2008, what a busy year!
I think Amanda and I always knew rescue would start catching on and we would see increases in the amount of adoptions every year, but if more are getting adopted, that means we were able to take in more then ever before too. We were able to really challenge ourselves this year by doing a bunch of new things, things that were scary until we dove in.
We started having adoption fairs every three months. They are a riot! We don't have alot of preparing to do before hand, we put up posters and set up at the building, but we are never prepared for the amount of people that show up. People expect them now and we are happy to put them on. Our last adoption fair was held on Dec. 6th, and it was the best yet. We had 11 adoptions that day. We are hoping to continue with these as they always generate alot of interest in the community.
We also published a book! Well, kind of. We used the Blurb site to design and print a little picture book made up of pictures of our dogs and a poem on each page. Ruthie's page and poem gets me every time. If you haven't seen the book or would like to have one, please let us know. We have about 20 of them in stock and are able to send them anywhere. They are really beautiful, thank you very much Amanda for all your hard work putting this together.
Our T-shirts were quite popular this year. We have them made here in Lethbridge and they too are available locally, or thru the mail. They are available in all sizes and in black and white.
The micro-chipping day was a great idea. I had read about them online and one of our volunteers sent me more info on them. After thinking about it for a bit, I thought that it was something that we could easily pull off. And sure enough! We had the appointments booked a few weeks in advance and it went really well. Park Pet Hospital is the clinic that we use 99% of the time and they donated the clinic, a vet, and a tech to us for the day and we were able to inject 47 dogs with chips that day. We are planning another micro-chipping day for sometime in March. This month seems to be the hardest for us financially every year, so we are hoping to get a full turn out again this time. If you missed getting an appointment for the first one, please send us an email and we'll be able to get you pre-registered for the next one.
We also divided up our group a bit. Amanda and I were feeling really run down with the pace of rescue this year. So we were able to throw alot of responsibilities on the other willing members of our group, this was interesting! :) Very helpful, but hard to think and come to terms with the fact that 1)we needed the help, and 2)there are people out there that can do the job too! Need for humility! A big thanks goes out to these awesome gals who despite jobs, families and pets of their own, took on more to benefit the PDCR dogs. We now have a foster home co-coordinator, home check and follow up people, two in charge of screening the applications and finalizing the adoptions, I get to arrange all the intakes, and we even have people in charge of the blog, petfinder site, pictures, making vet appts, and transport. PDCR has 'grown up' this year.
Rescue is becoming a household word these days, there are so many options now with websites such as petfinder.com, what a great site. PDCR has gotten so many adoptions because of this site, it also means that we have become much more efficient in shipping dogs, petfinder is worldwide! Thanks go out to Pacific Coastal Airlines who fly within BC, they fly our rescue dogs for free, wonderful team of people.
2008 was also a very sad year when alot of our pups were hit with parvo. We said goodbye to a beautiful young boy named Vegas and a little princess Haley due to this horrible disease. We were able to pull Reno, Echo, Diego, and Heartley though and they were able to join new families after the treatment was finished.
Little Mercy and Tango died of unknown complications of being abandoned puppies. And one of the hardest for me, Carly. Poor little Carly was so small, but very brave and a wonderful little foster pup here with my family. Carly beat the odds and didn't contract parvo, she got over her starvation and fear of people quickly and gracefully. Then, some other disease started effecting her little brain. She tried hard, and then her little body gave out. We stood around her at the clinic and not only was I bawling, but the vet Kendra, the tech Jar, and a few other staff members where having a hard time letting her go. All we could do was hold her and whisper Good Bye.
Its never easy to loose a rescue dog, they all deserve a chance.
Well, whats the number?, well, first a word: In order to count out the numbers, I had to go thru my big box of files and spent time reliving the stories of all the dogs that came into our system this year. There were so many, so many beautiful dogs that ended up on our doorstep without names, no idea if they would ever have a family again. I teared up, started feeling really bitter toward all the people who dump, or toss their dogs. I have always been excited with the number of intakes we have, but it made me really sad today. But, then I thought back to dogs like poor little Brian and I had to smile. That sickly little boy pulled himself together after every setback! And what a difference, his new mom brought him by the adoption fair and he is so handsome, his whole body is covered in thick shiny fur, no more elephant bum! :) It is bitter sweet. But here are the numbers:
I think Amanda and I always knew rescue would start catching on and we would see increases in the amount of adoptions every year, but if more are getting adopted, that means we were able to take in more then ever before too. We were able to really challenge ourselves this year by doing a bunch of new things, things that were scary until we dove in.
We started having adoption fairs every three months. They are a riot! We don't have alot of preparing to do before hand, we put up posters and set up at the building, but we are never prepared for the amount of people that show up. People expect them now and we are happy to put them on. Our last adoption fair was held on Dec. 6th, and it was the best yet. We had 11 adoptions that day. We are hoping to continue with these as they always generate alot of interest in the community.
