Coco: Warm and Comforting

Here are some pictures and a little info from the young lady who adopted Teasle-they are very happy together. Teasle was, to me, very special. If ever I would have kept a cat for myself-she was the one. But I'm very happy she found a home of her own.

Peace to all creatures, Barbara Bowman

NOTE FROM ADOPTER:
I first saw Teasle on Petfinder in late July of this year. I thought she was so cute and her description sounded like a perfect fit for me (I work long hours so I needed a cat that would be fine home alone all day, but I wanted one that would hang out with me when I was actually home).

I contacted Pet Haven and they put me in contact with her foster, Barbara. We made a plan for me to come visit Teasle, and once I did, I knew for sure that she was the perfect cat for me. I officially adopted Teasle right before Labor Day and it has been a wonderful three months!

My family and friends had a lot of fun thinking up a new name for her. My mom wanted to call her Joe after Joe Mauer because she is a polydactyl and her paws look like a catcher's mitt. I decided to call her Coco because she is warm and comforting like a cup of hot chocolate.

Coco is very social, she loves when I have family or friends over to my place. She will pick a person, jump up on their lap and be content to remain curled up there the whole night, occasionally drooling from sheer bliss. Other times she moves from person to person, trying to get some attention from everyone.

I never feel lonely with Coco around, she provides plenty of entertainment and companionship. She is very good at making just enough room for her to fit between me and the edge of the bed at night or for her to lay almost on top of the computer when it is on my lap. She can be very talkative and loves to play with stuffed mice. I tied one to the back of a chair so it dangles at her eye level and she loves to bat it around. Coco is my furry alarm clock; I never have to worry about sleeping in too late, she lets me know when it is time to wake up and feed her.

All in all, Coco is a delight and I am so happy to have her in my life.

K~

Holiday photos of RLRR pets requested!

If you have Holiday photos of your pet from Red Lake Rosie's Rescue, I would love to share them on the blog in December and January!

Send notes and photos to blog@redlakerosie.org.

RLRR Holiday fundraiser with matching funds!

Thank you to all who have contributed! Please help us reach our goal of $6000.

Red Lake Rosie's Rescue has received commitments for matching funds totaling $6000 -- Friends of Flicka ($1000) and the Lawson Foundation ($5000). For every dollar donated by Red Lake Rosie's Rescue supporters, that amount will be matched by the fund. If we can match the entire fund, that's $12,000!

The long cold winter is just beginning and we know dogs and cats will be coming into the rescue in desperate need of shelter, food and medical care. You can make that possible.

This fundraiser will continue through December 31, 2010. Red Lake Rosie's Rescue is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization so all donations are tax deductible.

You may send checks to:
Red Lake Rosie's Rescue
23880 So. Good Road
Trail, MN 56684

Or, donate using a credit card through www.GiveMN.org in the right pane of the blog or use PayPal on our website: www.redlakerosie.org

If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please contact me at blog@redlakerosie.org.

Sweet Pea Gracie

Check out Sweet Pea's story on the blog just a year ago here.

Sweet Pea came to Red Lake Rosie's Rescue over a year ago after she was found in a ditch near Redby with two broken legs. Animal Ark took her home after a clinic and her recovery with surgery has been remarkable. Sweet Pea became Gracie when she was adopted into a new home with an adult shepherd that became her great friend.

Sadly, the friend recently died, so the family and Gracie came back to Animal Ark to visit and adopted another dog.

We are so thankful for the Ark and all they do for Red Lake animals!!
Karen

FROM ANIMAL ARK BLOG:
Our very beloved "Sweet Pea" came to visit yesterday and met her soon to be new sister, "Carlie"! Sweet Pea is now named Gracie - and is doing famously!

Unfortunately, the family lost their "eldest" shepherd last week and we send them our condolences!! Thank you for coming back to us to find a sibling for our little Sweet Pea!

Snow White: Her prince has come!

Snow White was the name given to a white shep mix found at Ponemah in August. She had been severely injured on her front leg and had been walking around Sesame Street in Ponemah in that condition for some time according to residents. Her leg was held in an unusual position.

Lauren, Mike and Karen went into the area and asked people to help us find the dog. Unfortunately, she was very scared and it looked hopeless. Thankfully she went to the owners house, and he was able to catch her and crate her for us.

Animal Ark gladly took Snow White, had her useless leg amputated and now here's the rest of the story:

MARY SALTER SAID:
Snow White was one of the many injured dogs we've rescued from the Red Lake reservation. It was very sad to see her come into our clinic in the condition she arrived, yet - the success is, we did indeed save her life! We needed to amputate her leg, but look at how great she is currently doing! She is in a foster home right now learning to be a 3 legged dog and doing well! She has been spayed and is available to go to a forever home! It would work best if she didn't have too many stairs to manage.

AND THE HAPPY ENDING:
Hi Karen: You will be pleased to hear that Snow White, a very pretty small husky mix that Ark brought back from the Aug. Clinic and who did have a leg amputated, just got adopted into a fantastic home!!! Fenced yard - they have worked with very, very shy dogs before - AND Snow White loved the 13 year old son.

Shadow & Sheeba

These 2 labs, Shadow & Sheeba, came from the same residence where we were trying to rescue Shadow's litter from a brushpile nearby.

We got all the pups over a period of a month, and also got Sheeba and Shadow. These two girls turned out to be wonderful sweet dogs, and we wondered why anyone was trying to shoot them as they both had injuries.

Thankfully Act V, Dr. Vickie took them both and rehabilitated them, and got them adopted into homes where they won't have to dodge bullets anymore.

Karen

SHADOWShadow - Adopted!
Labrador Retriever: An adopted dog in Bloomington, MN Large • Adult • Female

Shadow is an extremely sweet girl and very mellow. She is about 2 years old and weighs 63 pounds. This girl had been shot with a pellet gun and had a small broken bone in her foot, since then, she has healed nicely. She is a dog that doesn't need a leash and listens great when outdoors. She loves to play fetch and follow you around.
Shadow also just finished her treatment for heartworm disease. She is housetrained, up to date on vaccines, spayed and microchipped. She is a very quiet girl in house and has been good with children, dogs, cats and birds.

SHEEBASheeba - Adopted!
Labrador Retriever: An adopted dog in Bloomington, MN Large • Adult • Female

Meet Sheeba. She has been through a lot in her short life. She came to us from Northern Minnesota with what we thought was a broken front leg. On further examination, we found that she had been shot and was suffering from a complex break from the bullet's shrapnel. Sheeba had surgery to repair her injury and is now healed and ready to find her forever home. If you are looking for a wonderful, mellow, EASY GOING companion, Sheeba is your girl. She loves to travel and will be a perfect RV partner. Sheeba is approximately 2 years old, housetrained and at night sleeps in a dog bed by her foster family's bed. She will always walk with a slight limp but will be happy to take an afternoon stroll with her family anytime. Sheeba is microchipped, spayed and up-to-date with her vaccines.

Hearts & Halos part 2: First visit to RRLR

I was so pleased to hear that a new rescue, Hearts & Halos, was forming in my area of the metro and that they were very interested in working with Red Lake Rosie's Rescue. It was personally rewarding for me to learn that they were already avid readers of this blog!

"P.S. I have been following your blog for awhile now. I just wanted to say how much I enjoy your blog. As I'm sure you remember, the 501 (c)(3) process is slightly tedious. I work full-time M-F and have paperwork all day to tend with, so coming home and working all night on some more paperwork is tiring. For a break, I go to your blog and read your blog posts (both heart breaking and happy- such is the nature of our work!) and that gets me back to focusing on the paperwork really quickly. I should finish and mail them this weekend! This is why we are doing this! So, thanks for the inspiration too! : )"
RACHEL DESCRIBES FIRST VISIT TO RLRR:
As I sit here sharing my computer desk and chair with my own rescued cats, I think back on our experience with our trip to RLRR. Wednesday November 24th (my birthday!) I gathered supplies of food and litter that was donated by others to bring up with us on our trip. My backseat was filled! Friday afternoon I left to stay at Kathy and Sarah's cabin near Grand Rapids. Saturday morning, Kathy and I woke up early and left.

