AARCS - our new family in the garage

Do you see these sad eyes?!! This is why we foster rescue dogs! Let me tell you about the last 24 hours...

Our rescue organization, AARCS (Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society), respected our request to have a break from rescue dogs for the last 2 weeks. This is such an amazing group of people I am honoured to 'work' with. I have spent much of our break resting. We love what we do, but I get fatigued and I really needed this rest so I could get back to stamping and fostering.

When we were down to the last puppy from the 'J' litter, the president of AARCS told me about a spay/neuter clinic they, along with the other rescue organizations in our province, were sponsoring about 3 1/2 hours south of our city. Last year, 75 dogs were surrendered at this event. I don't have the numbers for this year yet on this event, but I was told the numbers were significantly higher. I was told 2 weeks ago, odds were we'd have a litter again this weekend.

Yesterday evening, I received a call asking if I might be comfortable getting a litter of 12 and their mom. That's our main purpose, so we said, 'Bring it on!' I received more details today as we were firming up details. This mama dog had 16 puppies and all are in extremely bad shape. They decided to split the litter since the puppies are 3-4 weeks old by keeping the sickest, most emaciated with the mom and bringing them here. We have the mom and 8 of her puppies here now. No one is quite sure if all these puppies are hers, but they are all the same age and were all found with her, so it is safe to assume they are all hers.



We've named the mom Sweet Violet (Violet). This tiny, little puppy is Sweetpea (sorry I caught her peeing!). Her legs are as big around as my pinkie. She is completely emaciated and her little face tugs hard at my heart! The wonderful woman who brought this family to me was afraid that this little girl died in the crate on the journey. I absolutely believe if she hadn't been rescued, she would have only had a few more days of life left. I'm not exaggerating or fear mongering.



Just to give you an idea of how ill she is, this is Sweetpea next to a littermate who is emaciated as well, but gerally healthier. Now for what we are breathing through. We were told at drop off that they may have been in contact with Parvo. We are claiming all God's promises for His creation for this litter - from what He told Job about knowing when deer birth to knowing when a sparrow falls. These little guys won't survive Parvo. They are too little and too sick to be vaccinated. Their bellies are full of round worm (visual confirmation already!) and they may have tapeworm as well. If you are a praying person, please pray for this little family. They have had such a hard time of it!



Even emaciated and sick, puppies will be puppies! This little brown guy is a roaming adventureer and has already decided he likes me. When I come in the pen, he wags his tail which is already more than any of the others do. Violet is such a patient mom with all these babies. They sleep all over her - in a dog pile! She keeps her tail tucked between her legs though and is very timid, and just looks so sad. She has massive burrs in her fur and so do the puppies. We'll start to work those out tomorrow. Tonight is for food,water and rest getting used to their new home.



Yup, one little white boy. Good golly where did he come from?!! Sweetpea is the little black back beside the white puppy and the fuzzy brown adventureer is on the right. Puppies should be chubby! This is just not right. The last litter we had were in so much better shape and this difference is always alarming, even though I know what it will be like!



At the top of the picture are two little Sweetpea eyes looking over the siblings. She watched me the whole time I was in the pen taking photos. I expect they will mostly sleep for the next few days. We'll check them over thoroughly tomorrow for fleas and lice and remove all the burrs. I'll check them over for tapeworm as well. I hope the vet will be able to see them on Monday so we can start deworming. They will show dramatic improvement as soon as the worms are dealt with.

I want so badly to see Violet with her tail up and wagging. I want to see happiness in her eyes. I want to show the love of the Creator for His creation - this is my motivation.