Benay and her darling Sophia

Benay from Washington Island, Wisconsin spent 5 weeks at RLRR and was kept very busy. During her watch, we saw some of the greatest volume of animal intake and placements.

We had 70 dogs/puppies and 5 cats, and 2 ferrets placed in October and 60 dogs/puppies and 20 cats/kittens placed in November.

In addition to her daily chores, she was busy running animals to the vet which included 34 neuter spays and 6 major medicals.

As Benay drove away on November 14, she looked out her rear view window with a tear in her eye and a heavy heart. Beside her was her dogs Zen and Hopi Dog, and Sylvester the cat which she adopted from the shelter and--- close beside her, the ashes of Sophia.

She had hoped that little Sophia, the juvenile shephard mix would ride out with her, but a few days before her departure, Sophia crossed the rainbow bridge, and it certainly broke Benay's heart.

Sophia was brought to the shelter late one night by Polly. Sophia had been found at the Redby dump and had an infection in her sinuses, was starving, and had mange.

Despite her condition, she immediately began to draw close to Benay, and loved her so much. She was on antibiotics for 8 days and began to show improvement. It wasn't long that Benay moved her into the cathouse where she was so happy.

After day 8 on antibiotics, Benay came to realize that there seemed to be more to her problem. She had a vet appointment, and during that visit, the vet discovered that someone had put a gun in her little mouth and blown a hole in her palate!!

She had shrapnel in her neck, that had already healed suggesting the injury had happened about a month ago. Yet, little Sophia with her strong desire to live had survived this at the garbage dumpster and also the starvation and mange.

The vet said there was no hope, and even though the injuries were so severe, little Sophia was happy all the time she was with Benay.

Needless to say, we were all brokenhearted, and today I talked with Benay, and she still grieves this dear angel.

A kind hearted supporter of Pet Haven donated $500 in memory of Sophia to help other abused and injured animals. We thank you for helping Red Lake animals.

Karen

Kaycee

A special thanks to Animal Ark for taking in so many dogs and puppies from Red Lake. Oftentimes they need foster care before they are ready to adopt to improve health and socialization issues. We really appreciate that kind treatment to make these dogs such wonderful pets. Check out their blog today for a note about puppies, like Kaycee.

More animals need transport

Marilou, from Pet Haven, and her friend, Jessie, made a recent trip to Red Lake and back. They had a wonderful experience and took some great pictures as you'll see below.

Karen has been inundated recently with 46 dogs/puppies and 18 cats/kittens. We have five transports scheduled in November and one each in December and January. It gets tougher now as the trips have to depend on the weather, too. Please consider volunteering to make one trip this winter. The dogs have nice kennels, but they are still outside at Red Lake.

Dear Karen,
I can't even begin to tell you what an incredible experience it was for us (Jessie and myself) to spend time with you at Red Lake. This is my second trip to Red Lake, and every trip for me strengthens and solidifies my desire to truly do whatever I can to help you fullfill your dream of helping the animals of Red Lake.
Thank you for entrusting us with 7 of your dogs ... I promise you that we/Pet Haven will care for the 3 little pups (who will be fostered by Mary ... she is currently fostering Ode), Junior, Lauren, Rae Ann and Ahnung as if they are our very own.
The road trip back to the cities with the 7 pups and the 3 kitties (they were transported safely to the St. Cloud Tri-County humane society and were being loved and cuddled by the intake staff!) was fairly uneventful .... Lauren got a little sick as she probably isn't used to car rides. The poor girl. Ahnung was an angel and laid on her blanket behind the passenger seat. I think she was very happy to not be in a kennel :)

I will write more and keep you posted on all of them. For now, I wanted to let you know everyone is safe and sound. Ahnung has begun heartworm treatment and I went to visit her at the clinic today to give her hugs and kisses and took her for a short, leisurely walk.

Our fosters are excited about their pups. Laura even came to the clinic to meet us so that she could meet little Junior!!.

with gratitude for all you do,
Marilou

Mindy has a home!

