A dog named Lacie

Lacie was tied outside of a local dog pound when the dog wardens came into work one morning. Three 1 week old puppies were left in a box nearby. The dog warden picked up 2 of the puppies to bring them inside and when he turned around, she was walking behind him, carrying the third puppy in her mouth.

The first day I went to see her, she had some sort of infected wound on her shoulder. By the next day, that had broken open and was seeping. We couldn't tell how it occurred but it looked like a large scrape so we wondered if perhaps she'd been hit by a car. Fulton County has a pretty nice pound compared to some I've been to and they had her in the quieter "vicious dog" room, but the pound is still no place for tiny puppies, and so I brought her home. She was uneasy the first few days. Who wouldn't be? All those protective mom hormones, whatever discomfort she was in from her injuries, being one place, then at the pound, then finally here. Who knows what she thought would come next. In a short time she settled in and was a good mama to her babies and bonded with us as well. I named her Lacie.

It's clear Lacie's life before she ended up at the pound wasn't easy. She's around 6-8 years old, and undoubtedly lived as an outside dog, perhaps tied up somewhere, having litter after litter of puppies. Who knows why someone finally "got rid of" her but at least then she was able to get the love and care she deserves.

Lacie and her puppies stayed here for almost 2 months. Her puppies (Leon, Lavender and Lilac, all adopted) were very friendly and good-natured. She is good with the other dogs but prefers her own space. She mostly ignores the cats although sometimes can't resist a chase across the room when one of them runs. (Don't worry, my cats are very dog savvy and she isn't interested in hurting them, just wants to play.) Her wound healed up quickly and her coat's gotten shiny and thick. She loves all of us and seems happy to be here.

When her puppies were 8 weeks old, everyone went to Humane Ohio to be fixed and vetted. I hadn't even gotten all the puppies in the door when the vet came out to talk to me about Lacie. When they did the initial exam they found a mammary tumor. While they recommended that be removed when she was spayed, it was beyond their capabilities at the clinic to do so. And so Lacie came back home again. Later she was seen by another one of our vets who found the tumor was malignant and had already spread throughout her mammary chain, and her heart was enlarged as well. The decision was made to keep her comfortable for however much time she has. It's been a couple of weeks now and she seems to be doing fine. She's not an active dog and she doesn't like being handled much, so I assume she does have some discomfort, but she still loves attention, loves a romp through the yard and seems happy, so we're hoping she has a lot of time left to be loved.

Unfortunately Lacie's story isn't uncommon. Dogs everywhere are kept outside with no medical care, not spayed so they have multiple litters of puppies, who end up perpetuating the cycle with more puppies as well. Canine mammary cancer rarely occurs in dogs who are spayed before their first heat and even if she'd been spayed as a young adult, her risks would have been substantially lower. By its very nature, rescue deals with the consequences of irresponsible pet ownership, and Planned Pethood always has dogs and cats who are being treated for preventable injuries and illnesses. If you adopt a puppy or dog from us, they will of course be spayed first, thus reducing their risk for mammary cancer. If you know of an unspayed dog, please talk to their owners about getting her fixed. We of course care about proactively solving the pet overpopulation by preventing litters but they will also be greatly reducing the chances of their dog ending up like Lacie.

Why Planned Pethood ALWAYS takes our animals back

Heather first entered the Planned Pethood Dog Adoption Program as an eight-week-old puppy, with the rest of her litter-mates, as part of the Litter Patrol program(in this program we respond to free kitten/puppy ads, offer to take the entire litter to place for adoption, then spay/neuter the pets remaining in the home to ensure no more unwanted litters). She was soon adopted as a puppy.

The following summer, the family that adopted Heather called to say they had to return her to PPI.. They said she wasn't house-broken, had chewed up their above-ground pool, and had to spend most of the time outside because she was so awful.

By this time, Heather was over 100 pounds of Bloodhound mix. The foster parents had the opportunity to speak to the former owner at that time to get the whole picture. From what they was able to piece together, and from the behaviors Heather showed, we realized the living conditions for Heather had been less than ideal.

Heather was left outside, alone, the majority of the time. Bored with nothing to do and no one to interact with, she did indeed chew stuff she shouldn't have and dig an occasional hole. Once in the foster home, it was obvious that Heather was now also scared to death of men. She wanted to have nothing to do with them and growled at the foster dad for almost three weeks. It's not unusual see this type of reaction in abused dogs, but Heather was above and beyond any we had ever seen. But true to her good nature Heather not only got over her fear of the foster dad, she was shortly thereafter in love with him.

Another thing we noted very quickly was that Heather was indeed housebroken but was having incontinence issues. The vet confirmed she did not have a urinary tract infection. The foster mom often would rub Heather's tummy and think, "Something isn't right with this picture. Something is off". Come to find out, Heather had an inverted vulva, that was corrected with surgery.

