It's Baaack

It's that time of year again. The time most Floridians take in stride, but quietly prepare for. Hurricane season. Storms like Andrew and Katrina taught us alot about how unprepared we really were. Many people who endured Katrina abandoned their pets to the ravages of the storm. Some stayed in their homes because they wouldn't leave their pets, which emphasized the need for pet friendly evacuation shelters. Do you know which shelters in your area would welcome you and your pets? Florida Pets. Net keeps an up to date description of shelter information along with a list of shelters in Florida. They also provide an excellent Hurricane Check List. Hillsborough County only has two pet friendly shelters. They are Sickles High School and Burnett Middle School. County Commissioner Rose Ferlita and the Community of Hillsborough Animal and Agricultural Response Team CHAART, are working to provide more shelters to accommodate the estimated 500,000 pets in Hillsborough County.

So, while you're stocking your pantry with emergency supplies, checking your first aid kits, and dragging out the storm shutters, be sure to keep your pets in mind. They count on you to think ahead for them.

May Musings

Good morning. Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend. We aren't big on events, so this household doesn't do parades or ceremonies, but that doesn't mean we didn't spend time remembering those who have fallen and are still falling in wars. And while the focus is on humans, there have also been animals who have sacrificed their lives in service for their countries. There is even a United States War Dogs Association with their own website. I have read heart wrenching stories of dogs who repeatedly ran into enemy territory under heavy fire. Dogs who risked their lives for handlers and handlers who put their life on the line for their canine partners. War is a horrible tragedy, and though its necessity is beyond the understanding of this writer, I am grateful to those courageous souls who have fought and are still fighting to protect the good in this world. I am also thankful to be living in a land where I was free to spend a peaceful weekend at home, with my loved ones, including two rescued dogs who don't have to go to war.

A Tribute to Good People And A Sad Farewell To Gus

A few months ago, I posted an article about Gus, a Beagle found wandering in Seminole Heights by my friend, Ginny. She rescued him from a negligent owner, who was only too eager to abandon the dog after learning he was sick. Ginny contacted

Tampa Bay Beagle Rescue and they stepped in to help. A thorough vet check revealed that Gus was suffering the ill affects of an advanced stage of heartworms. Still there was hope that treatment would help him live a somewhat restricted, but happy life. He was treated for the heartworms and sent to a TBBR foster home, where his new "Mom", Sylvia treated him as one of her own. She had four other canines and Gus happily settled into their household. There were many touch and go moments for Sylvia and Gus, when he would have respiratory attacks that required vet stays. He did manage to get well enough to appear with the other Beagles looking for homes at Al Lopez Park. But that special person, the one who would give Gus a forever home, never appeared on his horizon. This week, Gus suffered what would be his final respiratory attack. His heart and lungs were just too damaged to go on.

My heart cries for Gus and the life of neglect he lived, but I am so grateful to Sylvia, Ginny and TBBR for scooping him up out of his awful environment and what would have been a painful death, endured without love or care. We often sing the praises of the work rescue groups do to find new homes for dogs. But the story of Gus proves they do so much more. My hat is off to you, Sylvia for taking a sick dog into your home, and treating him with love and kindness. Thank you TBBR for all the work you do to help Beagles, even the ones who may not have long to live. Lastly, thank you Ginny for having the courage to confront Gus' previous owner and save Gus from a horrible end.

Scrappy, A Much Loved Stray

This story was written by Nancy Latimer, who has sheltered her share of critters and spends her spare time volunteering at Hillsborough County Animal Services. She wrote this touching tale a couple years ago, but it is well worth printing. Her daughter held on to her photos of Scrappy and dug this one up for this blog article.


On the verge of getting a new puppy, I have been thinking a lot about the "puppy loves" I have had and lost on the way to this new time and new love in my life. About 15 years ago, after a divorce and the death of my parents, my kids found a small wire-haired mutt whom they promptly named "Scrappy". He was an adorable little fellow, young, mid-sized, just a lovely, kind little pup. We put an ad in the paper, but after a week or so, no claimers. I couldn't believe that someone wasn't missing this adorable little guy. My kids of course were ecstatic. But due to many situations, financially and otherwise, I told them that we would have to find "Scrappy" a home. We already had a few dogs, a couple of cats and a rat. At that time in my life I just couldn't take in any more.

We placed an ad in the Tribune to start screening potential families. Early on we got lucky. A wonderful family came out, a mom and her two young kids. Although I don't recall her name, I remember the family well. Her husband was an exterminator, and she was freaking out 'cause we had a rat for a pet. ( I might take this time to add that the rat had a house the size of a Chevrolet Cavalier in our living room. He was the love of my daughter's life.) Anyhoo...the family loved Scrappy, we loved the family, so basically, off they went. We kept in touch for a couple of months. It seemed as though everything was going fine, so we parted ways and allowed Scrappy to merge into his new life. We were informed that Scrappy's name has changed to Rocky, much to my daughters dismay. But, oh well.

