the blue dots on the floor which will lead me to the ICU unit of the U of M Small Animal Hospital.  The memories flood back from the last time I made this trip, to visit another Safe Hands kid named Minnie who's condition was similar to where Angeline finds herself now.  As has happened before I breathe deeply to be strong for this strong little girl.

I first met Angeline less than 48 hours before when she arrived on the latest transport of dogs from the high kill shelter we work with.  We knew she was "thin" and we'd been told she "doesn't feel well" with the only details that she lay curled up in a ball in the shelter - a behavior as likely to be anxiety and fear based as anything else.  I had, in fact, been told it might just be her nerves.  So nothing really prepared us for what we found when we found Angeline.

I had set up a wire kennel for her in a quiet room with a bed and blankets.  I wasn't there when she was let into it so when I first saw her she was, as described, curled up in a ball on the bed.  I could tell she was mighty thin but not just how thin.  She was mighty scared and resented any intrusion into her new soft, safe space.  I set about gaining her trust and making friends.  Soft words, canned food on my fingers, gentle touches...  Then, finally, it was time to gather her up and take stock. 

When Angeline's tiny body unveiled itself, well there are no words really.  I want to write something beautiful about this beautiful girl.  I want to be clever but my heart just aches and I am not sure I'm over the shock quite yet.  I'm not sure I ever will be.

It was immediately clear that Angeline needed more than we could give her at home.  I wrapped her in a blanket and held her close.  I could feel her fear melt as she leaned into me, relaxed and rested her head on my chest.  Her relief at being held, feeling the heat and the heartbeat of another revealed the vulnerable little girl underneath the tough, scared exterior.  In an instant I understood how strong she is, how strong she'd had to be, and that she needed someone to take over now.  She entrusted her life to us. 

I can tell you this:  Angeline arrived very alert, very aware of all that was going on and very interested in preserving her life.  There is clearly a spunky, sweet spirit inside this girl.  Some may question the wisdom or audacity of trying to save Angeline.  As I held her in my arms I questioned that too.  But Angeline wants to save Angeline.  She's worked really hard at it.  I can't be the one to take her life away or to deny her the chance to see the fight through to victory.  I thought about how much I love the name of our group, how much I love to say "you are in safe hands now" because once they are in Safe Hands that is true.  And so I told Angeline that she was in safe hands.  That we would support her fight and give her all that we could give.  I do not lie when I tell you she looked into my eyes and gave me the softest kisses before snuggling her head back under my neck. 

So Angeline is at the U of M in ICU.  She is fighting to live.  There are no good answers yet about what is wrong.  There are possibilities, some with better prognosis than others.  The doctors try to support and stabilize her while they figure out the what and why of how she got to where she is now which is not much more than skin covering bones.  It is amazing she is still alive, still alert, still trying to save herself.  She has a nasal-gastric feeding tube supplying her with a special liquid nutrient rich diet and an IV tube pumping in fluids, antibiotics and pain medication.  She still watches everything when she is awake and remains alert to her surroundings.  She sleeps a lot and she needs that.  We hope and pray that her body can heal. 

I visited her this evening and was shocked all over again at her condition. They handed her to me, a quivering mess of skin and bones wrapped in a faux sheepskin blanket.  As before I took her in my arms and held her to my chest, the quivering stopped, she breathed deeply.  I stroked her head, she loves this.  Her eyes got heavy, she laid her head down.  I sat in a chair. leaned back and let her rest on my belly.  I told her that we all love her. I told her, over and over, that I love her.  I told her she was brave and strong.  I told her we were all pulling for.her.  And I also told her that if she needed to go she could go, that it was up to her and we loved her no matter what.  Then I just held her while she slept.  I could feel the whisper soft exhale of her breaths against my arm.  I became entranced in the rhythm of the tiny puffs of air and thanked God for them.  When it was time to hand her back I stuck my face inside her E collar and kissed her head and she rested her forehead against my cheek.  I managed to hold back the tears until the moment her tiny body left my arms. 

I want to put her in that bubble with the boy that will keep her safe from everything.  I want to cast a spell of healing and protection.  To meet her is to feel the overwhelming desire to make her world right again.  I want to hold her close and roar the mighty roar of a momma lioness that will chase all the Bad Things away.  I want this to be enough.  Of course it is not.