We discovered what a sweet clown Heather was. She would smile at you by flipping her nose up and her lips back. It's like a dog version of Mr. Ed. She throws her head around with glee, makes weird elk noises, and is the sweetest baby. Her nickname in the foster house became Baby Hey-Hey. Heather has always been the model dog and family member. Her pitiful Bloodhound eyes peeping up at you, followed by lots of energetic kisses is a heart-melter. How can you not adore a dog that is a small pony and wants you to hold her like a baby?

That fall, another family adopted Heather, but although they assured me they would follow my care instructions to the letter, it wasn't long before they had to return her. As it turned out, they didn't care for Heather as instructed they weren't even giving the girl her medicine! We had told them that to overcome her fear of the father in the home, for him to feed her. But they couldn't even do that. Despite our best efforts people tell fibs about how well they will care for the dog.

When the foster dad went to pick Heather up, she jumped into the van and looked at him like "I'm outta here , man!"

Heather stayed with the same foster family for another year. A family with another dog were interested in giving Heather her forever home. They were devoted to Heather and loved her dearly. However, their Schnauzer mix was not a fan of Heather. After a year of the two dogs taunting each other without incident, a minor error caused a big problem: an accidentally open door gave Heather her chance to get even to the Schnauzer, and she inflicted serious damage. Hence, Heather was given her walking papers.

The family cared enough about Heather that they contacted the same foster family, wanting Heather to only come back to us. The wife had even gone to www.plannedpethood.org to count how many dogs that foster family had listed under there name to make sure there was room for Heather again.

For the fourth time Heather was back with Planned Pethood, and she strolled right in and got herself a drink of water from the toilet. It was as if she'd never left.

A few months ago Heather and her foster mom, with the rest of the PPI crew, were at an adoption event at the Anderson's Maumee. The mother of Heather's litter-mate, Howie, was shopping there that same day. She saw Heather and saw the many similarities between the two dogs. Heather was eventually adopted by Howie's family. The mother later said that, as she went back to her car, she felt like she was walking away from Howie. They had always called Howie "How-How" as a nickname. So now they have How-How and Hey-Hey. That was 3 years ago.

If this home somehow doesn't work out for Heather, all of us are comforted to know that PPI will be there for her. PPI has been the harbor she can rest in. And really isn't that what Planned Pethood is all about? Doing whatever we can to help an animal in need, in our own community?

Each time Heather returned back to that foster home, her unsinkable spirit heartened them. They are honored to be there for her and be her only advocate.

We all play an active role in helping dogs like Heather. If you send us a check once a year, maybe you'll be the one who bought Heather some medication or a bag of food. If you volunteer with PPI, you're giving animals like Heather a second, third, or fourth chance. Your help is what makes these kinds of miracles happen every day through PPI.

Keep up the good work PPI volunteers and supporters.

