My New Friends

I had the honor and pleasure of visiting the Operation Broken Chain dogs this morning at the emergency shelter.  A handful of the pit bulls and all the non-pit bull type dogs have been placed with rescue organizations and will soon be up for adoption – including Ellie Mae, placed with Agape Animal Rescue who just gave birth to her 7 puppies over the weekend. Congratulations, momma – your breeding days are over!

Five boys, two girls. Adorbs, much?
Photo courtesy of Ellie Mae’s foster dad.

Today was an awesome day for me to head back out to the shelter. Up until now, the volunteers focus has been attending to medical needs, providing food and water, and keeping the cages clean.  Now that a good number of the dogs have been placed, with a little extra time and manpower Animal Rescue Corps added “enrichment” time to  the dogs’ schedules.  “Enrichment” is a 10 – 20 minute period of time in which the dogs are let of out their crates in a confined area for supervised interaction with toys, treats, and play. This time is used to evaluate the dogs and take notes on their mental state, so ARC can determine the best situation for them to be placed in, once they leave the emergency shelter.

So guess what I got to do today? That’s right, I was lucky enough to be assigned to one of the enrichment areas. Now, technically, I was still on poop-scoop and cage-cleaning duty, but still – I had the absolute best morning. I can’t wait to introduce you to my new friends…

Fred

Fred is a love-and-a-half. He is so happy, and just loves being a dog! He ran around the enclosure for his entire time period, chasing after and playing with a rubber Kong bone. He loved being loved on, and had the most wonderful “plop-down” when he got tired – he just threw his body to the ground. Such a character!

Elsie

Wow, Elsie…this girl has some energy!  She was so much fun to watch run around. Whoever is lucky enough to be Elsie’s foster family is going to have a blast watching her learn and grow. And this one has some serious webbed paws going on, she’s gonna be a swimmer, for sure!

Shay

Poor little cautious Shay, with sores on her behind.  After Fred and Elsie spend their “recess” bounding around the enclosure and romping in the hay, Shay was a reminder that every dog is different, and recovers from trauma differently. Even though she’s now had nine days of eating regularly, Shay is still very underweight.  She padded around the room cautiously, exploring the play tunnel and sniffing the toys. She wasn’t too enthusiastic about being touched, but after what she’s been through, who could blame her?

Bosco

My little precious Bosco was the one that just broke my heart today. Even though we’re brindle lovers at Foster House, I am a huge sucker for the black and white pitties.  Poor little Bosco just didn’t feel like venturing out from the safety of his crate today. He’d take a few tentative steps but never ventured more than a few inches from the door before he would dart back inside. In all fairness to Bosco, there’s a lot of noise and activity at the shelter, so again – who can blame him for being cautious?

Geiger

After Bosco came a complete 180 with the arrival of Hurricane Geiger! Oh my lord, I fell in love with this little sweetie instantly. Geiger is a classic case of a dog who realizes that the worst is behind her, and she’s not going to waste any time wallowing in her past, no sir. What a ball of fun! Tearing around the room, slipping and sliding in the hay, and discovering the Most Wonderful Thing Ever: a squeak toy!

Winnie

Darling Winnie, oh I just love her! Alert and curious, tentative yet trusting. I’m no professional, but I just have a feeling that Winnie will absolutely flourish in a loving foster home. Just like I’m sure all of these dogs will!

And as always, HUGE thank you to Amiee Stubbs Photography for such beautiful photographs of these darling pups! Can she capture an animal’s spirit or what?

While these dogs will eventually be available for adoption, I should note that Animal Rescue Corps does not adopt out the dogs they rescue directly. They rely on a network of placement partners to take custody of the dogs, and place them in loving foster homes until they can be adopted.  Animal Rescue Corps is still in need of placement partners for many of these wonderful dogs. If you are a pit bull rescue group in the U.S. or Canada and you are interested in partnering with Animal Rescue Corps to help our bully breed friends from Operation Broken Chain, or future operations, this is a great time to begin that relationship. Please email placement@animalrescuecorps.org to start that process.

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