I just got this email and ask that you please help in any way you can, even if just by reposting.

Atticus is a 6 Month Old GSD with Hemivertebrae

Southern Cross GSD Rescue, a wonderful rescue in Georgia, is committed to helping this sweet 6 month old puppy but they need help. Meet Atticus, he’s a sweet and playful puppy just like most all puppies, but he has a problem, he has a condition called hemivertebrae that is compromising his spinal cord.

He is in a foster home in NC and will be going to the Veterinary Hospital there. He will need a CT Scan, an MRI and Surgery and it will cost about $6,000. They are committed to helping him because he is only about 6 mos. old and the outcome could be that he will be able to live a full and wonderful life.

Look at that sweet puppy face!! Doesn’t he deserve a chance at a full and wonderful life??

Souther Cross named him Atticus after Atticus Finch, a character from the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” because of his internal strength, personal courage and noble ideals.

Check out the videos of the sweet puppy below. He has such a zest for life. He just wants to play like other puppies and love and be loved.

Read more… »

Before you get indignant and immediately say no, listen to this story.

Recently Hobbs, a 4 year old lab mix was the center of an abuse story. Last week Anthony Ansill, 25, of Arlington was arrested for slicing open Hobbs chest after beating him with a nail studded board. Hobbs’ rib cage and abdomen were exposed by the foot long cut.

At the time, Hobbs was ‘owned’ by Shawn Lea and he had left the dog in Ansill’s care for a couple of days while he was away. He returned to find to a pungent odor and saw Ansill petting Hobbs, the dog’s abdomen and rib cage were exposed by the horrendous wound. Hobbs could not lay down and was having trouble holding himself up.

Ansil forgot to let Hobbs out and the dog had an accident in the house, the beating was Ansil’s retaliation.

Hobbs was treated and is doing much better now. He’s at Animal Friends shelter recovering.

Now we find out more about Hobbs’ story. You see, Shawn Lea was not Hobbs’ original owner. It seems that Lisa Sobeck and her family had Hobbs up until about three months ago.

Lisa and her husband, Joe, didn’t want to give Hobbs up, he’d been a part of their family for a long time and was very loved. Admittedly I’ll be one of the first people to say that people should find a way to keep a pet, that they’re not disposable, they’re for life and I do feel this way. In this case though, I can see the situation.

See, one of the Sobeck’s five children, Noah, only two years old, was suffering from deteriorating, congenital kidney and bladder condition that required surgery. Lisa herself was being tested for lymphoma and in serious pain. She just couldn’t care for home, five children, one who was seriously ill, and Hobbs.

They didn’t dump Hobbs or surrender him to an animal shelter, they found a new home for him with a cousin, a family member where they felt he would be loved and cared for as he was with them. They also told the cousin that if there was a problem, to bring Hobbs back.

Read more… »

Well folks, with everyone’s wonderful efforts, we got scammer and NJ puppy broker, Vicki Patterson who went under NJ Collie Rescue and Referral, off Petfinder but she’s back at it. That’s right, she now has another website where she’s selling ‘rescue’ dogs at a discount.

As you may recall, this “rescue” has been operating like your run-of-the-mill pet store. It was confirmed in a conversation with the commercial kennel owner on June 23, 2008 that all or most of the purebred puppies which were listed on her now-defunct NJ Collie Rescue’s PetFinder website (under the name New Jersey Collie Rescue & Referral) were purchased from the MO breeder whose kennel name was superimposed on some of the pictures.

In fact, the breeder stated she was under the impression that Vicki Patterson was a pet shop owner when she purchased the 12-14 week old puppies at prices “far less than the usual advertised prices” of $200 found on the website. Patterson not only demanded cash only for her “special rescue rates” of $500 to $745, she also stated the puppies were “saved from auction” (which the MO breeder confirmed –what we’ve known for years–that young puppies are rarely, if ever, sold at auctions - that most of the dogs found at puppy mill auctions are older, retired breeders).

Here’s the information I got today, this update was sent to me by Mary Shaver-O’conner of BanOhioAuctions and issued by Libby Williams of NJCAPSA;

• To contact Vicki directly - > victoriasvanners@gmail.com

• To file a compliant about Vicki’s listing on HorseTopia.com, click here - > http://horsetopia.horse-for-sale.org/home.cfm/complaints.html

Just a heads-up to all rescues and rescuers who contacted us about Vicki Patterson and NJ Collie Rescue & Referral Vicki Patterson has a new website and is selling puppies under a new name: Purebreed Puppy Rescue. As you recall, Patterson was suspended from PetFinder and apparently had to find another way to sell her puppies, which are now listed at a reduced price of $400!

http://www.siteskins.net/purebreedpuppyrescue/

She is also selling on this website: http://horsetopia.horse-for-sale.org/local/products-and-tack/l289958

Read more… »

Greyhound racing is officially over in Colorado. The state’s last live dog racing track in Commerce City closed at the end of June.

