It's RAINING puppies!

Puppies galore! Get them fast!
Okay folks, we need fosters for these kids.
And, oh, FOREVER homes. So spread the word to all your friends that think they need to buy a puppy. To foster or arrange a meeting please email gatwaypetguardians@yahoo.com

Running with Kealy

Kealy is a wonderful kid with mountains of gratitude and good energy. While she has enough zest to get me to enjoy an hour run, she grants me much grace by her acceptance of my speed and unwillingness to run a daily marathon. No, I don't want to chase every squirrel up a tree and I am not a sprinter. Kealy takes all of this into consideration when she picks me up in the morning. While she is always awake and rearing to go, she also lets me have a little adjustment time to be groggy and adapt to the morning jogging world. A world which I truly thought would occur in an alternate lifetime. Usually I get my serotonin shots from lifting weights or an abundant amount of "breath of fire" in Kundalini yoga. But Kealy has forever changed that. Now I am appreciating the early morning sunlight and feeling the dew on the grass. After a thermos of yerba mate, slipping on my hip new KSO Vibrams, and hitting play on the ipod (Krishna Das helps as I am really in need of some powerful mantras to kick-start this process), we hit the ground running.

The first few days she was testing me to see if I was really suitable running material. After a few leash changes and myself just surrendering to the actual idea of running itself, we have both adjusted quite well to this invigorating routine. She is such a WONDERFUL girl and she really needs a foster home or to find her forever home. You see, her current foster home is more for "special needs" kids like Bea and Aaron and very shy pups who are still learning to adjust to us people. But Kealy is just a really normal dog who loves people and other dogs and we really need to find her a foster or forever home so we are able to pull another dog in dire need off the street.

Maybe you are flirting with the idea of becoming a newbie jogger.....maybe you just are pretty depressed when you walk in the door in the evening and could use a dose of Kealy's infinite joy of life. This kid will do her best to keep you out of the dumps. And if it's a skinny butt you are after, well she ensures that you will get that too. Please contact us if you would like to meet this girl in person. I really don't think you will be disappointed!

We also have two awesome events coming up. First we have a Trivia Night. Okay, we know....you don't remember any frivolous facts from years ago, heck, you can't even remember if or what you ate for breakfast. But honestly these events are about hanging out with other compassionate folk and bringing a picnic basket full of munchies. Buy the booze there but you can bring your own eats. Contact us if you want to participate but you don't already know 9 other people with whom you would like to spend a Saturday night. Maybe we can help fill out your table and you can meet new friends that give your dogs kisses when they stop by your house. These new friends won't always eagerly point out the excessive amounts of animal hair that always seem to be so prevalent on your black wardrobe.

Finally, we have what we hope to be our hugest event this year. Our DOCUMENTARY!!!! Yes, Rebecca Ormond teamed up with Jamie Case & Amie Simmons to bring Gateway Pet Guardian's movie to fruition. We all know Jamie & Amie are wonderful! And I just met Rebecca at the Tivoli film debut and discovered she is also wonderful and really brilliant. She is overly modest about her incredible talent and she really veered off from her usual style of movie by accepting this grassroots project. I got to hear her talk shop at the Webster debut and found her interview really engaging. This movie was not "easy" to shoot/produce by any stretch of the imagination. She had to rely on the PJ and the crew to use Sony ZI8 HD cams and pretty much relinquish control over what was shot and how it was shot. Scenes got to be pretty difficult to capture because a lot of the footage was during actual rescues where the people filming were also actually participating in the rescue. Add that to being in abandoned buildings with some floors some of the time, walking on rubble, and trying operate a camera in zero degree weather.....well we surely presented her with a challenge. All the girls did an amazing job of taking all of those hours of footage and telling GPG's story.

