Tag: pregnantdog

dog rescue, foster dogs, fostering, oph, pregnant dog, shelters, Spay and Neuter, whelping

Diary of a Rescue: Week One

Cara Sue Achterberg

Word of Warning: If you are not following along on this Rescue Diary on Facebook, you may not know that this story is a hard one. Sadly, it is a reality of rescue that we can’t save them all and that sometimes the damage that has been done prior to the dog arriving with us is insurmountable. Still, we do all we can and while that may not be enough, it is more than many dogs would experience apart from rescue. The following are the Facebook Diary posts in their entirety: Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue: Week One” →

Darlin, Diary, dog rescue, fosterdogs, fostering, Hula Hoop, pregnant dog, puppies

The Price We Pay to Save a Dog

Cara Sue Achterberg

I sat down at my computer to write on Monday morning and a text popped up from Hula Hoop’s adopter. She is in love with Hula, now Willow, and sent a picture of her sporting a pretty new collar and surveying her new stash of toys.

“Working from home today with my little love bug! But hardly working because I can’t stop watching her! She is such a good girl and we are blessed to have her!”

IMG_0819

These are the messages that make it all worthwhile.

It reminds me of moments like when Hula was a nursing mom and had exploding diarrhea for nearly three weeks. That mess? Continue reading “The Price We Pay to Save a Dog” →

Diary, dog rescue, fosterdogs, fostering, pregnant dog, puppy bowl, whelping

Diary of a Rescue: Day 1

Cara Sue Achterberg

My next foster dog arrives tonight, a pregnant shepherd mix from South Carolina named Daisy.

shelter pic

I plan to chronicle her journey in realtime on my Facebook writer page. If you’re not on Facebook, I will collect those entries and publish them weekly on this blog.

Word of warning: there are no guarantees here. This is a shelter dog with no history, so while I hope there’s a happy ending coming, that may not be the case. Mama dogs who land in shelters have often not had any kind of prenatal care, may be undernourished, riddled with worms, and definitely not talking about who the baby daddy is. My most recent mama dog had a near textbook delivery, while the one before that was tragic. I want to be honest about this business of rescuing dogs and will share with you the story, no matter the outcome.

Shelter dogs arrive with Continue reading “Diary of a Rescue: Day 1” →

Dixieland, dog rescue, emergency transport, Flannery Oconnor, foster dogs, fosterdogs, fostering, John Jacob, oph, shelters

Dogs, Dogs, and More Dogs!

Cara Sue Achterberg

There are so many dogs in my house, it’s hard to keep them straight. After everything I saw on my shelter/book tour, I just can’t say no.

I feel an urgency I didn’t have before that trip. There are simply too many good dogs dying in our shelters; foster homes can buy them time.

If you’re waiting for someone to ask you to foster dogs – I’m asking. More foster homes can make a difference. YOU can make a difference.

Here’s our current roster:

Flannery O’Connor is a quirky little southern sprite.

Dixieland and Flannery-18

We picked her up as scheduled on our last stop of the tour at Scott County Animal Shelter in Gate City, Virginia. In fact, we picked up six dogs there, but Flannery was the only one without a committed foster home, so Continue reading “Dogs, Dogs, and More Dogs!” →