Mindy was a small black lab mix that rode down from Red Lake with DeeDee and me on my last trip and went to All Dog Rescue. She even has a new name to go with her shiny black coat.

Sweet Mindy has a new home! She was with me for a couple of weeks before her first adoption event. Then at the event, a wonderful couple met her. They fell in love with her and she fell in love with them.

Her new parents sent an update and she is doing very well.

Thanks for nursing Mindy back to health and preparing her for her new life - it is going to be a good one!

P.

RLRR Metro Support Team meeting 11/12/08

In attendance: Crystal, Mary Ann, Lauren, Denise, Lynn, Colleen, DeeDee, Claudia

Karen sent a message of gratitude to the metro group for their efforts on RLRR’s behalf. She also suggested that a metro team member act as liaison to the Rosie’s board, and that person would receive minutes, budget reports, etc. DeeDee agreed to be the liaison.

Right now, Karen has 46 puppies/dogs and 18 kittens/cats.

There have been two transports in November so far, and there will be three more before the end of the month. This is a record number of transports in one month, which has been fortuitous, since October and November have been heavy intake months with lots of very sick/traumatized animals.

The DJ&T SNAP grant program for spay/neuter of owned dogs has been initiated. Five community animals were altered in October, and three, so far, in November.

The group discussed Karen’s wish to build a feral cat habitat/shelter to honor her sister, Patty Good. Patty was active in caring for feral cats in the Cities. Rosie’s receives quite a few feral cats every year, and finding safe places for them to live is a challenge.

Claudia offered to facilitate communication with the architecture school at the University of Minnesota regarding the possibility of its involvement in designing/building the shelter.

It was noted that the supply of donated dog and cat food has been significantly reduced of late; therefore, we all need to be on the lookout for new sources in order to keep RLRR supplied.

Clinics

There was discussion about how to replace the loss of the 2009 summer HSVMA-RAVS clinic. We discussed the possibility of an Animal Ark neuter commuter clinic, an AHS clinic, and a Rosebud clinic. Dr. Veronica Bartsch of Akin Hills Pet Hospital in Farmington is interested in helping to organize a clinic, too.

Karen wants to wait to see how her repaired foot feels before scheduling her surgery on the other foot, so planning for clinics in the Spring needs to wait a bit.

Fundraising

We discussed the need for fundraising for various expenses, such as hiring someone to work at the shelter after Karen’s next surgery. Colleen offered to work on finding a location at which we could have some type of event.

Transports

Marilou Chanrasmi from Pet Haven will be at RLRR 11/17-18 and will be transporting animals.

Dr. Bartsch and a vet tech will be at Rosie’s again from 11/20 through 11/22. They will do neuter surgeries, health checks, and vaccinations on the animals at the shelter, as well as transport animals.

Denise said that she may be able to transport in December, and Crystal may transport in January.

Needs List – There was a short discussion about needs at the shelter, especially for the rubber winter water buckets for the kennels. The frigid Minnesota winter temperatures are very hard on equipment.

Pet Expo (Feb. 21-22) – As last year, Lynn will organize the RLRR table and volunteers for the Pet Expo. There was a short discussion about whether or not to have give-aways at the table. The home-made dog bones sold well last year, and everyone thought that it would be nice to have something like that again.

Next Meeting – The next meeting will be in mid-January, date to be determined.

A Weekend at RLRR

I wanted to give you all a volunteer report from Red Lake Rosies Rescue, as Carol B and I went up there Thursday of last week to help winterize the kennels.

There are a couple of reasons I review this - one to give all of you who follow the progress of Red Lake a firsthand view. I know that the conditions and situations for many would be just too painful and you would not want to go there, but many of you then find ways to support the efforts either financially or through material support. This is hugely important and makes things so much better. Second, is that it gives people who go there and who are considering making the trip to Red Lake to volunteer a bit more prepared for the reality on the ground.

Things are always a bit tough at Rosie's and the only thing you can say with the onset of winter- is that it is brutal. Thursday- Carol and I arrived in the afternoon to find Benay, the volunteer helping Karen after her foot surgery, sobbing. Karen was away at Bemidji having foot therapy and Benay had run Sophia the dog to the vet for an exam.

