Who Rescued Whom?...............by Lisa of OBXPuparazzi

Stormy was a dog I rescued from a horrible living situation.  Her owner neglected her terribly and kept her tied outside, with an extension cord that was plugged in and was wrapped several times around a post, to keep her from escaping.  The owner fed it whenever he remembered to, which was apparently not often, and never groomed her.

When my favorite dog, Navajo, had to be put down, I was devastated at his loss.  Stormy's owner offered her to me, and I couldn't say no to her.  She was supposed to be a Golden Retriever and Collie mix, but she was muddy, matted and emaciated.

She patiently tolerated being bathed and clipped nearly bald to release her from a felted mass of fur that encased her like armor.  I nursed her through a very tough heartworm treatment that I wasn't sure she would survive.  Stormy slowly recovered from the treatment, and filled out from a scrawny 46 pounds to a healthy 75-pound dog with flowing golden fur.  You could see both the Golden Retriever and Collie in her then.  She learned how to play with dog toys and developed a sly sense of humor.

Nearly two years later, she returned the favor when I found out I had cancer.  It was found late, totally by accident, and the doctors were concerned that it might not be treatable.  Stormy stuck to me like Velcro while I cried my way through the first few days after the diagnosis.

After my surgery, which was successful, she stayed next to the recliner or laid next to me on the bed as I slowly recovered.  She grew to hate Wednesdays, which were my chemo days.  She would pace and huff when I was getting ready to go, and glare sternly at my husband.

When I returned home, with often barely enough energy to crawl off to bed and sleep until the next day, she would give my husband the most disgusted looks, as if to say, "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you to keep her safe!" and she would curl up next to me, giving Dave "The Look" every time he came to check on me.  If I was restless at night, she was up to follow me around the house.  She took to laying on top of my slippers, to make sure I didn't sneak off without her knowing.  Several times, when I woke up feeling very ill, she would wake my husband.  He and I both appreciated her attentiveness and her good nurse instincts.

Having Stormy's company made a tough time in my life a lot easier to bear, and I like to think she was paying me back for rescuing her from hell on earth.  Stormy had been 9 years old when she was rescued, and lived to the surprising age of 19.  I've always thought that the Lord gave her a whole other life to make up for the first part that was so awful.

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Written by Lisa of OBXPuparazzi on ArtFire where you will find many handmade dog bandanas sewn by Lisa (the crazy dog lady!) and delightful wooden toys made by Dave who is a self-taught woodworker whose intarsia pieces are sought out by galleries in their local area. Be sure to check out these items and more in Lisa's studio and contact her with any questions.

Make a Difference - Foster an Animal in Need....by Lisa of OBXPuparazzi

Fostering an animal is a fantastic way to help special needs animals find their forever home.  The process of fostering, which is usually done through a shelter or rescue organization, buys time for an adoptable animal that needs a little help becoming a better companion.  Some dogs also need to be away from the stress of living with so many other animals at a shelter, and they are happier and more ready to meet their forever family outside of the hectic shelter environment.

I have fostered several animals over the years and have enjoyed having them in my home.  I tend to work with special needs animals as we seem to have a good environment to assist them.  In addition to our foster dogs, we have a very stable pack of our own dogs, which helps in working with dogs that are not used to people or have been mistreated by and fear people.

At one time, including fosters, we had nine dogs in the house - all lab mixes of some variety!  My current pack consists of four dogs. Scamp is a white Labrador mix rescued at age 3 weeks with a broken leg. Five weeks later, we adopted her sister, Corky, a black lab mix who was in danger of being abandoned Dusty is my handsome red merle lab/Aussie mix adopted from my son - the Army told him he could only take one of his dogs to his new duty station!  Finally, there is Occy, a lab/Husky mix who is all white, whose owner had health problems and could no longer keep her and her sister. Occy’s sister Xena passed away unexpectedly this summer.

Scamp is the “momma dog” who takes fosters under her wing and teaches them the rules of the house.  She will show them how to use the dog door and how to sit for a treat!  The other dogs let them see that behaving earns rewards, that they can trust people to be gentle, and how to play with toys.

Some of our foster dogs have needed some work on basic skills like asking to go outside when they need to go do business, others have needed to learn the basics of living indoors with people, and a couple have come from abusive homes, and have needed extra time to learn how to trust people again.

Missy

Missy was a memorable foster who had been abused.  A kind-hearted person rescued her from the situation, but couldn’t keep her.  Over the course of 6 weeks, she blossomed into a very playful girl.  She found her forever family on the Outer Banks, where she lives with an active young couple and another dog to play with on the beach.

Mercy

Mercy was a pit bull/Boston terrier mix who was thought to have been used as a bait dog for dog fighting.  Once she settled in, her personality blossomed into a character with a sly sense of humor.  If you told her to sit, she would - on the sofa!  She liked to be busy, and she found a forever home to live out the remainder of her days with a family with a young son.  True to her pit bull roots, she was a self-appointed “nanny dog” to the child and was happiest following him around, cleaning up the Cheerios he dropped.  Sadly, she died 6 months later from complications from the treatment for heartworms.

If you would like to make a difference in an animal’s life, fostering is a way to make a big difference. If you have room in your home and heart to help, the best way to start is checking with your local shelter or rescue groups.

Submitted by Lisa of OBXPuparazzi, her online studio full of wonderful products she has made especially for dogs and the people who are crazy for them! Lisa is also an active volunteer with the Crafting for Animals Guild on ArtFire.

Dinner with the Neighbors Lifts Spirits

When you can laugh again, you know the healing has begun. We had lost one of our dogs, Xena, rather unexpectedly this August. We were stunned and very sad, because of the unexpected way it happened.

