A familiar face

This poor lady has almost completely lost her hair. She is one of the dogs in this pack that will approach us and wants to be petted. Unfortunately, there is a man who lives around where she hangs out that claims her as his own. He will not let us spay her because he says that he wants a male puppy like her, which really does not make any sense because there are plenty of male dogs that look like her in this pack. There is also a young pup that hangs out around this house. PJ saw him for the first time about three weeks ago. The poor guy is almost hairless and his skin is so raw that he can barely walk. It is so sad. We cannot catch him, but PJ has a plan in place and I am going to ride with her to execute it next week. Wish us luck, because this poor puppy is not going make it much longer without some medical intervention. The poor thing is beyond uncomfortable. We will need a foster for him once we catch him. It is going to be a very rewarding experience to see this poor guy go from the horrific situation he is in to a healthy dog and whoever steps up to the plate to bring this to fruition will be his angel.

Let's Save Nancy!

Meet Nancy, little lady blue eye. Nancy has been on the streets her entire life. She is approx. 35 lb Shepherd/Husky mix (we think). She is probably a little over a year old. She is so sweet. She wants so badly to come in the car with us when we go to feed the dogs. She chases PJ's car every day. You can tell she knows that there is a better life out there for her. It is so sad to see her in the the rear view mirror. We need a foster for Nancy. Although she looks fairly healthy here and is doing ok on the streets, there are so many times that we want to rescue a dog and the next day they are no longer around. There is so much that happens in East St. Louis to these dogs. I just hope that we are able to find a foster home for Nancy before she falls victim to the cruel streets of East St. Louis. She gets along well with other dogs and is so incredibly sweet to humans. We think that Nancy will get adopted very quickly. These pictures do not do her justice. That blue eye is crystal clear. It is so cool looking! Please help Nancy!


UPDATE: Nancy has been rescued by our wonderful foster Melissa Weingart. Nancy has heartworm, but will be ready for adoption after her 6 week treatment. Thanks to everyone who cared about this lovely lady.

Artsy, fun Volunteer Opps.

This is Dixie, that puppy with the grumpy face that I want. She does not look so grumpy anymore. I think someone cheered her up. Or maybe she just needed to go potty really bad in that last photo.

There are a lot of fun things coming up with the rescue. We are planning an Art Auction at Schlafly Bottleworks for February 28, 2010. I will be posting the call for art at the beginning of June. I am really excited about this event. It is still in the beginning planning stages, but I can just see how fabulous it is going to be. It is going to be an annual event for Gateway Pets from now on. Stay posted for the call to art and tell all of your artsy, animal loving friends about it.

The other thing that we have in the works is a documentary. We have just landed a professional movie maker to work on the documentary that we have been throwing around for years now about PJ. This is one of those things that I have dreamt about happening, but really did not know how to make it go. I am so psyched about this. We are going to be having a "Call for Videos" fundraiser to peeps who have adopted from us. We would love to see you and your Gateway Pet in action. It will be your chance to be in the documentary. I will be posting the official Call for Video soon along with all of the rules and format, techi info. Just couldn't wait to tell you about these things.

We are going to need volunteers for both of these happenings. If either of these seems like something you would be interested in helping with, please email me at amie@amieking.com. Thank you for all of your support. We love you!

Lola revisited

Thanks to all who posted and passed on the information on Lola. Here is the cutie now. She is a very calm and sweet dog. I don't know why that family did not want her anymore. She was so thrilled to be pet and loved on. She climbed on my lap when I squatted down to pet her. She has tennis ball size mats under her ears. Besides being a little neglected, Lola is in pretty good shape. She got along just fine with all of my dogs, even the growly one, Floyd. Lola's foster mom says she is doing very well in her home. I think that Lola is going to be the perfect pet for someone. It is just unfortunate that she had such a rough start.

Mythical Dogs

I spoke about Zeus and Apollo in an earlier post. They are now in their foster home and doing quite well. Unfortunately, they were not as well taken care of as the owners had said. Apollo has a horrific ear infection and their skin was quite yucky from malnutrition. They are learning how to behave in a house since they were kept outside most of the time. They are fast learners and are becoming much more comfortable in their new environment, thanks to their fabulous foster, Jamie Kelly. Zeus and Apollo got to attend the Barkfest event this weekend. They are beautiful and easy going dogs. Whoever ends up with these dogs is going to be very lucky.






Do you know who is Zeus and who is Apollo?

Thanks to David Carlyon for these beautiful photos.

Some of the Adorable Faces around here

I just love this little lady's face. Her name is Mabeline. Maybe she was born with it :) I did not name her. She is still quite shy and is such lover. I think she is going to be a great pup for someone. She was one of our Parvo survivors. Hopefully we won't have anymore parvo pups. We have gone to great lengths to prevent that from happening again.

Little Bruce is one of Eartha's pups. He is a ham, playing it up for the camera and chasing his two year old human foster brother around.

Isn't Abby cute? I think she looks so sweet. I want her.

Mr. Hugo is a shy and loving puppy. I love those sweet eyes. He is also sporting a lovely tan toupe.

