Awwwwww

The Dew household is puppy sitting Ollie for the afternoon. Could he be any cuter?

Since he is to tiny, I have kept our dogs away from him just for his own safety- I don't want any large feet coming down on his little body! After listening to our Mastiff headbutt our bedroom door for the last hour, I let him come out to meet Ollie. Little Ollie started wagging his tail, barking and bouncing around when he saw Deacon.

Little Ollie is one tough boy!

Lucy's heartbreaking story

From Marie, Lucy's foster mom:

Hi Everyone,

Scott and I joined lots of other volunteers tonight to meet the transport with 9 incoming rescues. Among them was our newest foster, a great dane named Lucy. We knew Lucy was in bad shape - positive for Erlichia (deer ticks), Demodex mange, skin and bones and scared. She has a bit of a fever. She is so thin that I couldn't microchip her tonight - there was not enough fat under the skin to get it in without her bleeding everywhere. We were told she was between 5-9 years of age.

Well, she was pretty scared at the intake, but she basically just hid her face in Scott's leg. We got her home - after she completely stunk up the car because she just smells soooooo bad. Introductions were made with the cat, the Pomeranian, Shiloh the lab and Asher the 9 month old dane, plus our other foster Dixie the english mastiff who is on day 3 of very painful heartworm treatment. The introductions went well - I was so proud of my pack and especially Dixie.

I fed Lucy 2 cans of puppy food which she totally scarfed down like she is afraid she will never see food again, tried to get her to go potty - she has yet to go as I write this, and then we took her in to get a bath.The bath was one of the most heartbreaking things I have done in rescue. I had to pick her up and carry her into the shower. I scrubbed her for 90 minutes until she and I were both bloody. I could not get the water to rinse clear....it continued to be black and then gray with thousands of scabies from the mange, and a handfull of ticks that were still attached and sucking blood. It was gross and heartbreaking. About 25% of what little fur she had came off during the shower. I will bathe her every day until this in vanquished. She deserves it. They ALL deserve it.

I am so proud to be a part of this team. We save lives every day. And these sweet souls deserve to be saved, and loved in a forever home that treats them with dignity and respect and compassion, and gives the time to adjust to being a normal dog.Lucy does not answer at all to her name, so we are going to call her Isabelle - Izzy for short. It means vow of God in Hebrew, and I intend to keep my vow to her to get her whole and healthy.

Blessings to each of you for whatever you do to help these sweet dogs. To be able to help them is a blessing for each of us.

Seniors need love too!

Just a few of the Seniors who are looking for their forever family!


Have you ever considered adopting a Senior dog? They are the hardest to place and stay the longest in rescue.

If you haven't considered adopting a senior, maybe you should! You get a wonderful dog, but without the puppy behavior of chewing, digging, and other mischief. We often hear people they don't want to adopt a senior because they may not have them for long. While this is true, the flip side of that thought is that with anything, there are no guarantees in life. Just because a dog is 8 years old doesn't mean they don't need the love of a forever family like a 2 year old does.

Most of the seniors that come into rescue have lived a hard life. Many of the don't even know what a toy is, nor have they ever laid on any surface other than dirt or cement. Their bodies usually paint us a picture of neglect and it breaks your heart to know they have lived the majority of their life without the proper love of a family.

If you are looking to adopt from BDHP, or any other rescue organization for that matter, please don't pass by the dog with the grey face. Stop for a minute, read their bio. He or She might be just who you are looking for...just in a different package than you were expecting.

Introducing Crazy Casey!

Isn't she cute? She really isn't crazy, she is just 100% Great Dane puppy. She came into rescue today from the Pueblo shelter. She did not skip a beat and jumped in feet first at her foster home. She and her Mastiff foster brother were tearing around the yard immediately...or should I say, Casey was tearing around the yard. She is so fast and agile, and the falling snow made her even more excited!

She is a wonderful dog- fully housetrained, crate trained and knows all her commands. She is obviously great with dogs, but we also know she is good with children and cats. She is a complete love, and once she finally decided to settle down, climbed right into my lap as if she had always belonged! Some family is going to be very lucky to call her their own!

2.9.09 Ralphie Update

Dr Mike at Canyon Animal Hospital was kind enough to fit Ralphie in for surgery on Thursday as that we all agreed he had horrible quality of life with that severly injured tail.

We held our breath as we waited for the blood work to come back, and were all very relieved when he was healthy enough to proceed with surgery.

He was neutered too, and on his way to recovery! Ralphie is also heartworm positive, so this poor boy still has a journey ahead of him.

Thanks to everyone who has helped out with Ralphie in the last few days! We couldn't do this without our wonderful volunteers!

Ralph's Story

I've been doing rescue for 5 years now, fostering for 4.5. The stories I hear still make me mad and still make me shake my head at the inhumanity that exists, but nothing really surprises me anymore. Up until tonight, I'd only been stopped in dead in my tracks once and that was when I met Duncan, a 57lbs Great Dane who should have weighed 125lbs. Tonight, it happened again.

I went to the C.A.R.E transport to get our new foster, Ralph. I was told he was in bad shape and very skinny, but I knew something was very wrong when the doors of the van opened and Lisa and Linda both began to call out to me. They quickly ushered me in through the gate and led me to Ralph.

Ralphie was a bit skinnier than I expected, but what was so shocking was his tail. Ralphie has a very large open wound with bone exposed. The smell was awful, and infection was clearly setting in. It was almost as if his tail was going to literally fall off!

I immediately put in him in my car and placed a call to Dr Winton for a emergency visit to her. She was as horrified as I was. We did the very best we did to clean it, but it was much too painful to do a deep clean. She wrapped it, and also noticed the tail was broken. It will need to be amputated when he is neutered. He is so skinny, and so dehydrated, she gave him Sub Q fluids as well.

We finally made it home where I was able to give him a small dinner along with pain pills and antibiotics. Because he is so skinny, he will need to be fed 5-6 x per day, in very minimal amounts.

Ralphie is a complete sweetheart and such a good boy. He has had a long day, so he will be going to a quiet crate for the night so he can get a good nights sleep.

I will keep you updated on his progress.

Update on Yaeger

Yaeger, as some of you might remember, was one of BDHPI's special needs Danes. He came to us with a horribly damaged hip that required surgery. He was fostered for quite some time at Dr Winton's house where she diligently had him in PT and water therapy to get him healthy. It was of mixed feelings when he was adopted as that Dr Winton had really come to love this goofy boy! She was thrilled beyond belief when she read the below note. This is why we do rescue:

From Yaeger's new family:

Yaeger (now Jager) has been a busy boy since moving in with us. He has gone for walks, been groomed, went to our friends house last night with us and played with their dog, and been completely spoiled. He seems to be settling in well and is continuing to learn what toys are for. We found a trick to get him to eat by mixing half a can of wet food with his dry food and then mix in some warm beef broth. He has taken to that mixture. Attached is a photo of what Ashley came out of the bathroom to see - he climbed up on his own and went to sleep. He is such a lug! - Ashley & Robert

C.A.R.E loves their "Big Dog" Passengers

As you many remember from a previous post, BDHPI works closely with C.A.R.E (Colorado Animal Rescue Express) to transport many of our rescue dogs safely into rescue

C.A.R.E loves all of their "Big Dog" passengers, and has dedicated a page of their website to us!

You can view it here: http://www.caretransport.org/stories/bigdogs.html