It is Agape’s annual fundraising campaign and I have agreed
to help as much as possible. I’m not
good at asking for money, but I am because this is not only a cause I believe
in, but also a non-profit that is very well run. I really like that they try to
minimize crating the dogs. And of course, I adopted Beasley through them but my
first experience with them was in the summer of 2006.
Some of you may remember that I had a neighbor who would
leave his dogs for up to three weeks at a time without food, water or
shelter.
A Pit Bull locked in a cage, a
Rottweiler and Shih-tzu, both running in the back yard. So I decided to go in
and feed them.
I was a little nervous at first because I didn’t know the temperament of the
dogs but one of my neighbors volunteered to stand on the other side of the
fence with her cell phone
should the
Rottie decide to take a bite out of me. They were so hungry; they ate too fast
and threw it all up.
That happened a
few times until they trusted that I would show up to feed them every day.
There was a bowl in the cage but instead of
trying to put food it in, I tried pouring water in it and just put food on the
ground so he could have both. That poor Pittie was standing, eating and sleeping
in it’s own feces.
After about a week and a half of feeding them, knowing that
the owner didn’t come home the entire time, I wrote him an anonymous note
asking him to step up and take care of them or find them new homes. His
response was to take them all in crates to wherever he was staying. This obviously cramped his style because he
brought them back after a few days but also put chains around the gate so I
couldn’t get in. Or so he thought!
So here I am climbing over the fence to feed them and get
them fresh water. I maneuvered one of the
gates so that I could step on a brick, loosen the chain, push it open a little
and it was a little easier for me to get in and out. Which was good because I
decided to take the dogs to the vet.
First I brought the Shih-tzu over to my house and gave him a
haircut.
What a difference. He went
from a scared little dog to showing some personality.
I could see his eyes were infected and that’s one of the reasons
I needed to take him to get him checked out.
Turns out, he was blind in one eye and yes; both eyes were infected
because the hair grew so far into the sockets.
Because both his eyes and his personality seemed to pop, I named him
Poppy.
He would need medication in both
eyes for a while and in his blind eye for the rest of his life.
One more haircut and he was on his way back
to the yard. You could just tell he felt so much better.
A few days later I took Waggles, the Rottie. I named him
because his entire body would start wagging every time he saw me. I loved this
dog and would have kept him if I could.
He had mange and heartworm. More
meds plus he would need to be dipped in a solution for the mange.
While doing all of this, I called the Police, Animal
Control, the Sheriff, the Mayor, and every rescue group I could find. Everyone passed the buck. The Mayor told me
to call the Ag Department. Really?
No one would take the Rottweiler even though I offered to
pay for all of his care including neutering.
But I had to find a place for them at the same time. I couldn’t just
take one of them. I even called the
shelter where I once sat on the board and had been sponsoring their annual Bark
in the Park fundraiser for several years prior.
They still wouldn’t make an exception.
The only Rescue who seemed interested in helping me was
Agape. They didn’t have a shelter, only
foster homes and said they would put my name on a list and as soon as they had
a large dog adoption, they could take Waggles.
The director gave me the name of a Rottweiler Rescue about 2 hours South
of Nashville, which was kind of a last chance because he was full and Waggles
would have to live in a crate until they could find him a forever home but it
was an option.
So I put an ad on Craiglist with their pictures offering to
pay for their immediate medical care. I needed the potential adopters to know
they had issues. But once they were vetted, they would be fine.
You guessed it… I stole them! I was nervous but I put
them in the car and drove them to their new homes. The next day, the police
showed up at my house. It royally
ticked me off. I call to report animal
abuse and can’t get any help but as soon as dude reports them missing, they
show up. If he was a very observant
police officer, he would have noticed the Shih-tzu clippings all over my front
porch. I just told him I didn’t have
them. That wasn’t a lie, I didn’t.
Invited him in, he declined.
Good thing, there were also pictures of them on my desk.
A few minutes after that, I got a phone call from one of my
neighbors asking me if he needed to come and bail me out. “Suspected dog napper arrested”. Ha!
Anyway, if you’re still reading and haven’t given up on me
yet, I’m asking for donations to help Agape.
They only charge $175 to adopt a dog when it costs as much as $350 to
get them fully vetted. Sometimes more. It’s like remodeling a house; you never
know what you’re going to get into. And that doesn’t include food, toys or
anything else. Most home expenses are covered by volunteer foster parents if
they can afford it, but we have some fosters who don’t have any extra money and
just foster because they want to help.
We would also like to someday build a shelter. We could exponentially save more dogs and
possibly move to housing and rescuing cats as well. In fact, last year when I trapped and neutered the 14 cats from
my neighborhood, Agape stepped up again sending me a list of about 17 cat
rescues throughout the Nashville area.
Most other rescues just said “No, we can’t take any”.
Just a few facts about Agape: Last year, they saved 100 dogs
all through their foster program. They
have less than a 1% return rate as they do home visits and really try to make
sure the fit is right. I filled out a 5-page questionnaire and they called my
vet, even though they knew of me. They
have been named one of the State’s Top Preferred Placement Partners and earned
the title of Best Animal Rescue in Middle Tennessee for the last six years in
the Nashville Paw Magazine’s readers choice awards. They also have a pet food program to aid families going through
financial hardships by providing them with dog food.
Here are some pictures of Poppy, Waggles & the Pit, who
was in the cage. Unfortunately, I
couldn’t help him. I heard he later died of heartworm from another neighbor.
Here is a link to Agape's facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/agaperescue
Here is a link to some Youtube videos including me walking
Beasley for the 1st time with Arthur. It was part of introducing her
to her new pack.
And a link to my paypal page for Agape.
I know some of you don’t have a lot but even $5 would be
awesome. It all adds up. I can only say
a huge THANK YOU and I hope the karma comes back to you tenfold. It's tax deductible and remember:
Saving one dog won't change the world, but surely the world will change for that one dog.