We want to pack the house for the Webster Film Festival showing on November 18, 2010. You are able to just buy a ticket for the film only but if you can we would love for you to buy a ticket to the "Soiree" afterwards. This is going to be a really great gathering of our fans & supporters. All the money made goes to helping the kids that you see in the movie and also making our other dream, the shelter, begin to materialize. Rumor has it that some stars from the film, four-legged and otherwise, will also be making appearances. We will also be serving animal friendly treats (food for the peeps that didn't harm the animals in the making). And apparently some good live music which we will announce shortly!

And one last note.....We are wanting to get Kenya/La Roja this week but need to find a foster home FAST!!!! She is adorable and also seems to be really well adjusted. All of our dogs are adorable of course, but some have obviously had a lot more social experience with us people. She doesn't seem to possess any fear of people and she should be an easy kid to foster. At least it appears that way from her behavior on the street. You can see for yourself. If you have a space anywhere, basement, warm garage or of course your house-please consider making a difference in her life. You can also see some other kids that are still waiting for a foster. It will be getting cold soon and it would be great to rescue some of the kids that just might not make it another winter. These include Lloyd, Malcolm, Nigel, Nigella, Nina, and countless others.

Forte and Legato "The Dynamic Duo"

These puppies are adorable. Forte & Legato will be 4 months old on August 28th, 2010. They were part of a litter of 8 pups. P.J. searched daily, for 2 weeks, until she was sure that she had found all the babies. Their siblings were lucky enough to find fosters and permanent homes. Can you help us find some people for these dogs to love? They are just spilling over with joy and they need to be able to spread that joy to some loving people. They promise a lifetime of loyal love. Now how many people in your life can fulfill that? P.J. has given them a head start in life. And the usual story.....we can't take in any more kids off of the street until we find some homes for our current rescues.This "octet" of puppies was very lucky. P.J. knew when they would be born and made sure she found them all. Not all the kids on the streets are able to come home with their guardian angel. There is a lot of dog fighting in our area and an unfortunate number of dogs are either used as "bait" or used in fighting. They are exploited to make a buck. Or sometimes they have bullet wounds, etc............Please speak up for these animals. We are their voices www.gatewaypets.com

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.

Tees & Wine. Earth day love.

First, PLEASE share with your peeps! We have a great Golfing event to benefit GPG. Today is the last day to register. It's about helping these kids out, so even if you are a timid golfer, golfer"ess", come & let your inner golf diva shine because you are always more beautiful when you are helping others out! And if you just can't bring yourself to golf, join us for Wine & Wags the same day. Wine & lots of hanging out with lots of folks with big hearts & love of wine. Links to both events with flyers/registration information below on "events" page of website.

http://www.gatewaypets.com/events.html

For the non-golfers-Wine & Wags, wine and cheese event at 4pm in the golf course pavilion. $30 includes wine tasting, light appetizers, dinner and tournament after-party. Order your tickets today!

Date:Sunday, May 2, 2010

Time:1:00pm - 8:00pm Location:Clinton Hill Golf Course

Join us for our first annual Golf Tournament and Wine Tasting Fundraiser at Clinton Hill Golf Course in Belleville, IL! For the golfers-Tees & Tails, 4 person scramble at 1pm. $80 per person and includes: 18 holes of golf, cart, range balls, dinner, drink tickets and after-party. We have great prizes so far!

EARTH DAY!! This Sunday GPG will have a booth in the Wildlife area & we should have some pups to meet. Also, probably some Bhakti Bones, organic animal friendly cookies for your kids with all proceeds going towards a future shelter for the kids that haven't found their forever homes yet. The kids that are still outside, struggling for survival each day. Please come visit our booth. This event is this Sunday, April 25th in Forest Park.

VOLUNTEERS!! We need some volunteers to help at all of our events. The next one up is Earth Day in Forest Park. We are also looking for people to help organize adoption events. There are many places we have regularly occurring events, in which case you would need to set up times/dates for future ones & be a "Question & Answer" type of person at the event. Even if you are only able to do a "Petsmart" or other venue near your home, this would be extremely helpful. We have events all over St. Louis area, and it would be great to have volunteers from a diverse group of areas also. Always check out our event page also, as usually we need help with the listed events. Would you like to help out for a few hours at the Golf Tournament or the Wine Tasting event??

