Karmic Treats and Abounding Spirits.

Tonight is your chance to meet P.J. and all the other stars of Gateway Pet Guardians.
Karmic Treats and Abounding Spirits.
Amazing Guitarist, John McClelland.

Drag your introverted friends out. Even your friends who insist they don't like people.
Eat, Drink, and hang with the dogs.
What else is there?

Will you please help my brothers and sisters?

Hi, my name is Largo and I am writing you as the ambassador to my brothers and sisters.


Eight weeks ago we were born on the streets. My mom took as good of care of us as she could, but really she can only do so much. PJ knew we were born because my mom disappeared for a few days, but she was unsure if we were in a place she could rescue us. Luckily, my mom was smart and she had us in a place that PJ could find us.


Over the course of a few days, once we were located, PJ was able to rescue all of us! We were loving life, awaiting something PJ kept talking about...our foster homes. We couldn't wait! It sounded so wonderful.



Until, one day the sickness hit us. BLAM! All of my siblings were getting so sick. I didn't know what to do. We were rushed to the vet and they said that 4 of the seven of us had parvo. I didn't know what that meant, but I was pretty sure that it sounded expensive.


Gateway Pet Guardians is doing everything they can do to save my brothers' and sisters' lives. Parvo is a very serious virus.

I am here to ask you to please donate so that Gateway can continue to help my my brothers and sisters.

Whatever you can donate will be of use. Whether it is $1 or more they will be forever grateful for your generous gift. And so will I and my siblings.

We are some very lucky pups, rescued just in time.

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

Largo
Ambassador to my siblings
Gateway Pet Guardians

An Update and an EMERGENCY Rescue

Doesn't Chenille just look so cold?

Malcom is her very sweet buddy.

Do you see Chenille in the background here? She is usually all wiggles for us, but was too cold to move today.


Let me just start by saying that I just can't tell you how amazing everyone has been with helping to rescue Nigel's pack. In the past few days we were able to rescue Hooper's Girl, Albert and 9 puppies. Still left are Nigel, Nigella and Nina. Those are the three that we don't want to split up. We think that the 9 puppies included Nigella's litter, but we are not 100% sure so we are not comfortable pulling her off of the streets until we are 100%. Which means, we cannot pull Nigel or Nina yet either. We are going to keep looking to be sure and should be able to rescue within the next week or two. If you volunteered to foster one of these sweeties, please stand by.

AND NOW FOR THE EMERGENCY:

We just discovered that Tweed and Argyle's mom Chenille is pregnant AGAIN. She looks like she is about ready to pop. She hangs out with one other dog by the Ameren station in a dirt pile. We would like to get these two off the streets ASAP. Chenille is soooo cold. She barely has a coat of fur and just sits and shivers, sometimes barely moving when we pull up. We do NOT want to leave Malcom behind. He will be alone if we do that and that is never a good thing.

Both of these dogs are very sweet. A little shy, but will be fabulous once we get them.

If you have a basement that is concrete or an area that is secluded in your house, you would be the perfect candidate to take Chenille. She would be forever grateful!

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.

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!

Itchy Belly

See that cutie in the background scratching his itchy belly. Don't you wish we could pull him off of the streets and make his belly stop itching? I do.

The guy who climbs into the car, whom I call Mr. Man gets picked on by the other dogs. After we gave him his treats and left that day, the other dogs rolled him over and took his treats from him. I don't know why he stays friends with them. He is the next dog I would like to pull as soon as we get enough funds to start pulling again. We are on a hiring freeze, I mean a rescue freeze. Put it this way, the recession is deeply affecting our rescue and we are not able to pull any dogs until we get more funds. We are working our booties off having multiple fundraisers every month, but it seems like we are just spinning our wheels and are still trying to catch up. If you would like to put on a fundraisier for us, please pitch your idea. We would love to hear them!