And so Angeline is in the ICU with a team of doctors that can hopefully give her what I cannot.  I'm told she has not deteriorated since she got here, however, there are no major improvements either.  I'm told that if Angeline survives it will be many months before she is fully recovered and to expect her progress to be slow.  I'm told she remains interested in food and that she continues to have a will to live.  They try to keep my expectations realistic and my spirit optimistic. 

We should have more test results Monday morning which may give us clues that will help the doctors help her.  Tonight I try to find the words to tell you about Angeline and to ask for your help.  Times are so damn tough.  Everyone is struggling.  It's hard to ask anyone for anything.  And yet, Angeline's life depends on it and so I'm asking.  We can keep her in the hospital another couple days with the funds we have (her medical bill is already over $1200) but she is going to need more than that.  Our ability to provide what she needs depends on the generosity of others.  I know many people really don't have anything to give but healing thoughts and prayers and those are also gratefully accepted. 

As I sit here and write a cover version of Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time plays on the radio.  I listen to the words, "if you fall I will catch you, I will be waiting, time after time".  Angeline was falling, I want Safe Hands to be able to catch her in a net of security and bring her safely home.  Please help us help Angeline if you can.

Donations can be made via paypal by clicking the link on this page:
http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/MN206.html

Checks can be mailed to:
Safe Hands Rescue - P.O. box 19623 - Minneapolis, MN 55419-0623

For now I will follow the blue dots to Angeline and I will pray that when Angeline is feeling lost she can look and she will find us, the Safe Hands family, standing strong behind her, to bring her home.

Thanks for listening and best to all of you in these hard times.  I will post updates on Angeline to our blog which can be found here:
http://safehandsrescue.blogspot.com/

Take care,
Lynne

P.S.  Both our baby boys are holding their own.  Griffen will likely have surgery early this week to clean up the entry wound from the bullet.  Henry is being cared for by momma Janine and if his immune system can kick in and fight off the upper respiratory infection he has and keep him from any other illnesses he should make a full recovery.  Please keep them in your thoughts too!

Safe Hands Update (sort of) 8-7-09

Hello everyone,
As I sit here and think about what to say in an update, how to summarize the last three months, my head is in tonight, the new arrivals, the newest Safe Hand's kids who are right now in a van on their way here.  Here to safety.  Here to people who will love them.  Here to families of their own.  Here to the safe hands waiting for them.  No doubt after tonight there will be more stories to tell. 

I am listening to what has become the Safe Hands' anthem, "Bring it on Home" by Little Big Town.  You all know how I feel about that word, Home.  It is all powerful, it is magic, it is the difference between life and death for the dogs out there without one. 

I listen to the band sing,

"You got someone here who wants to make it all right, someone that loves you more than life, right here." 

The dogs will arrive tonight.  They will be met by a group of the most caring and compassionate folks I know.  They will gently be coaxed out of their kennels.  They will get fed and watered, they will be walked,   They will be held, heads stroked, ears scratched.  Our vet will examine them all and tend to their bodies, give them what they need to make them strong and well.  They will be told they are good dogs, they will be loved.  Tonight these dogs will be loved.  Right here.

"I know your heart can get all tangled up inside but don't you keep it to yourself" 

Ask Shaycee's mom about how tangled up her little girl was on the night she arrived.  So scared she tried to bury herself into the wall and just disappear.  We can only guess at what Shaycee's life was like before she got here.  She did not know that people could be nice and life could be really, really good.  Her heart was tangled up.  But when her foster mom adopted her I didn't recognize the happy, bubbly, bouncing girl dancing around in front of me.  Shaycee let Kim in, she let Kim untangle those lines around her heart and make it right.  And Shaycee has a home and a mom that loves her more than life.  Right here.

"I'm gonna lie with you until you fall asleep, when the morning comes I'm still gonna be right here, yes I am" 

This one, this line gets me every time.  This is the one I think was written for my dog Jez.  Jez's heart was tangled up too.  She did not trust anyone and if there was a pup with the weight of the world on her shoulders it was my Jezebel Jane.  She was a Katrina survivior but whatever she survived before Katrina was no doubt it's own kind of horrible.  When I met her I wanted to put my arms around her and let her feel safe and make sure nothing bad would ever happen to her again.  I couldn't though.  The act of putting my arms around her would have terrified her.  All I could do was pull a mattress on the floor and sleep next to her spot (she was too afraid to get on the bed).  I slept touching her paw and in the morning she found me still there.  And slowly, Jezzie learned to trust.

