As you can see from the pictures, Richie is a dog (I think a Shih-Tzu and Lhasa Apso mix) with a LOT of character! In October 2007, I adopted Richie from Small Dog Rescue of Princeton, NJ. I was a single guy, looking for a small and loyal friend and Richie provided that. However, I am his 3rd owner (and he is only 8) and he spent several years at the shelter. The abuse he received prior to me has come out in small bursts and has been a very low cost of ownership, but unfortunately, with my fiancee now being pregnant, his jealousy has gotten out of control. Unfortunately, I am now in the position of trying to find a new home for this incredible dog. I know I can always bring him back to the shelter, but he would do so much better with a caring owner who can give him the love and attention he deserves.
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While he is generally calm and relaxed with me, and would be great with a single older owner, Richie does not share well and would probably have accidents (and potentially nipping) if he had to share a home with another dog or small children.
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This is a very sweet, mistreated dog in need of a new home and if any of your readers live in the New York City area and are looking for a companion, they should feel free to email me at [email protected] to discuss meeting Richie and seeing if they’d be friends. For the right owner, I’d be willing to help with the cost of caring for Richie.
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Any thoughts or help is greatly appreciated.
Pet Rescue
Open Thread
You all are wonderful people, you really are. Evelyn at Charlies Angels informs me that there were 40 donations totalling $1200, enough to pay for Lady’s surgery.
Thank you.
Help a Lady Out
Evelyn at Charlies Angels passes along the following story:
Here is our newest rescue named Lady and her story and two pictures of her. We got her today from shelter and she has vet appointment on Wed, March 2nd for assessment on tumor on her stomach. She has been vaccinated and tested negative for heart worms. We expect her surgery to be quite expensive. We have a Chip In set up:
http://charliesangelsanimalrescue.chipin.com/lady-the-bassett
From CAAR volunteer who found her:
“We found Lady sitting in the middle of traffic on a busy highway near Rutherfordton, NC. She has a growth similar to one that Sally the Beagle had whom we rescued several months ago and is now doing fine.
She was wearing no collar, no chip, and checking with other vets in the area, they found no pet in their system matching her description.
Lady is super sweet, very friendly, unfailingly cheerful. Does well on a leash. LOVES to ride in the car!
Vet says she is about 5 years old, 47 pounds and seems healthy in every way except for this huge thing on her tummy. Lady seems totally unaware of it. She is just too busy making friends with one and all. Everybody who’s met her loves her.”
I can’t believe people would dump their pet on the side of the road. I still can’t understand it. It’s also remarkable how much she looks like a certain piglet in the Cole household, who was also found on the side of the road.
And don’t forget- anything you buy from the Balloon Juice store helps these wonderful people take care of these animals.
Monday Morning Open Thread
From commentor Bloomingpoll:
We adopted Foxy, the red Shiba Inu mix, in 1999 as a buddy for another adoptee, Ollie, who had lost his companion in a horrible accident… Ollie’s reaction to her death was to escape from the house however he could, including jumping through screens, when left alone. He was a lab/setter mix, with the narrow ribcage of the red setter, and he could get out of a car window that was only down 6 inches, I swear! He had been tied to a dog house and was “repossessed” by the Cocheco Valley Humane Society in Dover NH. He once climbed a 6 foot chain link fence in his attempt to escape a thunder storm. If I had been tied out in storms, I suspect I would feel the same way. He usually went down the road to the kennel and sat on the front porch there. He died from a brain tumor, we think, at age 12.
Morgan was my husband’s promised adoptee on his retirement (I had said, no more dogs until someone is home most of the time.) He is apparently a yellow lab, but very tall and big, 120-130 lbs, a lot of dog, but extremely nice. He is reaching the end, I fear, having some nerve damage in the rear end that makes steps difficult and produces a wobbly walk. We had a granite front step that required a big step up, so my husband built a nice front porch with a place to lie and easier steps. Better for us aging folks too.