Hector

Hector is one of those puppies who knows what he wants and knows how to ask for it. We have this soft blanket that we folded up on a chair for him to lay on. He goes to the chair and begs for us to put him on his soft blanket. If we try to trick him with a different blanket he cannot get comfortable and lets us know. He must always have a pillow in his kennel to lay on. If I don't have a soft pillow for him he barks and wines and moans until I bring him one. The other night, I was so tired in the middle of the night and Hector was not happy about not having his pillow (that he had soiled on and was in the wash), that I sleepily got out of bed and brought him my extra pillow. That pillow is now and forever a dog pillow. Hector can tell you what he wants just by looking at you. He is the most inquisitive puppy I have ever had. When he came down with Parvo, I was in the middle of writing a plea for money for Lester, our other Parvo puppy. Poor little Hector looked at me with those eyes in the picture above, the entire ride to the emergency room. It broke my heart. Fortunately, Hector pulled out of the Parvo, much sooner than Lester was able to. Today, Hector is still at the vet, driving them crazy with his loud bark, and entertaining them with his big personality. His I.V. was removed and he will be coming home soon, I am sure. Lester is still at the vet and just ate for the first time this morning in 7 days. We think he is going to pull through, but we were not sure of his fate for the last couple of days. Between the two of these dogs, we are going to have close to $3000 in vet bills. We have had about $300 in donations since I sent the newsletter plea out. Thank you for that. If you have not donated yet, and were thinking about it, please do so as soon as you can. We do not have an account with the emergency hospital, and they do not give us a break. We have to pay them to continue treatment. Thank you for saving these sweet puppies.

Something About Lester

Let me give you a little background. About a week and a half ago, it was a Friday morning, I received a phone call from North County Animal Control. Petey, a dog we had adopted out a little over a year ago had been seized in a drug raid. What? A drug raid? That is what I said, from a house in Wildwood of all things. I immediately went to get pictures of Petey so I could send out a plea for a foster. They would not let me take him that day, but no worries, I was able to go back and get him the following day, thanks to our wonderful resident lawyer, Jonathan Beck.

Meanwhile, I saw a Lester in his cage, so cute and excited. He reminded me of my dog Floyd. I told my husband, and his response was, well, looks like we have no choice but to rescue him. They would not let me take Lester the day I pulled Petey because there was no vet on staff and "those are the rules." But, they did show me Melvin, whom I said I would be back on Monday for, along with Lester. When I showed up on Monday, the vet said, "You can't take these dogs yet, they have to be held until Thursday." Mind you, this is about an hour drive both ways for me. I already had Hector, PJ had rescued ten more puppies on the street, so I took one of them, and we have Hooper because he was getting picked on at PJ's. Gateway is totally strapped for cash with all of the pups we pulled last week, so I told myself as I pulled into the parking lot of animal control, that I would not be taking Lester (whom I had not named yet). When I got in there, and saw him again, I just could not refuse. There is something about this dog that just makes me melt. He is the happiest guy. Loves life. Unfortunately, three days after I got him, he started vomiting. I rushed him to the emergency room in the middle of the night and spent four hours getting him admitted and taking care of paper work. He has been there since. The vet bills for just Lester's care alone are astronomical. We are talking around $1300. We don't even have that much in the bank account at this time. We are struggling. All we want to do is rescue more animals, but without the money to do so, our rescue is at a stand still. This rescue will not make it unless we have money to pay our vet bills. Not to bore you with the gory details, but just to give you an idea, on top of what we owe for Lester, our current outstanding vet expenses are $5000. All I can say, is please help. We really need you this time. Please be part of of what we are doing. You can have a piece of what we are doing if you just donate whatever you can. I can't tell you how important you are to us. Lester would have been put down had I not pulled him. Lester would like to thank you for saving him.

Melvin--Rescued from North County Animal Control

BEFORE

AFTER

Can you believe this little dog was under all of that fur. I cannot believe it is even the same dog. 

Loosen The Leash

Richard Red, is just one of hopefully many of Gateway's dogs who have been accepted into the Loosen the Leash Program! Loosen the Leash is a training program for kids "on the edge". The dogs go through 3 months of training with kids who are wards of the state.

The program is a win/win situation for the child and dog. The former street dog has an opportunity to be highly trained so that their chances of being adopted and remaining in their forever home is greater. The children learn how to train the dogs, thereby learning many of the life skills that they have yet to been taught. To read more about this program, please visit Loosen the Leash. We at Gateway are incredibly excited about being a part of this program. Thanks to Cindy Vickers for having and executing such a great idea.

There is a great possibility that we will be able to pull another dog from the streets to be part of this program, which always makes me so happy. I will post pictures of the candidates as we get closer to the next session, which begins at the end of March.

Lou Lou

I just love this cat. There is just something about her that makes me melt. She is really starting to come around since the last time I posted about her. I think she will be super friendly to all two legged creatures in no time. Well, maybe not birds. Here is the problem: Since my husband has been out of town for the week, I  have been able to keep her in the basement. He is super allergic to cats and when he gets home it is going to be really hard on him to have her around. Not to mention the fact that she is being kept in a cage in our basement. I would really like to get her in a home that can work with her and integrate her into their home life. She deserves it. She is just darling. She has gone from hissing and scratching to rolling over on her back on my lap and allowing me to work her mats out of her fur. She falls asleep on my lap and purrs just like a regular house kitty. I hope someone can find it in their hearts to open up their home to her. I just couldn't resist taking her off of the streets, and now I need to figure out what to do with her. So much for planning ahead. 