Sophia had been found at the local dump, laying half dead. The woman who found her had her for two days before being able to bring her to Karens. She was a smaller dog with things oozing from her eyes and mouth. Karen and Benay put her on antibiotics and she improved to some degree but the drooling didn't stop. The vet made a a horrifying discovery; Sophia had been shot in the mouth and had no upper palet left. She was aspirating all of the food and water she was trying to get down. This poor girl had such a will to live and still had to be let
go as there was no hope.

So once again, the tears spilled and the anger to the abusers flew loud and clear.

The next day was cold and rainy, but we spent the day outside, putting tarps up on the kennels and with a new approach made them fairly warm and airtight. But the day wasn't without mishap; with my cold hands and the broken tools, I cut myself really good with a scissors and had to have my hand in full bandage mode, bleeding like a sieve.

Saturday started off with another horror. Karen and Kevin left doing a transport and Benay came charging up to the house to tell us that the pregnant German Shep Sugar had her pups in the night and they all died but one. Carol and I did the 911 race down there and after an attempt to revive the babies - with warm water and cpr- it was obvious they came to early and that she had miscarried. We were distraught and so was Sugar.

There was nothing left to say. So we spent the rest of the day and early evening getting as much as we could get done on the kennels- in the snow and cold.

Sunday was our day to transport, so after coffee, breakfast and packing, we took off by 9:30 am with the vehicle full of dogs -- 11 puppies and 2 dogs graciously
taken in by folks down in the metro area, leaving more space for dumpster dogs coming in.

A special thank you to Benay who came for the 5 weeks from the upper peninsula of Wisconsin/ N Michigan area to help out Karen during her foot recovery. The cat house is clean and in great condition and special thanks to all those who helped with the cat house makeover before Benay got there. It's in great shape and will allow for housing volunteers in the future.

As one looks at this situation from afar or up close it is just overwhelming and it would be very easy to throw up one's hands and scream, but for each of the dogs and puppies that are sheltered there and that get to leave to find better lives - it is a priceless payback for carrying around the knowledge of what is Red Lake.

There are two critical needs for Red Lake:
#1 TRANSPORTS -- going up and back to bring out dogs.
If you are available to do this- please contact Karen, Dee Dee or Lynn to make arrangements. dewelles@comcast.net
lmecum4@msn.com

#2 DONATIONS to the emergency fund.
If you have a few Christmas dollars to donate or just want to put your money to direct animal help- please consider sending a few dollars to KAREN and tag it EMERGENCY FUND- This is a huge and important effort to bring aid and comfort to animals who will come in to RLRR suffering from major medical issues that are beyond the budget at this time.

IF you can help- PLEASE DO
and contact Karen at keg@gvtel.com to drop her a note about your donation
and ask her if she wants it sent directly to her or to a vet clinic.

If you read down this far- I want to thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read this.

On behalf of the animals in Red Lake,
Colleen

Found a Peanut

THIS SPECIAL FAMILY IS FAMOUS! SEE THE ARTICLE (AND MORE PHOTOS) IN THE ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS.

On October 29, a mama german shepherd dog was hit by a car and killed near the Red Lake Elementary School. She was nursing a litter of puppies that were only 3 weeks old. Thankfully, the orphan puppies were accepted by the Animal Humane Society. Nokomis took them to the metro on October 31st and Dee Dee transported them to the St. Paul AHS the following day.

As Dee Dee checked in the puppies she noticed a lactating pit bull, called Peanut being checked in at the same time. Well, Peanut took on the orphaned litter and they are all doing fine.

It seemed that it was all meant to be -- they all arrived at the same time just where they needed to be!

Karen, and RLRR

Extreme Squirrel Chasing

When "Dove", an eight-week-old female pit mix puppy, came to Rosie's, she was starving, and had rickets from malnutrition. Due to her poor condition, she developed generalized Demodectic mange and a Staph infection.