Would you like to write a story for your school newspaper about GPG? Your local newspaper? Your local church newsletter? Do you think that in the course of this day, that you could let one person know about GPG and the heartwarming work they do? Could you share a story about one of the rescued dogs? Could you share a story about a pup who is still on the street, waiting for his/her foster home?

You never know........someone might hear you & be willing to try fostering. They might be willing to ride with P.J. to see the where these dogs live. To see the love they have for her. Even though they have been living on the streets, they have an infinite capacity to learn to love. Love seeks love. They know that she comes every single day to give them food and water. They know she doesn't let them down. Eventually, they warm up to her develop a bond. After being rescued, they usually learn pretty quickly that there are some pretty amazing people out there. They are a testament to the resilience of sentient beings. Sometimes you save their life, and sometimes they save yours. Post us on your facebook page! Put a link in your email! Call us and ask about "riding" along.

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.

-2º on Friday. Please help us get some dogs off of the streets

We were able to rescue Chenille on Tuesday. Turns out she is not pregnant. Doesn't she look pregnant?

She is being treated for heartworm and is safe at the vet, but still needs a foster home.

Which brings me to why I am sending this newsletter. It is COLD outside and it is only getting colder. We will pull as many dogs as we have fosters for.

That's right! If YOU will foster, then we can save another dog from these bone chilling temperatures.

Some of the dogs we would still like to pull who we don't have fosters for are Malcom & Nigella (although we are still trying to confirm that Nigella does not have any puppies on the street). Nigel and Nina both have been spoken for, but we will not leave Nigella behind without them. There are MANY more dogs that we will pull if we only have a home to put them in.

If you have ever thought about fostering, now is the time. If you would need help with food we will help you. We pay for all veterinary care and typically find the dogs a home pretty quickly.

Please click the image below to fill out an online foster application now!

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

Egypt & C.L. (that's creative for Chocolate Lab)

This morning I did my rounds with PJ and we came across the same group of dogs we have seen lately. It is a new pack that consists of a puppy named Egypt, a chocolate Lab, Pit Bull and a few other dogs. I have been meaning to send out a plea for Egypt, and then this morning the Pit Bull, although just playing, got a little rough with the puppy. Rough enough for me to say, that's it! I'm taking that puppy. I was just scared that I would show up next week and the pup would be hurt. That being said, Egypt is at the vet right now being checked out. She is in pretty good shape. One of the neighborhood ladies was taking care of her. She really wanted us to rescue her though. I have parvo at my house, so am unable to foster her. Please take a look at her sweet, sweet face and give her a place to stay until she finds her forever home. She is totally laid back. Jumped right in my arms and relaxed in the passenger seat the entire ride to the vet. Such a great temperament. I think she will be easy to house train too. She looks to be about 3 months or so. Maybe even a little older. Please help me out with this one. I will keep her in my bathroom until we find a place for her, but she is not going to be very happy with that. I have a feeling she will wonder if that was really "rescuing" her if we have to keep her in the bathroom.



On another note, there is also a pure bred chocolate lab that is too sweet for words in this pack. He is a little shy, but is coming around quite nicely with PJ. He took a treat from her today. He seems to show up with some injuries every once in a while, which worries us because he does not seem like much of a fighter. Does anyone know anyone looking for a chocolate lab? Or would anyone be interested in fostering this sweetie? We would love to get him off of the streets.

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!