"Take your worries and just drop them at the door, baby leave them all behind"

Shaycee, Jezebel, Parker, Emmy,Sara, Danni, Winnie, Hope, Nissa, Nova, Jenna, Denver, how many of our kids arrive scared and unsure, worried?  What we wouldn't give to know their past.  But perhaps it is just as well that we don't.  We are their future.  We help them leave their baggage at the door and move ahead to better days.

"When your long day is over, and you can barely drag your feet, the weight of the world is on your shoulders"

Some of the dogs and pups arrive all wiggly butts, happiness and excitement.  These dogs make you sing inside.  I can't put into words the feeling of knowing you will not disappoint them, they are happy, they expect the best in the world and we can preserve that childlike innocence and joy and that is a beautiful thing.  But for others, they have seen too much, their lives have not always been easy.  They have learned to be cautious, to reserve judgement.  You can often see it in their faces when they first arrive.  They are tired, they are not sure there is anything left to believe in.  It is our job to show them there is.

"I know what you need, bring it on home to me"

Yes, bring them on home. 

So the real update will have to wait another day.  I'm going to go and get everything ready so that when Summer, Cinna, Ben, Ever, Aubrey, Teddy and the rest of the kids arrive tonight we can do all that we can to show them that "someone here wants to make it all right, someone that loves you more than life".

Thank you for your continued support.  Have a great weekend.

Sampson 8-06-09

Hello all,
I hope this finds you well and enjoying summer, the shortest season it seems, perhaps because I think it is the best.  This story is a long, long time in the making.  Over six months actually.  And back in April I promised the story of Sampson,  he who "like the fifth Beatle, he is the fourth "Boy" that you have not yet heard about",  There are never enough hours in the day and the busier we get, the less I am able to share.  It is important that the stories be told though.  So here is one for now and more to come.  It's on the long side, you may want to read this at home.
 
Look for an update as well in the next day or so.  Here is Sampson's story:
 
 
I wish I could start this story with a sound.  It would be a sound that makes your hair stand on end, your breathing and your heart stop for just a moment and then rush into a mad, feverish race.  It would be a high pitched shriek full of anguish and abject terror.  A sound so primal that your very soul instantly becomes one with it, your body responding with an uncontrollable fight or flight response.  This is a sound that still makes my eyes wet with the remembering as I try to describe it to you.  This was the sound Sammy was making the first time I laid eyes on him.
 
The sound came first.  Then came the sight of an enormous big, black dog on a control stick being forced over the cement and through the rows of deafening barking and frenzied dogs in kennels on either side.  Eyes wide, feet braced, tail tucked, the dog appeared bewildered, terrified, uncomprehending.  I stood paralyzed, unable to act or even react until unable to bear witness I walked quickly out the back door. Body shaking, feeling helpless I stood waiting.  Waiting for the shrieking to stop and indicate the end of the madness.  Waiting to regain a measure of composure and the ability to control my movements, actions and words.
 
I re-entered the shelter to find the big, black dog quivering and cowering in a kennel run.  What I had seen seemed to indicate he must be vicious, angry, dangerous.  I could not reconcile that with the figure before me, head bent, liquid eyes peering up hesitantly, trembling, hugging the wall.  With quiet and soft words I started to talk to him.  I wanted to tell him it would be OK, he would be OK now.  I couldn't though.  So while my voice was comforting, my words told him that he should be afraid, that there were not chances for enormous, big black dogs with graying muzzles, that he would die here.  It's horrible.  I know it is.  But that is what I told him, unwilling to lie to him or to myself, trying to force a level of detachment that had abandoned me, consumed by the echo of that sound.
 
I pulled some treats out of my pocket.  At first he just glanced at them, still too traumatized to move.  Soon though he ventured over and took the treat with the gentlest mouth.  I offered more but he leaned against the gate and pressed his head into my hand, wanting the comfort of touch much more than the treat I held.  I opened the gate, I went in, I had a Sammy in my arms, a big mass of black dog melting into me whimpering.  And it was in that moment that I realized I had lied to Sammy.  It was in that moment that I realized Sammy would get out because somehow, some way, I was going to make it happen.  I handed over my heart and he took it completely.
 
I spent as much time as I could with Sammy, fed him many treats, put my arms around him and let him snuggle up, loved him, made promises to him.  The van was already full and there was no way to fit 100 pound Sammy on board.  It broke my heart to leave him behind.  Before I did I pulled the shelter staff back to his kennel and through a few tears (or perhaps sobbing and barely coherent depending on who tells the story) I made sure they knew we were coming back for him and that Sammy would come to Minnesota.
 
