HOWL-O-Ween Pawty…………by Deb of Howlin' Hounds

Over the years, beginning in 1993 till now, I've been "Mom" to nine rescued Basset Hounds.

Each one that now resides at the Bridge, has left their paw print on my heart, and taken a piece of it with them. They've also left behind a wealth of funny stories.  This is one of my favorites.  Sophie and Mabel are both gone now, but will never be forgotten.

It was several years ago, a few days after Halloween. We had a bowlful of hard candy left over from Trick or Treaters....lollipops, tootsie pops, blow pops, jolly ranchers...that sort of thing.

Hubby and I went out for dinner thinking the candy bowl was far enough back on the counter that neither Sophie nor Mabel could get it.

Wrong! When we returned home, my jaw dropped, and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, when both dogs greeted us at the door completely covered in candy bits, wagging their tails proudly!  It was all over their faces, their ears, paws, bellies, and even in their armpits.  Wrappers and lollipop sticks were scattered from one end of the house to the other.

Then, as I stood there in a total state of shock, Mabel waddled off to the living room, then soon returned, and placed one absolutely pristine Charms Blow Pop at my feet, then looked up at me as only Mabel could, with an expression that said, "I saved one for you, Mom." All I could do was cry and give her a great big hug!

Mabel

Submitted by Deb of Howlin’ Hounds, an online studio on ArtFire where she specializes in making fabric snoods for dogs, as well as useful accessories for people. Deb is a life-long dog lover and loves to sew, a great combo for expressing her creative talents. Deb is also an active member of the Crafting for Animals Guild on ArtFire which works together to help homeless and abused animals everywhere.

You’re Never Too Old......................By Kathryn A. Gainard

Ahhh, the sweet smell of puppy breath. The awkward pitter-patter of oversized tootsies on the floor—paws still a little too big to fit the body. The huge, innocent eyes looking up to you amidst a lake of happy accidents and drenched newspaper. The tenacious destruction of every cute pair of shoes in the house. The relentless, mournful whimpering during crate training that seems to pass from hour to ungodly hour. Ahhh, yes. Puppies. Not to say that the joys of puppy-dom aren’t immense. If you could bottle up the cuteness and sell it you’d be a millionaire. But why the fascination with baby animals? Especially at shelters and rescues. Dogs older than two years have an incredibly difficult time finding homes… and sadly, it gets harder with every year. But why?

 (From  http://www.office.microsoft.com/)

When you consider the day-to-day rush people go through between work and family and school and yada yada, it’s a wonder more older dogs aren’t adopted first. With an older pup, and I’m only talking two years old and up here, they’re more mellow. They’ve come into their own and have their personality figured out. Shelters will know if the dog likes children or other pets. If it’s a lap baby or an at-your-feet napper. These are lovely things to know for someone who wants to jump right into the loving, and bypass the puppy nuttiness.

Another big bonus is that nearly 100 percent of the older dogs are house trained. Ready to be left alone in your house… trusted with your new carpet and couch. A nice trait for someone who has a lack of patience or time to be able to properly train a wiggly-butt puppy.

They’ve sewn their wild oats and are ready for laid back lovin’…many of them have already had owners and have excellent manners. Some know tricks, if you’re into the Rin Tin Tin thing, and many are already crate and leash trained. Just add love and you’re set.

The simple fact of the matter is that we have pets for companionship and friendship. A loving face to start that day with. A friendly embrace to greet us home. A couch buddy to snuggle with. An unconditional friend that will always be there, ‘til the end. And because of this, I wonder how age makes a difference. I’ve never seen a dog in a shelter, of any age, that’s not hopefully searching for that glimmer of recognition on the face of the adopters. For the chance that they may have found a home of their own. The chance to know a warm bed and kind hand. The chance to give their heart and dedication to their human.

And I know that there isn’t an age that exists in any species where love isn’t something we’re all striving to give and receive.

Submitted by Kate of A Dying Art Co. on ArtFire where you can find many of her creative projects for people and pets, as well as her website: ADyingArtCompanyLtd.com. Kate is a very active volunteer with the Crafting for Animals Guild and uses her talents generously to help the guild in every way she possibly can.

She is one of many members participating in the coupon week from 10/23 through 10/29 to help raise funds for the Close to Home Animal Rescue group in Ohio/Pennsylvania, the spotlight charity for CFA Guild during October in honor of National Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month. Read all about the promotion HERE, and get the coupon code so you can shop with Kate and the other guild artisans during that week.