I brought Dove down from Rosie's last April to foster at our house. During her first six weeks here as we tried to boost her immune system with good nutrition, supplements, and medicine, she went through several healing crises, and was very ill. We feared that we were going to lose her, but after a long struggle to get rid of the mange and other issues, she is healthy and glowing.

Squirrel hunting has become one of her favorite avocations, and along with our other Red Lake dog, Lily, they harass the poor squirrels who feed in our Cottonwood tree. Lily stands guard at the bottom of the tree, while Dove climbs aloft in pursuit - a hitherto unknown ability of pit bulls!

As with Lily, we have become failed fosters again, and Dove will be staying with us forever.
DeeDee

RLRR Metro Support Team meeting TONIGHT

We are meeting tonight, Wednesday, November 12th at 6:30pm at the Royal Orchid Thai restaurant in Roseville. Anyone is welcome to join us!

2401 N Fairview
Roseville 55113
651-639-9999

Restaurant is located in a strip mall just north of highway 36 at the corner of B2 and Fairview on the west side of Fairview. There is a World Market, Babies R Us, and Office Max in the strip mall, and a Chili's in the parking lot.

AGENDA
11/12/08

I. Clinics
How do we fill the HSVMA-RAVS void?
April – Animal Ark/Farmington Vet
AHS? Rosebud?

II. Fundraising/Shelter help for Karen’s next surgery.

III. Transports for December – January

IV. Needs – most needed is rubber pails for winter water.
Grants – road, fence.
DJ&T

VI. Pet Expo – February 21 -22

V. Next Meeting/Location

Busy Schedule at RLRR in November

Dear RLRR supporters:

Thank you all for your support and wanted all to know how the shelter is doing.

Benay has done a great job and will be leaving on November 14.

Recovery of (Karen's) foot from surgery is going well.

Here is the plan for the Red Lake Rescue until December 1st:

Colleen and Carol arrive November 7-10.

Transport out November 8 - Kevin and Karen to meet Tom and Nancy O'Sullivan in Bemidji- they go on to Park Rapids.

Transport out November 10- Collen and Carol.

Benay leaves November 14 with animals tranported out.

Marilou arrives November 14 and leaves November 15 with transport out.

Chuck and Jodi arrive November 15, work and maybe transport out on 15th or 16th.

Mike Wilson has agreed to help from November 15 - December 1 doing am and pm chores with myself and Kevin. Sarah will do the cats.
Tom and Nancy O'Sullivan and Carolyn May have offered to help if I call.

November 20- 22 Akin Pet Hospital, Dr. Bartsch and her vet tech Lindsay, vet care for the shelter and any community member, neutering, then transport out on November 22.

Again, thank you all for what you have done to help out.

Sincerely, Karen Good

NOTE: It is important that we continue to transport dogs (and cats) out of Red Lake as soon as possible through December and January, too, to keep Karen's workload as light as possible during the ongoing recovery of her foot.

Doggies Leave and Food Arrives!

A special thank you for much needed food donations from Erich at the Shed, MARS, Second Chance Rescue, Chuck and Don's, St. Paul Humane Society, and donors from Colleen's list recently delivered by Tom and Nancy O'Sullivan and Dee Dee Welles.

The shipment was delivered to the shelter by the Sullivans on October 18th.

Also the same group transported out 18 dogs and puppies, of which 17 were placed in foster care. They went to Animal Ark; Midwest Animal Rescue; Homeward Bound; and Tricounty Humane Society.

We are so thankful to all those involved!

Karen Good and RLRR

NOTE: Food donations are getting harder to find. We are grateful for all help with the very cold winter months ahead. The dogs live in outdoor kennels and need to eat a lot to stay warm.

Good News -- RLRR featured on Best Friends

Red Lake Rosie's Rescue is featured in an article on Best Friends website about the Winter Supply Drive. Check it out!

Thanks to Best Friends Network Volunteer Danielle Engle for coming up with the idea, to our friends at Pet Haven for assisting with this project, and to Chuck & Don's Pet Food Outlet stores in Elk River, Roseville and Shakopee for offering to collect the donations. And thanks, as always, to the metro support team for RLRR that will be picking up the donations and delivering them to Red Lake.

