On nights like tonight, we all need a little pick-me-up; something to make us feel less helpless to help and to keep our faith in mankind. Nothing does that better than a story about a rescued dog who done good – and then some!

Meet Blazer

If you’ve been following our entries in the Petco Photo Contest, you inevitably saw “the Jack Pack” (plus Border Collie) entered by Laura Miller. It’s a wonderful photo, and we just have to include it here, as well as the link to vote for it …

One of those beautiful dogs is Blazer, a little superstar who has entered his own posthumous photo for the contest. This wonderful boy was adopted from our rescue more than a decade ago, before Jimmy and Donna even took over the reigns. Mom shared such a great success story about him, along with some amazing photos, that we just had to share. Although he left this world for the Rainbow Bridge last December, his memory and his story as a second-chance dog live on.

Here’s Mom’s story …

In 1998 I had 3 JRT’s of my own, Polo, Jake and Polly. I was involved with the Peach State JRT Club and competed mostly in agility. Blazer was owned by a couple that belonged to the club and the husband died unexpectedly. The wife was overwhelmed with several dogs and horses, and being forced to move from her home, was unable to keep them all. Blazer was being kept “temporarily” by GA JRT Rescue while she tried to work things out. He had been there about 3 months, and they couldn’t get her to agree to release him to be adopted out.

She wanted him to go to a performance home, so I agreed to take him and foster him until a performance home could be found. He was almost 2 at the time, and well trained, but had also been hunted so he was very prey driven. He went to a couple of prospective homes briefly, but they didn’t work out. Then he went to a high-profile agility home in Chicago. He was there 7 months, but kept escaping and couldn’t get along with the Chow mix in the hom, so they returned him to me. At that point, I decided to keep him.

Blazer was an amazing athlete. He and I competed in agility on a national level in USDAA, NADAC, AKC and TDAA, earning Agility Championships in each of these four venues. He was ranked in the Top Ten in the country in USDAA agility in 2003, 2004 and 2006. We were invited and competed in the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge, as well as national championships in USDAA and AKC, making it to the Finals of the USDAA Performance National Championship in 2006.

In addition to his agility career, he was a registered Therapy Dog with TDInc. and through the “R.E.A.D.” program we volunteered in after-school programs and libraries, reading with children as his “retirement” job until he was 16.

Blazer’s acting career started when he auditioned for the role of Sandy in “Annie” at the Decatur Playhouse in 1999. He was live on stage for 7 weeks, 4 nights a week+Sunday matinee. Following this, he had a number of acting jobs in commercials and such. He was the “Bellsouth” Dog in an ad campaign in about 2006(?). He also did a fun ad for the Children’s Museum of Atlanta. All of the money earned from his jobs went to pay for vet care for the other foster dogs that came through our home. I often just had checks made to our vet to pay them directly for our rescue bill.

I lost Blazer in December, on the Saturday before Christmas. He would have been 17 in March. He inspired me to rescue and foster, as here was this dog that no one wanted, yet he was a Champion in every sense of the word.

Fabulous Photos

If his story alone didn’t inspire you, take a peek at these wonderful photos. The pics of his BellSouth ads and appearance with the “Sandy” cast were too small to share for now, but we hope to get some higher res pics soon. Just wanted to share his story for now … because we all need them.

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Vote for Blazer

If you would like to vote for Blazer in the photo contest and help rescue dogs like him, you can do so here.

Thank you to Laura for sharing this wonderful story and for giving Blazer (and many others) such a wonderful home. And thank you for the wonderful Martingale collars for our rescue group and desire to help us with our big fundraiser in June. We couldn’t do this without people like you.

Something magical is in the air. It must be. We have had more positive stories in the past few weeks than we have had in years! It began with Peyton in May, followed by Mars in late June and continues this week with two more forever-home announcements. This may be small bones for some rescues who do four in a day, but it’s monumental for us.

In a rescue world full of horror stories and sad endings, we revel in sharing our most recent happy tales, both of which have officially transpired in the past 24 hours!

Troy

Troy arrived at our rescue late last year with Gilbert. Both were scheduled to be put down in a South Carolina shelter before we made the trip to get them. They were young, sweet as candy and ridiculously adorable, but they were both heartworm positive. No one wanted the responsibility or costs associated with treating that … no one but us, of course. Gluttons, we are.

Unfortunately, their rescue occurred at the same time there was a heartworm treatment shortage in our area. We had to put them both on slow-kill meds, which, unfortunately, did not work as effectively as the regular stuff. That did not matter to Amy and Allen Grames, who snatched Gilbert up in March and treated him after adoption. And it didn’t matter to the Biddingers of Augusta, who came to meet Harry last weekend … and took Troy home instead. (No offense, Harry, your family is out there.)