We also published a book! Well, kind of. We used the Blurb site to design and print a little picture book made up of pictures of our dogs and a poem on each page. Ruthie's page and poem gets me every time. If you haven't seen the book or would like to have one, please let us know. We have about 20 of them in stock and are able to send them anywhere. They are really beautiful, thank you very much Amanda for all your hard work putting this together.
Our T-shirts were quite popular this year. We have them made here in Lethbridge and they too are available locally, or thru the mail. They are available in all sizes and in black and white.
The micro-chipping day was a great idea. I had read about them online and one of our volunteers sent me more info on them. After thinking about it for a bit, I thought that it was something that we could easily pull off. And sure enough! We had the appointments booked a few weeks in advance and it went really well. Park Pet Hospital is the clinic that we use 99% of the time and they donated the clinic, a vet, and a tech to us for the day and we were able to inject 47 dogs with chips that day. We are planning another micro-chipping day for sometime in March. This month seems to be the hardest for us financially every year, so we are hoping to get a full turn out again this time. If you missed getting an appointment for the first one, please send us an email and we'll be able to get you pre-registered for the next one.
We also divided up our group a bit. Amanda and I were feeling really run down with the pace of rescue this year. So we were able to throw alot of responsibilities on the other willing members of our group, this was interesting! :) Very helpful, but hard to think and come to terms with the fact that 1)we needed the help, and 2)there are people out there that can do the job too! Need for humility! A big thanks goes out to these awesome gals who despite jobs, families and pets of their own, took on more to benefit the PDCR dogs. We now have a foster home co-coordinator, home check and follow up people, two in charge of screening the applications and finalizing the adoptions, I get to arrange all the intakes, and we even have people in charge of the blog, petfinder site, pictures, making vet appts, and transport. PDCR has 'grown up' this year.
Rescue is becoming a household word these days, there are so many options now with websites such as petfinder.com, what a great site. PDCR has gotten so many adoptions because of this site, it also means that we have become much more efficient in shipping dogs, petfinder is worldwide! Thanks go out to Pacific Coastal Airlines who fly within BC, they fly our rescue dogs for free, wonderful team of people.
2008 was also a very sad year when alot of our pups were hit with parvo. We said goodbye to a beautiful young boy named Vegas and a little princess Haley due to this horrible disease. We were able to pull Reno, Echo, Diego, and Heartley though and they were able to join new families after the treatment was finished.
Little Mercy and Tango died of unknown complications of being abandoned puppies. And one of the hardest for me, Carly. Poor little Carly was so small, but very brave and a wonderful little foster pup here with my family. Carly beat the odds and didn't contract parvo, she got over her starvation and fear of people quickly and gracefully. Then, some other disease started effecting her little brain. She tried hard, and then her little body gave out. We stood around her at the clinic and not only was I bawling, but the vet Kendra, the tech Jar, and a few other staff members where having a hard time letting her go. All we could do was hold her and whisper Good Bye.
Its never easy to loose a rescue dog, they all deserve a chance.
Well, whats the number?, well, first a word: In order to count out the numbers, I had to go thru my big box of files and spent time reliving the stories of all the dogs that came into our system this year. There were so many, so many beautiful dogs that ended up on our doorstep without names, no idea if they would ever have a family again. I teared up, started feeling really bitter toward all the people who dump, or toss their dogs. I have always been excited with the number of intakes we have, but it made me really sad today. But, then I thought back to dogs like poor little Brian and I had to smile. That sickly little boy pulled himself together after every setback! And what a difference, his new mom brought him by the adoption fair and he is so handsome, his whole body is covered in thick shiny fur, no more elephant bum! :) It is bitter sweet. But here are the numbers:
Intake for 2008: 141
Adoptions for 2008:157
Still Available: 8
Amount spent on vetting: $32,500.00!! WOW!