This trip was our trip of the Big Black Dog (plus Grayson!).  You never heard about Sammy because the evening of our return I made arrangements to get Sammy to Safe Hands.  I could not stop thinking about the gentle giant of a dog waiting there, his soft and wise eyes with stories to tell, his big head resting so trustingly on my shoulder.  I went through the motions at intake, watched over the amazing team that is Safe Hands as they tended to our new arrivals and nourished them body and soul.  Happy to have our new arrivals in good hands, thrilled that we could get them to safety, my mind was thousands of miles away, my heart with a big black dog.  I maintained composure just long enough to make it through intake until I could call my friend Bridget about fostering Sammy.  She answered the phone.  I started to talk.  Words came choking out.  Unable to hold back the sorrow at leaving Sammy, I blurted out the story in bursts and fits.  Bridget, bless her heart, immediately said yes, absolutely, bring Sammy home. 
 
In the week that followed I barely slept.  The sleep I did get was haunted by Sammy.  He was my first thought upon waking every morning, even in that blurry and barely conscious state that rises up until you have awareness, Sammy was there with me.  I think if monitors could have been hooked to my brain it would have shown that no more than five minutes ever went by without the big black dog in my thoughts.  And finally, one week later, the day arrived and Sammy came to join us here.  It was every Christmas Eve, every day before your birthday, every Easter egg hunt morning waiting for the tranpsort to arrive with my boy.
 
Safe Hands members fell instantly in love with Sammy.  You couldn't meet him and NOT fall for him madly.  He was charming, polite, had impeccable manners.  He would bury his head in any available body, happily lay at your feet for belly rubs, he loved having his face stroked.  Sammy loved to be loved. 
 
But finding a home for Sammy turned out to be no easy task.  Safe Hands members all have as many dogs as they can and if they didn't when they started out with us, they do now!  People loved him at the adoption events.  But it didn't translate to people wanting to take him home.  Sammy had the trifecta of strikes against him.  He was really big.  He was black.  And he was an older gentleman.  No one was willing to take him for the years he had left, favoring instead the younger dogs and puppies who seemed to promise more time.  Sammy did have one did have one, itty bitty little bad habit.  He liked cats, a bit too much.  This further limited his options as he needed a cat free home. 
 
The months went by and Sammy was a very happy guy in his foster home.  He very much enjoyed the company of his canine foster siblings.  He loved the boys in the home and took to sleeping with or near one of them most of the time.  He often stood guard and refused to leave their side while they were asleep.  He got along excellently with all dogs and I once found him with two small dogs playing "King of the Sammy" and standing on him to push each other off his side while he lay placidly amused by the whole spectacle.  To Sammy life was grand, he had legions of followers to rub his head, ears and belly, what more did he need?
 
All Good Things Come in Time
 
As it turns out, life for Sammy would get even better.  As we were working to find a home for another one of our "kids" we came across a lovely woman named Maike.  She was looking for another dog to join her family on their 10 acre farm.  Her current dog needed a buddy to run with, but as an older gent himself he needed a nice, easy going, laid back kind of friend.  She also needed a dog that wouldn't chase the horses.  Thanks to a very dedicated volunteer a meeting was arranged and Sammy went off on a big adventure to check out the farm that he would soon call home.  It was love at first site, a match made in heaven, it was HOME.  Summit and Sammy instantly bonded and the two big guys took off exploring in the trees, hunting in the tall grass and roaming the property together like long lost friends.  Since Summit kept responding when Sammy was called they decided Sammy should get a new name to go with his new family.  He was a great buddy for Summit and would prove to be a great buddy for Maike and Mark too so his new name, aptly, became Buddy!
 
His new family said they spent their first day with him "taking him out many times, cuddling with him, naps on the dog bed...just so he will know he's home."  Just so he will know he's home.  Those are some powerful words.  They went on to say, "We both realize that since his age is not known, Buddy might live for another year, maybe many more...we are fine with that.  He's a sweet, sweet, polite big lug and deserves to have whatever time left in a place where he can be happy and where he is being loved.  Snuggling with him is a treat!  We made that commitment to him and we will keep it to his end.  We promise to do right by him - whatever that means.  We will take the best care of him possible, make sure his health is good and let him be the dog that he is....  He'll have a good place to live, lots of dog beds and treats, a safe place outside and inside and two people that will give him all the love, hugs, kisses, he deserves."
 
