Go Orange!

I was visiting some of my favorite blogs last night and became aware that April is Prevention to Animal Cruelty Month. So many of us have pets that we love. And so many animals suffer daily in silence in more ways than you can imagine. Because I've been involved with animal rights since the 70's, I've learned more horrible things than I should about the dark side of humans.

Dog breeding and dog fighting are big around here and you can find people selling pit bull puppies almost every Saturday in the WalMart parking lot. It makes me sick to my stomach. I want to take these innocent pups home with me but it wouldn't do much good to end the problem.

Any time an opportunity arises, I will try to teach people that animals have feelings too. Dogs especially need to live in the house with their families, not left in a pen or tied to a tree. There is a little dog that has lived chained to a tree her entire eight years of life that I would see daily on my commute to work. I buy a bale of wheat straw to put in her donated dog house every fall and have given her people dog food. I've met the woman and son who are both very nice, but they are ignorant. I've talked to the boy, who is about 10 years old now, and have told him that Boss is lonesome and needs to be played with. I've often thought of asking if I could have Boss, but they would just replace her with another dog.

I have fostered over 40 dogs in the eight years I've lived here - it's the reason I moved to the country. It has been hard but rewarding. Here are some pictures of a few that have passed through my house - many with very sad stories but most have happy endings.
Tucker - one of the saddest:

Wednesday with her new mom:

Jade meeting his new family (Jade is on the right)

Part of a litter of five found on the road; my daughter, Laura, kept one of them:




I am happy I've been able to help a few animals, but don't think I'm an angel. I lose my patience and yell and cuss b/c of the animals and all the work and damage they cause. I've taken a few breaks from fostering and have just entered another one today, but I know I will always help in some way. They need people to defend them because they can't defend themselves from us.

And here is a picture of the love of my life - Princess. I fell in love with her the very instant I saw her at the adoptathon - so scared of life and the world. She was 5 1/2 months old and is now almost 11. She is the pefect example of what love and training can do and is the perfect dog to take out in public. I get compliments from strangers on how well behaved she is. She is always by my side (here accompanied by Topaz and Zoe).
I adore her.