Late Night Open Thread: Castoff Carnivores
From the WSJ, “Circus Animals Find a Home on Colorado Range“:
50-year-old former high-school math teacher Pat Craig… shares his three-bedroom house here on the plains of eastern Colorado with 13 dogs, five cats and three parrots.
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He has other creatures in his backyard: three packs of wolves, 66 black bears, 13 grizzly bears, two prides of lions, 70 tigers, 14 mountain lions, five leopards, eight bobcats, five coati mundi, five lynx, three foxes and a coyote—all scattered across 320 acres of rolling prairie…
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A burly, mellow, bear of a man, Mr. Craig dreams about the day when people will stop trafficking in exotic animals, making what he does unnecessary. But that isn’t about to happen.
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When he bought his first swath of wheat fields outside Keenesburg in 1994, he had 60 animals on 80 acres. He quit his teaching job two years later, when tending to the animals got to be too much. His wife, with whom he had raised two sons and many baby lions, tigers and jaguars, moved out three years later.
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After draining his savings and his small retirement account, selling his vintage motorcycle and tapping out his donors, he nearly shut down in 2006. By then he had 155 animals. Better marketing and a slew of new donors kept Mr. Craig afloat, and even allowed him to expand. He now has 275 large carnivores on land four times the size of his original plot.
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His Wild Animal Sanctuary, as he calls it, is the largest of its kind in the U.S., he says, with a food budget alone of nearly $500,000 a year. In all, the not-for-profit relies on donations to support most of its nearly $2 million-a-year budget. Visitors, who pay $10 apiece, can view the animals from an elevated walkway.
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Mr. Craig has also amassed a thick sheaf of hospital records, which he keeps stashed in his office. He has been set upon by wolves, tackled by tigers and mauled by lions—and he holds no grudges. Both of his knees are shot. One run-in with a jaguar nearly deprived him of his left arm. He has scars where a startled lion chomped his chest, puncturing a lung. “It happened in a split second,” Mr. Craig says. “We were both apologetic afterward.”
Slide show and short video at the WSJ link. Apart from the “awww, keeyute!” factor, I’ll admit reading about Mr. Craig made me feel less stupid that so much of my household decor is designed around mazes of baby gates, easily moppable floors, and ‘disposable’ furniture that can be clawed, chewed, and peed on by a series of rescued housecats and small dogs…
Late Night Open Thread: Castoff CarnivoresPost + Comments (40)
Update from New Zealand
From commentor Royston Vasey:
113 confirmed dead in Christchurch. This number will go up.
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75% of city back on power
50% of city back on mains water
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Not only has this earthquake been terrifying and traumatising for the people of Canterbury, it has also affected our animals. They are scared too.
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Hundreds of people and their animals are affected and displaced by the earthquake. It is with this in mind, the SPCA Canterbury has set up the PET EMERGENCY EARTHQUAKE FUND to help people and animals in distress over the coming weeks.
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All donations from the PET EMERGENCY EARTHQUAKE FUND go towards the additional costs needed to support the health, welfare and care of the large numbers of affected animals in Canterbury.
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Tony in NZ
Early Morning Open Thread: Columbus Cat Bleg
From commentor Ross F:
I have relatives in Columbus, Ohio who are looking for someone to adopt their cat. They’ve been having difficulty finding a new home and the local humane society was sadly pessimistic. Unfortunately, my relatives have to move and the cat cannot come with them. I’ve included a picture and some description below. Any help would be super awesome.
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Miss Kitty:
White cat with calico patches — 7 years old — Very gentle
Neutered — Front paws declawed
Shots up to date — Good health — Eats dry food
Likes to talk — Likes to sit in your lap — Likes to be scratched
Anybody in the Columbus area got tips about rescue groups or no-kill shelters that might have room for one more? Or maybe even leads to someone who’s looking for a new feline housemate?
Early Morning Open Thread: Columbus Cat BlegPost + Comments (24)