Aaron needs your help!!!!

Aaron is a star in the upcoming film Gateway Guardians. Aaron has always been one of PJ's favorites. He is such a friendly guy. She has been feeding him for several years along with his pack that you see below.

All of Aaron's pack has either been rescued, or has disappeared. He is the last dog left in the pack.

It is so sad, Aaron has been wondering the streets for the past few weeks looking so lost. As you can see from the pictures, Aaron is very friendly. He does well with other dogs and will make a great addition to your home as a foster or as a forever dog.

We are worried that Aaron is not going to make it much longer. We are desperate to get Aaron off of the streets. He would make such a lovely foster.

Will you consider fostering Aaron?

Please contact us at for more information on saving Aaron's life.

Aaron loves you!

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

Come to our Documentary Premier!

To purchase tickets go here. Click the pull down menu to view the movies showing on the 18th.

A chance to make your life a little Sonny-er

We pulled Sonny close to a year ago when a local parishioners said they were going to call animal control to have him picked up.

We could tell he was a sweet boy, and we did not want to see him put down. When we sent out the plea for Sonny, we did not get any responses, except for one, from Paul Boyer who was generous enough to pay for Sonny's boarding.


Sonny was thankful to Paul for saving his life, but it was not the life for Sonny. I would go to visit him and he would seem so sad. One of our devoted volunteers would go to take him on walks periodically, and finally just could not allow him to be caged any longer. Although, she had never fostered before and her home was very small, she just could not bare to leave him. Unfortunately, she has to move away immediately. She can no longer keep Sonny.

Poor sonny will have to go to a kennel again if we do not find a foster. Please do not allow this deserving boy to be held captive again. He is such a sweetheart and will thrive in the right home. He needs to be walked regularly, and needs someone who is willing to work with his training. He will come to his new home with extensive training and needs a loving person to follow through.

Please help our sweet boy Sonny.

If you have the space in your heart and home and are ready to be Sonny's foster, please contact us at gatewaypetguardians@yahoo.com. If you are thinking about it and are unsure, please contact us and we can set up a time for you to meet Sonny.

Things Are Changing

Gateway is growing rapidly and with this growth comes more rescues and greater responsibility (I will talk more about that responsibility later).

Our movie Gateway Guardians will be making its debut on July 18th at the Tivoli. Lorrie Austin is working on our movie website to make it more interactive and informative. One ongoing feature we will be adding to the site is a section of current dogs we would like to pull if only we had a foster or adoptive home. We will be able to tell you the dog's personality and other pertinent information so that you will know what you will be getting yourself into if you are interested in helping out one of these poor adult dogs.

Aaron, above, has been on the streets for such a long time. He has gone from being friendly to becoming slightly more feral. This usually happens due to another human being cruel to the dog. Unfortunately, the work that PJ puts into making these dogs friendly is then set back. Don't worry though, that friendly dog is still in there. We will pull it out of him again.

Malcom and Show Me live on top of a hill. To the left of the hill there is large machinery that changes the structure of their home on a daily basis. We find them on different mounds of dirt everyday. They look over their city wondering when their time will come.

I have written about Blondie on other occasions. She just had another litter :( She too has been on the street for so long. She will not survive much longer. She is shy, but I can tell that she would be a fabulous dog.

Which brings me to our new found responsibility I spoke about earlier. As we were filming Gateway Guardians, the question kept being raised, "What are we doing about this problem?" Yes, we are feeding these dogs, and yes we rescue their puppies and the adults when we can, but what are we really doing about the problem.

We have decided that we are going to start a spay/neuter program in East St. Louis. It is illegal to spay/neuter and release, but at the very least we can alter dogs who are owned by people. Education and working with the locals will hopefully help to alleviate the suffering due to over population.

We will be working on the details of this program over the next few months. We will be making a plea for funds as well as people interested in contributing their brain power once we get more of a plan together. I am so excited to hopefully be able to start making a dent in the stray dogs in East St. Louis. We are hoping to be able to clear the streets once our movie premiers. The next step is spaying and neutering.

