I’m not sure whether you remember us, but two years ago this September 30th, my husband and I adopted two dogs from Friends of the Friendless. Gracie and Penelope were found abandoned with a third dog, Paige, in a home that was about to be sold. While you were able to place Paige with a new family, Gracie and Penelope were still with you six months later, when we came to visit after seeing them on Petfinder. (I included their adoption listings to jog your memory. Last I checked, they were still available on Petfinder, in the “happy tales” section!)

Since their two-year anniversary is fast approaching, we thought you might like to know what your girls are up to!

Back then, we already had three dogs – Ralphie the dachshund and Peedee and O-Ren the rat terriers – and lived south of the city, in a rental home in Stilwell. We’ve since bought our own place up north of the city, in Plattsburg, with concrete floors (impermeable to dog pee!) and a huge fenced backyard for the dogs. The dogs are all doing well together; while they’ve formed their own little cliques, they all seem to enjoy one another’s company.

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The five little terrier-mix dogs had been left behind on Galveston Island by their owner. Alone and frightened they watched as the storm surge began to rush into their home. As the water continued its relentless rise, they jumped to the top of a table and that’s where Houston SPCA rescue teams found them trembling and whimpering in fear. The high water mark was over their heads and our rescue teams knew in their hearts that these little dogs spent most of the night swimming for their lives. But they had a strong will to live and thanks to the Houston SPCA, they also have a second chance at life.

Houston SPCA rescue teams are in a race against time to safe innocent storm victims like these who were left behind on the Island to fend for themselves. Thousands of dogs, cats, horses, puppies and kittens, birds and other pets have found a safe haven at the Houston SPCA.

Sigh.

I have five dogs.

Four are what you might call “terrier mixes.”

The looong dog, standing on the leftmost corner of the table, kind of reminds me of Ralphie, our dachshund.

In fact, the whole group kind of resembles my pack. A bit scragglier, a bit scrappier, but…I can see it. Five little runts, just like my guys and girls. Five sweet, innocent, loyal, unconditionally loving little mutts. Five friends for life. Five reasons for living.

I can barely stand leaving them alone for a few hours: while I go to dinner, to the movies, or - dog forbid - out for the day.

Hell, I feel bad when I have to crate Kaylee in the bedroom while I take a shower in the next room.

So, how does one look at those sweet little faces…and leave them, alone, knowing full well that a hurricane is fast approaching? How?

And that’s not even to mention the creature who - presumably - was “living” in the cage next to the table.

I feel like I should clarify here that, yes, sometimes elderly, disabled, and impoverished animal guardians face obstacles in evacuating with their companions. Maybe that was the case here; maybe it wasn’t. After Katrina, the importance of preparing disaster response plans for both human and non-human animals alike became readily apparent. While the evacuation plans didn’t go off without a hitch in the face of Gustav and Ike, there were plans - not to mention plenty of forewarning.

This didn’t need to happen.

Our animal friends lost everything in the storm but hope.

Please check out the Disaster Relief section of this website to see what you can do to help the victims of Hurricane Gustav and Ike. I started accumulating disaster relief alerts and resources in the days after Katrina - and I continue to update and maintain the page(s) as a tribute to the thousands of animals that needlessly perished in Hurricane Katrina, as well as the many natural and man-made disasters since.

(Photo and excerpts from Houston SPCA’s “updates from the [Hurricane Ike] frontline”; post title lifted from this Kinship Circle alert.)

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts hurricane ike hurricane ike natural disaster disaster relief texas galveston pet companion animal dog canine my furbabies galveston island houston spca hspca flickr photos animal rescue

Last week, I shared a recipe for Herbal Tofu with Apples and Pears, a yummy dish for dogs and people. This week, I decided to try out a slightly different version, sans tofu and with loads of caffeine-laden tea. The result? “Candied” Chai Pears. (”Candied” in scare quotes because they’re candy-esque, not really “candied.”)

“Candied” Chai Pears

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Seven years ago today, LD and I adopted Ralphie from Dachshund Rescue of North America. At approximately this time 2555 days ago*, the three of us were making the long trek back to Rochester from Jamestown.

Originally from Indiana, Ralphie’s foster Mom Janet met our local DRNA rep Lela at some dachshund parade thingie in Ohio and handed him off to her. We met Lela and her husband - who were traveling with a vanful of wieners, one of which bit Mr. Lela on the lip - at their home in Jamestown, NY to pick the little bugger up. Shane drove home while Ralph and I cuddled in the backseat. I sat on the floor so I could get plenty of Eskimo kisses in.

When we first met him in Lela’s backyard, Ralphie ran away from us, huddling behind Lela - whom he’d only just met a few hours earlier - for protection. By the end of the car ride, we were BFFs. When we got home to our duplex in Fairport, he investigated the place dutifully, and promptly took a shit on the kitchen floor. I was so f’in happy to have my very own dog (he’s our firstborn, you see) that I couldn’t care less.

Seven years later, and he’s still my soul mate.

I love you, buhbie.

Warning: super crazy sweet nostalgia after the jump.

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You know you want more doggehs!

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Save the Lobsters, Save the World

In his debut novel, Stephen Evans has created a quirky – yet touching – story about love, loss and our moral responsibility to our fellow earthlings, human and non.