Over the years, my daughter and I would just remember "Scrappy", or run a cross a picture of him, and she would always say "Mom, we made a mistake, we should have should have kept that one". And, to be honest...I always wondered if maybe she was right. He was indeed a special little dog. I must have heard my daughter say this 100 times over the years...and, she said it again a week or so before the phone call that I am about to tell you about, came in. A few months ago on a Saturday morning, I was taking a nap when the phone rang. I screened it, too lazy to actually get up and answer it. I couldn't hear everything from the start, but I did hear a woman say "if you have had this phone number for 14 years, then this call is for you". At that, I bounded to the phone and picked it up. It certainly drew my interest.

The woman introduced herself and said she was cleaning out some drawers and came across an ad that read something to the effect of, "little wire-haired mutt, young male", and I immediately said " You are "Scrappy's " mom!" She said, yes, she was indeed Rocky's mom". Apparently she was doing some housecleaning, and came across the ad that I had placed 14 years ago in the Tampa Tribune. She had since moved to another County, but had never lost the ad. She went on to say that her family had recently lost Rocky. I knew what she meant by lost, although I didn't ask her specifically how. She told me that for 14 years they had loved that dog with all their hearts. She took great pride in telling me that Rocky was never kenneled, if there were any trips to be taken, he went or he stayed with family. There were also stories about them bringing another pup into their lives, a pup that wasn't too keen on Rocky. She would stand over the both of them at dinnertime with a flyswatter, and lightly smack the "ogre" of a pup that disliked Rocky, so he could eat his dinner quietly as he grew older and couldn't quite fend for himself as well as he once had. I could just hear the love in her voice as she talked about Rocky...my heart ached for her. She told me that she had just wanted me to know that Rocky had been loved immensely. And she told me that if I had another one just like him, she would be over in a minute to grab him. I could tell she was grieving. And I knew, all to well, the hurt she was feeling.
As the conversation continued, I shared with her the fact that over the years my daughter continued to give me grief because we were not able to keep "Scrappy". And I told her of the favorite line that was used...."Mom, I think we made a mistake......" As we shared some tears toward the end of the conversation, I told her that I finally had an answer for myself wondering if indeed, maybe I had made a mistake concerning not keeping "Scrappy". And, the answer was ..I had not. "Scrappy" was EXACTLY where he was supposed to be. He was loved forever by EXACTLY WHO was supposed to love him. There had been no mistake made. "Scrappy" had lived his life exactly WHERE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. I felt bad when the conversation ended. The woman and I had bonded after a 15-minute conversation that covered 14 years, and a few shared, but short memories. Our families were raised...life was going on, but for a few minutes, we were both brought together again in joy, thanks to a "little wire-haired mutt".

After calling my daughter and sharing the tears with her, I sat back and replayed the part of the conversation that was left on my recorder before I got up to answer the phone. In fact, I replayed it several times. I sat in wonderment of a pup that had 2 families love him for all of his life. The great little pup who provoked a woman to pick up a phone after 14 years, just to call and say thank you for giving her family a pup to love.
Rest in peace, Scrappy...you were indeed loved…and certainly missed.......

Blog Break

Hi Folks,

This blogger is taking a small break due to other obligations, but will back in a couple days with updates. Be sure to go out and enjoy the beginning of summer with your pooches!

The Story of Wiley Boone

This story is from Rohana, who is a good friend to people and animals and a great writer, too.

The picture to the right is Wiley Boone, shortly after she rescued him and gave him a good bath.

Here is Wiley Boone spending his first Christmas in his new forever home.

THE STORY OF WILEY BOONE
He was a scrawny, bedraggled, little terrier-type dog wandering my section of Southeast Seminole Heights (Tampa), which for several years became an abandoned dog site. My friend Susan D. noticed him first and tried to catch him. When that failed, she started leaving food and water for him near a couple of fenced-in dogs that the little guy liked to visit. Every time I tried to get near him, he took off running, amazingly fast for a sickly dog (most probably because I was walking my two big dogs). This went on for a few weeks, and as time progressed, the little dog began to feel somewhat comfortable around us but still wouldn’t come too close.

One day I went down to the “watering hole” to leave food and water for the little guy. He was nearby and watched me. As I was leaving, he sniffed the food and then meandered into the middle of the street and began scratching his bleeding sores, totally oblivious to a school bus lumbering down the street toward him. Not knowing whether the bus driver could see the dog, I decided to pick him up. If he bit me, he bit me, but at least he wouldn’t be squashed under thousands of pounds of bus.