We thought the best way to reach people would be through the churches. Lo and behold, PJ was feeding the dogs the other day when a parishioner drove up to her. Before the woman could say anything, PJ began to explain to her what we do and who we are. She told her about our spay/neuter program and how we would like to get the local churches involved. She said she would take it to her pastor. The lady was very attentive and sweet. She took notes on who we are and said she would look at our rescue. This to me is very promising. It is so nice when we run into community members who are supportive of what we do and willing to listen to our ideas.

Poor Nigel is not looking so hot these days. His mom Nina has transmissible venereal tumor (TVT), which is something we could treat if we had someone to foster her. The other dog in the pack, Nigella is pregnant again. We would like to be able to rescue all three of these at the same time.

If you are interested in rescuing any of these dogs, or would like to be a part of helping to build our spay/neuter program, please contact us at gatewaypetguardian@yahoo.com

Fine Art, Furry Animals, and Fabulous Ale at Schlafly Bottleworks

Don't miss our first annual Mixed Breed Art Auction, February 28th. It is just around the corner. If you would like to purchase tickets for the preview party, we would love to see you there! There will be hors dourves and an open bar for for the preview party from 3:30 to 4:30. General admission is at 4:30 with a cash bar. There will be over 20 local, super talented artists as well as some beautiful pieces created by some of our very own rescued dogs. Strawfoot will be playing from 5:00 to 6:00. A special thanks to Schlafly Bottleworks for donating their space and to KDHX for giving us a fabulous deal on underwriting. Can't wait to see you there!

Hank needs your help bad

As you all know, I have been riding with PJ over the past year or more on a regular basis. One of the hardest things that I have found in riding with PJ is watching a dog go from happy, friendly and relatively healthy to scared, injured and in poor health. We usually end up pulling them before it goes too far, but today, seeing Hank, I have realized that we let him fall through the cracks. He has always had an eye infection. It never has really gone away, but I am now starting to wonder how much vision he has left. He does well with other dogs, but anytime there is a lady in heat, he comes around bloody and torn apart. Underneath that fur is a bunch of scabs and blood, PJ said after petting him today. Hank used to be the first to run up to us. Now we don't see him as often and he is a little scared of us. I would really like to get this dog off of the streets and get him to good health. He deserves it. If you have a place in your home for him, please email us as soon as possible and we will pull him. I am worried that if it does not happen soon, it is going to be too late for Hank.

Custard and Sorbet

First, thanks to everyone who stepped up to foster puppies this week for us. We are so happy to say that by tonight they will all be in their new foster homes.

Next, PJ found Nigella's puppies today! This means a few things...We are going to need a few more puppy fosters in the near future and we are going to be able to pull the remaining three of Nigel's pack! I will keep you posted.

Finally, the real reason for this post.

I went to Hillside today to take pictures of a couple of dogs that PJ pulled earlier in the week. Here is a little caption of their personalities and their stories.

We need foster homes for both of them.

Sorbet (blonde) is very calm and sweet. She approached me slowly and softly and seemed very loving. Hillside removed a collar that was embedded in her neck (see pictures). This poor baby has known a lifetime of suffering, so if you have a loving open home, please help this sweetie.




Custard: (black) We are not sure, but we think that Custard is a dog who has been tied on a short leash to a tree outside of this one house. We never fed her because the people did not want us to. Luckily she broke away and we PJ found her roaming. Again, we are not 100% that this is the same dog, but she sure does look like her. She has a lot of energy and just wants to lick you all over. She is very happy go lucky. She wanted to be on top of me while I was taking her picture, hence the bad photos.




We think both of them are about a year and a half to two years old. We have no where to go with these dogs and they cannot stay at the vet. They are going to end up in PJ's carport if we do not find a place for them today.

Donate a Kuranda Bed to Gateway!

We are in the process of working out a deal where we will have an area to house dogs that we do not have a foster home for. It is not a huge space, but it will give us a central location for us to do paper work and have volunteers come to help us out. We will be able house these dogs who desperately need to be pulled and give them a warm place to stay until we can find a foster home for them. We are really excited about this.

One thing off of the top of our heads that we could use for the space are these fabulous Kuranda beds. My dogs love theirs and it has lasted me through many, many foster dogs where the pillowy beds have been torn apart or peed on, and thrown out. If you would like to help us out, please consider donating a Kuranda dog bed. Thank you again for all that you do. I cannot tell you how amazing everyone has been in helping us to grow and rescue more dogs.

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!