Lawyers Nick and Lena are the titular couple in THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS. On a whim, law school student Lena enrolled in Nick’s environmental law course, and by term’s end, the two had fallen head-over-heels in love. After they married, Lena joined Nick’s law firm, and the two became crusaders for human and environmental rights. In time, Nick’s seemingly tenuous grasp on reality unraveled, as did his marriage to Lena. When Nick’s increasingly erratic behavior became too much for Lena to bear, the two divorced; she bought out his half of the house and firm, and set up a bank account for his living expenses…which he promptly squandered on a “guerilla activist” prank involving 144 lobsters, the mayor’s swimming pool and the Minnesota Zoo.

In addition to costing him upwards of $250,000, Nick’s latest eco-prank is also threatening his very freedom. Enter Lena, who agrees to defend him in court – against her new beau, one Preston Winter. (Awkward!) Without revealing too much of the plot, suffice to say that the brilliant Lena succeeds in saving Nick from both jail and psychiatric commitment – that is, if he can manage to complete his court-ordered community service and mandatory counseling without incident. Given that the volunteer work is to take place at the local animal shelter, Nick’s chances don’t look good.

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…she’s having three more teeth extracted today, for a grand total of nine since we adopted her in September of ‘06.

She’s a tough broad, but I still worry with the anesthesia and all. Not to mention, the dental specialist doing the surgery is located an hour and a half from our house; he’s on the south side of the city, while we live up north. So. Shane drove her down there this morning (she had to be there by 7:30 AM - yeeks!), and is hanging out at the nearest McDonald’s, working off his laptop, while she undergoes and recovers from the surgery. Since he’ll be gone so long - probably upwards of 12 hours - we decided it would be best if I stayed home with the other four. (Lest we come home to, I dunno, feces on the walls? These dogs are seriously spoiled.) So I am really freaking out. If something goes wrong - ugh, I can’t even be there. I’m so worried about Kaylee, the backed up kitchen sink and leaky roof aren’t even bugging me.

Sigh.

This is gonna be a looooong day.

UPDATE, 9 PM: Kaylee’s back home, snuggled in bed and doing well. She ended up having four teef yanked instead of three. Turns out her super-fang had a fistula, which connected it to her nasal cavity. The vet found out when he squirted some liquid teeth cleaning solution in her mouth during surgery…and it came out her nose. So it had to go. So long, Eva Fangoria.

Photos after the jump.

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Send some doggy kisses and good wishes Rennie’s way; she’s at the vet’s today, having a cracked tooth extracted. This is the Year of the Dentist at the Garbato-Brady house; Shane & I had a bunch of work done, Peedee & Jayne just had a cleaning and scaling a few weeks ago, and next week Kaylee is slated to have three more teeth extracted - in additional to the six she had yanked last year.

Anyway, it’s mighty lonely round here without my little ladybug to follow me around. Even the four other little buggers can’t compensate - methinks they miss her too. (Either that, or they’re all afraid they might be the next to disappear.) Except for Peedee, who has a bit of a sibling rivalry thing with Ren. He seems to be enjoying the extra attention and snuggles. “Animals don’t have emotions,” my ass.

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Tagged: my furbabies dog canine pet companion animal rat terrier O-Ren flickr photos

Not that such a sign would have prevented NOPD from murdering Jax, but I do recommend that all animal guardians post something similar on their premises. The ASPCA offers free “in case of emergency, rescue my pet” stickers, and they’re readily available elsewhere for a small fee. (It’s probably a good idea to post one at every entrance to your home.) And if you leave your animals outdoors in a fenced area, a “beware of dog” or “do not open gate” sign is a good idea, too. We got ours from signswithanattitude.com, and have one posted on each set of gate doors.

Not that these babies will fuck anyone up…more likely they’ll make a mad dash for freedom and chase a bird right down the street. The hawks are circling for Rennie, methinks.

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Tagged: lol lolz my furbabies dachshund wiener dog rat terrier Jack Russell terrier Ralphie Peedee O-Ren Kaylee Jayne signs signage dog canine pet companion animal

So I’m back, mostly at least. The surgery went well; the laughing gas and sedatives knocked me on my arse more than anything else. The whole first day I couldn’t keep much of anything down, not even liquids and Vicodin, and so I spent all of Thursday alternating between napping and puking. (A stomach empty save for Dr. Pepper makes for surprisingly interesting vomit. No, for reals.) By Friday my back was seized up from laying around, but I was too dazed to do much of anything else. Same for Saturday. Yesterday I was restless enough that I dragged my but into the office and slogged through my email. Not fun, but at least I got to sit upright for a bit. Yoga felt soooo goood this morning, I almost did it twice.

All in all, the whole experience was not as fun as I’d hoped. I’d had grandiose visions of spending a weekend catching up on Netflix movies, reading a book or two, and just generally milking the sympathy. Not so much. And the caffeine withdrawal (there was a 36 hour stretch where I couldn’t eat *at all*) sure didn’t help matters.

Aside from the four gaping holes in my mouth, I’m good. Good enough to make some lolz, anyways. Here’s a Kaylee series, after she had six teeth removed last March. Her old “owners” sucked ass, but the only thing we can do about that now is love on her and laugh about it as best we can. And edumakate others. So, take your animals to the vet, people, otherwise this is what happens.

Such a sweet face, even with those crazy teefs!

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Tagged: my furbabies lol lolz loldog kaylee rat terrier jack russell terrier teeth dental dental surgery your featherhead dental extractions dentist neglect flickr photos