We need your help, but what is new?

This is Gilda. She is Hyacinth's sister. We finally caught her. She was the last one in the litter that we had not caught yet. Isn't she beautiful. She is quite shy still, but has only been off of the streets for a couple of days now. She could really use a foster home. If you are interested in fostering her please contact us @ gatewaypetguardians@yahoo.com

Oh, and here is her shy brother Chesley. He has been off of the streets a little bit longer than Gilda. You can see Gilda in the background. Her brother is a little braver, but started off as shy as she did. These pups are still young enough to be given an opportunity to love humans. They desperately need to be in foster homes where they can get a bunch of love and attention!

And here is their brother Broderick. He is sweet, loving, outgoing and as social as a puppy can be. He had a broken leg when we rescued him, but it is healing quite nicely and he is well on his way to be able to be as active as he would like to be. Broderick would love to have a foster home too. This poor little lady is the momma of all of these pups. She is such a cutie. She is scared of us as most dogs are after a certain age. Her ears are quite torn up and she has mange that is getting to the point that she is scratching herself so bad she is bleeding. I would love to get her off of the streets. We know she gets along with other dogs. I am sure once we caught her she would love whatever human feeds her, gives her love and makes her feel better. I know she can learn to love humans. Look at those eyes, they say, "please help me."This little lady is Velma. She really is that cute in person. It is not the trickery of the camera. She is the first puppy we have ever found of her momma's litter. She is a wonder woman. She survived those cold spells that we had at around 2.5 weeks old. She was rescued today and has taken quite nicely to the pillow that I have sitting next to me on the couch. She is a lover. She is overfed now, and the suffering that her short life once was is no more. AND she hasn't had an accident in my house yet. I am shocked! Talk to me tomorrow, I am sure things will have changed. After we rescued Velma, PJ and her obsessive, lovely self went back to East St. Louis to see if she could find any more of Velma's siblings. She found her bro! We have a male version of Velma if you would rather foster or adopt a male.

The rest of these pups are still on the streets. With a facility we would be able to pull all of them and alleviate them from suffering any longer.

I could not get a very good shot of this guy, but he is so cute. He has these short legs, long body, and a big ole head. He looks like a Pitt Bull/Dachshund mix....hmmmm.

Look at those eyes! She actually has a sibling who has the same brown and crystal blue eyes, except opposite. I think they got each others eyes. The sibling would not get close enough for a good picture. These two dogs are so underweight. Baby mama again. I just love her.

That little black wisdom wrinkle on her forehead is really a wrinkle, not just a change in fur color. She has been thinking a lot about how to get out of East St. Louis.

These, again are just a sampling of the dogs we run across in East St. Louis. The ones we rescue, we have to pay for them to get better. The ones we don't rescue we would really like to rescue, but don't have a place to put them. Please help us pay our vet bills and get our facility so we can continue to save more dogs. We desperately need your donations!

I almost forgot about Hudson! Here is our newest addition. I had gone to East St. Louis specifically to take a picture of Hudson because I had heard from PJ what a sweet dog he was and I thought I might have an adoptive parent for him. When we arrived we were told that Hudson had been taken off of the streets and was going to be turned over to the Humane Society, where is fate would have been unknown. Luckily, we had a dedicated and lovely foster who was willing to step up to the plate and save this dog's life. She says that he is one of the most well behaved fosters she has has ever had. I am pretty sure that he is going to be one of those dogs that is hard to come across for some lucky adoptive parents!

Honey, Please don't kill me, but there is a feral kitten lose in the basement.

Which would not be such a big deal if my husband were not deathly allergic to cats. I rode with PJ today, and we have had this ongoing thing with this kitten. I tried to catch her once and failed, but today, PJ snuck up on her and grabbed her while she was eating. It surprised all of us. It's like, oh no! what are we going to do now? She is so adorable, and I am really hoping she will fall for the stinky food in her trap. It's even organic. She got away from me when I was trying to transfer her into the big kennel, her new lovely mansion, equipped with a toilet, fake mice, and jingly little plastic balls, access to food and water 24/7, and a soft snuggly blanket. And all the pets she will allow, which aren't much these days. She is mad at me, but I told her that she should be mad at PJ since she is the one who caught her. I think I have someone who will foster her on Monday, so hopefully we will only have her for a couple of days. I really do not know how my husband puts up with me. He is a saint, as are all of the spouses of the Gateway fosters. Than you to all of you!

