Trooper was another stray brought into the emergency clinic by animal contol. He had been found lying in a pool of blood in someones yard. No idea where he came from or how he sustained his injuries, but they appeared to be intentionally inflicted with something along the lines of a machete. When he was brought in, animal control asked for assistance in bringing him in. He had a horrible injury to his right, elbow that was down through the bone. But to everyone's surprize, Trooper jumped out of the truck and came into the clinic under his own power. Wagging his tail and licking hands as he passed. This was amazing in and of itself..but then once he was laying down we realized he had another serious injury. He had a laceration that ran from between his front legs nearly to his groin. A very DEEP laceration. And yet he did not complain. Because Trooper was a stray, he was stableized and then ent to the Humane Society. But when he went unclaimed at the end of his stray hold and the only option was euthinazia because of his injuries, we were quick to bail him out. And we have never regretted it.
Trooper had to have surgery immediately and then went through many weeks of wearing a cast. But he never ceased to amaze us with his indomitable spirit and good nature. We even dubbed him an honorary pit bull for taking all of it so well.
Trooper eventually was well enough to be adopted and lucked out to find a wonderful couple who loved him at LEAST as much as we did. Now Trooper will never suffer again!
Cowboy came to an emergency vet clinic as a stray. He was emaciated and horribly beat up. He looked like an entire pack of dogs had just been allowed to chew on him. The worst of his injuries was a large laceration on the inside of one of his rear legs that had become necrotic and infected because it had been left uncared for for at least a week and a half to two weeks. But it did not dampen Cowboys spirits. Nor did it lesson his love for humans. And THOSE two things won him a place in foster care instead of a slot on a euthinazia list at a shelter.
In foster care, Cowboy was discovered to be an incredibly sweet, well behaved and well trained dog. At SOME time, Cowboy MUST have known love and had an owner who cared for him. But that owner has never come forward. Cowboy knows many commands and knew them before he came to us. Cowboy finally was healed enough to find a home! But as we waited, and waited...for what felt like forever for Cowboy it didn't come. Until finally, when things were getting a little desperate, and Cowboy was QUITE tired of being a foster dog, the perfect family finally arrived!!!
Congrats, Cowboy!! You ONLY deserve the best!!!!
Unt
Fannie was a darling girl who sat awaiting a known owner, in an overcrowded shelter, who never came. He had used her to make puppies then cast her aside like yesterdays garbage. But the shelter saw an outstanding and sweet girl in Fannie. So they began their campaign to get her safely into rescue. As luck would have it, we had a bit of room, so into rescue she came.
Fannie impressed us immediately with amazingly good behavior, many commands already under her belt, and a sweet gentle nature that won over everyone she met.
Fannie was fortunate enough to find a fan in a family seeking a new family member. I do believe it as love at first sight. She had gone on to join them in her own happily ever after with a big brother ( a wonderful, older great dane) and loving dog parents.
Way to go, Fannie!!!
Sometimes we get to meet phenominal dogs. ALL of our dogs are fantastic..but some..are phenominal.
Sometimes you get to meet phenominal dog families. ALL of our families are fabulous, but some, are phenominal.
Then on those EXTRA rare occasions..you get to combine the two. And that is what has happened for our Iggy.
Iggy came from an Oregon shelter where his rather non descript appearance kept him from getting noticed in a sea of non descript dogs. (Mind you..we are talking looks, not personality..PLEASE ADOPT A SHELTER PET!!) Well, Iggy stood out to shelter staff and they began pleading his case trying to get someone to make room. Lucky for us, we decided to do so. And he immediately charmed us beyond belief. What an incredibly wonderful dog he is.
It wasn't long before we got interest in him. (Funny isn't it? after he sat for weeks at the shelter and was nearly euthinized?) An incredibly devoted young couple was in love before they even met him in person. We knew in our first conversation that they were the ones. And with a flurry of emails and phone calls, they proved themselves further and further. Before long, they were able to have Iggy join them in the beginning of their journey to Happily ever after. A phenominal dog, and his phenominal owners.
Thank you SO very much for joining the DRAW family!
Freedom Flight
As many people know a bill was recently passed in Ontario Canada banning the American Pit Bull Terrier. The day the bill passed the cry went out to help save the dogs in shelters who will all be doomed in short order. I was fortunate enough to belong to a message board (www.PitbullForum.com) when the cry went out and offered to take an Ontario dog.Thank you to Holly at the Georgina shelter in Ontario (where Nev came from). When BULLIES IN NEED contacted Holly and let her know that we found a wonderful place for Nev to go, she jumped on board and agreed to keep hiding Nev when he went past his due date to be PTS. Also a person in Seattle heard about one that SHE wanted to adopt. So..two people in particular(thank you Jamie from Puyallup, WA and Laurel from Rolling Rescue )quickly began to try to put together a ground transport to bring the two dogs the 2500 miles from Ontario to Seattle, Washington USA. Despite the best efforts of many people the trip was just NOT coming together. Nitro and Neville were waiting in shelters as the clocks ticked on their lives and the volunteers were running out of time. It was becoming truly desperate..here were two dogs..with places to go, scheduled to die simply for being Pit Bulls in a place where they were banned. It was getting to the point where I think some people were close to giving up. This was when one wonderful person stepped forward and offered to pay for the dogs to FLY to Washington. This still involved the work of MANY volunteers. We had Bullies-in-Need in Ontario praying and crying desperately from their end. One person(thank you Amy Watts )in Ontario fostered Nev overnight and then drove him from Toronto to Michigan. Where he was then boarded, at no cost, for a week at Capital Area Humane Society in Lansing, MI. They also had both dogs neutered at their cost while they were there. Then another volunteer picked the boys up and transported them to the Detroit airport. Finally it all paid off and the boys landed safely in Seattle on March 20, 2005.