Beware: This post is going to make you angry.

STORY #1

You may remember this guy from our Show me St. Louis segment. We have been feeding him for a few months now. The photos are a snapshot from the Show Me piece (I did not have any pictures of him). Anyway, this morning, while riding with PJ she informed me that he had been shot. I immediately went into rescue mode, "Well we are taking him then. The guy will let us take him if he has been shot." PJ didn't seem so sure.

So we pulled up to the house and he was lying in front. He got up and sure enough, there was a hole on the inside of his leg. He could not set his leg down and it looked swollen. PJ fed him some soft enticing food. We were planning to just take him, but he won't come near us unless his owner is around.

PJ knocked on the door, the guy came out and we explained that his dog had been shot and that we would like to take him for veterinary care. The guy argued with us, saying that he had not been shot and that he had just been in a fight. PJ assured him that she had seen a bullet wound before and that is what it was. He asked us why we cared about his dog. I explained that we just don't like to see him suffer. He said, "Don't worry about my dog. He's my dog, I'll take care of him." Which we all know will not happen.

I left with tears in my eyes. Feeling helpless I decided to call Animal Control, thinking that at least they could go out there and help the dog. The lady said, "Is he on the guys property, ma'am?" My answer was yes, but not all of the time. She said, "Well, there is nothing we can do then." What? I said, "Do you go out to help dogs that are starving and chained if they are on someone's property? I would assume a bullet wound to the leg is just as pressing as starvation." She took my name and I think just appeased me saying they would check it out.


STORY #2

Next stop, our beloved Maggie. Maggie was laying by the garage out back today, which is unusual for her. We had to whistle quite a few time before she came. This is a dog who is normally waiting on the sidewalk for us, sitting patiently, before our car even pulls onto her street.

Maggie came slowly moving from the back area, limping and looking very somber. My heart sank. Not Maggie. She can't be hurt. "PJ, we're taking her." PJ said that we could not take her because the man inside the house will see us and he will be very angry.

"But what are we supposed to do, just leave her here?"

She had some fairly large punctures on her legs, I am sure due to a fight and she seemed quite sore. She has so much hair that it is hard to tell if there was anything else wrong. Although I have seen injuries much worse than these, it was heartbreaking to see Maggie injured.

I don't really know what my point is in writing about all of this. Most days with PJ are fairly easy and on the up side. We feed the dogs, they do their thing and we are on our merry way. Of course we would like to rescue all of them, but at least we know they are getting fed.

Here we have two animals that we cannot rescue because they are "owned" by someone. I wish we could change laws. I wish that animals were not considered property. There is something wrong with a people who disregard the pain, hunger and needs of those who are unable to help themselves. The problem that exists with the stray population in communities like this is a direct reflection on all of the other negative things that happen there.

What can be done?

UPDATE: I just spoke to the Humane Society of Belleville and they went out to look at Yeller (I think that's what the guy calls him). Anyway, they confirmed that it is definitely a gunshot wound and that there are flies all around it and it is very swollen. The rate of infection for these types of wounds is very high. He said they are going to go out there every day to feed him and hopefully be able to rescue him. I am hoping that they will be able to talk some sense into this guy. He wants to meet us out there this week. Unfortunately time is not on our side with this one, so send some good vibes.

SHOW ME ST. LOUIS TOMORROW!

I know I mentioned in the last blog that we would be on Show Me St. Louis sometime in the near future. Little did I know that it would be tomorrow! We filmed this morning and it will air at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 4th. Above is one of the dogs we saw this morning. This poor little girl is one that PJ has seen for quite a while now, but anytime we even pull the car on the street she disappears. Believe it or not she is looking better now than she did a few months ago. Her skin is still quite raw, but there is fur growing back in. She has trouble walking because her skin is so bad. I am ordering a kennel today. We need someone to foster her, so please let us know if you are interested. She will be a very rewarding pup to watch heal.

I took some pictures of Argyle and Tweed (below) at PJ's today. They are ADORABLE. Seriously, look at that little face. And look at the wiry hair on Tweed. We know who the dad is of Tweed and he is a VERY handsome fella. These two were the starving, dehydrated pups that were on the second floor of the falling in on itself building. I'll have to get some pictures of the building to show you what PJ goes into to do these rescues.

