Thank you, Two Collies and a Mutt!

A few weeks ago we entered a contest over at one of our favorite blogs Two Collies and a Mutt. And we were fortunate enough to win one of the prizes! Our winnings consisted of three different bags of yummy Kong Chewy Treats! Axle and Clover have always been a huge fan of Kong brand toys. And I'm sure that they would really enjoy the treats. But since Axle has so many food allergies, both the dogs have agreed to donate the treats to the animal shelter. I know that the shelter dogs will be extremely appreciative of all the delicious treats!

We want to give a BIG thank you to Lassie, Petal, and Marquie for picking us to be one of the winners! If you have never visited this blog before, I highly suggest you give it a look. The photography alone is enough to keep anyone interested. Seriously, Lassie and Petal are completely breathtaking! And the post following the every day happenings of this group is absolutely wonderful!

Pet of the Week: Romeo + Juliette

This week's PotW post is double header! Meet Romeo (background) and Juliette (foreground) the German Shepard mixes! These two are the definition of adorable! R+J are about 5 to 6 months old, and full of energy. They are brother and sister and the best of friends!

R+J practicing their herding skills

These two sickeningly cute pups love everyone. They are a little timid around larger dogs, but they are still puppies and can be socialized if given the proper care and training. These guys will be big! They are all paws and legs now, but will most likely grow into them rather quickly.

Juliette resting in the shade

Juliette is a bit more shy than her brother, but craves attention. They would both make a wonderful family dog. But be fair warned. These two are big, rambunctious puppies. So they may not be the best choice for a family with smaller children. But over all they are wonderful young dogs. 

 Romeo has a great smile!

Romeo is a little more rambunctious than his sister. And he has a habit of jumping up to greet new friends.  But that could easily be corrected with the proper training. Romeo and Juliette are both very sweet, and full of energy. So if you think that Romeo or Juliette (or both!) would be a good match for your family, please contact the Williamson County Animal Control & Adoption Center in Franklin TN or Check out their Pet Finder page for their other adoptable pets!

 Juliette enjoying some pool time

Juliette wants to remind everyone to have a safe and happy 4th of July! And remember to keep your pets indoors during the firework celebrations. Independence Day has the most recorded reports of lost pets over any other day of the year. So have fun and be safe!

A lesson in responsibility (warning: slightly graphic images of possible animal neglect.)

I'm going to go ahead and just give everyone fair warning here. This is not going to be a happy post... I try to keep this blog as lighthearted, and adorable as I possibly can. But today I just really need to talk about something rather serious and important. Today I want to talk about responsibility...

Some of you may remember Chex, the happy go lucky Corgi mix, from a previous PotW post. Well a few weeks ago Chex was adopted with another dog from the shelter. When I had heard that Chex had been adopted, I was so excited for him! He had been at the shelter for so long, and somehow just kept getting passed over. But now he was in a new home, and with another buddy from the shelter!

Well, earlier last week Chex and the other dog were returned. It seems that whoever adopted Chex and the other dog just hadn't thought the whole thing through and changed their minds after only two weeks... I really wish this was the end of the story... But I'm going to share with you a photo of Chex before he was adopted...

 Chex before his adoption

A happy and healthy boy, anxious to meet new people. This is what most dogs who are adopted from the shelter look like. The shelter where I volunteer has a high standard of making sure that all the dogs and cats we have for adoption are healthy, up to date on shots, and temperament tested. They do not adopt out sick, unaltered, aggressive, or under vaccinated animals. If the dogs and cats are unhealthy and in need of vetting they are not available for adoption to the public. (If a legitimate rescue group comes along and is able to help with vetting, then the animals may be released into their care.)

Now I'm going to show you some pictures of what Chex looked like upon his return to the shelter. Fair warning, these pictures are not pretty. If sad, injured animals upset you, I suggest you click away now...