Life In America
Nitro started his new life with his new owner and Neville settled in as a foster dog in search of the perfect family. When Nev arrived I really knew next to nothing about him. All I knew is what he looked like and that he loved people. I had been told he was thin but upon arrival it was quickly apparent that more than thin..he was very conditioned and athletic. Much to my surprize and delight..he was also well trained. Neville was just full of surprizes. He was unreactive to other dogs, ignored my cats, loved my kids and was just a joy to have around.We discovered a dog that was extremely well behaved and had wonderful manners. No matter what I thought of he was completely unflappable. I even took him to a parade where he made a ton of new friends and never ceased to astound me. After I posted a few brags about him on a few forums several people suggested I contact Diane Jessup as she was looking for dogs to try out for the Washington State Patrol to be trained as bomb sniffing dogs. I thought it was highly unlikely but what the heck..I emailed Diane anyways. 
Now Nevilles Story gets REALLY Exciting!!
Much to my surprize I heard back from Diane rather quickly. She belongs to the same board as I so she had seen Nev's story and was willing to come and test him out. It took some time to get our schedules to work together but at last, we managed and she came to my house to meet Nev. I fully expected to hear "what a nice dog, thanks for trying" and I am pretty sure she expected to say something along those lines. That did not happen. She liked Nev immediately and within a short time, before she even left my house, she was on the phone with her contact from the State Patrol, scheduling a time to meet. I don't want to speak for her..but I could swear she was excited about him. Things moved really fast from there..a few days later Diane and I went to meet with the State Patrol Officer. Again I was preparing myself for a no. I mean..this was just TOO good to be true..or was it? No, turns out it was NOT too good to be true. The officer was VERY pleased with Nev and was trying to contact his superior to get Nev into the K-9 academy immediately. Unfortunately he was not able to reach him. We were fairly sure they would want him but we had to wait yet again. So Diane took Nev home with her and we were stuck waiting again. The next day the call came..Nev was in. But he had to pass ONE MORE TEST. After one more incredibly long 24 hour wait..word came at last. Nev had passed with flying colors and soon his training will begin. From banned dog to cop in training. What a difference 2500 miles and a month can make in one very special dog's life.
In May of 2006, one of our volunteers became aware of a stray pit bull in her neighborhood. Because that isn't a terribly rare thing, She tried to just hope the dog would find her way back home and that her owners wanted her. A few days later she spotted the dog dodging traffic on a busy four lane road. That was it..she stopped and picked her up. And our rescue was blessed with a beautiful dog we named Kitten..because she had the sweetest disposition ever. Kitten settled contentedly into foster care and quickly proved herself to be intelligent, eager to please, and just plain wonderful. She rapidly learned her basic commands with little or no effort on her foster Moms part. And her foster Mom posted brags around the internet about her dear little foster dog.
Well, one of those message boards had a member who had a working service dog for seizure alert and other problems that required assistance. She spotted Kittens pictures and was instantly in love. She tried hard to resist the temptation, but call it fate..Kitten was apparently meant to be hers.
Since the time she was adopted in late June of 2006, Kitten first became Saydee, earned her CGC (Canine Good Citizen) graduated obedience, and as of January 13, 2007, she is now an official Service Dog.
Poor Clifford was a Hurricane Katrina victim. That is a pretty bad thing to have happen..but then, after being "rescued" by Pasado Safe Haven, he went from the frying pan into the fire. Pasado sent Clifford and many other dogs to a "rescue" without checking them out..and the dogs landed in dire conditions. They then sat for the next 9 days with no food, water, shelter, or a chance to get out of their crates. Pictures can be seen here. http://www.mhpets.com/hanson/ This is our boy, Clifford! http://www.mhpets.com/hanson/IMG_5480.JPG
Thanks to the heroic efforts of some amazing people, the dogs were rescued from this situation and brought back to Washington 
State. One of the DRAW volunteers was the assistant director at Pasado at the time but ended up leaving over this HORRIBLE situation..and when she did, she took Clifford with her. In her loving care, Clifford was treated for heartworm and did well. He also gained back most of the weight he had lost during his time on his own after Katrina and EDNAH.
After that Clifford settled in for the long wait for a home and a family of his own. In the mean time he never failed to make us smile. What a joy he was to have around. It never occured to us that Clifford would be waiting so long. Clifford ended up being with us from December '05 until October '06. But it was SO worth the wait. Clifford's family finally found him. And they are perfect. He has two little girls who adore him and a Mom who spends her days napping with him and taking him everywhere with her.
Clifford..we love ya, buddy. You are one of the most lovably sweet dogs we have ever had the pleasure of calling a DRAW dog.
