Monday March 26, 2007

Gem of the Day: "Don't undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible."
~Edwin Land~


(By requests, we're going to be including the "How to Donate to Small Paws " links at the VERY beginning of our newsletters,
so you don't have to go hunting through them! Thanks, all, Robin)

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You may also call your credit card donation in to Janet Byrn at 508-801-3106. She is on Eastern Standard Time!

In January of 2007 we paid $23, 119. 55 in vet bills

In February, 2007, We Paid Vet Bills Totalling $ 36, 450.23

In the first 19 days of March, 2007, We Have Paid Vet Bills Totalling $25, 433.31


Last Monday night we paid $13,748.68 for just one week of vet bills.

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Small Paws® Rescue Outreach: Puerto Vallarta Mexico

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If you missed our last newsletter, here it is. http://www.smallpawsrescue.org/pup3/march2407a.html

As you know, I'm down here in Englewood, Florida, to capture our little puppy mill rescue who broke away while on a walk, 4 weeks ago.

This is a brief update. I'm trying to keep you all informed, as best that I can. I'm spending very limited time back here at the apartment, and most of my time out at the site.

I am going to take some time to do some more research, online, this morning on line.

This woman in the story below, caught a feral puppy mill dog in circumstances and grounds very much like ours.

She used a trap but she says it must be a LARGE trap, five feet long. I need to try to locate one of these as this might work for Annie.

Annie wont go near the small ones.

The good news is that the area she is in now, is more inhabited by people. Not as snaky and I have seen no other wildlife there yet.

I'm going to be researching some other GPS options, netting options and a larger trap option.

I think she must be sick or injured as I saw her laying down, out in plain site three times yesterday.

Last night Lauri got here, and we had about an hour of daylight, left.

Different neighbors had called in sightings at 9:30 A.M., 11:30 A.M., 4:00 P.M. and 6:30 P.M. Annie is changing her habits. Before, no one has been seeing her in the late mornings, and very rarely in the late afternoon.

We did not see her until it was well after dark, last night.

We decided to ride together to try to brainstorm as we searched, and to maybe work as a two man team if we did see her.

Imagine how we felt when we were driving up and down this street where she has been, and all of a sudden and we saw her dart right behind the house we have designated as a feeding station. Bingo.

The owners, Buzz and Dixie, are our new best friends and have been so helpful.

When we saw her from our vehicle, Laurie asked if we wanted to try this on foot, because Annie usually runs when she sees anyone on foot.

This was all happening so very fast. I was already out the truck door, and heading behind the house with the flashlight, while I answered Lauri over my shoulder that what we have been doing so far, isn't working.

Laurie was out of that truck in a flash with the gun in her hand. She motioned to me to go back around the house and she would wait at the other side for me to flush Annie out.

If we had combat gear and black makeup under our eyes we could have posed as a couple of really bad Marines.

I came up on Annie in the back yard of our feeding station, at 10:30 last night.

She was lying down 15 feet in front of me in the dark, with my flashlight shining on her. She did not run.

I spoke softly to let Lauri know that I had her in my flashlight vision, and to get ready to shoot the dart gun.

Annie stayed laying down until she heard Lauri moving in the bushes on the other side. Now, she stayed laying down, knowing I was watching her (she was staring right back at me) for about 15 seconds.

Either she is getting more used to me or she is sick or injured.

When she got up to run I hollered out "Going to the front! To the front!" I came around the corner and I heard the dart blow gun go off! YES! She took a shot!

We did NOT hear a yelp. Well drat.

We searched for the dart with Buzz and Dixie's help and a spotlight that they loaned us. It was imperative that we recover the dart as it was filled with the drugs and we couldn't take a chance that a kid might find that. Lauri has to account for all of the drugs she uses, and we had to find that dart, or assume it was in the butt of one little white dog.

We couldn't find the dart and Lauri thought that she may have possibly hit her and that she just didn't yelp. Folks, this isn't a hypodermic needle. The end of this thing is like the end of a dart like you would see used in in dart game. If it hit me I would yelp.

We searched for 2 more hours for the dart and for Annie, never finding either one last night.

This morning Buzz called and he found the dart under bushed in his yard. Now we know that we did not dart her last night.

We are going to try to get Lauri out here, tomorrow morning in daylight hours. It's very hard for her to leave her sanctuary during the mornings when she must be there to feed the lions and tigers and bears, oh my. There has to be a licensed person there during feeding, and she is the only licensed person they have.

We are always going to ride together from now on as we cruise the streets trying to spot her, as Lauri's plan for me to come up on Annie from behind and drive her into the path of Lauri and the dart gun worked beautifully.

If Lauri had been able to see Annie, running past her in the dark, she would have hit her target and she would have darted her last night. Trying to hit a moving target in the dark is nigh to impossible, but both Lauri and I seem to have chosen to enjoy dealing in the realm of impossibilities.

Ok, I'm off to surf for more options, online. We are so close.

Last night was amazing. My senses haven't been this heightened since I was 17. My night vision seems to be proving to be incredible and as you know, normally, I am pretty night blind.

This would not have been possible 91 pounds ago. I would have never thought I would be traipsing around in the Florida brush like this, at night, not being able to see where my feet are landing and not caring, worried more for a snake if I step on him than one of them getting me, hot on the trail of a little dog named Annie. I'm inside her head and she is inside mine.

I really think she is getting used to me being out there and that she wants to come in. I think she is tired and just doesn't know how to trust a human being.

Trapping or darting is the only way we will get her, unless she is sick or injured and this slows her down.

Right now I'm scheduled to stay here through Friday. My lodging has been donated. We are only paying for the rental car and meals. I'm grocery shopping at Walmart and trying to have most meals here at the apartment, so I can count those calories better.