So, in signing off, thank you again for all who, in some way, involved yourself with our rescue efforts and in the lives of 'our' dogs. Without you all Tala, Poppy, Ruthie, Jade, Tasha, Reebok, Birke, Lacey, Brooks, Vice, Izzy, Georgia, Houston, Phoenix, Tex, Del, Logan, Hammy, Dakota, Nikita, Dixie, Gracie, Lilli, Nina, Winston, Wyatt, Otto/Eddie, Sierra, Samson, Willow, Dory, Brie, Bo, Zane, Kimmi, Chyna, Jane, Rika, Ozzy, Lucy, Eddie, Spud, Roux, Felix, Potia, Luna, Tula, Reba, Mya, Jett, Freddy, Boston, Vegas, Reno, Scout, Ivy, Reggie, Diego, Echo, Dolly, Jimmi, Maybe, Mercy, Angie, Freddie, Carly, Luke, Obi, Leia, Dodger, Yankee, Jerry, Kramer, Rosie, Mikey, Mojo, Minnie, Macy, Miles, Buddy, Darby, Stella, Dax, Gypsy, Isis, TJ, Coco, Emmy, Ditto, Georgia, Amy, Happy, Sami, Shadow, Tobi, Tawny, Vallie, Brian, Opal, Onyx, Shasta, Zoe, Wicket, Spike, Zoey, Mickey, Seeker, Max, Griffon, Foster, Tango, Moxie, Miller, Guinness, Shady, Davy, Morgan, Bart, Grace, Bonney, Butler, Sparrow, Charlie, Shaunie, Hogan, Zera, Halley, Heartley, Jackie, Mister, Baxter, Sprocket, Dex, Matt, Holly, JD, Massey, Poppy, Stan, Harley, Vince, Otis, Kona, Soloman, Chula, Briar, Duke, Rosco, Tryan, Sparks, Ellie, Julie, Nova, Bradley, Hendrix, Jesse, Andre, Osa and Pippy, would not been able to be helped and in new adoptive homes!!
We would love to hear from our readers, please let us know who was our favorite dog of 2008? Can be based on cuteness, or story! I know all the foster homes that have assisted in these 142 dogs have many favorites too, let us all know.
In conclusion, just want to say thank you to all the foster homes, wouldn't be doing this without all of you! Kendra and Patrick the vets, and the staff of Park Pet Hospital. You guys do alot for our dogs, they appreciate it so much, thanks for your time, effort and patience. Paws-on-the-run Doggy Daycare, thanks for letting us use your building for our adoption fairs, its a perfect location and we all appreciate it. And, a huge pat on the back for the other rescue groups that we work closely with, we in it together and we love having understanding and hard working people by our side through it all. And, thanks to you, for reading our blog and supporting our efforts.
-Natalie
Adoptions for 2008:157
Still Available: 8
Amount spent on vetting: $32,500.00!! WOW!
So, in signing off, thank you again for all who, in some way, involved yourself with our rescue efforts and in the lives of 'our' dogs. Without you all Tala, Poppy, Ruthie, Jade, Tasha, Reebok, Birke, Lacey, Brooks, Vice, Izzy, Georgia, Houston, Phoenix, Tex, Del, Logan, Hammy, Dakota, Nikita, Dixie, Gracie, Lilli, Nina, Winston, Wyatt, Otto/Eddie, Sierra, Samson, Willow, Dory, Brie, Bo, Zane, Kimmi, Chyna, Jane, Rika, Ozzy, Lucy, Eddie, Spud, Roux, Felix, Potia, Luna, Tula, Reba, Mya, Jett, Freddy, Boston, Vegas, Reno, Scout, Ivy, Reggie, Diego, Echo, Dolly, Jimmi, Maybe, Mercy, Angie, Freddie, Carly, Luke, Obi, Leia, Dodger, Yankee, Jerry, Kramer, Rosie, Mikey, Mojo, Minnie, Macy, Miles, Buddy, Darby, Stella, Dax, Gypsy, Isis, TJ, Coco, Emmy, Ditto, Georgia, Amy, Happy, Sami, Shadow, Tobi, Tawny, Vallie, Brian, Opal, Onyx, Shasta, Zoe, Wicket, Spike, Zoey, Mickey, Seeker, Max, Griffon, Foster, Tango, Moxie, Miller, Guinness, Shady, Davy, Morgan, Bart, Grace, Bonney, Butler, Sparrow, Charlie, Shaunie, Hogan, Zera, Halley, Heartley, Jackie, Mister, Baxter, Sprocket, Dex, Matt, Holly, JD, Massey, Poppy, Stan, Harley, Vince, Otis, Kona, Soloman, Chula, Briar, Duke, Rosco, Tryan, Sparks, Ellie, Julie, Nova, Bradley, Hendrix, Jesse, Andre, Osa and Pippy, would not been able to be helped and in new adoptive homes!!
We would love to hear from our readers, please let us know who was our favorite dog of 2008? Can be based on cuteness, or story! I know all the foster homes that have assisted in these 142 dogs have many favorites too, let us all know.
In conclusion, just want to say thank you to all the foster homes, wouldn't be doing this without all of you! Kendra and Patrick the vets, and the staff of Park Pet Hospital. You guys do alot for our dogs, they appreciate it so much, thanks for your time, effort and patience. Paws-on-the-run Doggy Daycare, thanks for letting us use your building for our adoption fairs, its a perfect location and we all appreciate it. And, a huge pat on the back for the other rescue groups that we work closely with, we in it together and we love having understanding and hard working people by our side through it all. And, thanks to you, for reading our blog and supporting our efforts.
-Natalie
