Late Thursday night, on 28 January, I got a call from fellow-rescuer, Kandy, that her daughter found a pit bull on the East Side of Buffalo --

-- and that the dog was unable to even get in to the car, she was so weak -- :(

Kandy took her in, and sent me the picture to the right --

-- it seemed that she was a adult girl, with a bit of mange -- nothing big.

I went on our forum, and some generous folks offered to help this girl, so she became an SPBR dog!

The next day, Kandy brought this girl over -- who I named "Aspen" -- a nice winter name -- :D

What I saw, though, was a dog that was 1-2 days from starvation -- :(

Little Aspen had been living on the streets for some time, and she had almost no fur --

-- don't forget, the temperatures have been in the teens during the day --

-- and as low as -5 deg. F in the nights --

-- how in the world did this girl survive --

:(

Here you can see Aspen'd poor little figure --

-- and her open wound on her rear left quarter --

But, through it all, this girl is a LOVE.

Here she is, with my hand under her muzzle --

-- and with a look of "I'm okay with you" --

-- priceless.

I included this picture because it shows, first off, that she is a mommy --

-- look at her nipples --

-- that makes me very sad -- that a momma should EVER be in this shape --

:(

And I also included it because it is how I pictured this poor girl, prior to rescue, roaming, wandering, hurting...

So, Aspen is severely underweight --

-- and, to me, that is why she is losing fur -- her body is overall shutting down.

And here, her condition was most apparent --

:(

With dogs this underweight, you have to feed them extremely small portions on a 2-3 hour basis, so the food doesn't spike their systems and make them even more ill -- :(

She looks oh-so-proud of her new coat here, and she almost seems to say --

"just overlook the details -- they'll get better on their own --

-- I am going to be a big deal some day -- !!!"

Yes, dear aspen, you will be a big deal some day, and we're going to make sure of that -- !!

And just LOOK at our girl here --

-- with her pork femur --

-- WAGGING her TAIL away -- !!

Look on the right -- her tail is wagging so much you can't even SEE IT -- !!

More wags, and more SMILES -- !!!

So, with that, we bid our baby farewell, and off she went with Cassie, to her foster's house in Buffalo.

Erica and her dear husband will be fostering our Aspen, along with Meg's help --

-- THANK YOU ALL!!

From the transport, Cassie writes --

"Since we got here a little early I let her chill in the back but she seriously bullied her way on to my lap. She's such a love."

So, as we said, give our girl some time -- and watch her thrive -- !!

She will be up for adoption after her health recovers, and after she's spayed, etc.

She is NOT good with cats, and likes SOME dogs at the present -- which may improve as her emergency survival state subsides.

Thank you to everyone who helped this girl along the way -- instead of being another statistic, she is hope, and will be joy and a loyal companion to the luckiest of homes!!

Well, it's 5 days in to Miss A's rescue, and she's doing FABULOUS!

Meg writes --

"Can I start with saying I LOVE THIS GIRL!!!!"

Just LOOK at how WELL she's filled in during the past week --

-- GREAT WORK, Meg, Erica and all -- !!

From Meg --

"You can see the scars around her neck from what was obviously an embedded chain collar - reason #3849,085, 084,569, 062,806 I f'ing hate them. "

And there she goes...

... our girl... on her road to recovery, and enjoying her life again.

She is a little glimmer of hope in these otherwise cold, dark days of winter --

-- dear Myron Kaufmann was oh-so-right when he said, "Watching something grow is good for morale -- it helps you believe in life."

We love you little Aspen.

Well here we go -- our girl is starting to look like a DOG again -- !!

Her foster writes --

"Here is the pretty girl, still looking better by the day!

Physically, Aspen is doing so much better."

Amen...

... and AMEN -- !!!

Miss Aspen is also living her lost childhood --

-- learning to play with toys and the like --

-- she doesn't seem too convinced of this one, whatever it is --

-- it looks like a giant turkey-baster -- !!

And then ol' familiar --

-- a ball -- :D

And then here, PRECIOUS --

-- she is becoming VERY human oriented --

-- and it makes you wonder, how a creature that was so mistreated by humans at one point can learn to love them again --

-- well it makes us wonder, too -- and it makes us realize that this girl is nothing short of DIVINE -- !!

Great progress, all!

Well, if our girl isn't doing JUST LOVELY -- !!!

Erin, her foster mom, writes --

"The fur is starting to grow in on her face, yay!"

"Look how shiny and pretty her fur is starting to look!

She's been on raw for a little bit now and took RIGHT to it as if she had been eating it all her life."

"This is like her other favorite thing... she will just melt into your legs if you stand still.

So sweet."

"Zoom zoom!"

"ahhh... this is the life!"

Here is a picture of Aspen and her foster mom, Erin --

-- what LOVE!!

To see this girl doing so well makes me oh-so-happy --

-- all she needed was a chance -- and you gave it to her --

-- thank you, thank you, thank you!!

- Financial commitment. Adopters willing to spend money on their new investment, including premium foods (like Candidae, Wellness, Nutro or raw food), plus adopters who will invest in pet insurance or a "dog fund", lest vetting be required, which may get expensive.

The adoption fee is $295 per dog. This is reasonable, considering the premium services that each pup gets. Each dog, before placement, is examined by a licensed veterinarian, spayed or neutered, wormed with premium wormer, given vaccinations on a regular basis (not just a one-shot deal), microchipped with a premium Home Again chip (made by Schering -Plough), fed premium raw food (not 'Ol Roy, or some other filler-laden junk) and has spent it's puppy fosterhood in a wonderful, attentive, CLEAN environment. There are 4-5 homes fostering these babies, and that is a LOT of logistics, driving, CARE, etc. -- but it's entirely worth it! Also, each puppy is accompanied by a personal home visit to YOUR home at placement, to ensure they're going to have the life of a king or queen -- !! If the home visit doesn't pass, puppy doesn't stay. This isn't some parking-lot-of-a-pet-store adoption scheme, instead, it's the highest-quality service I can provide for these young souls, as they journey off in to their lives. Note, too, we have had a recent increase in adoption fees, due to increased veterinary surgery rates.

- Multi-dog households. While I love having many pit bulls, quite a few people aren't ready for the commitment and responsibility it takes to sometimes crate their dogs, rotate them out of the crates and generally own them responsibly. When that happens, I get calls saying, "I have to get rid of one of my dogs ASAP." I can never understand why these people think their lack of planning is all of the sudden my emergency.