Friday night Rich's dear childhood friend C came to town, and yesterday morning we got up early and went to Columbia for the Arkansas Razorbacks vs SC Gamecocks game. It was a 1pm game, so there wasn't a whole lot of tailgating time beforehand, but we did manage to have a few cocktails and grill out before the game. I was the DD for the day so I stuck with Diet Coke during the game, and Red Bull after the game...can't say the same for my hubby and C. I won't post the whole hilarity of the evening to protect their privacy, but just ask me if you're curious and I'll probably spill a story or two:)
After the game we had to pick up a dog (we think she is a boxer/pit bull mix) named Maura (click for her pics) that we are temporarily fostering. Here is her story....she was an owner surrender to the Charleston animal shelter around the first of October. Her owners never gave her heartworm preventative such as Heartguard, so now she has heartworms that have to be treated. She is young and otherwise heathy, so she should pull through treatment just fine but it is an expensive and painful process for them and 100% preventable. If you have a dog, PLEASE keep it on heartworm preventative!! Anyway, Maura's owners were moving and didn't want to take her so they signed her over to be adopted or euthanized. The Charleston shelter says they get between 800-1000 animals per month. I don't know for a fact how many make it out alive, but I would guess it is <5%. You do the math..that's a lot of animals that die. This could be avoided if people would simply spay or neuter their animals. Since Maura has heartworms she was "unadoptable" so her only chance to live was to be taken in by a rescue. The shelter staff loved this sweet girl, so they kept her in the back for almost 3 weeks longer than they are supposed to, just to try to give her the chance to be rescued. Our rescue, Blue Ridge Boxer Rescue, was incredibly full but our wonderful intake coordinators found a foster home for Maura. Rich drove her to Columbia last week and she went from there to Charlotte to her new foster home. Unfortunately, Maura is a big strong girl who knows no manners or commands. It's not her fault, nobody ever cared enough to teach her how to be a good girl. So she was not a good match for her elderly foster mom because she kept knocking her over and pulling her down. So, she is back with us for now. She and Fiona have played and played this morning and are now napping together on the rug. The problem is that Maura has a strong prey drive which causes her to chase small dogs and cats, so we are trying to get her moved to a permanent foster home (the foster home that will take care of her for at least 2 months during her heartworm treatment) that doesn't have cats. Hopefully there will be someone who can trade their foster who is good with cats for Maura who is not. She is a sweet girl, and it is remarkable that she can still love people after being abandonded by the only family she had ever known. That's just a glimpse into what the world of rescue is all about, and I'm sure if you keep reading this blog you'll know more than you ever cared to know about it because it is a HUGE part of my life and will make it's way into lots of posts:)
On the training front: yesterday was supposed to be a 5 mile training run. Since we were gone all day, we said we would do it today. Well after all the fun Rich had yesterday, I don't think running 5 miles is going to make it on his To-Do list for today. So..we're putting it off until tomorrow morning which I hate to do, but I'd rather wait and run together than go by myself this afternoon. Hope you all had a great weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment