California Casey

I get dozens of posts every day about boxers in danger. I generally scroll through them saddened by the fact that they are so far away (various places in the US) and that our resources are so limited, both financially and because of a lack of foster homes.

But this time I kept going back to one photo. Casey seemed to call out to me, telling me, "you're the one who can help me". After stewing about it for a day or so, I finally posted that we would take him if transportation could be arranged from southern California to Vancouver, BC.

I didn't hear anything back and breathed a sigh of relief that a local rescue had been found for Casey.

Then on Aug 8th or 9th, I saw a plea reposted for someone to step up for Casey. I immediately posted that we would take him and on Saturday, Aug 13 Casey flew up to Vancouver. He was fostered overnight in Vancouver and Sunday saw Casey on the road to Alberta to a longer term foster home.

The reason Casey languished in the shelter from July 5 to August 12 was he was a "medical" dog. That usually means "expensive". It is likely that Casey was hit by a car. Xrays taken on August 16 show that Casey's femur is not where it's suppose to be. He will need surgery, a Femoral Head Ostectomy (FHO).

Casey's surgery will run about $1,200.00 if there are no complications. The cost isn't exorbitant by any means, but it stretches our small budget to the breaking point.

If you are able to help with a donation to Casey, please email me - boxers@wispernet.ca


Casey isn't our only new Canadian.

I confess, another beautiful boxer face captured my heart. Faith arrived in Vancouver from northern California on August 6. As with Casey, she was to be fostered for a short time in Vancouver, then make her way to Alberta. Faith had other ideas though. Within hours of her arrival, her foster family was so in love with her they couldn't let her go.

When the heartache and frustration of rescue begins to take a toll on me and I tell myself I can't do this anymore, I will remember Casey and Faith. They and all the other dogs we have helped over the past 16 years are the reason I can keep going.

What keeps us doing what we do

This week I've received two separate emails and a comment under the "Adopters" post that have brought tears to my eyes and gratitude to my heart.

Reading the stories that are filled with such love about the adopted boxers and seeing the pictures of the dogs with their people give us such a boost; when the times get tough these updates help all of us who do rescue, remember why we do it and gives us the strength to keep going.

The dogs we place are forever in our hearts - to know that they are well loved and happy, and to hear about the joy they bring to their families is a wonderful blessing.

Thoughts on 2006

It's certainly been a challenging year in the rescue business.

We've suffered through a severe shortage volunteers, particularly foster homes. We had to spend alot of our closely guarded funds on kennel fees as we had no foster homes available for incoming boxers.

We were fortunate to find a couple of new foster homes in Calgary close to the end of the year. No sooner did they sign up - we had dogs for them.

I'm not sure what people think about rescue - do they think we're a big organization with unlimited help and funds? It's frustrating for us - we're all ordinary folks with families, jobs and dogs of our own. Everything we do for boxer rescue is on our own time, and quite often the money comes out of our own pockets.

Our organization operates with a lot of trust. We find the right homes for the dogs that come into our care. Sometimes that means we have to turn down potential homes and that's a hard thing to do. But I digress, back to the trust thing. Because we feel so good about the homes we pick, we sometimes don't collect the adoption donation immediately - that could happen for a variety of reasons. The most important thing for us is to get the dog into their new home as soon as possible, everything else can wait. 99% of the time that works for us. But occasionally we get people who find a reason or excuse not to pay the adoption donation. I find it hard to fathom why someone would do that. Any shortfalls in funds needed for veterinary work will come out of our volunteers pockets. I suppose the lesson to be learned is to get everything done up front-even if it means a delay in the adoption process. Us, as volunteers do not have deep enough pockets to bear the vet expenses of the dogs we take into our care