At this point I'm almost praying for Annie to be just a little bit sick or a little bit injured, because if it slows her down, it may save her life. Please keep us in your prayers. We are so very close.

Please don't email me right now, unless it is a rescue emergency or you have something helpful to offer about the search. Bonnie is answering my mail and hers and we need to keep mine down if we can. All My Love, Robin

< Catching a feral dog.

As an owner of a dog that ran away requiring four long excruciating days trying to catch, I'd like to tell you my story and offer some tips that might help you if the same situation presents itself.

This is my story:

I adopted an adult 14-month-old Wheaten Terrier with a puppy mill background and a history of “Fears”. I named him Finnegan. I'd had him about a month during which time I tried really hard to work with him to not be so afraid of everything and everyone.

I was going to a family reunion that was to be a very long day trip. So, in trying to do the “right thing”, I decided to leave him with my parents for “day care” and would pick him up late that night. I didn't want Finnegan to be alone too long.

So, my mom had just finished a walk when he “put on the breaks”. He often has this fear reaction before crossing the threshold of a house.

He proceeded to back up right out of his slip collar and this was the start of our long 4 day search.

When I got the call that he got loose, we jumped in the car and it was a loooonnnng three hour drive home.

The Hunt

He immediately ran from the house and was chased onto the nearby golf course. He avoided the golfers trying to get him at all costs including swimming across several ponds. We didn't even know he could swim. Everyone eventually lost site of him.

We immediately proceeded to put up hundreds of fliers around the golf course and surrounding neighborhoods.

For the following 4 days, he proceeded to be spotted off and on as dozens of people called who saw the flyers. We would go to “catch” him and he would see us but would not come. He would be interested and get within 30 – 40 feet and run from us. Every time I saw him…as I slowly approached …he would start to run. Before I knew it I had chased him through several yards and down a long street. He crossed busy highways went though multiple neighborhoods, woods, heavy bush, a golf course, nature preserve, and through a power plant!

Things we Tried:

Flyers. We put up hundreds of flyers with my phone number and his photograph! This was very helpful. You might add something about his personality in the flyer. Such as “he is very afraid, approach quietly”.

Searched. We searched and searched – personally I spent approximately 60 hours in 4 days without counting my friends and family! We even organized groups to help search for him.

Called his name. Over and over. He would not come.

Sat quietly. I sat quietly calling him. I sat quietly where he was last seen hoping he would come back.

Tried to hand feed him. When I did see him, I tried to hand feed him. I held out a hunk of roast beef and talked softly to him, but he was startled by someone else and ran off.

Tried his favorite toy. I softly called his name and squeaked his favorite toy. He was curious but in no way came very close.

Put out his crate. We put his crate and favorite toy in the area in hopes that he'd find it and decide to take a rest. At one point, he appeared to be eying his crate. But as soon as we moved toward him/the crate, he ran.

We tried feeding him in the crate. We put a hamburger in the back of the crate and tied a string to the door. We hid. This went on for hours. He'd stretch his body to the back of the crate to get the food that we left but would never get all the way into the crate. After he'd eat it he would run away for a while. We'd put more food in hoping the next time he'd get all the way into his crate. By the end of the first night he'd eaten two burgers, a hotdog and about ½ pound of roast beef but we still hadn't been able to catch him.

We borrowed dogs. Because Finn has always responded well to other dogs, one couple let me use their friendly black Lab to search the area. That didn't work. Then I borrowed a friend's Cocker Spaniel that Finn had gotten friendly with and we went walking through the preserve in hopes that Finn would want to come see his friend Sherman. But, there was no luck.

We called animal control. We called animal control who attempted to capture him with a dog neck loop. Finnegan barked at him twice and then got by him and ran through the heavy brush where he was lost again.

Fishing net. I purchased a large fishing net thinking that if I got close enough to Finnegan again I might be able to throw the net over him and tangle him up since he won't come to me and is too quick to catch or laso a leash around. This didn't pan out.

A trap. We setup a homemade cage trap next to his crate. He smelled the food in the trap and after much hesitation entered. He triggered the door but it bumped on his back and he backed right out of the trap as I lunged toward it to keep him in. He was too quick and slid out of my hands and proceeded to run about 30 feet away, stop, and then turn around and let out 4 loud barks. He then slowly walked out of sight.

Finally, we persuaded the animal control person to come out and set a live trap for us. They wouldn't do this for us earlier because he kept being spotted in different areas which were miles apart. However, I believe that our persistence paid off. At about 10:30 am the same person that came out with the dog catching "loop” brought out a large wire cage that was about 5 feet long and had a pad that would trigger the door to close when Finn stepped on it. We put some really good roast beef in the back of the trap, took our homemade trap away thinking that Finnegan would never again enter it after what happened the previous night, and we left the area and heard nothing until about 1 pm when we got a truly amazing call. He was in the trap!

We actually recovered him after 4 lucky days of running, swimming, hiding, major street crossing and dodging people trying to help him. We took him straight to the groomers where he was looked at by a vet, bathed and de-burred. The vet stated that he must have some cat in him for surviving this ordeal. He is now safe and sound again at my home. We are so lucky!

All of these methods were reasonable but the only thing that worked for our dog was the large cage/trap. If this ever happens to you and you have a dog that is afraid of people, I would recommend considering all the above but maybe really trying to get this sort of trap laid out early in the search.

Also, Finnegan was recently neutered but it can take a while for all their “hormones” to leave their system. The place that Finn kept going back to and where we eventually set up the live trap had a dog in heat. We really felt like that was the reason that he hung out in that area so much. So, I would recommend to anyone trying catching an intact or recently neutered dog to consider using a dog in heat if possible!

To read the complete blog of this event, go to Dream Dog Blog.

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