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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

Qelso and Luke

Luke is turning out to be a wonderful little boy. He gets along great with my cats. Here is a picture of him with Qelso, the white and carmel colored cat and with LBJ, the grey and white cat. They are constantly sleeping together and romping around with each other.

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.

Baby Mama

A few weeks ago PJ contacted me asking if I might be able to find someone who would take a sweet pregnant dog off of the cold streets of East St. Louis. She was one of those dogs that tried to get on PJ's lap when she fed her and tried to take a ride home with her when she left. One of those dogs who knew that there was a better life for her and her last litter of pups that she will ever have to give birth to. I thought it was going to be difficult to find someone to take on the undertaking. I sent out the plea, thinking it was a long shot that anyone would step up to the plate. Lo and behold, Mia, a sweet and devoted foster did immediately. It was really just in time because Mazey, a.k.a. Baby Mama, Mia's new foster had her puppies last night, just five days after PJ pulled her off of the streets. She was one of the lucky dogs who got to have her puppies in a safe place on a warm blanket with the attention of a human just in case something went wrong. Nine Ten puppies to be exact. These pups as well as their Mama will stay with Mia until Christmas, and then the whole family needs to move on to a new foster home since Mia is traveling abroad for a while at that point. After about 6 weeks, we will need to find foster homes for all of the babies and the mom. We will then take them to the vet for their shots, spay and neuter them, hopefully train them a little bit, love them a lot and then off they will go to their new forever homes. I will be posting pictures as they grow and become cute little fuz balls. I personally have never experienced a dog birth. I am sure that it is nothing short of fantastic.
Doesn't she look tired? Had I been present, I am sure that she would have had to tell me to go away if she could talk. I personally think I would be a little annoying at a puppy birth. Although, I probably would have obsessed over the process and read a gazillion books and as much info online as I could find. I know, I know. It is not rocket science. I just obsess over things like this. And then, I probably would have passed out once the first one crowned. Have you ever experienced an animal birth? Was it scary? Fun? Gross? A miracle? Did the animal tell you to go away at any point or did you feel like she wanted you there?

Give a Gift! Sponsor a Pet!

This is Koda. Koda was an East St. Louis dog. Sometimes, in E. St. Louis, people who live there will claim the street dogs as their own. Sometimes they are well taken care of and sometimes they are not. Let me reiterate, sometimes. There are plenty of people who take good care of their pets in the area. Unfortunately, Koda's owner did not. We respect the people who live E. St. Louis, and if someone says that a dog is theirs, we do not take it. Koda, along with two other dogs were claimed by a man. The dogs were malnourished, had mange, and had never seen a vet in their lives. We tried to talk the man into surrendering the dogs to us. He refused. One day the man disappeared. The next day his house caught fire. Unfortunately, two of the dogs were in the house when it burned down. Koda was not. We rescued Koda. She is a very special and sweet soul. She is looking for her forever home.
I would like to try to keep this blog as light and fun as possible. And there is a lot of fun and gratification in dog rescue. It is truly the most gratifying thing I have done in my life. We have saved so many dogs in just this year alone, but the fact remains that there are so many homeless dogs on the street that are abused, neglected starving and lonely. There are also thousands of dogs who are put down every day in shelters across the world. You see the cute pictures of the animals on the side bar to the left and, yes, they are adorable. Many of them did not come to us like that. We give them proper food, veterinary care, love and attention. Many of them have never been in a house before. They are so confused and nervous at first. Usually within a quick day or two they begin to warm up and understand that they are safe. Something really changes in their eyes once they know they are safe.

When I send a foster off to his forever home, knowing how happy he will be for the rest of his life, knowing that because of the training, love, and attention he received in my house, his life will be forever changed. Unfortunately, this love and attention is only something that can be given to a homeless pet if our rescue has the money to pull a dog. There are times where we would like to rescue a dog off of the streets, but we don't have the money to do so. So, we wait. Sometimes it is too late. The average lifespan of a dog on the streets is about a year and a half. There are just too many variables that make living on the street nearly impossible for these dogs. They are not wild animals, they are domesticated dogs who would prefer to be in a home. Some of them jump into PJ's car when she gets out to feed them. It is heartbreaking to see those who somehow know that there is something better out there for them. Like I said, because of lack of finances, we are unable to take most of these dogs.

Will you please consider donating to our rescue, or sponsoring a pet as a gift for Christmas? We desperately need your help, and so do the animals.

I apologize again for the dark and heavy post. I will try to keep it as light as possible and will give warning when a post might be sad or ugly, just in case you do not want to read it. I thank you for taking the time for caring about what we are doing.

***SIDE NOTE: Many of you may be thinking, "How do they get such beautiful pictures of their foster dogs?" Koda is David Carlyon's foster. David is such a talented photographer. It just so happens that he has volunteered to do pet portraits and donate the proceeds to our rescue. I will post more on this when I have more information. It is seriously going to be such a great opportunity to get artsy photos of your loved ones! I know I will be first in line with my own monsters.

Marley & Me!

Have you ever had the worst dog in the world. I know I have. My first dog when I was 16, was given to me by my first boyfriend. His name was Bailey. My parents forbade me to get a dog. I used to pray for a dog every night before I went to bed. For Christmas that is all I would ask for. My mom was so happy when I stopped believing at such a young age so that she could just tell me no. When I brought Bailey home, my ma climbed up on her chair and yelled, "What the *#$^& is that!", over and over again. Bailey was the cutest puppy though. He was so little and followed her around, grabbing onto her pant leg. I saw her smile at him, and I knew I had her. Then Bailey started to grow and become destructive and crazy. I am not sure that I can put into words how crazy this dog was. If you watch the preview for Marley & Me, you will get some understanding. He did most of the things in the preview, plus some. He ate countless remotes, hundred dollar bills, thousand dollar checks. We had to replace all of the doors in the house because he would chew and scratch on them. He would bark incessantly at me until I picked up the ball and threw it. In the car, going through a drive thru, Bailey would jump behind me in the driver's seat and try to get to the person in the window. Not because he wanted to hurt them, but because, well, why wouldn't they want him there.

The preview for this movie Marley & Me awakened all of these memories of Bailey. After Bailey passed away, I was pretty lost. I had been through college, several boyfriends, and the ups and downs of life with Bailey by my side. It wasn't just Amie, it was Amie & Bailey. He went every where with me. His passing is kind of what thrust me into dog rescue. Always trying to fill that void, I suppose. I would love to hear your stories about your crazy dogs.

After viewing the previews for this movie, and getting over my reminiscing of Bailey, I got an idea for our rescue. I wrote a letter to AMC Theatres requesting that they work with us to donate some of the proceeds from the viewing of Marley & Me at the AMC West Olive Theatre. It would help us toward our goal of purchasing a shelter for all of the homeless dogs. Please leave a comment on this entry, and let AMC know that you will go see Marley & Me at the West Olive theatre if they donate some of the proceeds to Gateway Pet Guardians. You don't have to leave much, just say, "I will go see Marley and me at AMC!", or whatever you would like. Thanks for all of your support and I hope everyone has a great Thursday.