They immediately fell in love with this wonderful clown and decided to take him home on a trial basis (something we offer all potential adopters). Within the first three days of taking him home, the couple paid the enormous fee to have the heartworms killed off, once and for all. Last night, they called to tell us, “He’s not coming back. He has a home.” Those are the most bittersweet, beautiful words one can ever hear in rescue, especially for a boy who has been passed over a few times because his previous owners did not put him on preventative medicine.

We are so happy for this handsome man, who was never short on energy, Kong-eating stunts or gymnastic skills during his stay with us. We knew he needed some one-on-one attention, positive guidance and room to roam, all of which he has now, i.e. he lives on a farm and spends a lot of time with his new family. He even has a Collie brother, William, who he gets along with wonderfully.

Last but not least, he has a new name to go with his new start: They call him Little Ricky. Why? He has friends named Fred and Lucy. We kid you not. Leslie, his new mom, promises to send some photos of Little Ricky in the near future. We can’t wait to see him outside a kennel, living the life he has always deserved.

Thank you so much to the Biddingers, not just for paying those heartworm treatment bills and giving Troy/Little Ricky a new home but also for the kind words about our rescue and the way our dogs are treated. We operate on a shoestring budget with a small band of volunteers helping an incredible woman who has lost both her husband and son in the past five years. It feels futile sometimes, but we remain positive and somehow, someway, we seem to make it work and the dogs always come first. When someone acknowledges that, it gives us strength to move forward.

Susie

By now, everyone is probably familiar with Pumpkin’s story; how she went from rags to riches last summer, thanks to her foster-failure parents, Jennifer and James Roose. Well, guess what? The Rooses have “failed” again … (We prefer two-time adoption success, thank you.)

Long story short: Susie and her six puppies were dumped at Elbert County Animal Control back in March and left to die. Terri, one of our tireless volunteers, could not stand the thought of anything happening to them and agreed to foster them and raise the babies for us. No small feat as anyone who has had a puppy (much less six of them!) knows. Mom was also malnourished and had worms. We had to get her healthy to keep them healthy. Thanks to some donations, we were able to do that.

Once the babies were old enough to let go of mama, Terri brought all of them to an adoption fair, where our beloved poster-girl Pumpkin and mom, Jennifer, were making an appearance. Jennifer and her own mother met Susie and, well, it was all over already … They loved her. (We all did.) Fast forward a few more weeks: Terri left Susie with us to treat some of our other rescues to the comfort of a foster home and Jennifer asked to fail, er, foster for us again.

There were already thoughts of adopting her, but it really depended on how Pumpkin, who is a dominant female, reacted with her. Fortunately, Susie is a laidback sweetheart, and Pumpkin had no problem welcoming her into her new car, forever home/farm and even her bed! The Rooses have spent the past couple of weeks not only bonding with Susie, but teaching her necessary skills and challenges like sitting, greeting stangers and, yes, some agility. (Look out, Pumpkin!)

Today, they announced they can’t stand the thought of letting her go. They’re keeping her. Here are some photos of her story from peril to paradise. Thanks to Jennifer for all the foster pics!

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Funds for our Foster Failures

It’s not all sunshine, butterflies and dog treats just yet, though. Susie has to have surgery on July 31 to have her teeth worked on and some buckshot removed. Yes, before someone dumped her and the pups at the shelter, they shot at her. She has three — lodged under her skin. The surgery is going to be costly. The Roose family (who paid a fortune out of pocket to “fix” poor Pumpkin a year ago) is once again footing the bill. We are helping with what we can.

We wanted to share the story of this amazing foster family with everyone and, yes, once again ask for help for a deserving dog. If you have a spare few bucks and want to help this big-hearted, generous family pay for Susie’s surgery, please click the ChipIn link below. Every penny will go towards her surgery, and we will keep everyone posted on how things go. (If you are using an iPad/iPhone and cannot see the Flash ChipIn below, you can visit our general donations page. Just let us know it’s for Susie’s Surgery in the special notes.)

Living the Dream

What an amazing month it has been so far for adoptions – and there’s already more in store! (tease) We cannot thank our group of incredible volunteers, sponsors and fosters enough for making all of this happen. After so many tragedies and challenges over the past few years, the past few weeks feel like a fairytale. It keeps us moving forward when we need it most and the dogs and we thank you for everything.