Reflections on a first visit to Red Lake Rosie's Rescue

Kristen made her first visit to Red Lake Rosie's Rescue last weekend. She wrote about the experience for the blog:

In reflecting on Karen Good and Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue, the first thing that comes to mind is how to possibly explain the amount of work Karen puts into these animals. As I am trying to think of a way to describe this effort, it is simply unexplainable. The endless dedication she puts forth to care for these abandoned, abused and unwanted animals is amazing. There are no words that will do justice to explain just how much she does. Being there a weekend is enough to wear a person out and thinking of how Karen does this every day, twice a day, is crazy! The amount of work to run everything is neverending. There is always something that can be done and Karen never stops until the animals' needs are met.

Not only are there surrendered animals, she has her own animals to care for too. Mouser, Clover, Grandpa, Cooper, Snowball, Hazel, Shiloh, Pepper, Julie, Mamma Mia…I can’t even remember all the names but low and behold Karen retains all of this, as well as their personality traits, who has been through what, where they came from and who they do well with. These things are all second nature to her, and it isn’t just her packs, it is the same for all of those she brings in as well.

It was great to have such a sense of need from the animals, but heartbreaking at the same time. It is still difficult for me to imagine what they have been through and what the many others suffer day to day for a lifetime, which in reality is generally a very short brutal life time. They are desperately in need of TLC.

My initial desire to go to Red Lake came from my dog, Cheyenne. I adopted her from RLRR in April and have been amazed at her from the start. We often get people asking about her and telling us how beautiful she is. She has the best disposition and is the perfect match for the dog we already had, Lucky. Having her and loving her so much made me curious to see what went on up at Karen’s. After getting more involved, I started to hear the many stories of different animals. I felt the need to meet this woman. How can there be such a person? She really does exist, and I think she is making a significant difference in the lives of many.

I expected this trip to be hard and make me feel sad about how these animals are treated, but spending time there you begin to realize these are sad situations with a new lease on life. The dogs seem to know this as well. They are timid and shy at first, but when they warm up to you they do more than warm your heart.

My favorite pals from this visit were Mouser, who became my lapdog up at Karen’s house, Ollie who was the sweetest Shepherd mix who snuggled up to me after being too scared to even let me pet him at first and Estelle, who reminded me of my own Lucky baby. Of course, all the puppies are sweethearts, but to see the older dogs that have been through awful situations be so loving and gentle is a truly amazing trait and a credit to their species.

Warm eyes, soft fur, endless love and forgiving hearts-how could anyone ask for more? It grows my desire to do as much as possible to get ahead of the overpopulation problem and constant abuse these poor creatures never deserve to endure. Needless to say I know I’m not going to change the world, but if any of my effort can help save the lives of even a few dogs or cats, it will all be worth it in the end, no matter the price. I now feel a lot more purpose in my life. I look forward to working with Karen again and to the warm welcome given by the dogs living at Red Lake Rosie's Rescue.

K-

A Pup's Best Friend

Orphaned pup from Ponemah finds a new home thanks to ARVSS.

We LOVE our new addition so much! As you can see he is fitting right in.

In fact I don't think he has spent one night on the floor yet. He is an awesome puppy.

Every night he gets sung to sleep on one of my daughters' beds with a lullaby. We love giving him treats, because he deserves them.

I just wanted to thank you for letting us adopt this puppy. We are so happy to have him. His new name is "Willie" (Wonka)and has been the center of attention for many days.

In fact he went to Nana's house for playtime while we worked on Monday and I had to beg to get him back as my mother was not going to let him leave without a fight! I had to offer up one of my kids in exchange...fair trade! Just kidding, but seriously he has been so easy and a great addition to our family.

Thank you for finding us the perfect pup.

S family

One down, two to go

Three Red Lake dogs share a bed in their foster home.

Dove, in the middle, is a "failed foster". For non-foster-caregivers that may sound like the dog somehow failed, but, in fact, it is the foster caregiver who couldn't give her up and the foster home becomes her forever home. It is a good thing ;-)

On the left is Ellie and on the right is Dahlia who are both up for adoption on our website.

