Many of you have heard about the detriment of puppy mills, but how many of you can say you've seen what it does to a dog? Before I moved to Florida, I knew puppy mills were bad, but really never fully understood the impact until my work with a local rescue put me around puppy mill dogs.  I can explain this best by telling a story of a dog named Pearl. My local rescue group rescued Pearl, a West Highland terrier, from a puppy mill after living seven years in a cage. Pearl never got to see what a real dog life was like. Pearl ate, slept, peed, pooped, was forced to breed, and lived (if that is …

I was talking to a friend the other day who told me she had been talking to a guy and they were going to go on a date. But then came the deal breaker: he does not like animals! My friend has a dog, and the guy knew that.  This made me wonder, would it be a deal breaker for every one?  I look into the eyes of my two babies, and it would be a definite deal breaker for me. My two dogs are my babies, my children, if you will.  Sadly, during my volunteer work with a local dog rescue group, I have sat and watched people actually give up their dogs because of a new baby, because they can no longer …

Debbe Decker had no way of knowing what was lurking around her home when she let her dogs out for their nightly potty break on July 3. Then she heard a yelp, followed by a much louder yelp, and saw her 12-year-old Rottweiler, Macks, run toward the house. Debbe’s husband Bill saw an alligator get back into the water nearby, and they immediately called their senior German shepherd mix, Rocky, who is 14, and went to the house. Within five minutes of being outside, Macks, who weighs 104 pounds, had been attacked.  Gator Attack Disfigures Dog Debbe panicked at the sight of Macks. His ear and face …

I was recently sent a story to read, and I have to tell you, it made my stomach turn and made me angry. The story was in the Tampa Bay Times, and it discussed the problems associated with euthanasia at Hernando County Animal Services.  The story discusses how some animals were not weighed to figure the right amount of anesthesia to be given, and the animals were not checked to make sure they were anesthetized completely before injecting the euthanasiamedication into the heart. In fact, it states that one cat was injected three times before its heart was ever found.  The story points out that …

Some people say that dogs don’t love; they just appreciate and respond to the people who feed them. I don't feel this is true. It is hard for me to believe this, because of the way I see my dogs look at me. Grayson has been with me eight months, but Kaiah has been with me 4 ½ years. Don’t get me wrong, Grayson is my boy, but when Kaiah looks up with me with those brown eyes she seems to have nothing but love in her eyes. Kaiah has been with me through some great times and some really tough times. There have been times that I don't know what I would have done without the quiet support and …

There are quite a few dog parks where I live. Some have trails, some are more open, some only have two sides to choose from (large and small dogs), and others have more.  All of these things can be some reasons that a person chooses a specific dog park.I have chosen the one I go to for a few reasons:I like the open part versus brush that the dogs can run in. Only because I am afraid I will not be able to get Grayson out of it.The people I have gotten to know.The dogs that Kaiah and Grayson have gotten to be friends with and comfortable around.Don’t get me wrong, no dog park is perfect. Each …

Any dog can end up with worms, and most pet owners are familiar with the threat of heartworms. However, heartworms are not the only type of worms that a dog can get. There are actually four other types of intestinal worms — roundworm, tapeworm, hookworm and whipworm — along with a fungus that infects the skin called ringworm. Puppies are more susceptible to these types of worms than adult dogs. But I’ve seen my share of worm infections doing volunteer work for a rescue. And since not as many people know about these worms, I’d like to briefly let you know what to look for and what to do. With …

The other day, while visiting the local dog park with my Kaiah and Grayson at our usual time, a guy came into the “large dogs” section of the dog park with a small dog the size of a Jack Russell terrier. All of the dogs there are friendly, but large, and some are very large. Even though there is a section for small dogs, no one thinks it is a big deal when small dogs occasionally end up on our side. When the little dog came in, all the big dogs — including my 70-pound Grayson — thought they would go see who it was. The Jack Russell seemed to get a little freaked out and became aggressive, …

As we all know, sometimes life does not always point us in the direction we want to go. Often, we don’t even know that we need or really want something until we have it. I can say this is true when I let Grayson, a 75-pound Lab-Weimaraner mix, come stay with us. It was a pure fluke that he even ended up at my place. His foster parents had decided to take a weekend camping trip at the beginning of May and needed someone to watch him. They returned on the same weekend that another foster, a much smaller Lab mix named Raven, would be dropped off for me to watch. You can see from the pictures, …