He didn’t bite me; instead, he quivered in my arms as I walked back to my house, talking to him softly. I set him down on my enclosed front porch. He was a mess – patchy, filthy fur; bleeding sores; runny eyes; gnats flying around him; limp in one of the hind legs. I wasn’t sure what to do next. In the backyard were my two dogs, and my 10+ cats were somewhere on my property or in my house or across the street. What was I going to do with this bleeding, sickly dog? What if he had an infectious disease? I got one of my dog crates, set it up on the porch, and let the little dog sniff it. He spent the night in the closed crate and howled. My dogs and cats were very curious about the stranger on the porch so, being a softie, I brought the little guy and his crate in the house so my animals could get used to him. I just prayed that he wasn’t bringing the plague into my domain.

I contacted Lost Angels Animal Rescue in Tampa and they agreed to take him into their adoption program, as long as I could foster him since they were filled up. Under their instructions, I took the little guy (whom I had named Wiley Boone) to their vet to get checked and doctored. A couple of days later he came “home.”

When he realized that he wasn’t going to have to go back to the streets, Wiley began to grow more confident, although when he was sad or scared he would run into his crate to be safe. I always left the door open (except at night) so he could come and go as he pleased. Sometimes he would find a cat sleeping in his crate. He was not amused, but he never hurt the cats. He must have had a loving home at one point because he was crate-trained, leash-savvy, and kind to cats, dogs, and humans.

He loved to play with my dogs, bouncing around them as they tussled with each other on the rug. They, however, viewed Wiley Boone as a pest and never let him join in. So, after awhile, Wiley would get bored and go find a cat to play with (he was the same size as my cats). That didn’t work either because my cats only play with canines on their own terms and Wiley didn’t know the rules. So, what would happen is Wiley would wind up getting himself in trouble and then he would have to spend some alone time in his crate.

When he started healing from his wounds and his fur started filling in, I brought him to Petco under the auspices of Lost Angels to present him for adoption. It didn’t take long. On our third Saturday at Petco, Wiley Boone was adopted by a wonderful single woman, Deborah, and her miniature Schnauzer named Presley. At last contact with Deborah, Presley and Wiley Boone were stuck to each other like glue and he had completely adapted to Deborah’s home and lifestyle. She said he was a fantastic dog.

It’s been a couple of years since Wiley Boone found a new home, but I still miss the little guy. My favorite memory of him is his loud, joyful howl when he heard my car drive up and me open the gate. My dogs would also join in and it made me feel like someone really loved me and cared that I came home. My dogs are always happy to see me, of course, but I do miss that Wiley Boone howl.

Pet Palooza at Camden Apartments

My apologies for getting this on so late. I was just clued in to the Camden Community Pet Palooza events that will take place every weekend in May at several of their apartment communities. Each event will offer animals up for adoption by the
Humane Society of Tampa Bay. For the month of May, Camden will take half off pet fees for each pet lease signed and waive the pet deposit. They will also donate $50 to the HSTB for each pet lease signed. For more information see Pet Palooza at Camden.

Florida Boxer Rescue

Those cuties in the photo are Vesta (mom) and Venus (pup). They were rescued last week by Florida Boxer Rescue. Mom was used as a breeding machine. She was unable to deliver her last litter naturally, so a c-section was performed and she was spayed as a consequence. That made her useless to the breeder, so they tossed her out along with her pup Venus who was weaned at 4 weeks and weighed half of her normal weight. Since these two are newly rescued they aren't available for adoption yet, but if you have any interest in them, you can contact FBR at info@flbr.org Saving Venus and Vesta is just a small dose of the good work that FBR does.

Florida Boxer Rescue began in 2000 with a mission to identify and provide support for Boxers who have no other means of support and would otherwise be euthanized. Since their inception, they have rescued 2,648 dogs in central and western Florida. Rescued Boxers are vaccinated, tested for heartworm and other parasites and neutered or spayed if needed. In 2003, FBR also began microchipping as many dogs as possible before adopting out. Dogs are sheltered in qualified foster homes, where they are treated as one of the family and started on basic obedience and house manners.

FBR's adoption committee processes almost 100 applications a month. Applicant's must fill out a detailed questionnaire, provide references and allow a home visit from an FBR representative. Adoption fees range from $175-$300 and help to cover vet expenses. Adopters must also agree to return the dog to FBR if they feel they can no longer care for it. Great care is taken to place dogs in homes deemed appropriate to their individual needs. Adopters are encouraged to continue contact with FBR after they receive their dog to ensure the new union is a success. This is a group that takes extra steps to create happy Boxers in happy “forever” homes. They have a wonderful website that covers breed characteristics. To view dogs that are up for adoption along with information that will help you decide if a Boxer is appropriate for your household, please visit http://www.flbr.org/. Be sure to read through the spotlight and success stories on the site. They will brighten your day.