Bad News -- No RAVS clinic at Red Lake in 2009

Hi Friends: Bad news today- no RAVS for 2009. Just got this email.

Sincerely, Karen Good RLRR


HSUS writes:

Hi Karen-- We are finalizing the HSVMA-RAVS 2009 clinic schedule and unfortunately due some changes we will have to make to our schedule next year, we will not be able to get to Red Lake in 2009.

Limited resources and availability of staff have resulted in a reduction in the number of clinics we are able to fund and necessitated redistribution of resources. Unfortunately, this means that we have had to make some difficult decisions and have had to limit the number of communities we are able to serve. We are also needing to return to some of the communities that we have had to cut from the schedule the past several years who have been waiting patiently for us to make time in the schedule again.

We sincerely wish that we were able to serve all of the communities requesting assistance and hate to cut back, but have to maintain the health and sanity of our staff and organization.

We have very much enjoyed working at Red Lake and do hope to continue to expand the program again in 2010 and to get back to some of the communities we will not reach this year.

Dr. Peterman is still living in MN and is working with other communities, including Mark Sekulich up at Leech Lake, on alternate clinic possibilities with local/regional organizations. She would be happy to talk with you about the programs they are working on and whether they might be a good addition to the work you are doing there.

If you have any questions or there is anything else we can do to provide support, please let me know. We do hope to work with you again soon.

Thank you, --Windi

Dylan continues to improve

-A great update on Dylan, the little guy with rear paralysis who went to Dr. Bartsch, Akin Pet Hospital!! Karen :)

Hi Karen,
Dylan is walking well on his own now. He can run and play for about 1/2 hour before he gets tired. L is taking him to rehab twice a week, and we are really seeing improvements. He is starting to get his spunk back and will bark and howl at us now!
V.

Update on Lucy the pup in her new home

Here is an update on Lucy, the black pup we met on the blog yesterday. We received a couple of photos and a note from her new family:

We love her! She is officially a part of the family. Even now as I type, she is crashed on the couch.

She is adjusting to the bird; here they are sharing some popcorn.

Even our old dog, Iggy, is warming up to her now...they go every where together and yesterday CC was in the back of the yard and Iggy stood halfway between the house and her and waited for her to come in.

Lucy and Charlotte

These two pups are Lucy (black) and Charlotte (tan and black). They were unintended fosters of ours this summer, making two and 1/2 rounds trips between Rosie's and m the Twin Cities this summer while I was working with Karen. They are both happily settled into loving homes, now so I'll tell their stories.

Charlotte came to Karen's as a tiny puppy-maybe 6-8 weeks old, the last of her litter to not have been given away on the reservation-lucky little girl! Because she was so young, Karen brought her into the house and she became my charge. Poor little girl was so lonesome the first night she cried when we went to bed, so I slept on the floor next to her. The next day we got her better situated with nice big cage and a stuffed german shepard toy. We carried her around with us a lot and she got to run with the big dogs (she especially loved Hazel, who looks like she could be her mama.)

Lucy was from a litter of 4 born to a feral mom living at one of the dumps. Karen couldn't catch mom, but luckily all the pups were saved. Lucy's siblngs were very social, but Lucy hid in the cinder blocks when we went into their pen. To get her socialized, we dug her out from under the dog house and brought her inside. The first night I made her sleep with me, and she plastered herself against the wall and didn't move a muscle. Gradually, she relaxed and she and Charlotte became great buddies.

They came home with me and Charlotte immediately found a home through a neighbor. She went to a family with lots of energy and two little girls who loved being pounced on and covered in kisses.

Lucy had to wait longer, but after almost two months with us, a wonderful family fell in love with her and took her into their family which includes Iggy, a white shepard, and a bird with whom Lucy likes to share popcorn.

Although we are inexperienced with dogs (and did not succeed with housebreaking) we had a lot of fun with these puppies-including many visitors who wanted to spend time with them. We still miss them but are happy that they both found their perfect homes!


Peace to all creatures, Barbara B.
Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.
-Albert Schweitzer