So my story with Sammy sort of ends at the point he became Buddy and went to live with his forever family.  I am hungry though for more, more Sammy/Buddy, more of the marvelous big, black dog.  So I asked his mom to share the start of his new chapter with us. 
 
Chapter 2:  Buddy
 
When Buddy first arrived we could witness how he would get happier and happier every day... and truly shed years in the process.  After the first week, I noticed how much higher he carried his head and his trail. He had a nice bounce in his trot and would actually run at times! Now his tail wags all the time - just when I say his name or catch his eyes and it?s nice.
 
From day one, Buddy and Summit were the Siamese twins - where there is one- there is the other.  It?s pretty sweet to see the two greet each other in the morning. They do those goofy ?butt-up in the air? stretches in sync, do several loud, moaning yawns and gently lick each others faces - before being bumper-cars with each other to race downstairs for breakfast. It?s 200 lb of dogs barreling down two flights of stairs and a dumbly-dorky race to the mud room for breakfast. It?s just fun to have a good laugh in the morning because of those two goof balls .......  Buddy however, is not a morning dog.  Calling of his name barely gets him to open one eye. Calling his name a few times might get two eyes open, but when he wants to sleep in, he?s going to be sleeping in. 
 
A few weeks after Buddy?s arrival, the two decided to start their own part-time company .... and mud digging, drainage-tile and hole digging service called B&S Excavating. The first project was a 3-hour long hunt for something in 50 ft of plastic drainage tile. Then a few HUGE holes dug behind the barn. Some of the holes are so deep, the both dogs disappear in them up to their waist. When it?s hot, each excavation project is followed by runs into the pond to cool down.  They come home totally dirty, muddy, but their eyes are just sparkling with pride and joy.  There is no harm done - they have fun, I don?t mind. They did get into the hostas once and my day lilies and we needed to have a bit of a discussion about the location of their projects. Behind the barn or around the pond is fine, not around the house and in the flower beds. It worked, my flowers are safe.
 
I did notice though that ?If Buddy doesn?t want, Buddy doesn't do?. He lays down, goes limp and doesn?t move.  There is evidence of traumas passed.   I grabbed his collar the first time and got him into total dead weight, he whimpered and got panicked. So - I need to just work with him with words.
I also noticed he didn?t like to go ahead of me into the dark barn. He?s fine now, but between that and his bad front teeth, I assume that he might have been locked up in a small dark place at one point and tried to bite his way out of it.
 
Mark also got him into a panic the second week. Buddy was lounging in his bed and Mark gently tapped him on the butt with his foot and pointed towards the bed to encourage him  to hop into bed with me. The combination of being tapped with a foot and the upwards, raised arm triggered a bad memory in him. He yelped, jumped up and dropped on his back in submission. Mark felt just terrible that he got him so scared.... he gave him tons of hugs and snuggles and lots of apologies.
 
But I guess those little learning experiences just come with a second-hand dog ... no way of finding out what or why that happened. We just have to adjust our behavior to accommodate those old triggers.
 
Getting to know Buddy, I truly think he must have had a really good life at one point, possibly as a farm dog. He is so smart around the horses. He protects me, stays around, but out of the way.  He is so well trained, so well mannered and respectful, very very sweet, loves people dearly and will protect any dog that is in distress. If there is a whimpering puppy, Buddy will run and come to the puppy's rescue. He?s good with kids, disabled people, little tiny dogs, the horses. He?s good in strange situations and will stick with me and look to us to give him security. Mark keeps saying ?Why would anybody give up a dog so wonderful??
 
I guess he had a great, caring and loving owner, but for some reason, he needed to give him up, died, something and the next place he got too was really bad and he ended up in the shelter. But he?s just the biggest, sweetest, most wonderful dog and I tell him everyday how much we love him and how honored we feel that he?s with us. He brightens my day all the time and he makes me laugh and giggle. He and Summit are great buddies and I don?t think Summit cold have asked for a better friend ... nor could Mark and I.
 
Thank you for saving his life ... he?s the best dog we could have ever imagined.
 
Yes, the best dog anyone could ever have imagined.
 
Black dogs tend to take the longest to get adopted and are euthanized more often in shelters nationwide.  There is little statistical data available but much anecdotal evidence and our experience in Safe Hands has held true to this phenomena.  As the proud momma of three phenomenal black dogs, this makes me sad.  For more information on Black Dog Syndrome go to www.blackpearldogs.com or www.startseeingblackdogs.com.