Shortly before Christmas, a little boy’s beloved dog, Kase, went missing.  He and his family searched the neighborhood for him, but couldn’t find him.  Recently his mom did, and the reunion he has with Kase will completely melt your heart.

Paula Williams of Lubbock, Texas, was devastated for her son, who was dearly missing his dog.  About a month later, she saw Kase at a neighbor’s home.  She asked them to give him back, and discovered that they had been caring for him since he had gotten loose.

“He was found right down the street from our house. A nice family had taken him in and kept him warm and fed,” she said on Facebook.

When Paula arrived to pick up her son from his grandma’s house, she had the best surprise ever.

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In Meridian, Texas, a local hunter came across a dog caught in a trapper’s snare.  He immediately called for help, and the dog was saved from a terrible fate of freezing or starving to death.  After the dog was rescued from the trap, the man decided to adopt him, making for one happy ending for one lucky dog.

The man called Bosque County Rescue Kennels, or BARK for short, after finding the dog on January 10^th.  Volunteers there were told the dog was hopelessly trapped in a snare, and in dire need of help.

BARK is not allowed to go onto private property and pull a rescue, so they called in the park ranger service.  The person answering the call was not only a ranger, but a volunteer member of BARK, and a Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden as well.  Although he was not on the clock that day, he dropped everything he was doing to go and rescue the dog.

The warden met up with the hunter, and he was brought to where the dog had been discovered.  Then the two proceeded to get the dog out of the trap, only to notice that the dog was badly injured by the trap.

They got the dog out of the woods and to an animal clinic as fast as they could.  His front leg was badly damaged in the incident, and the rescuers were informed that the dog may have been trapped in that snare for as long as five days.  They could tell just from the malnourished and dehydrated state the dog was brought in with.

The vet staff took care of the dog’s leg.  They were able to reconstruct it, and they’re saying a full recovery is possible.  However, the dog is not out of the woods yet.  He’ll still need medical attention due to the lack of food and water, and the toll that took on him.  As for now, he is in a foster home for some daily hydrotherapy, and regular bandage changes.

This is not where the story ends, though.  The hunter was so concerned with the fate of the dog, that in the end he inquired about adopting the dog.  It was decided that the hunter’s home and family would be a great fit, and they now lovingly call the dog, “Lucky.”

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The Eagle County Animal Shelter and Services crew found out about the traffic accident, and immediately jumped in to help out.  They set up and coordinated housing, and have provided food and any necessary medical treatment for the dogs.  They are also willing to put them up until another truck can arrive, and they can once again be on their way.

The dogs were taken to the Eagle Fairgrounds’ Eagle Ricer Center, and there’s about 100 volunteers helping to care for them.  They have brought donations of food and blankets, and are taking dogs for walks, and keeping them entertained while they wait.  Many other residents of Eagle County have also brought toys and food, just to be sure that no one is going without.

“The response was unbelievable when we put up a brief Facebook post asking for folks to come help,” said Daniel Ettinger, manager of Eagle County Animal Shelter and Services.  “We actually had a line out the door of people that wanted to come walk or clean.  It was just unbelievable.”

Just because the dogs have been sidelined in Colorado for a bit doesn’t mean the rescue team nor is the shelter’s staff wasting any time.  Some of the dogs are being adopted out right through the fairgrounds.  At this point, there are only two of the 16 dogs left behind by Tall Tails waiting for a forever home.  The other 84 are back on their way to Seattle in a cushy, heated horse trailer.

“We were moving them out of Texas because they have a higher rate of euthanasia there,” said Ettinger. “Places up in Seattle don’t have that problem, so we wanted to get them where they could be adopted quickly.”

The dogs did eventually reach their destination Saturday afternoon.

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“I own a gun range on Wolf Springs Road in the southern part of Dallas County, down here near the river bottoms,” Len Baxley told The Dodo. “And I’ve seen these two dogs — a black one and a white one — running up and down the road, playing with each other for the last several days.”