Yesterday I Visited East St. Louis and This is What I Saw:

There always seems to be one who steals the show. Lawrence is just so incredibly pathetic. He is miserable. I wish that we had a facility to take him to.
I love this picture of him. He is so itchy, either due to mange, or malnutrition. He has claw marks on his face from scratching so much. We are going to start him on treatment for mange and hope that it helps his itchy situation.
I think Nigel is sooo cute. I think he will clean up quite nicely. Nigel still does not trust us enough to allow us to catch him, but he is getting awful close.
This cute little guy is starting to get more comfortable with people. Someone rescued his mom from the streets, so he and his brother are all alone now. His brother will not come anywhere near us. It was so sweet when the mom was still there. We would give her milk bones and she would take them to her pups instead of eating them for herself.
This poor guy has a broken leg. He is scared of us too. He still shows up to eat though!
Maggie is super sweet and being her cutie patootie self. She always jumps up in the car window, takes two milk bones, and waits until you give her some pets. She won't leave unless you give her the pets.
This fluffmonster is pregnant. She is Nigel's sister. They are both sweet dogs.
I like this guy. He has a messed up toe, but I think it is completely healed.

This is just a sampling of what you will see if you ride along with PJ. The dogs look forward to her everyday. They tend to wait at the same spots at the same times most days for her. What would these dogs do without PJ?

Martin (kind of graphic)

I will let you know when a post is going to be sad or graphic. I don't want to offend anyone, and I know that we all want to hear the happy stories of dogs being saved, but sometimes there are trials and tribulations before those dogs can be saved.

Today when PJ was feeding the dogs she came across the same packs as usual. Except this time, one of the dogs was severely injured. Poor Martin's eye was completely hanging out of his socket. Of course he usually will come to PJ, but this time he ran. She chased him and finally caught up to him. She picked him up and carried him about 100 yards to her car. She took him directly to the vet. They are going to have to remove the eye. Martin is so sweet. He loves people and would always play games with the dog treats with the other dogs. It seems like each time we get a major vet bill paid off, or just when we think we might be getting ahead, we find another dog who is in undeniable need of our care.

We could really use you to help us pay for Martin's surgery and medical care. Thank you in advance for all that you do for us. We really appreciate you being here and caring about the animals. Without you, what we do would not be possible.

Homeless but still Gorgeous

Today I rode along with PJ to East St. Louis. Here are a couple of the faces we came across.

This beautiful guy kind of stole the show today. This was his sweet face from the car when we were leaving. "Please don't leave me again!", he says.


This is him when we arrived. Think he was excited?


And this is him being just adorably hilarious. If he could speak, I think he would be saying "blah!", like he didn't like whatever he just tasted. I kind of fell in love with this boxer today. He just started coming around for PJ's daily feedings. He wants it to be his turn to be pulled. He is pulling out all of the shots. That is for sure.




This is sweet, sweet Bomber. Bomber has been on the streets for a long time. He is arthritic and has trouble getting around now. All he wants is to be petted by us. He is the friendliest, sweetest Rottie. PJ gives him meds for his arthritis, but the winter is coming, and the cold weather is even harder on his joints. Do you see his shy buddy in the background?



This cutie is scared to death of us. But, I think she is so pretty. She had mange when she was young, and her fur looks in pretty bad shape. I bet if we caught her, she would be happy in a minute.


Not just dogs that PJ feeds over there. I would look grumpy too if I were this kitten. So pretty though.


We just love this dog. She's a new one for PJ too. She is pretty scared of us, but will probably come around over time. We love that fluffy white fur.


PJ sharing the love.


Little Mini German Shepherd. I have named her Eartha. I love her. She is scared of us too, but extremely hungry. New to the streets too.


This little Pit mix is also miniature. Super sweet to people, but tends to be completely beat up most of the time.


Ra Ra was fascinated by the camera. Every time I went to shoot another dog she ran in front of the camera. When I would press the button she would duck and scoot out of the way. Ra Ra always has to come to the side of the car to get a treat from PJ before she leaves. Ra Ra is super sweet.


Now you have an idea of the day in the life for PJ. She has gone every day since 2001 to feed these dogs. She has not missed one day. It would be so wonderful if we could just take them off of the streets and put them in a warm, easy and loving environment. Please consider donating to our shelter fund. Help us save these sweet animals from the rough street life.