Karen's directions were great. Karen showed us around her facility which is so nice- the tree branches were completely white and covered in snow. It was beautiful, truly nature at it's finest. We visited the dogs (Kathy really connected with Nikita the injured husky), and got to meet the litter of puppies, Percy and Paxton aka Pac Man (our transports!). We unloaded the food, litter, fleece blankets and puppy coats we made or were donated to us (thank you to Daily Med!) We went into the cat house and worked in there, so of course I was in heaven as I am a self proclaimed cat lady. I don't think I have ever cleaned that many litter boxes or had that much fun in a long time! I almost left with about 4 different cats. : )

Kathy worked on organizing, folding, washing and cleaning. We worked together on the dishes waiting in the sink. I swept and she mopped, that cat house was sparkling when we finished! Kathy laughed at me because I didn't notice the tree in the middle of the room until we were leaving. How cool is that! I was way too distracted with the cats.

We went outside and introduced Percy and Pac to make sure they would get along and they did. We started loading the 6 puppies into the vehicle, 3 into each crate. Percy was nervous about leaving Karen and was apprehensive about going into the travel crate. Pac had some blankets in the back and we secured his leash to the inside of the vehicle. We got the transport papers from Karen and we were off!

There was a little crying from the pups at first, but they fell asleep quickly. Pac settled right in and looked out the back window at the landscape passing by as if to always remember where he came from. Percy snored in his crate for the entire trip. He was snoring SO loudly, we tried to audio tape him, he's a funny guy and made us laugh. Everyone traveled very well.

We got to the cabin near Grand Rapids in about 2 & 1/2 hours and unloaded everyone. As you can see from the pictures, these dogs will adjust to indoor living very easily. Pac walked in the cabin door, looked at us and then the couch and then back at us we said "ok, you can jump up", he jumped up, snuggled in and went to sleep. Percy saw Pac on the couch and wanted to do the same thing. They relaxed on the couch.

The pups were in their own roon in the cabin. I laid down puppy pads (puppies are great at going to the bathroom as I found out later!) and played with some toys with them. It was amazing how quickly their personalities became apparent to me. There was one black puppy that I called "the spokesman of the group", the alpha- this one was the first to greet me at the door while the other 5 were laying in an adorable "puppy pile" on the comfortable blankets we laid down for them. There was also a rust colored pup with white paws that I called "six" because I would count the puppies to make sure they were all accounted for in the room. 1-2-3-4-5.. where's 6? This one was who would hide under the bed and whimper, the shy one of the group. They carried little toys around in their mouths and were just typical puppy adorableness.

We made it through the night about as well as anyone with a cabin full of dogs could. They adjusted well and everyone was ok with each other being there and sharing a common space. (Kathy and Sarah had their dog Juneau (also a Red Lake Rosie rescue success story!) at the cabin too. This brought the grand total to 9 dogs and 3 humans. Everyone was toasty warm and comfortable. What an adventure!

We woke up early on Sunday morning (11/28) to pack me and the dogs up (this part of the trip was my solo adventure with the dogs- Kathy and Sarah were staying at the cabin for a few more days). Everyone fit great. I still can't believe I fit 8 dogs in my car. We had 3 pups in a crate again and Percy in the back seat. (Total of 3 crates) and Pac was in the front of the car with me (I have a bench seat so he laid down and slept for a good portion of the trip). Percy was snoring away as usual in the first few minutes, the puppies were thinking "ok I remember this- I just relax and sleep" and Pac snuggled in next to me with his head on my lap and off we were again!! Going to meet their fosters for a new life!

I didn't cry the entire weekend (I was so proud of myself!) until we were all in the car on the way home to the metro (the 8 dogs and I). It must have been a weird coincidence or.. something, because the song "Low Rider" by War came on. While listening to the catchy tune, I was thinking about me and these 8 dogs and how fitting it was because my vehicle certainly was a low rider with all these dogs! It must have been exhaustion because I found that hilarious and laughed until I cried. Pac looked at me like "Are you ok? There is surely something wrong with this girl."

I am always amazed at how much animals have given me and how much they are capable of giving. The older I get, the more I learn about myself, the more I realize life is just not life without animals. It really isn't. I learned and grew so much on this trip. Karen, thank you for having us and for showing us what you are continuing to accomplish for the Red Lake Nation (and the metro). You are so inspiring for us. Thank you also to Kathy, Sarah and Juneau for being so accomodating to me and the 8 dogs at the cabin. It was a great way to break up the long drive and it really was the best adventure I have been on in a long time! It was the perfect way to spend my birthday/thanksgiving week. We have so much to be thankful for -- our animals!

-Rachel