July 4, 2010 eNewsletter

Happy 4th of July from Planned Pethood, Inc

eNewsletter July 4, 2010

Iams Pet Food Donation In February, Planned Pethood received a generous donation from IAMS in the form of 33 pallets of dog and cat food. Two volunteers drove down to Leipsic to pick it up and many volunteers met at the Lucas County Fairgrounds to help unload it. Since then, PPI has moved most of the food into the homes of volunteers so it is readily available when needed. And, of course, much of the food has been eaten by the animals in our adoption program. We don't often get donations like this. In the lean times, fosters supply the food for the foster cats and dogs. It can be expensive. So we were eager and excited to get such a huge shipment. By the end of May, we had to remove the remaining 8 pallets from the fairgrounds to a warehouse offered to Planned Pethood by Bennett Enterprises. Alas, this meant we had to rent a truck and beg a couple volunteers to pallet jack the remaining food on board. Luckily, Rich, an employee at the Lucas County Fairgrounds took pity on us and forklifted the pallets into the truck. Phew! By August, Planned Pethood must have the food removed from the Bennett Enterprise warehouse. These last 8 pallets will be placed into homes as we can find space. Thank you to all the volunteers that have hauled 1,000's of pounds of food, stored food all over their house and moved the food from location to location. 50 Volunteers Needed (badly) We are still looking for 50 volunteers to help us Friday, July 30, 2010 for the Jackel Concert at Toledo Harley-Davidson on Central near Centennial. Only 26 days to get 50 volunteers. It's a ton of fun! You can read more detail here. Email ed@plannedpethood.org to sign up. Vote to win $500,000 toward a Toledo Dog Park The City of Toledo and Ottawa-Jermain Board have managed to throw up enough road blocks and complaints to ensure that a Toledo city park WILL NOT be the location for the first park, says Toledo Unleashed. Meanwhile, according to Kevin Mullan at Toledo Unleashed, Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop has opened some doors for us with the Metroparks and the Lucas County Rec Center. We are exploring these options and will provide you an update as SOON as we have more information. Mullan goes on to say, "While we are trying to figure out WHERE the park can go, Dani (my wife) and I, and more importantly our pug-pomeranian, Elvis, submitted an application for Purina's WagWorld Dream Dog Park contest. We are one of 60ish entrants." The ten Finalist videos will be revealed on the Beneful WagWorld Web Site on or about July 14, 2010. The Finalists' Entries will be posted for the public to vote for their favorite Entry at www.benefuldreamdogpark.com starting on or about July 14, 2010 at 12:00:01 pm ET and ending on August 11, 2010 at 11:59:59 am ET ("Voting Period"). Limit one (1) vote per person, per day. A "Day" is defined as the 24 hours between 12:00:00 am ET and 11:59:59 pm ET throughout the Voting Period. The public voting will be tallied as a numbered rank between 1 and 10 with the Entry that receives the most votes receiving 10 points, and the Entry that receives the least votes receiving 1 point. A new panel of judges will also judge the 10 Finalist Entries on the same judging criteria listed above. The public voting rank will account for 10% of the final score and the judges scores will account for 90% of the total score. If we WIN, we'd be able to bring a $500,000 Dream Dog Park to NW Ohio - hopefully Toledo. Please send this to all of your friends, family members, neighbors, co-workers and even people you don't know. View Elvis' video and voting details can be found here. Vote Daily! Get others to vote with you! Make our dream a reality! First Dog Wash Fundraiser a HUGE success Jacob Dilworth dries off a customer. We made over $400 in our first dog wash fundraiser. Most of the money was made by doing the anal gland expressions so it wasn't all that pretty. Thanks to all the volunteers that helped wrangle, lather, dry, perfume and shine up all the dogs. It was back breaking work. Thankfully, we have plans for the next dog washes to make it easier on ourselves. Don't miss our next ones: July 17 @ Anderson's Maumee (Come see the Amazing Air Dog Show while you are there), August 14 @ Anderson Maumee and September 11 @ Anderson Talmadge. Many thanks to the Anderson Stores for making this a possibility. Good Search & Kroger Cares Don't forget to use www.goodsearch.com as your search engine. Every search earns us money. Don't forget to sign your Kroger card into the Kroger Cares Program. Everytime you swipe your card you make money for PPI. More details here. Darby Update Lots of people have been following the progress of Darby. We think she was purposefully burned with a chemical over her back. It has burned down to the muscle and covers a 8 x 11 inch space in ONE of the two spots. We are very pleased to report she is doing wonderfully. As you can see by her happy Rottie smile, Darby is not only healing but in fine spirits. It's only been a two and a half weeks but the recovery is amazing. The swelling is almost completely gone. She is growing hair in a few spots. The oozing has all but stopped. And we can see new pink skin all along the edges. On Thursday, July 1st Darby had surgery to prepare for getting a honey wrap as part of a wet to dry dressing process. If you have ever had a large wound or known someone with a significant burn like Darby's, you know how painful and tight the scar tissue can be even years after the injury has healed. This process will allow for Darby to have loose skin, as any dog is supposed to have, and not suffer from the pulling and adhesion pain scar tissue can cause. Darby will continue with laser treatment to assist in the healing thereafter. And Darby will have a pain management program available to her. We do not refuse treatment to our animals based on cost of treatment, or on the age of the animal once it is in our care. When we take in a dog or cat we take that commitment seriously. Frankly, we treat the animals in our adoption program just as we would our personal pets. Any one of us would have elected to have this done to our own pet. Thanks to Sylvania Vet for helping with the cost. The total bill (all inclusive) is $500. If you are interested in following Darby's story, watch her on our Facebook. You can read her back story on our website as well by clicking here. If you would like to make a donation to Darby, you may do so here. We Don't Have An Office . . . On Purpose Many are surprised to learn Planned Pethood doesn't have an office. It's been a long time philosophy that the money donated to us is best used going to our animals rather than the upkeep of a building, utilities, etc. When you make a donation, you can be assured it's going toward our mission to save lives. We also do not have a large paid staff. PPI only has one part-time employee, the executive director. All the day to day work it takes to make the massive machine of Planned Pethood work is done by volunteers. Some are fosters. Some help with paperwork, data entry, paying bills, moving animals and supplies around and organizing events. Some do it all. Should we ever be so lucky as to be leased a space for $1.00 a year, utilities included, for a long term contract we might consider having an office. But until then, we proudly say we do not have a facility. Extraordinary Animals With Extraordinary Vet Bills Coopette will be available for adoption soon This 5 week old kitten was found inside an enclosed chicken coop cowering in a corner, eyes matted shut with several not so nice chickens around her. Luckily she was found before the chickens could do her any harm, but she has a severe and untreated eye infection in both eyes. Her right eye suffered irreparable damage and will need to be removed once she is a little bigger and healthier. Her rescuers thought she was a boy and so the name Cooper was given. Once taken to our wonderful vets, Cooper was a 'she' and is now affectionately referred to as Coopette. She is a friendly and sweet kitten that weighs just a pound and needs some TLC and groceries before her surgery. We need financial help for little Coopette's veterinary care and surgery and we are asking for donations to provide her with the care this tiny kitten needs. Robert Nubbins, the cat without a tail, has been adopted. Thank you for your support and care for Robert. In the last newsletter we introduced you to Chelsea, a dog with a broken leg. Many thanks to West Suburban Animal Hospital's Dr. Thompson for the wonderful work he did on her bone plate. They also gave us a significant discount. Chelsea is supposed to be kept quiet and rest her leg for the next several weeks. It's hard to keep a good dog down. It's harder to keep a frisky dog, like Chelsea, contained. Chelsea's total bill to her surgery is $667.00. If you would like to make a donation to any of these animals, you may do so here or at the PayPal logo below. Open Volunteer Meeting From time to time we offer an open volunteer meeting. This is your chance to bring up your concerns and good ideas. This is also the best opportunity for new volunteers to learn more about Planned Pethood. Handouts will be available. Tuesday, August 10, 2010 6:45 - 8:15pm Sanger Library 3030 W. Central Ave 43606 Your time is valuable, therefore we will begin promptly at 6:45pm. Quick Links Upcoming Special Events Our Calendar Shop Our Boutique Make a Donation Become a Foster Celebrity Wait Read all about it in this pdf file. Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at Georgio's Cafe 426 N. Superior St. 43604. Your servers will be Bob Esplin, Ben Konop, Randy & Janna Lake, Amy Davis, Greg Bilazarian, Doug Kearns, Justin Micheals, Beau Harvey & Tom Stebbins. Your $50 can spay/neuter two feral cats or go toward saving one dog from a life on the streets. One hundred percent (100%)of the "tip" you give your celebrity server will go directly to Planned Pethood. You will have four dinner selections (which is made the night of the event) and a selection from the dessert tray. You and your party will be seated at a private table and will not be seated with strangers. Please join us for a delightful meal and support the cause. Don't forget PPI's Blog For longer stories or daily updates we use our blog. Sign up for it and be inspired. You can read our blog by clicking here or visiting: http://plannedpethood. blogspot.com/ Upcoming Events July 17- Dog Wash @ Anderson's in Maumee July 18- Air Dog Show @ Anderson's in Maumee July 18- Parking Lot BBQ @ Big Lots in Perrysburg July 25- Craft and Information show @ Browning Care Center July 30- Volunteers work Jackel concert at Toledo Harley Davidson August 10- Volunteer Meeting @ Sanger Library August 12- Emergency Preparedness @ UAW Local 14 August 14- Dog Wash @ Anderson's in Maumee August 14- Bark for Life @ Bass Pro Shop August 24- Celebrity Wait @ Georgio's August 29- Road Rally September 10 - 12 - Petsmart 3 day Adoption Event September 11- Dog Wash @ Anderson's on Talmadge September 18- Dog Days of September September 25- Euchre Tournament @ UAW Local 14 Possible Craft Shows We are taking into consideration participating in several festivals with our crafts and/or bake sales. To determine if we will participate, it will depend on what help we can get from volunteers for these specific days. Please refer to the list below and send us an email if you can help out with any of these shows. Because there is a cost to be at these events, it's important we have enough reliable help. We need help with the following: * Set up before the event * Pick up craft and/or bake sale items from other volunteers * Man the table, make change, sell, answer questions * Take down and repack inventory. We have an inventory of crafts but need a wider variety for people to select their treasures. If you want to donate craft items, please contact us at ed@plannedpethood.org. We have a list of specific items that sell well and others that do not. We also would like to have a bake sale at many of these events. If you can contribute baked goods to one please email us your offer. We have figured out the items that sell well, transport well and those that do not. Considering: Polish Festival July 9 - 11 $200 Maumee Summer Fair August 20 & 21 $65 Sylvania Arts & Crafts Festival September 12 $135 Harrison Rally Days September 18 $100 Roche de Boeuf September 25 $30-65 MacQueen's Apple Butter Festival October 2 & 3 unknown cost Grand Rapids' Apple Butter Festival October 10 unknown cost Main Street Sylvania October 17 $40