LUCKY PENNY.......................by Donna of SewAmazin

I always wanted to have two Westies -- an "heir and a spare" -- after our first Westie girl, Wyndi, crossed over the rainbow bridge in early 2002.Later that year, we brought Keli home as an 8 week old puppy; we got her from a local breeder where we could see and meet her parents, grandparents and siblings and see that they had been raised in a happy family setting. In the back of my mind, I always knew that the next Westie would be a rescue... I just didn't know when that would happen.

Each Spring I searched for Westies on Petfinder.com -- usually a few months after Christmas there are dozens of listings for young dogs of all breeds. Every now and then there would be a Westie in our area, but I was always too late with my inquiries.

Until January 2008, when a little Westie puppy named Wendy was listed by a local rescue group. There wasn't even a photo on her page, but her name was so close to Wyndi (my first Westie) I took it as a sign that she was meant to be our puppy, so we sent in an application and waited.

Within a couple of days, Keli and I were in our local PetSmart meeting this new puppy. She was almost 5 months old, had been in the county shelter for about a month and had just been spayed and microchipped earlier in the week. Keli seemed to like her well enough so before we knew it, "Wendy" was riding home with us!

We don't know much about her first owners or where she came from; we were told that they gave her up because she barked too much. We do know that they probably had her from the age of 8 to 16 weeks. Incredibly, around the end of December 2007, they decided to take her to the shelter.

This puppy was so skinny we could see the bones in her hips and neck; her fur was thin and so full of knots and tangles, it looked as if she hadn't been brushed for weeks, if ever. And she was very mouthy -- every time we touched her she tried to grab our hands with her mouth -- typical puppy behavior. "Wendy" didn't know that it was bad manners to nip. She was full of energy, eager to please us and craved our constant attention.

"Wendy" happily chewed on Keli's rejected toys and Nylabones that first weekend. Later we found 8 puppy teeth scattered on the carpet. It must have been such a relief to get those out of her mouth!

By the 3rd day with us she had already decided she was going to nap in my sewing room while I worked on my projects. Except for some typical terrier barking and a total lack of house manners, she was the sweetest little thing and we couldn't understand why anybody would ever give her up!

After we decided this puppy was staying with us for good, we decided to change her name from Wendy to something else; even though that is one of things that drew us to her, it was just too similar to Wyndi. We tried out a bunch of names, but none of them seemed to suit her. Finally, one of us said Penny and that seemed to suit her.

The first few days were a little chaotic. We were prepared for typical "puppy" behavior from Penny, but we weren't completely prepared for living with two Westies at the same time, especially when the older one is used to being the only pampered pooch in the house and the younger one doesn't understand that there are rules that need to be followed. There were a few skirmishes and growlish arguments when Penny ventured too close to Keli. In time, Keli adjusted and accepted the new living arrangement. She even learned to share her space, as long as Penny didn't actually touch her.

Penny's education on how to behave nicely began right away, and she was a quick learner. We had play sessions several times a day to burn off that puppy energy, tossing balls for her to chase and bring back over and over and over again. After a few tosses, we used the ball as a reward to teach her to Sit and Lay Down. She was supposed to sit calmly before I would toss the ball for her; the sitting part was easy, but the calm part was (and is) still a challenge. She sits, but wiggles and wags her tail excitedly in anticipation before settling.


Housetraining was a bigger challenge for Penny, and at first she had lots of accidents in the house. She seemed to understand that it was GOOD to 'go' outside and when she had an accident, she appeared to feel guilty about it - but she did it anyway.

After a few months she was getting sneaky about it, too. We'd take her out and she'd take care of business, then sneak downstairs and leave us another little present. We decided to say nothing when we found her accidents, just clean up and focus instead on praising and rewarding the good outside behavior. I must add that a few lamb jerky treats after a successful trip outside worked wonders in reinforcing the good behavior. But it took about a year until I could say she was reliably housetrained.

Whenever we took the two dogs out together, we were constantly asked about Penny - why are her ears different than Keli's? Why are her legs longer? Why does her tail curl like that? Why does she jump so high? Why does she bark so much?