Chex when he was returned

I saw Chex just a few days before he was adopted. He did not look like this when he left. There is no way the shelter would have let him leave in this condition... I am going to say that I, personally, do not know what happened to Chex while he was gone. I don't know if these are burns, a rash, or some other kind of skin infection. They do not look like bite wounds to me, but I am not a vet.

I really just don't know how and why, this sweet little guy is in this condition. He has been back at the shelter for a little over a week now, and is being treated by the vet there, and is showing improvement. And frankly, I'm glad he and his buddy are back at the shelter (The other dog adopted and returned with Chex seemed to be in an okay condition). I know I do not know the whole story, but I really don't care. Chex is a living, breathing, feeling thing. He does not deserve to be in this condition. At least at the shelter he is receiving proper attention and vet care. 

If you are thinking of adopting an animal, please, PLEASE understand the gravity of being responsible for another living thing. Its not so much the fact that Chex was returned that upsets me, its the condition in which he was returned. Not only is it unfair to Chex to be like this, its unfair to the rest of the animals in the shelter too. If this is some kind of infection, it could spread to the other animals. It is also taking that much more time, attention, and money to get him back to where he was, health wise, before he left.

Fortunately, Chex is being picked up by a rescue group and will be receiving appropriate vet care, may be placed in a foster home, and will eventually be placed in a new forever home. Most rescue groups require a background check and an adoption contract. So this will give Chex a better chance at finding a loving, responsible, forever home that will give him the love and care he needs. 

I really hope that Chex gets dealt a better hand this time around...I will have a regular PotW post later this week, I just really needed to share Chex's story.

Pet of the Week: Spur

Say hello to this week's PotW, Spur the Husky! As you can see, Spur is a whole lot of dog! He was picked up as a stray, but judging by his girth, he was probably someone's over fed pet at one point. The shelter does everything in it's power to try and reunite lost pets with their owners. But the sad truth is that sometimes it just doesn't happen. But after waiting the mandatory holding period, Spur is now up for adoption, and looking for a new forever home.

Spur is a very sweet, lumbering boy looking for someone who appreciates 'chill time' as much as he does. But he also needs someone who will be committed to keeping him on a strict diet, and taking short walks several time a day, to help him slim down.

Spur is a great low energy dog, which is really saying something for a Husky! He is gentle giant, and just happy about life in general! If you think that Spur would be a good match for your family, please contact the Williamson County Animal Control & Adoption Center in Franklin TN or Check out their Pet Finder page for their other adoptable pets!

Dog Park Adventure: Let's Go Swimming!

Since it has been so incredibly hot lately, we have been trying to find fun ways for the dogs to cool off. One thing that we have always loved doing, is taking trips to one of the local dog parks that also has a pond where to the dogs can go swimming! And this past Friday we did just that!

 And as you can see, they had a blast!

 Axle and Marley (tan dog) love to fetch sticks out of the water! And even little Wally (white dog) got in on the action.

 "Come on in guys! The water's great!"

 Axle and Marley playing tug of war in the shallow water.

 Marley won. Axle tries to be a good sport.

Clover is still a bit unsure about the whole swimming idea. She will go in up to her chest, but that's about it. She leaves the actual swimming to her brother.

 Clover taking a break to catch some rays.

 

 Axle likes to try and swim out to the middle of the pond.

Stanley prefers to watch all the shenanigans from the grassy banks.

All the dogs had a lot of fun at the pond. I love that they are able to run and play in the water. Its great to be able to take them on a hot day. After we got back home, both the dogs stunk like pond water. So they were given baths. They didn't enjoy their baths as much as they did swimming. But I'm sure it was worth all the fun they had that day!

What do you do to keep your dogs cool in the summer months? Let us know in the comments below! We love learning about you and your dogs!

St. Louis Road Trip: Part 3

Sunday morning started with a bit of a surprise. Just as we were finishing up breakfast, a little visitor wandered up to the front door. A lost dog (who we later named Harriet) was sniffing around in the front yard. Emily walked outside and this sweet girl trotted right up to her, to say hello. Harriet had a collar on, but no name tag. We called the number on her rabies tag, but it went straight to voice mail. It seemed that animal control was closed on Sundays. 

