URGENT!! LAST day before PTS

[MuttsMom]

The smooth coat BC in the GA shelter will be put down Friday. Someone can pick her up Sat., but needs a rescue to fax them paperwork, showing they are a shelter. Dinah_ can explain it better

[dinah_kay]

We have transport options for this dog, but this shelter is out in the boonies. So we need a rescue to let us use their license to pull her, because this shelter requires that she is spayed by a off site vet before they will allow her to be adopted. There is someone in Newnan that can pull her (or I can on Saturday morning) and I will transport her to the non licensed rescue that will take her in north ATL, but we need a rescue to step up and fax over the license for her. Are they any GA rescues that are willing to help? It is possible that this shelter would also take out of state licenses.

This is frustrating since it is normally hard to find a spot and transportation for the dog, but in this case we have all of this ready to go. We just need help getting her pulled. Please anyone?!?!?!?!?

[dinah_kay]

Ok, I just got off the phone with Kaylene at Heard County. This couldn't be an easier shelter, so if we can't get this dog out this will be so sad. Kaylene said all we need to do is fax a license or 501 (is it 501 or 503, I can't remember) to her along with a note saying that you allow me to pull for you. This can be provided by an out of state rescue!!!! If someone will fax that in then I can pull her on Saturday. The fax number is 706-675-3572 Attn:Kaylene for dog #110807, and you will need to put my name Dinah Reece on there saying you authorize me to pull.

Kaylene said if I fax the paper work in today then they will hold her for me to pick up on Saturday. Kaylene said this dog is about 6-9 months old. She is very nervous and shy in the shelter. She is not leash trained, but Kaylene has been working with her and she is warming up to her.

So, I am begging everyone to contact any licensed rescue they know to see if they will fax their license to this shelter. That is all we need at this point since everything is in line.

If we can't get that done then there is another option to Western Union money to this shelter then they will take her to get spayed, and then we can pick her up. But, obviously the best route would be to get a rescue to fax their license since our transport is set for this Saturday.

Feel free to PM me if you need to or email me at (no spaces) dinahreece 2 @ allstate . com

[dinah_kay]

UPDATE!!!

A good friend who does Catahoula rescue is going to fax her license over for me. Now I am just waiting to hear back from Jasmine to confirm she still has a place in her rescue and to coordinate transport to her on Saturday. I will post here once I know the license has been faxed over.

[MuttsMom]

This is awesome news!!! I'm at work and couldn't get this girl off my mind and searched the internet until I found this forum (in favorites at home). You've worked so hard on getting this girl out and no doubt, you'll be rewarded 10 times over

Nancy

[dinah_kay]

Sorry, I have been busy and didn't get a chance to update everyone after talking to Jasmine last night. I will be going to Heard county Saturday morning to pull her. They have a 501c3 on file with my name to hold her, but I told them to adopt her if someone is interested in her. They open at 9:30 AM on Saturday, so I will get her then and take her to the barn with me (North ATL) and then Jasmine is going to meet me at the barn to pick her up. On Saturday I won't get home till after 5:30, so I will try and update everyone late on Saturday.

From what I gather from the shelter staff this dog is very nervous and not leash trained, although she has been warming up to shelter staff when she is out of her run. She was picked up off the highway with another dog. It sounds like she hasn't been handled much or someone was rough with her.

Anyways, I will post with an update on Saturday, and hopefully if all goes well she will be safe and sound in rescue.

[MuttsMom]

Such great news!!! Hopefully the girl will really come around when she's in a home enviroment and with TLC

[dinah_kay]

This little girl is now safe in rescue. I can't honestly say what her future will hold. When I went to pull her she was very scared in the shelter, but warmed up a tiny (and I mean tiny) bit in the quiet office area. While she was scared she seemed like it was something she could work out of since she would come up and let me pet her. Walking on a leash was another issue. She either has no clue or has had some bad experiences with leashes since she wouldn't walk at all on it and fought it a bit. She was quite in the crate for the ride to drop her off. I took Riley with me in the hopes that she would help the new girl feel a bit safer.

She was quiet in her crate, I left her and the crate in my car since I didn't want to add to her stress, while I rode my horse and waited for Jasmine to show up. Once Jasmine arrived things went down hill quickly. We got a leash on her and she came out of the crate/car without any big issue, though she was so scared she peed her pants. We tried to get her to Jasmine's car/crate which was right next to mine, but she just blew up. She fought the leash to the point that she didn't care where she flung herself (which was into my car one time.) When she wasn't flinging herself she was frantically chewing on the slip lead to get free. She flung herself under Jasmine's van and was not a happy camper. At that point she had blown her mind so much and was so scared we were worried about being bitten. So we put a towel over her after dragging her out from under the van and Jasmine was able to pick her up and get her in the crate.