Several weeks later, we were out to dinner with our neighbors when they told us this story. In the wee hours of the morning, the guy couldn’t sleep and was sitting on his porch having a cigarette when he saw my husband set a sheet covered bundle on the back porch. He stood there surveying the back yard, then got a shovel from the shed and started digging!

The neighbor sat on his porch, in shock! Very quietly, he snuck back into his house, locked the doors and turned off all the lights. He shook his wife awake to tell her, “He went postal and killed his wife! He’s burying her out in the yard!”

All of us had a great laugh at this! What had actually happened was that Xena had died during an extreme heat wave. My husband had decided that 3 am was probably as cool as it was going to get outside, so he decided to go ahead and bury her as he couldn’t go back to sleep. That is what the neighbor saw.

I teased the guy about being "my hero" for all he did to "save" me that night! It was the first time we had laughed since losing Xena, and for us, it was the moment the healing started!

This story was submitted by Lisa Penosky of OBXPuparazzi on Artfire and OBXPuparazzi on Etsy.
Lisa is a retired nurse, and loves to sew. She enjoys creating dog bandanas and dog themed goodies for their people. She does craft shows and other dog related events.

Must...Herd...Cats!

 Must....Herd....Cats!

Dusty came to us because my son in the Army was told that he could only take one dog to his new duty station!  Dusty was just a few days short of being 3 years old, and a beautiful red merle Aussie/Labrador mix with ice blue eyes.  Their other dog was an 11 year old cocker spaniel, and we all agreed that she would have more trouble adjusting to a change of home. Dusty was closer in size to the other dogs in our pack, so he joined us!

Having had an Australian Shepherd before, I was prepared for the possibility of a very high energy dog that needed to be kept busy every waking moment.  Dusty had the Labrador’s laid back temperament, along with the short lab coat, and settled in quickly.  He had the Aussie’s sharp mind, and learned the ropes of the new house quickly.

At the time, I owned a dog boutique in the downtown district of Manteo, and Dusty was a great companion.  He enjoyed meeting other people and dogs, and absolutely ate up the attention he got for being so handsome.

Downtown has a lot of community cats, ones that may have had homes elsewhere, but panhandled from shop keepers and visitors for tidbits.  This was the one thing that brought out the Aussie instincts in Dusty.  He was absolutely convinced that the cats needed his organizational abilities! Needless to say, they were a hard sell, LOL!

Once he discovered that the shop door opened out, he would wait until I was busy with a customer to slide out the door.  He wasn’t mean, and didn’t try to harm the cats, he was just irresistibly drawn to alphabetize, organize and sort them!  When they got tired of him trying to boss them around, they would scratch his nose, and he would sulk back to the store.

I tried everything I could think of to distract him when he wanted to be with the cats, but I think that they would tease him, walking slowly by my door, and rubbing against the glass.  Poor Dusty’s eyes would glaze over, as his brain went, “Must...Herd...Cats!”

This story was submitted by Lisa Penosky of OBXPuparazzi on Artfire and OBXPuparazzi on Etsy.
Lisa is a retired nurse, and loves to sew. She enjoys creating dog bandanas and dog themed goodies for their people. She does craft shows and other dog related events.

Win a Year Long Bandana of the Month Club Subscription from OBX Puparazzi

Lisa of OBX Puparazzi  is offering an extra promotion during our coupon sale week to benefit the Close To Home Animal Rescue.  

From October 23-29, all shoppers who make a purchase at the OBX Puparazzi studio using the coupon code “10CTH-CFA”  will be entered to win a Bandana of the Month Club subscription! (That is on top of the 10% of the purchase that will be donated to the Close to Home Animal Rescue.)  

The winner will be drawn at random on October 30, 2011, and notified that day.

The Bandana of the Month Club is a fun subscription of a monthly bandana which arrives addressed to the dog!  Each month has a theme, generally seasonal or holiday related.  There are two choices in October, December and whichever month Easter falls in - which will be April for 2012.

The 2012 Bandana of the Month Club lineup is:

January: Winter

February: Valentine’s Day

March: St. Patrick’s Day

April: Easter or Spring

May: Spring (different from April’s)

June: Summer

July: Pawtriotic

August: Vacation

September: Bark to School

October: Halloween or Harvest

November: Thanksgiving

December: Christmas or Hanukkah

In addition, the lucky dog will receive a special Birthday bandana and card in the month you celebrate their birth, adoption or arrival!  Your dog will wind up with a wardrobe of a “Barker’s Dozen” colorful bandanas, and if you continue the subscription, they can continue to build their wardrobe with NO repeats!

Dogs who are Club members receive a special discount on any other bandanas they purchase for themselves or a friend as well as a discounted subscription renewal and no price increase guaranteed!

You and your dog will be pleased with the quality of the bandanas, made of cotton fabric with love.  All edges are finished (not serged), and the “pocket” which the collar slides through is sewn with invisible thread so it doesn’t take away from the pattern of the bandana. Free entry upon request.

Wishing you the best of luck during promotion week, October 23-29!

Getting to Know One SPCA via Video....by Lisa of OBXPuparazzi

Many shelters are trying new and innovative ways to get the word out about their shelter and adoption benefits. Using YouTube is one great resource some have found for doing so. The following video is an excellent example of an animal rescue and adoption organization using the internet to their best advantage. Enjoy!!




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 or the box below.

Check Out These Items by CFA Members Accepting the Coupon Starting 10/23/11!!

This is a great collection put together by Lisa of OBXPuparazzi featuring items made by artisans accepting the coupon code during the week of 10/23 through 10/29 to raise funds for the Close to Home Animal Rescue group....

The Best of CFA Guild

  Curated By: OBXPuparazzi

ArtFire.com

Fine Art Paintings

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.