INSANITY.

These two need fosters as well. That was our major plea on Show Me St. Louis. FOSTERS! There are about 20 pups on the street right now that need rescuing. We knew where eight of them were and had made the decision beforehand that we were not going to rescue them today due to the fact that we have no where for them to go. But then the news lady said that she wanted to adopt one and said she would also foster another. After that we decided we could not leave the other six just in case the mom got a bright idea to move them, or in case one of the locals saw us and might want a new puppy. These guys are safe now, but we desperately need fosters for them.
Camera broke as I was taking pictures of them, so I will have to get back to you on pictures of them.

Thanks everyone, and don't forget to watch tomorrow at 3!

Argyle & Tweed

Few quick notes...Tomorrow we will be filming to be on Show Me St. Louis. They will be riding along with us as well as filming our little designer pups. Super excited about this and we will notify you of the air date. We have a TON of events coming up. Please go to our website calendar to check everything out and if you are not signed up for our newsletter, please sign up while you are there, so you will be automatically notified of all of the Gateway happenings.

On another note, we rescued two little sickly puppies named Argyle and Tweed from the second story of a building in East St. Louis. We went in looking for these pups a little over a month ago with no luck. The building is completely dilapidated, so I stayed outside with a camera (since I am pregnant) and PJ went in to do the searching. She was in there for about 45 minutes with no luck. We knew the mom was running out of milk, so we continued to leave food and treats thinking they would come out and get them. They never did, but the mom would bring the treats in, so we knew she must have been feeding her babies with them. It finally dawned on PJ that they were probably on the second floor and could not get down. We were unsure how sturdy the steps were since the entire building is collapsing on itself, but our brave PJ, along with our wonderful cinematographer Rebecca Ormond went in and were able to rescue these starving, dehydrated puppies. They have been given fluids and are recuperating at PJ's. They are tiny for 13 weeks due to malnutrition, but will surely catch up with themselves now that they are getting regular food and water. We need you to foster these puppies. Please let us know if you are able to.

Prada, Maggie & Gertrude

We have been feeding Prada for about 2 months now. She is a playful, but shy, little wiggly girl. Definitely a gem of a dog, she just needs the love and affection that a stable home will give her. She is 10 months old and about 18 lbs. She is staying in PJ's carport right now because of her age and the fact that PJ has had parvo in her house. We just don't want to risk it. Please email us if you are interested in fostering Prada, or better yet giving her a loving, fantastic home.


I have spoken about Maggie before on this blog. She takes her bones from us everyday. She loves the pets she receives more than her bones. She is ready to come home to someone. She is going to be the PERFECT dog. I have a great amount of affection for this dog. If I had an open spot in my home she would be my foster for sure. Please consider fostering Maggie. I want to get her off of the streets before she has to live through another winter of icicles hanging from her long, beautiful fur.

Gertrude is the last of the kitties that we want to rescue from the area. She meets us everyday and asks for food. The house she used to live in was knocked down (thankfully she was not in it). The one next store to it burned (thankfully she was not in that one either). She did disappear for some time after those incidences, but is back and begging for food everyday again. Please help us rescue this kitty before she is burdened with the freezing winter months. She is a lover. If you are interested in any of these pets, please email us at gatewaypetguardians@yahoo.com

Pierre

Pierre was owned by an older woman who lives in East St. Louis. She had Chi Chi too (who is now my foster). We pulled Chi Chi first and then found out she had another dog that she was not taking care of and letting run around the neighborhood. She said that she did not want him anymore and wanted to know if we could take him too. PJ brought him home immediately. Pierre is about 7 months old, is a small dog and is so incredibly sweet. He is a lover. He is at PJ's right now, unfortunately cannot come into her house due to the Parvo that she had a few months ago. Pierre has to be kept in a kennel because he has to be separate from the other two puppies that are still with PJ. Pierre is going to be an easy one to adopt out, so should not be a long term foster. The picture does not do him justice. He was still wet from his bath. Please help us find a loving foster home where Pierre can be kept indoors and given the love he deserves.

Help us Save this Sweetie!

