The Mad House

Things have settled down to a more typical pandemonium at our house now. Blessed, who we call Bess, has made herself at home and her and Izzy immediately clicked. They sleep in the same crate now and keep each other occupied in the kitchen since neither of them is house-trained and I don't trust them to run free in the house.

Bess loves sqeaky toys, but after about 2-3 minutes of squeaky, she gets bored and decides she needs to see what it is that's doing all the squeaking. Then she gets busy performing a squeakectomy on the toy. So far Izzy has been our only foster ever who is satisfied to chew stuffed toys and not disembowel them.

Tilly is getting braver and braver. She will even go up and sniff the guys' hands these days and took a treat from Hunter's hand the other day when I wasn't even nearby. AMAZING!

Frodo is busy with his job as the fun police, since Izzy and Bess are always wrestling and playing. He keeps everyone in line as we've come to expect from our persnickety little man. He is getting ready for his 4th birthday this Saturday, but he has the attitude of a 10 year old dog. I can only imagine how he'll be as an elderly dog. Sheesh.

This photo was taken on Bess' first day with us. She was trying to introduce herself to Frodo, but he wasn't so sure he liked her.

Blood-letting

Izzy lost a baby tooth last night - one of her molars, or whatever the canine equivalent might be. She was running around making weird faces and then she would rub her face on the couch. It got so frenzied it started to look like a seizure.

Hunter helped me get a hold of her and I slid my finger back to try to figure out what was stuck back there and - pop - out came a tooth. She calmed right down once the irritant was removed and went back to wrestling with Blessed, which seems like a 24/7 activity for those two. They are inseparable!

A little while later I freaked out because I noticed that Blessed had bloody marks all over her hind legs. I knew they played rough, but I didn't hear any yelping so how had it happened! Then I had to laugh. Izzy's molar was bleeding a little and so every time she nipped at Blessed as they wrestled, she left a little bloody spot. By the time her mouth stopped bleeding poor Blessed looked like she'd been used as pit bait or something - bite marks everywhere! Luckily she cleaned right up.

This photo show Iz and Bless in one of their favorite wrestling "rings". Most of the time Izzy is on her back snarling, long skinny legs flying, biting whatever gets close to her.

Their closeness has been wonderful, because Blessed tends to have separation anxiety and she gets very upset when she's crated and we leave. I've learned that if I push Izzy and Blessed's crates right up against each other she calms down. I'd put them in the same crate, but I don't have any of the jumbo wire crates that would work for that.

Blessed: the new dog in town

Miss Blessed's journey from an Arlington, Texas shelter to us was truly blessed - which is why the New Rattitude members gave her this name. Her adoption at the shelter fell through because it was discovered that she had heartworm. This doomed poor Blessed to the euthanization list unless a rescue group would take her.

So New Rattitude members kicked into high gear. Donations were made to pay for her heartworm treatment and I had a friend at Horizon Airlines try to find a volunteer to fly out to Dallas and bring her back to Washington since she couldn't fly in cargo because of her heartworm.

She was pulled from the shelter and driven quite a distance to Jodi, a NR volunteer in the Dallas area. Jodi cleaned her up, gave her a bunch of love and got her ready to fly to Washington.

An incredible volunteer was found and he spent an entire day flying and sitting around at airports to bring little Blessed to safety. We met him at Sea-Tac Airport and welcomed Blessed to Washington State. We'll have her here for a few days until her foster mom, Kathy, is back from Arizona. Then she'll start her heartworm treatment and get healthy so she can find a family to join.

Blessed is such a sweet little gal. She hates when her people aren't around and gets worried and barks, but we are working on that. She just needs to learn that just because she can't see someone, doesn't mean they won't come back for her. She's playful in spite of the heartworm and has made a great playmate for our foster, Izzy. One thing she has in common with Izzy is that she isn't housetrained, but we are working on that as well. With her one ear up, one ear down, she has a sweet comical look and is quite adept at stealing hearts. What a great story of how much can be accomplished when a bunch of great people work together to save a dog.

Rat Terrier Earrings - All proceeds go to New Rattitude

A couple of talented New Rattitude volunteers made earrings out of rattie charms. There are four sets left and they are going fast so if you want some, order fast!

The cost is $20, which includes shipping and handling. Each set has sterling silver shepherd's hooks. Some of the beads are made from Czech glass and some are the best picks from years of collecting. The charm at the bottom is rat terrier fun! All proceeds from this sale benefit New Rattitude.

To see the color combos of the four remaining sets, check out the Image event album. To order, contact Contact leveckemas@ yahoo.com (remove spaces in E-mail address). Thanks for looking!

Tilly and the tennis ball

Here Tilly is discovering the joy of a tennis ball and what rascally little devils they can be - always rolling away. It's such a joy to watch this little dog learn how to play and start to feel safe.

Another Texas-Washington Shuffle

Often our team of foster parents and volunteers here in Washington teams up with the Texas volunteers to get rat terriers who are listed to be euthanized transported from Texas to open Washington foster homes. Up here in Washington we are lucky that puppymills aren't as prevalent as other parts of the country and Texas has a bunch of them. We are also lucky to live in a part of the country where more couples have dogs than have kids, so it's very dog friendly and full of folks interested in adopting rescues. The shelters that we work with in the Dallas and Austin areas are woefully underfunded and dogs with any medical issues like heartworm, mange, broken bones, etc. doom most of them to the euthanization table. Thankfully, the shelter workers go above and beyond the call of duty to find breed rescue groups to save some of these dogs.

So, meet "Blessed". She's a young girl who was determined to be heartworm positive in an Arlington, Texas shelter. They contacted New Rattitude volunteers attempting to save this little gal. And so the Texas-Washington shuffle began.

Jodi in Texas contacted Kathy who agreed to pay to fly this gal, a momma and her 5 week old puppy to Washington and find them foster homes. The shelter was notified and little Blessed was taken off the euthanization list. She was pulled and transported to Jodi in Dallas. Now, we are scrambling, trying to find a volunteer at Alaska Airlines to fly her so she doesn't have to fly cargo because of the heartworm. The E-mails fly fast and furious - who is picking up at the airport, how soon can they get flight health certificates, who can temp foster for a week until the three can be transported to their foster homes.... It happens time and again. Incredible volunteers working together, giving of their time, money, and energy to save another 2 or 3 or 4 dogs.

I'm proud, you might even say "blessed," to be part of this team.

Psst... don't forget to click the link on your left (purple colored icon) and vote for NR Georgia in the shelter challenge. We have dropped out of first place in Georgia, which means we won't win that $1,000 unless we can move back up the list.

Another voting opportunity - this one's easy

Another animal welfare website, care2.com, is putting on a contest giving money away to shelters and rescue groups. In this one you only have to vote one time and you're done. The top shelter wins $10,000 and they pick a random group weekly to win $1,000. So easy! So help us out and link to care2's contest page to quickly vote. Try it on multiple computers in your house. You may be able to get one vote per computer.

Thanks everyone!