Super Bowl Puppy Shuffle

I just love this photo of T-Bone. David Carlyon took this photo and many in this post. He is so talented. T-bone is a sweet, sweet boy. He is well on his way to a new home. We have had a lot of interest in him.

Hyacinth was rescued by PJ from East St. Louis. Is she not the sweetest thing? That curly hair is not something you see on the East side very often. We are not sure where it came from. Hyacinth has been adopted already, but her sister is still running around on the streets. PJ goes every day to try to catch her. Hyacinth and all of her litter mates have mange.

Chesley is one of Hyacinth's litter mates. He is a little more on the reserved, shy side, but super cute none the less. He is a relative of Nigel. Chesley and his brother Broderick still need a foster home. No pictures of Broderick, but he looks very similar to Chesley. He is at the doctor today because he is having some issues. I will keep you posted on how he is doing. Hopefully he will pull through.

This is another one of Chesley and Hyacinth's litter mates. His name is Caian. You can see how bad his mange is. He is a very lucky boy to have been rescued when he was. Soon enough, all of his fur will grow back, his sores will heal, and he will be a healthy and beautiful puppy. I am sure he cannot wait until the day.

Ha Ha! Isn't he adorable? Another one of Mazey's puppies. Too cute for words.

This one is Ella. She is a little sweetheart.

And I think this one looks the most like Mazey. He is a tub.

We have a lot of vet bills because of these pups. I am so sorry to sound like such a broken record, but anything you can give will help us out tremendously so that we can continue to pull more puppies off of the streets. They do not deserve to live like Caian. The streets are not a safe place for puppies especially. Thank you for all you do. I will be posting about a Valentine Event we are having this weekend too that involves artist-made jewelry, hand-made chocolates, homemade dog treats and proceeds to benefit Gateway Pet Guardians. Stay Posted!

Problem Solved

Meet Sherlock, the dog we had in our car when that guy came out yelling at us. Sherlock was tied up for a couple of months in some random location in East St. Louis that did not have a house next to it. And then Sherlock was running free on the streets with a collar on him that was way too tight. Next Sherlock was in our car and we got yelled at by a man who said that Sherlock was his, except that Sherlock was way underweight, dehydrated, covered in burs, heartworm positive and freezing to death. The next time we went out Sherlock chased our car. We just could not refuse him. He is now warm, full and sweet as can be. Sherlock's brother, who I have not stopped thinking about since we pulled Sherlock, chased PJ's car today. He is now at the vet getting checked out. His brother is heartworm positive too, so they both would not have made it much longer had we not taken them. Cillian, Sherlock's brother is going to his foster home tomorrow. He is going to find out what it is like to be loved! There are three other dogs that hang out around there. I would love to get them all. They will be harder to catch than Sherlock and his bro though. I will keep you posted. Thank you everyone for caring so much about these dogs. It is so encouraging to know that people are outraged about these poor dogs as much as we are.

Thank you Mike & Gracie!

The other day we received a letter from Mike and Gracie. Gracie was adopted from Gateway Pets and when she heard the news that we are going to open a facility for her relatives from East St. Louis, she told Mike that he better send money to help out. Mike sent the cutest letter and photo of Gracie. I thought I would share the photo. Gracie is a celebrity!

Thanks to all of you, like Mike and Gracie, who have donated so far to the rescue fund. We are working slowly toward our goal. Our business plan is coming together to ensure our success once we obtain the facility. If you are still considering donating, please consider doing so now. There is a donate now button to the right. We could really use your help with getting this shelter for all of the homeless dogs living in East St. Louis like the ones below. Luckily, the pups below have been rescued! Yay!
Popeye is a 9 week old German Shepherd/Terrier mix, found wondering alone in East St. Louis. PJ just could not resist that cutey patootey face. She came straight over afterward to show me the cutest puppers we have found lately.
PJ was tracking T-Bone and his siblings since they had been born. She knew the mom was pregnant, but did know where she had stashed them. One day she spotted one of them frolicking outside of an abondoned house. By the time she got to the puppy it had scurried under the foundation of the house to be with the rest of its litter. PJ checked everyday to see if these puppies would come to her. She brought the grossest smelling, tastiest to dogs, food she could find. No dice. When they realized it was PJ and not their mom they would hide as far in the depths of that abandoned house as they could. We even went as far as to driving the mom to the pups to try to trick them into coming out. These puppies were a little too smart for us. Finally, PJ was able to get a grate over the hole in the house before the puppies were able to crawl back in. Rescued! It is a good thing, because it was starting to get very cold and who knows what would have happened if they would not have gotten into the safe hands of PJ.