On his way to work Monday morning, he saw the two dogs meandering along usual.  Perhaps they had an owner who just let them wander.  He returned home around 2 pm, and on his way, was shocked to see the white dog lying dead just off the road.  The black dog sorrowfully sat next to him.

“They were both about seven or eight feet off a road. I didn’t know what exactly to do. But I didn’t want anything bad to happen to the black dog.”

Baxley felt awful about the situation, and knew he needed to get the black dog out of there.  He tried coaxing him, but the dog was resolute in his decision to stay where he was.

“I realized the problem was that he wasn’t going to leave his buddy,” he said.

He called upon friends who had rescued animals, and was told to put the white dog’s body in his van, which might entice the other to jump inside.  So he did, but the black dog couldn’t be hoodwinked.

As night approached, Baxley wondered what to do.  He couldn’t get the dog to get in the van, but he knew he had to get him away from the road.  So he started driving away.

He hoped the dog would follow, and he did.  Baxley left the side door open, and slowly backed onto his fenced-in property.

“It was incredible,” he said, noting that the dog circled the van “at least 30 times” as he inched along.

“He didn’t follow me. He circled. Again and again. And then when I got back to my gate I stopped the car. And the dog just sat in front of the open side door.”

The dog sat guarding the van, but still wouldn’t get in, even with food laid out for him

“He went halfway in, but not all the way. I must have fed him everything … and then some.”

Baxley couldn’t leave his van open all night, and didn’t want to frighten or provoke the black dog, so he had to come up with another plan.

“I was sure the black dog wasn’t going to get run over at this point. But I also know he won’t leave the white dog no matter what. I figured I’d take the white dog’s body out of the van, and since the black dog wouldn’t leave his side, I’d let them spend the night out there and I’d come back and get him in the morning.”

But then he heard coyotes howling.  The black dog was limping, possibly from the accident, and was in no condition to be fighting off wild animals. It was nearly 10 pm; Baxley had been working relentlessly to rescue this dog.

So he called rescue group Dallas DogRRR, and Marina Tarashevska rushed right out.

“And you know, she had the magic touch! It took me seven hours to get that black dog to finally let me pet him,” Baxley said.  “But Marina drives up, opens up her car door and they are like best friends!”

Maybe this dog had been abused by a man, and was afraid of him just because of that.  But together, they managed to get him in a crate and inside the house.  He happily ate more food, and settled down.

It would be the perfect fairy tale ending if Baxley adopted him, but unfortunately, he just can’t keep him.

“He is a great dog. I’m sitting here rubbing him now.  We better find this buddy a home soon because we are bonding. He licked my face. He fell asleep on my foot. I don’t want him to get too attached and then be ripped away from me.”

Baxley didn’t even want to name him, because it would be even harder to say goodbye.  The entire event has already been plaguing him, and he’s hoping to see this boy go to a good home soon.

“Just seeing the black dog sitting there … And I feel bad that I passed the two of them for several days and thought maybe that they belonged to someone down here, although it’s more likely someone probably just kicked them out of their home.”

He buried the white dog on his property, and hopefully the black dog will be able to move on from his loss with a new start in a new home.  If you would like to adopt him, contact Dallas DogRRR.

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Kiah will be only one of a handful of pit bulls to be a police dog. Military and police dog trainer Brad Croft found her at a Texas shelter after her owner had been arrested for animal cruelty.

“The breed isn’t important,” he said. “It’s what’s inside of the dog that’s important.”

She’s going to be a sniffer dog, used to detect drugs and find missing people. Kiah will also be a goodwill ambassador.

“She wants to work,” said her handler, Officer Justin Bruzgul. “She’s high-energy. Affectionate. I couldn’t ask for a better partner.”

K-9s typically cost around $15,000 to be bred and trained. But shelter dogs can be adopted for much less than that, and certainly don’t require a pedigree. Kiah was given to the department for free because of the partnership between Croft’s San Antonio-based company, Universal K9, the Austin animal shelter she was in, and Animal Farm Foundation, a New York group that works for the equal rights of pit bulls.