I think they would each like a bed of their own!

Sprinkles/Sofie living it up

Here's an update on our past RLRR foster kitten, Sprinkles (now Sofie):

"Hi Lauren,

Thank you and Mike so much for taking such good care of my kitty while she was in foster care! She is absolutely wonderful and is already very much a part of our family! Sasha and I love her and can't get enough of her :)

She is so curious, playful, social, and cuddly! By now she has explored every corner of the new house and enjoys running around with the speed of light. She likes playing with anything and everything, but a featherstick is her favorite.

And when Sofie gets tired after playing and jumping around, she comes and sits on either mine or Sasha's lap and purrs while we pet her. Our house has definitely become a more fun and happy place since Sofie's arrival."

-Lauren

Jessica is looking happy and healthy

Jessica came to Red Lake Rosie's Rescue starving and with her large litter of pups that had already started to die of malnutrition. Look at her today:

Jessica is blossoming!

Angela
fostering for Second Hand Dog

Regi: From Trash to Treasure

NOTE FROM REGI'S FOSTER HOME:
Just thought I'd let you know that Regi is doing well. He is so sweet and such a little kissy, snuggly thing.

He started playing with toys right away, but I've had to hand feed him otherwise he won't eat. He slept thru the night without a peep.

My dog Olive is trying to get him to play but scares him a bit, I don't blame him!

Do you know what his story is? Where he came from etc?

~ Mary
All Dog Rescue

RESPONSE FROM KAREN:
Hi Mary and thank you for the email.

Regi came from the Red Lake garbage dump where he was left because he had mange and the people no longer wanted him. This sweet boy was found by Polly, one of our committee members, and then he came to the shelter.

He is a very timid boy who needs tlc, for which you are an expert :)

Thank you for loving and caring for Regi- "One man's trash is
another man's treasure" which is the case with Regi.

Karen

Bo/Frankie is on the mend

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I was having trouble getting a
picture that did justice to Frankie. But, professional photographers John & Jennifer Adams of Just Pawsitive Photography offered to take pictures of the All Dog Rescue foster dogs and they look great.

Frankie is doing extremely well. He's sweet, cuddly, happy, and ready to take on the world. The stitches were removed from his inner ear when he was neutered and that area healed nicely. The gash around the back of his head healed o.k., but not as well. The options are to expose fresh tissue and stitch him back up or allow the area to scar over. We are going to let it scar over. The little guy has been through enough and we don't want to do anything that will cause him pain if it's not medically necessary.

He must have had close to 100 bites on the rest of his body. Fortunately, most did not puncture the skin and the damaged areas have sloughed off. He looks cute - like a reverse Dalmatian with little patches of white skin showing through his black hair. His back legs only get stiff now after he's done a lot of running, playing fetch, or wrestling other dogs - all of which he loves. I try to keep him from overdoing it, but he feels better and acts younger every day. That dog has some energy! He's come so far in just a few weeks that the leg issues were most likely from the attack, but we are going to have his hips x-rayed to rule out dysplasia.

Frankie wants to meet every human and small dog he sees. He's becoming comfortable around and interested in larger dogs. It won't be long before he's ready to wrestle with the big boys. It will be fun to watch. By the way, he's a genius. He learned to sit and lie down in just a couple of quick sessions and he's working on stay. I had him off-leash when I was out of the city one weekend and he never went out of sight. He
immediately came back when I called him, even when he found a deer trail.

Thanks again for saving Frankie. He's a wonderful dog and you can probably tell I'm crazy about him. All the dogs I've fostered have been great in many ways, but there is something spectacular about the dogs from RLRR!

Pam

FROM KAREN:
Oh Pam-- you are an angel for all you have done for Bo- now Frankie!!
I am so happy he got to go to All Dog and ended up in your care. I am SOOO happy about this report. The poor boy was rotting and was staggering when I got him!! So great to hear!!

Karen :)