Now Emily pretty much lives on top of a mountain. There is fairly good distance between houses... And neither she, nor David had ever seen this dog before. Emily and I decided to put Harriet in the car and start going around to a few of the neighbor's houses to see if anyone recognized her. But unfortunately no one did. Harriet was pretty dirty when we found her, and both of her eyes were badly infected, so we guessed there was a possibility she had been lost for a while.

After about half an hour Emily, Harriet, and I headed back to the house to go pick up David, Axle, and Dolly. We had to get everyone out of the house becuase there was going to be an open house that afternoon. (Did I mention that Emily's house is for sale? I had to hide all of my luggage when we left the house, just in case the Realtor stopped by with potential buyers!)

Once all of us (3 humans, and now 3 dogs) were all loaded up in David's Kia Soul, we had no choice but the run Harriet down to the local vet's office. We thought that she may have a microchip, or one of the vets might recognize her. When we got to the the vet's office, they seemed to be closed, but the front lobby was open. 

Emily and I took Harriet into the office to see if anyone was in. Luckily there were two vets there looking after the animals. We explained Harriet's situation and they checked her for a chip, but she didn't have one... But they did agree to keep her until Monday, and then call the phone number on her rabies tag to see if they could find her owners information. 

We left our contact information with the vets, and asked them to call us if they were able to find Harriet's owners. We still have not heard from the vet's office... but I really hope they were able to track down her family. The moral of the story is that it is so important to microchip your pets, or at the very least put ID tags on their collars. 

If Harriet had a ID tag with her phone number, she could have been returned home within a matter of minutes. Same with a microchip. It makes me so sad thinking about the possiablilty that she was not reunited with her family, and had to be taken to an animal shelter.

I suppose we had the option of just letter her go, and hoping she found her way home. But the houses there are about a half mile apart. And they are on a mountain surrounded by forest. There are coyotes, wild cats, rivers, huge steep rock faces, and who knows what else, and Harriet had to be at least 10 years old. 

There was no way we would have felt good about just letter her fend for herself... At least by taking her to the animal clinic she has a chance of safely being reunited with her family. And we knew she would have somewhere safe and warm to spend the night. She would be given fresh water, food, and there is no chance of being her eaten by a coyote there.

We really felt bad that we couldn't have kept her until we found her family either. But with an open house that day, and already having two large dogs with us, there was just no way we could. Axle and Dolly are big, young, sometimes rowdy dogs. And Harriet was a smaller, older, and more subdued dog. She would have been miserable being constantly pestered by them.

But hopefully we did the right thing and Harriet is happily sleeping on the couch in her home with her family. Its always sad to find a lost dog, but we tried to do everything we knew to help her get home. Harriet is a very sweet dog, and I really hope that she was reunited with her family. I know Harriet did not belong to us, but I can't help but feel a little responsible for her. And even though we only spent a few hours together, I really care about her well being. Hopefully Harriet's story had a happy ending. 

This unintentionally turned into an entire post by itself, so check back soon for part 4 of our STL trip!

Pet of the Week: Nixon

This week's PotW post features a sweet boy who is ten kinds of goofy! Meet Nixon or 'Nixy' as I've taken to calling him. This handsome young hound/pointer mix is the definition of sweet! Nixon has a lot of energy, so he would prefer to be in a home with a fenced in yard with lots of room to run. Or at least an active family that likes to go on adventures!

Nixon has a wonderful personality, and is very eager to please. He does very well on a leash, but can get a little excited when he first goes out for a walk. He also really likes to chase a ball, but he hasn't quite gotten the whole, bringing it back part yet, but I'm sure with a little work he could be a top athlete!

As you can see by Nixon's big smile, he is a very happy dog looking for a loving forever home. If you think that Nixon would be a good match for your family, please contact the Williamson County Animal Control & Adoption Center in Franklin TN or Check out their Pet Finder page for their other adoptable pets!