According to to George Carlson, the Ulster County sheriff’s deputy who trained Kiah in Stone Ridge, New York, a dog’s energy, motivation, and eagerness to please its handler are the most important qualities.

He calls Kiah a sweetheart, and says she’s the only pit bull he’s heard of on the east coast.

“Dogs are individuals,” he said. “They have their own personalities, just like people. And I’d rather train dogs than people.”

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When service dog Kai went missing from his home last November, owner Alexandra Melnick was distraught.  But after many months of ardent searching and Facebook posting, Kai was found hundreds of miles away, and has finally been sent home to his overjoyed family.

Melnick served a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan and came home with a traumatic brain injury and PTSD.  She got a German shepherd puppy and trained him to be a service dog.

“He helps me with things like PTSD and insomnia, she told ABC 10News in December. “He puts me to sleep. He wakes me up for nightmares.”

Kai was stolen from Melnick’s Vista backyard the day after Thanksgiving.  She set up a Facebook and GoFundMe page to get the word out and have money for a detective and a reward.  She handed out thousands of fliers and drove thousands of miles, looking for him.  Months later, she still hadn’t given up.

“I spend my days searching for him, I spend my nights dreaming about him and having nightmares still and I really hope that we get him home,” Melnick told San Diego 6 in April. “He saved my life, I owe this to him. I want to do anything in my power to get him home.”

In August Kai was found, and a week ago, a happy update was posted by Bring Kai Home:

I want to thank every single one of you for all your constant support and help. I also want to say from the bottom of my heart how sorry I am that I have left you in the dark this past week. I had suspected he may have been stolen but didn’t have any idea who it may have been. So, I had to search for him as if he was running around the wilderness. For all I knew, someone took him and got spooked by the media attention and dumped him. I have been looking for breadcrumbs for months with no luck. I have driven thousands of miles the last 9 months looking.

Last week, I found him searching through social media posts. I flew to Texas the very next day. The people who had him didn’t initially know he was missing, stolen, or that I was looking. When they found out, they didn’t want to give him up. In Texas, they have laws regarding this situation. While the Denton County dispatch, deputies, constables, ACOs and clerks were extremely patient, understanding, and worked on this more than I expected, they wanted to make sure I got him back legally and wouldn’t have any issues down the line. We feared him being moved again before the hearing. Animal Control seized him and has had him for time being. They have a beautiful facility and spoiled him for me while I’ve waited. My San Diego County detective worked hard and fast to get the needed paperwork to them.

Relaxing after a much-needed trip to the salon to be flea-bathed and have his painfully overgrown claws clipped.

This morning the judge ruled that Kai is to come back home to California with me.

There is still an investigation to be done over how he left my home and ended up in Texas. In the meantime, I feel beyond blessed to have my baby boy home. I’m focusing on his health right now. The people who had him allowed him to become flea infested to the point he was going completely bald in many places with open sores. He has some trust issues. I believe, the people who had him used heavy negative reinforcement.* He cowers if you move too quickly, has scars that resemble strikes across his body, and his nose has some damage to it.

The Gofundme account is how I was able to find him. Without all your donations, I wouldn’t have been able to spread the word so far and get help from professionals. The remaining money will be divided up between various organizations, ones that helped me find Kai and ones that help others find their missing animals.

This picture is from the shelter last week in Denton County. I will post a video that will help answer questions that you may have. Right now, I’m taking some time to be with someone who I’ve missed very much.

*What she meant is positive punishment.  Negative reinforcement is a misnomer.  What it actually means is subtracting something to reinforce a behavior (i.e. hitting snooze on the alarm – when the noise is taken away, a person will repeat the behavior of shutting the alarm off).  Positive reinforcement is adding something to reinforce a behavior (i.e. giving a dog a treat for learning a trick).

Positive punishment is the addition of something to curb a behavior (i.e. striking a dog – adding pain – to stop it from barking).  Negative punishment is the removal of something to stop a behavior (i.e. taking away a video game because a child misbehaved).