This is really mixed news, both good and bad. I’m no fan of greyhound racing. There are so many horror stories associated with it and like most anything, you have wonderful caring people who love their dogs and then you have others. All in all, I won’t shed a tear to see this over, so that’s the good news.

Read more… »

As the dogs and puppies from the recent TN Pine Bluff Kennel puppy mill start to become available for adoption at the shelters, hundreds and hundreds of people are flocking to adopt the small dogs.

At the Atlanta Humane Society, more than 200 people were lined up before the doors even opened to adopt one of the 47 dogs that were available on Tuesday. The rescued dogs were available for adoption for $200. Competition was so fierce that fights broke out and people were actually scalping, selling dogs to those farther back in line for an extra $100.

Many people left sad and empty handed but the remaining 82 dogs will be available for adoption on Saturday and others in several weeks after they’ve gotten the medical care they need. The Humane Society called police on Tuesday and there will be there again on Saturday for crowd control.

One of the most positive aspects is that people also adopted many of the mix-breed dogs that were also at the shelter looking for homes.

Atlanta Humane Society president Carl Leveridge was happy that momentum from the puppy adoptions carried over to the other 250 dogs and cats at the shelter; by mid-afternoon, 45 of the non-purebreds had been adopted.

“We knew we’d get the little fluffies [from Tennessee] adopted, but we were hoping some of the momentum would be carried over to the mixed breeds,” he said.

Read more… »

PLEASE SEE IMPORTANT UPDATE - 6/27/08 BELOW!! Great News!!

Update - 7/8/08 - Uh Oh…. She’s back at it Again!! Read About It!!

I received this just this morning and thought it was important to help get the word out on this individual. With so many reputable and hard working rescuers out there, people like this give them a bad name! Don’t let them get away with it!

Thanks for bringing this information to us Mary (Mary Shaver-O’Conner of BanOhioAuction.com)

Please crosspost and get the word out!!

**************************************************

Alert – NJ Puppy Broker Posing as a Rescue on PetFinder.com

Complaints about sick puppies received from Ohio, New York and New Jersey

Be Aware of This Individual:

Vicki/Victoria Patterson, NJ Collie Rescue and Referral, Whitehouse, NJ 08889

http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/NJ315.html

This so-called rescue is operating like your run-of-the-mill pet store. It was confirmed in a conversation with the commercial kennel owner on June 23, 2008 that all or most of the purebred puppies listed on NJ Collie Rescue’s PetFinder website (http://tinyurl.com/4mo37g) were purchased from the MO breeder whose kennel name was superimposed on some of the pictures. In fact, the breeder stated she was under the impression that Vicki Patterson was a pet shop owner when she purchased the 12-14 week old puppies at prices “far less than the usual advertised prices” of $200 found on the website.

Patterson, advertising as NJ Collie Rescue and Referral, demands cash only for her ‘special rescue rates’ of $500 to $745! It’s also deceptive to state the puppies were ‘saved from auction’ when the MO breeder confirmed what we’ve known for years: that young puppies are rarely, if ever, sold at auctions - that most of the dogs found at puppy mill auctions are older, retired breeders. Reputable rescues attend auctions to buy these poor “used up” breeders to rescue, rehabilitate them and adopt them into approved, qualified homes. Plus, their adoption fees are much less than these pet-store prices.

And most importantly, Patterson/NJ Collie Rescue do not guarantee the health of the puppies once they are adopted. We all know that puppies born in commercial kennels, i.e. puppy mills, are highly prone to contagious, congenital and /or hereditary diseases and defects that can run into the thousands of dollars to treat or cure.

Visit this PetFinder forum link to read about previous problems associated with Patterson and NJ Collie Rescue: http://tinyurl.com/5f45b4

Read more… »

Sometimes there’s a slim line between the two and most of the time rescuers who hoard animals don’t think of themselves as doing anything wrong. They start out with the best of intentions and the number of animals grow until there are more then they can properly handle and take care of. They won’t adopt the animals out because they feel no one can take care of them as well as they can.

In the case of Kimi Peck of Kern County, CA, she has hundreds of dogs living in her million dollar, 23 acre home. Neighbors are tired of the noise and the stench coming from the property. The county wants her to make some major changes immediately. She faces a mandate from county code compliance and animal control: make changes or give many of the dogs to other rescues.

But Peck says she’s being picked on by the county. “Why are you allowing people from Los Angeles to put the heat on me? Everybody knows my dogs are healthy and well-cared for. What I do with my life is my business.”

But shelter volunteers say different, they say the dogs are kept in unsanitary conditions and this is not the first time Peck has come under fire because of her dogs.