And finally, the cute little grumpy faced Dixie. I adore this face. Little white fuzz ball. If I were in the market for a puppy, I would have snatched her up already.

Lola--emergency!

This is Lola last year at an adoption event. Is she not the cutest little thing ever. A year later, after being adopted out to a family, Lola has been turned over to Jefferson County Animal Control. We just got the phone call today. The family never bothered to build a fence for Lola and just let her run around outside. She is lucky to still be alive. This is our fifth surrender in the past week and a half. We have no fosters left. We need someone, anyone to step up to the plate and say they will foster Lola. I don't know if I have ever spoken about Jefferson County on this blog, but it is one of the worst animal control centers I have ever been to. Lola's fate is unknown as of right now. We need to get her out of animal control immediately, otherwise she is in jeopardy of being euthanized at any time. They put dogs down on Thursdays at Jefferson County, and Lola will probably be put down if we do not get her out of there by then. Please tell everyone you know and help us find a foster home for Lola. She is about 55 lbs now. Thank you.

Bowser

Bowser was returned to us after being adopted out as a puppy and living in his home for three years. His person came down with Lou Gehrig's Disease and is no longer able to care for him. Unfortunately, before being returned to us, he ended up at animal control for 9 days. Luckily, they finally checked to see if he had a microchip and we were called to rescue him. When I went to pick up Bowser, I asked when the last time he had gone potty was, and they said, "I dunno. They usually just go in their runs." Nine days. That poor dog had not seen outside for nine days. Thankfully he is safe now, and is in his new and loving foster home, who just happens to be our photographer extraordinaire, David Carlyon, which is why his photos are so fabulous. Not to mention that Bowser is just an all around photogenic guy. He is a great dog; super sweet and lovey. We are sure that Bowser is going to find his final forever home on this second time around.

When it Rains it Pours

Seriously. First surrender due to the economy two days ago. Since then we have had two more. That is four dogs in two days. One step forward and two steps back. Barney, above got out of his yard and has been quite the hyper guy for his Guardian. She was not able to keep him anymore due to losing her job, so he is at animal control today. We are in the process of working out the rescue logistics. Poor Barney. He just has so much energy. He desperately needs an active home. A home who loves to go on walks and run and go hiking. I really think he would be a fabulous dog if someone would just put the time into him. He reminds me of my first dog Bailey, who was totally out of his mind, crazy. If he did not get his walk, he would find a way out of my apartment in college and take himself for a walk. He was too smart for his own good. Everyone else thought he was a stupid hyper dog, but really he was just super smart and energetic. He was a lot of work, but so rewarding.

And then, we received a phone call from Belleville Animal Control. Bowser, a dog we adopted out in 2006 was surrendered by his owner 9 days ago! They did not call us until yesterday. They are making it rather difficult for us to come rescue him. We are registered to his microchip and his owner surrendered him, but they are saying that they cannot release him to us since we are not the owner. Hmmm. They are threatening that we cannot rescue him after today, so we are working on using publicity as a threat. I am sure they would not like to be on the news about this. I don't understand why anyone would make it so difficult to save a dog's life. It just does not make sense. We are just a small non profit trying to help this dog. It is infuriating.

To those of you who love your dogs and take such great care and are devoted to them through good times and bad, please give yourselves a big hug. When problems arise, you understand that there are solutions to those problems. Thank you.

Touched by the Economy

Here are our first dogs returned due to the sad state of the economy. Zeus and Apollo were adopted in February 2006. Unfortunately, their mom and dad have fallen on hard times and are no longer able to keep the boys. They are heartbroken, but have to do what is best for the dogs. They have put them through great training and have worked with them to be wonderful house dogs. The thought of these two boys being split up just breaks my heart. Look at those faces. The two of them were born to a Great Pyrenees who was abandoned and tied to a tree. We think the other mix is probably Border Collie. If you or anyone you know might be interested in adopting two dogs who are already house and crate trained, and listen very well please contact us immediately. The two boys do not have to be adopted together, but if we could keep them together it would make us very happy.

Happy Mother's Day!

Eartha's Pups need Fosters!

My favorite is that little white faced grumpy one. She just cracks me up. These puppies are just about ready for their foster homes. We need fosters for them! Desperately, we need fosters. Not only is our wonderful administrator Jamie Case running this rescue, putting on fabulous fundraisers and making the rescue more successful and well put together than it has ever been, she has been fostering these ten (yes, I said ten) dogs for the past 5 weeks. Eartha and her nine pups. Eartha is a sweet little lady. Her pups are going to be gorgeous. If anyone is interested in fostering, please see our fostering page and email us at gatewaypetguardians@yahoo.com for more information. I have to say that I have been fostering for Gateway for 3 years now, and I would not go to another group, no way, no how. The fosters are given so much freedom and are respected by Gateway. I just cannot see another group being as giving and understanding as Gateway Pet Guardians. Not to mention the easy contact and quick responses that are given by Jamie. If you have ever considered fostering a puppy or dog, please contact us immediately!