I was asked tonight about how I got into rescuing senior dogs. That’s a long story so it may take me a couple posts to get it all explained.

For many years I had been going to our local shelter in Palm Beach County, FL. It started in the early 80’s when I had an Irish Setter escape artist named Brady. He was actually only on the road in front of our home but he was OUT of the fence. He went straight to jail. I always say that things ALWAYS happen for a reason. I got the call once he got his mug shot taken and was put behind bars. I immediately headed to the dreaded “pound” to pick him up and give him a piece of my mind! When I got there he was not in a cage because they we all having too much fun playing with him. He was in one of the employees offices. When I walked in he actually looked disappointed. His fun time off the farm was over!

While I was waiting for all his paperwork to be done I decided to walk around and see all the animals. BIG mistake! Not only did I want them but I was sure Brady was not the only one coming home with me. I found a beautiful momma cat with 3 kittens. They were only a couple weeks old. That was the day I learned what really happens at the shelters. First thing was that in order for me to take the 4 of them I had to adopt each one individually. That was going to take some doing because I was a young mom with 2 daughters. We didn’t have “extra” money to be buying a litter of kittens! Well, once I heard what happens to these litters I knew some of my bills would not be paid on time. You see, when puppies and kittens are not old enough to be adopted (8 weeks) they are many times euthanized. The younger they are the bigger the chance. The protocol is usually in this order as to whom is put to sleep first.   1. Injured animals       2. Old animals    3. Pregnant animals (yes, pregnant) and   4. Nursing moms and their litters.

Once I learned that there was a good chance this mom and kittens were not going to get out I had to adopt them all! I don’t remember but I’m willing to bet my mom helped me do it 🙂 After I found homes for the kittens and their mom I went back and picked out someone else. Usually someone that would not be the first to get adopted. I LOVE the “underdogs”!! I did that for many years. I was never without a foster dog or 2 or 3 🙂 I actually became known as the “Newfie” Lady. I love big dogs and they always had plenty. I took in the Pyrenees, Newfoundland, St. Bernards and Mastiff. Then I graduated to the “Bird Dogs”. It really didn’t matter to me. I told you before I would have taken them all.

In April of 1993 my mom and step dad wanted to adopt a lab puppy. I went with them to the shelter to see what we could find. My step dad Frank spotted a litter of black lab mix puppies and picked out the one he liked. Well because they weren’t 8 weeks old he wasn’t allowed to adopt the pup. He for sure wasn’t going to adopt the whole litter! Somehow it managed to work itself out when I found out about a woman named Donna that was adopting the mom and somehow managed to get all the pups. I don’t think she had to pay for the pups but she had to return them to the shelter once they were 8 weeks old. We became friends and Frank got his puppy! Taz the black lab mix pup with the 3/4 tail was the beginning of what would become my life as I know it now.

Somehow over the next month I was able to talk to the Director of Animal Control. His name was Dennis and between the shelter Vet Dr. Mary Moore, Dennis and I we came up with a plan. They would allow me to take the pregnant and nursing moms from the shelter and raise the puppies till they were 8 weeks old. We also got any orphans and especially the bottle babies. At 8 weeks everyone would go back to the shelter and be spayed or neutered and adopted out. We needed a name for my group. After many attempts my sister Kathy came up with PUP’s, Puppies Under Protection. The very first week we took in 4 moms, 3 with litters and one pregnant. My mom and my sister each took in one and I had two! I had no idea just how big it would get. From June of 1993 till the end of the year we fostered 150 dogs. That was the lowest number we would have for many many years to come. In January of 1994 I became incorporated and we were official! In May of 1994 I won the “Animal Kindness of the Year” award for Palm Beach County. THAT was a very big deal!!! The award is only given to one person a year and you can only win it once in your lifetime. Puppies Under Protection was the first official Foster Program in So. FL. I’m very proud of that and when I see how many fosters and rescues there are out there now I’m thrilled.

Dr. Moore told me one day when we were talking about ending overpopulation that all I could do was throw a pebble into the lake. Once it reached the other side that ripple will have become a wave. I will never forget that. Although we obviously haven’t ended overpopulation yet I have to at least think of all the animals that were NOT born because of all of us that have turned our lives upside down for the animals. PUP’s was taking in between 500-700 animals per year with only 5 foster moms. I had the best! Just about all of them have gone on to run their own very successful rescues now.

This is so just the beginning. Puppies Under Protection is still up and running. In June we celebrated 24 years. We are registered in FL and NC and continue to run a rescue for moms and pups and I now have The Senior Scenter. We also run a thrift store in Hayesville, NC called the Puppy Patch and a second store called The Bow Wow Boutique. I’m in it for the long haul. Tomorrow I will tell you more about some of the things we did to keep our rescue going and about our Bus! For now I’m signing out.

Nite Nite