FBR has a major fundraiser coming up on Saturday, May 31 called "The Art of Rescue" a “Ruff” exhibit. The event will include a silent and live art auction, as well as beverages and hors d’oeuvres prepared by the International Culinary students from The Art Institute of Tampa. The silent auction starts at 5:30 at The Art Institute of Tampa, 4401 Himes Ave. , Tampa . You can read more about it and other FBR events on their calendar page. .

An Apology To God

This is not a post about dogs. These are words I need to spit out of my head and I'm using this blog to vent them. I said a prayer this morning to apologize to God for the cruelty people are capable of. I'm spewing about humans, with their "superior" intelligence, subjecting animals to abuse and neglect for the sake of entertainment. Horse racing is an abomination that is supported and celebrated by the general public. I have witnessed firsthand the end of racing season, when young horses who were unsuccessful are left at racetrack barns to be euthanized. I spent a summer caring for a horse who was, at four already broken in mind and body, yet expected to race another season. I worked and lived on a breeding farm in Ocala, where the pastoral scene of mares and foals grazing and romping in green pastures was marred by the knowledge that those foals will be treated as machines the minute they are weaned. Take a close look at those mares and you will see joints that are grotesque and swollen, legs that are so crippled they have to be on pain killers the rest of their days. And they will endure the added weight of foals in their bellies every year. Without those foals, the mares aren't valuable enough to keep alive.

So, when Derby time comes around, I try to close my eyes and ears to it. I can't stomach the sight of people celebrating in their finest clothes and bonnets, with mint juleps in hand, while out on that track infant horses are running until their fragile bones break. Just think of this, horses don't run that fast unless it's in terror. Racehorses are started under saddle as yearlings, long before their bones and joints are set, way before their back muscles are capable of carrying humans. Then, they're beaten into a terrorized frenzy that makes them run. And for the sake of a multimillion dollar industry and the entertainment of viewers, a filly named Eight Belles was sacrificed last week. It makes me ashamed to be human.

Dirty Dogs Clean and Ready For Homes

Fourteen of the dogs taken from a sewage infested environment last week In East Hillsborough County are now ready for adoption. Eight more are still being watched, but appear healthy. The man who was selling the dogs at roadside stands is still at large. The dogs ready for adoption include six golden retrievers, four basenjis, two Shih Tzus and two bichon frises. You can read more about this story at tbo.com. To inquire about adoption of these dogs or any of the beautiful creatures looking for homes at Animal Services, see HCAS.

Got Words? Need Mansion?

The Tampa Tribune featured a story this morning about an Ocala woman who is offering up her $1.25 million house in exchange for the most appealing story from a pet lover. Entrants need to submit a cover letter, a photo of your pet ( your image is not requested), the prize winning essay, and oh yeah, $200. Deadline is July 23. Clementina Marie Giovannetti's minimum entry needs are 6,250, which would coincidentally add up to the value of her home. She retains the right to extend the contest to allow more entries and to cancel if she doesn't get her minimum. Hey, times are hard. It's a creative way to sell a home, and if you have $200 to gamble, it might win you a really nice pet house. You can read more about this contest at www.ocalamansion.com/mansion.html.

Volunteers For Hillsborough Co. Animal Services

Volunteer orientation workshops are being offered by Hillsborough County Animal Services starting tomorrow, May 6 at 5:30. More workshops take place on May 21 at 10 a.m., June 12 at 5:30, and June 28 at 10 a.m. Training sessions are at 440 Falkenburg Rd. Participants must be at least 16 years old and a parent must accompany minors at orientation. Volunteers are needed to help walk and socialize animals, escort visitors, help with searching for lost pets, grooming animals and taking photographs. For more info call (813)744-5660.

New Pitbull Website

South Tampa residents Lisa Presnail and husband Art Fyvolent love pitbulls. And they want others to know what great pets they can be. Art is developing a website at http://www.pitpositive.com/. It's still being worked on, but he hopes to have it up and running sometime this month. You can read more about Art and Lisa and their two rescued pitbulls in a Tampa Tribune article featuring the pitbull ambassador program sponsored by
Hillsborough County Animal Services. The sad truth told in the article is that more pitbulls are put down than are rescued, so they can use all the positive press they can get.

Dirty Dirty Dogs

Today's Tampa Tribune reports that puppies being sold from a stand along U.S. 41 in Apollo Beach and Ruskin may be in danger from infection and disease. The dogs had been exposed to large amounts of human waste. The yard they were allowed to roam in had an exploded septic tank and was buzzing with flies. Anyone who thinks they may have bought a puppy from this lot, is advised to take it to a veterinarian to have it checked out and to monitor their own health as it is yet unknown whether disease from the unclean conditions is transferrable to humans. Twenty six of the remaining dogs were found in an airless box in a cow pasture where the owner hid them. For more on this report, see the Trib.