We have seen this little sweetheart out on the streets for the past week. You can see her spine, she is so thin. You can also see her injured leg in this picture. It is healing, but it was really bad, whatever it was. I am wondering if there was bone damage with the way it looks. We would like to rescue her if we can catch her. Unfortunately, we will have to raise about $400 in order to be able to get her treated. Please help us save this sweet boxer face. She seems pretty scared on the streets. Whatever small or large amount you can donate will help. Thank you!

Puppies and a Purple House

We were draped in puppies today after the rescue. Seven puppies total from two separate houses next door to one another. We have been leaving notes for this woman asking her if we could take the puppies that have been staying on her front porch, but have not gotten a response. Luckily, PJ is persistent. Today the little boy that lived there was home. PJ asked him to get his mom and he disappeared. PJ knocked again asking him to get his mom again, explaining that we would like to get care for the pups. He shut the door and never came back. PJ knocked again. He came out and his mom followed. She was very nice and said we could take all of the puppies but one :( I will be thinking about the one until we are able to rescue her. The rescue went pretty easy. All of the puppies let us pick them up with a little coaxing except for one. Again, lucky for PJ's persistence. She had him cornered, but he escaped. He went under a car and she swept him out gently with a broom. Finally, he ran onto a mostly enclosed porch and PJ was able to trap him with all of the junk that was on the porch. Trapping him, and picking him up are two different things though. PJ went and got her gloves while I played defense in the doorway with the poor, frightened pup. This puppy cried like it was the end of the world when PJ picked him up. He snapped and struggled and screamed. It really sounds like we are hurting them, but she was not. I saw it with my own two eyes. The scared pup is already allowing us to pet him now. Just goes to show how quickly they come around once they are touched by a gentle human hand. We need fosters for all of these pups. Please tell all of your animal loving friends.




At the end of the rescue, as we were getting ready to drive away, I saw another small dog running around. I decided to try to go get him. What's another one after you already have 7, right? As I approached, he ran away, but a head popped up from the back yard of a purple house without making a peep. It was a very underweight, brindle pit mix tied to a 2 foot kinked up chain. I went to get him a couple of treats and my camera so that I could take a picture of this atrocity. As I was walking back to give him the treats, a woman was walking toward me. "What are you doing over there?" I explained that I was trying to catch the little white dog, but then was going to give the brindle dog some treats. She said that was her dog. I asked if I could give it treats and she said yes, but she better, because he isn't very nice. She was very well spoken, well dressed and seemed like a nice person. I thought about asking her about the too short chain, but decided that it was a matter for animal control. So, I called animal control on the purple house with the brindle pit tied to the fence on a two foot chain. Hopefully tomorrow, that dog will no longer be tied up. And if he is, hopefully he will have been given a longer lead. Wish we could save them all.

Sonny & Deacon are Saved! (but still need a foster)

Thanks to Paul Boyer, of Civil Engineering Design Consultants, we were able to pull Deacon and Sonny Friday. Paul offered to sponsor their stay at a kennel until we can find them a foster. We have one potential foster, but are still in need of someone for the other. They are both very sweet. Deacon (brown guy) is about two years old and is the more laid back of the two. Nothing much bothers him. I think that is why he got so beat up the other day. I don't even think he knew what hit him. Sonny (smaller and tan), on the other hand is about a year old and is all puppy. While Deacon laid quietly in my back seat on the way to the vet this morning, Sonny stepped on his head, back and forth from window to window, trying to get into my front seat, licking my neck, chewing his leash, etc. Sonny seems like he would be a lot of fun for someone who would like a dog with a lot of energy. They both seem to do well with other dogs. Although, Sonny might be too hard of a player for some types.


So, these two sweeties are being kept in a kennel, and although it is a nice kennel, it is a kennel, none-the-less. Their lives have been saved and they are not only safe from attacks from other dogs, but they are living the lap of luxury chewing on their $12 cow arms (sorry little cow) in their very small cage that they will be in until we find a foster for them. Remember, these two are used to running free, so this is going to be a crazy adjustment for them. Since I have never used the kennel before I asked to see the facilities. They are clean and decent, but the barking is killer and I would imagine extremely stressful for all of the dogs there. Not to mention the fact that they will be living in a 3 x 4 cage until we find a place for them to go. Please pass the word along that we need a foster home for these guys. My mission was to save them from being euthanized, and now my mission is to get them out of those tiny cages. It will be haunting me until I can get them into a home.