I feel awful for both the dog and Jasmine. I hope that she just needs some time to calm down. Honestly if she had acted this way at the shelter I don't know if I would have pulled her. I hope that doesn't sound bad. I know Jasmine will do her best by her. I hope that means with a bit of time and work she is adoptable, but after seeing how scared and how bad she reacted today I worry that she might be too scared. Honestly right now I just don't know, it really depends on the dog. Hopefully she just needs some peace and quiet for a bit and then a caring person to take some time with her.

Here is a picture of her I took at the shelter. Please send good thoughts her way and Jasmine's way.

[MuttsMom]

She's such a beautiful girl. There's no telling what she's been through in her life. Someone obviously didn't care if she ended up in a kill shelter. I hope and pray that being in a home enviroment will show her that she doesn't have to be afraid and that there really are humans that love her. Please keep us posted. Thanks for giving this girl a chance!!!

[dinah_kay]

Here is the update I just got. It isn't looking good, but then again it has only been a day, hopefully with some time she will come around.

Unfortunately, not much changed when I got her to the clinic. I suppose it's possible that she wasn't quite as frantic but that might have been my wishful thinking. I tried to get her to go to the bathroom and eat and she wouldn't do either. All we can do is try and it's probably more of a chance than she'd get at the shelter so we'll see. Thanks again for all your hardwork. Don't feel bad at all.?I believe you...that she wasn't that bad at the shelter. I worry if it takes her that long to warm up to the shelter workers and then that quickly goes back into a 'feral' state that this rehab might not happen but I've been surprised before.

[nlecorgne]

I'm terribly sorry to hear that this beautiful girl is so fearful. About 4 years ago I adopted a "shy" BC mix only to find that she was actually completely terrified of the human world. She bonded with me to a limited degree, but was otherwise feral. All of the issues that came along with adopting a dog in this condition are too great to name here, but I was far from prepared to handle them. In addition, the rescue I got her from would not return my calls or emails, and no one else would take her without first telling me that they would probably end up putting her down because she was unadoptable. In the end I couldn't give her up to certain death, and now after much hard work, frustration, laughter, joy and tears... Safiyya has blossomed into one of the most amazingly sensitive, well-mannered and loyal dogs that I have ever met. I would not trade her - or the experience of working with her issues - for anything in the world, and I give thanks daily that circumstances forced me to keep her when all I wanted to do was quit. She still has some fears... children being a big one, but we are working on them. She has become a healthy, happy, functioning member of the household, and has proved to be excellent therapy for my aging grandparents as well. And as I said before... she is more sensitive and well mannered than any dog I have met... not to mention brilliant (but that's no different than any other BC )

I realize that you have taken this girl with the intent to place her in a forever home, but I encourage you not to give up on her just because she is fearful... She might be just the dog to give someone a sense of purpose, or to prove that with a little love, a lot of patience and a bit of due time, joy finds a way to brighten even the saddest eyes and heal the most battered hearts. They do take a lot of time, patience and consistency, but I can honestly say that there IS no greater reward than being part of the process of helping a dog like this learn to trust and even enjoy human companionship.

I've attached a few resources that I have found helpful, but please feel free to contact me by PM or to have Jasmine contact me directly. I have a soft spot for these kinds of dogs, and would like to do anything that I can to help.

Thanks for getting this girl to safety. Please keep us posted with her progress.

Sincerely,

Nicole and Safiyya

Resources:
1) There is a wonderful yahoo group dedicated to shy and fearful dogs and their owners: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/shy-k9s/ I read them religiously when I first started working with Safiyya.
2) I also just found what appears to be an excellent website dedicated to rehabilitating shy and fearful dogs: http://www.fearfuldogs.com/
3) The San Francisco SPCA has two pdf documents that outline the bare-bones basics for working with shy dogs... www.sfspca.org/behavior/dog_library/shy_dogs.pdf and www.sfspca.org/behavior/dog_library/shy_dogs.pdf
4) "Help for Your Shy Dog: Turning Your Terrified Dog into a Terrific Pet" by Deborah Wood is not so much a "training manual" as it is an inspirational book. It takes the stories of ten or twelve dogs with various (serious) fear-based issues and talks about their rehab. They brought tears to my eyes and gave me hope at the same time.