At first we thought she was just a little bit different ... but by her first birthday, we were fairly certain she must be a mixed breed of some sort. Besides the physical differences there were other clues. They vocalize very differently - Keli howls at the mailman, but Penny yodels. Keli trots like a terrier, but Penny gallops and can jump up onto a tall bed. She literally
bounces sometimes!

Eventually, we bought a doggie DNA test and the results supported our theory - we learned that Penny is a Wauzer! (Westie/Schnauzer mix). We don't know if the mix was intentional or accidental. But all of those personality and physical characteristics that didn't quite fit a Westie make perfect sense for a Schnauzer! And understanding more about that breed's traits has helped us adapt and work with Penny's personality to deal more effectively with her behavior issues.

Recently we celebrated Penny's 4th birthday. She has come a long way and we continue to work on her behavior and anxiety issues. She still barks too much; but she's also a generous kisser. At home, she's a source of comic relief and is so silly and entertaining, we are very thankful that we decided to take a chance on her. Even Keli occasionally enjoys her company.

Every now and then I remind Penny how lucky she is that she ended up with us, but in reality, we are lucky to have added her to our pack. Her perpetual enthusiasm and constant search for fun and adventure keep us laughing every day!

Submitted by Donna of SewAmazin on ArtFire. Donna enjoys sewing and other needlearts and many of her creations have been inspired by or made for her Westies. In her ArtFire studio, you can find a variety of unique gifts, bags and accessories for people and pets. Penny and Keli act as models, muses and occasionally as quality control inspectors.

Donna is participating in the special coupon promotion this month from 10/23 to 10/29 to help raise funds for CFA's spotlight charity, Close to Home Animal Rescue. When shoppers use the coupon code, the artisans will donate 10% of the purchase to CTHAR.org. Read all about it HERE or click on the box below.

Scamp's Rescue Story..................by Lisa of OBX Puparazzi

An acquaintance of ours had a lab mix dog that had a litter of puppies, and we got to take a peek at them while visiting.  At the time, the puppies were 2 weeks old, and one seemed to have some trouble with a hind leg.  I pointed it out to the owner, who assured me they would have the pup checked out.

When we stopped by a week later, I peeked in at the pups again.  The one with the injured hind leg was now just a fur covered skeleton, unable to compete with her siblings for food.  The owner told me that she was getting better and trying to put weight on her leg.  After a quick consult with my husband, we agreed to ask for her.  The owner, who apparently knew nothing about dogs, agreed to us taking the 3-week-old puppy.

Under any other circumstances, we would not have taken the pup away from her mother at such a young age, but we felt that at least we could take her to the vet and end her suffering.  The vet looked at her and told us that there was a good chance, since she was so young, that her leg would heal.  We eagerly agreed to the treatment plan, since it was so much better than what we had been expecting to hear.  The vet put a tiny cast on her leg, and we took the tiny handful home.  

She weighed 1.6 pounds, so she was just a handful.  Too tiny for a collar, we put a hair scrunchie around her neck.  We fed her frequent small meals, watching her blow up like a balloon when she ate, to return to skin and bones by the next meal.  She was a determined little pup, and she started growing again on a regular schedule of around-the-clock meals.  

She wasn’t allowed to put weight on that leg; so she spent most of her time being held or penned in a small laundry basket.  We carried her everywhere with us, and people absolutely adored her.  In total, because of her growing, she had 5 different casts in 6 weeks!

Baby Scamp

About the time she was finally freed from her final cast, we heard from a friend that her former owner couldn’t find a home for the last pup left and intended to abandon her along the highway, feeling that someone would pick her up.  We drove over to his place and told him that Scamp needed a playmate and we’d take her sister.  Dave named the sister Corky, after a dog from his childhood.

Corky was just what Scamp needed, encouraging her to run and exercise her newly healed leg.  Being Labrador mixes, they loved the pond in our yard, using the waterfall like their personal water slide.

While Scamp and Corky were not our first rescued dogs, they have formed the foundation of the current pack at our house, and they are very good at helping us rehabilitate other dogs we foster.

Scamp and Corky

Submitted by: Lisa of OBXPuparazzi, a delightful online boutique full of handmade items for dogs and the people who love them. Lisa is a volunteer with the Crafting for Animals Guild on ArtFire and is participating in the special coupon promotion to raise funds for the guild's spotlight charity, Close to Home Animal Rescue in honor of National Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog month in October. Please check out Lisa's studio and read more about the promotion and get your coupon code HERE.