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Londyn was emaciated, sickly, and ready to die outside of a San Antonio high school until five teen guys saved her life.  A fundraiser for her medical care has already been exceeded, and she’s been taken in by a rescue group who is trying to find her a home where she can recover.

The five students – Brandon Noriega, Roland Bazan, Joseph Rangel, Ivan Zarate, and Luis Villanueva – saw her ambling around near the track outside of their classroom.

“It broke my heart, ya know,” Rangel told KENS 5.
The boys brought her water and took turns sitting with her until rescuers from Protecting Animals within San Antonio (PAWS) could arrive to help. Because the group has a club on campus, the students already knew who to contact.

“[We’re] trying to lower the stray population in San Antonio. It’s a really big issue that not many people pay attention to. But we’re trying to raise awareness and get more people involved,” said PAWS president Samantha Jasso.

Only weighing 27 pounds when she was found, rescuers said the six- or seven-year-old Lab mix likely had only hours left to live.  She was taken to Callaghan Animal Hospital where, in addition to being severely malnourished and loaded with ticks, Londyn was diagnosed with a venereal tumor, heartworms and Ehrlichiosis (a disease transmitted by ticks that can destroy many of the body’s systems).

She survived on garbage and knew nothing of human kindness, so the first few days were difficult.  She wasn’t eating well and the likelihood of her survival was slim.  A fundraiser of $2,500 was launched to cover the costs of chemotherapy and other treatment.  Within days, donations surpassed $2,600.

After a week in the clinic, she was taken to a foster home where she finally ate a full meal.  Her weakened condition left her unable to do much more than stumble around, but now she’s gaining enough strength to walk a little bit.  She is still easily exhausted and has trouble sitting and lying down without assistance.  But she’s learning to trust humans and is coming out of her shell.

She still has a long way to go, but her foster dad Daniel is working to make her stronger and more confident and trusting every day. She will begin chemo on the 21st of this month.

If you would like to donate to Londyn’s fundraiser, CLICK HERE. For more information or to see updates on her, check out PAWS’ Facebook page.

The post Texas Teenagers Save the Life of an Abandoned, Dying Dog appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.

Houston, Texas is not exactly a hop, skip and a jump from the Netherlands.  In fact they’re about 5,000 miles away each other.  So, how exactly did Amy, a dog that went missing in the Netherlands find herself in the United States of America?

Amy is a two-year-old Shepherd mix. Back in October, she was found wandering alongside Interstate 10 by a college student from Katy, Texas. Amy was taken to a vet where it was discovered that she had a micro-chip containing her identity. The information on the chip revealed that Amy was a very long way from home.

Amy was from the Netherlands. She was missing from Linda Pool who had been her human mom since she was adopted as a pup back in 2011. Unfortunately, Linda’s family situation had been changed and she could no longer keep Amy. With a heavy heart, Linda brought Amy back to the person she got her from, in the hopes for finding Amy a new home.

For whatever reason, the person who was supposed to be helping re-home Amy, actually sold her off to another family. This was done behind Linda’s back, and Amy was never to be seen again. Or so Linda thought.

“I was very worried, I didn’t know how she was or where she was,” said Linda. “I can’t wait to pick her up.”

Amy is now hanging out in Moody, Texas. She’s staying with a foster mom, Miriam Brueggeman. Miriam said she was contacted by a friend that lives in the Netherlands out of nowhere and asked to assist with the situation.

“I am very thankful just to be able to help reunite a woman with her dog,” Miriam said. “I’ve had dogs for a long time; if it were me I can’t imagine finding my dog in another country. It’s just so crazy.”

Amy and her human have been keeping in contact over the internet via video chat. Amy still recognizes Dutch when she hears it, and is excited every time she gets a chance to connect with Linda.

It’s still very unclear on exactly how Amy got to the United States. Linda had raised enough money to come to Texas to get Amy back, and the pair are to be united December 17th.

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