She moved to Kern County in 2005 after being run out of Burbank for running the same kind of operations.

She has citations and convictions dating back to 1997; everything from unsanitary conditions to operating an illegal kennel, from records violations to not providing care, food and water to the dogs.

In 2005 she was charged with hoarding. The case involved almost three hundred chihuahuas. Peck again claimed it was a smear campaign but pictures showed conditions far from satisfactory. The charges were eventually dismissed, not due to a lack of evidence, but because of a plea bargain in which Peck agreed to rehome most of the dogs.

Read more… »

Jenny was found as a year old puppy, tied to a lamp post in 1997 and since then she has resided at Gables Farm Dog’s and Cat’s Home in the UK. Eleven years of waiting for a loving family and forever home to call her own.

Initially shy and somewhat aggressive, she put people off and by the time she settled in as an adult dog, everyone was wanting puppies so Jenny got passed over again and again. She the longest-staying resident in the Plymouth centre’s 101 year history but now Jenny finally has a home and a family.

New owners Pat and Mary Caffrey, from Paignton, Devon, were moved by Jenny’s story when they looked at the Gables website and decided to go and meet her face to face.

Mr Caffrey, 59, a retired engineer, said: “We read her story and we thought ‘ah look at that’ about her being tied to the lamp post and being there so long.”

And recalling the moment he and his wife fell in love with hitherto unwanted dog, he added: “When I looked at her and she barked at me.

Read more… »

A little puppy caught in a storm drain yesterday in Miami brought out the big guys for a rescue operation.

When someone saw a dog whimpering and whining by a storm drain yesterday morning, a little investigation found a puppy wedged deep in a drain pipe at NW 75th Street and 6th Avenue in Liberty City. Out come Miami-Dade Rescue crews!

It’s heartwarming to see such efforts expended to save a tiny life of a puppy and they did expend some effort.

Responding rescue crews donned air tanks and masks and went down into the sewer drain in search of the tiny stuck puppy. Animal control officials were also on hand to help and stood by along with the pup’s worried mother who watched and waited for her puppy to be freed.

After two hours of intensive work, one of the firefighters finally surfaced shortly before noon with the wet little dog in his arms.

Read more… »

This tiny little puppy, an English Mastiff, was headed for death. He is one of 14 puppies born to a mother that was only nine months old, a puppy herself, to a Maryland breeder. Four of the puppies were killed and this little guy barely survived.

He was severely bitten in the head and the attack ripped his ear, requiring stitches, which earned him his name, Stitch. But more complicated injuries came with it… impaired vision and brain damage.

“So it’s really his coordination and his sense of balance and sense of direction are definitely affected here,” said Brian Butzer, a veterinarian with Clint Moore Animal Hospital in Boca Raton.

Stitch walks in a circle, has difficulty controlling his head… a disabled puppy, now of no value to the breeder.

The breeder was going to put him down because basically he was useless. Not only would he not make them any money, he would cost them a bundle and you know breeders, aka, puppy millers, they’re in it for the money.

Luckily for this little guy, word got out and people wanted to help and save his life.

Read more… »

Here’s some great news if you’re in the San Diego area and are looking to add a furry family member this summer. All three of the San Diego animal shelters are waiving adoption fees starting today through August to ease seasonal overcrowding.

Any cats 6 months or older and dogs, 5 years or older, as well as any dog or cat that has been in the shelter for more than 30 days will qualify for the waived fees.

“Most of the dogs here are cooped up in cages, they need a home to go to,” Simony Lay, of the shelter, said. “What’s the point of spending thousands of dollars on a dog when you can come save a dog and give them a home?”

All dogs and cats will be spayed or neutered, microchipped and have all their shots prior to adoption.

So, save a life, adopt!!

Photographed with everyone from George Clooney and Danny DeVito to John Travolta and Elle McPhearson and just about everyone in between, you wouldn’t know that Oscar started out as a scared, whimpering , malnourished puppy tied and abandoned outside a notorious drug dealer’s house in Paddington, west London more than a decade ago.

When Dennis Gill found the less than a year old German Shepherd puppy on May 5 1997, Oscar was a picture of neglect and abuse and Dennis wasn’t in much better shape himself. Dog and man turned out to be each other’s salvation and their story is a true rags to riches story.

Dennis was down on his luck, to put is mildly. Due to a brutal beating and mugging, Gill could no longer work and found himself unemployed and homeless in a deep state of depression.

“I had a hole in my heart, and somebody would have to fill it,” said Mr Gill, 47. “I saw this little puppy covered in oil and poo tied up by rope. He was clearly very undernourished and I knew that the people who lived inside were drug dealers, so I went home and got a knife and set him free.”

The rest of the story reads almost like a fairy tale.

Read more… »