Oz's Story... A Sad Story All Around

This is just a sad story all around, even though you can see that Oz is a pretty happy guy!

His owner in New York City contacted us last Fall, asking if Oz could come to our sanctuary to live out his life. Oz had killed the owner's pomeranian and he did not feel comfortable with Oz around his daughter or in his home any longer.

We said "yes" and Oz came to live here at the farm. You can see from these poses that Oz enjoys it when it's his turn to sleep in the bed with us!

We know that people who send dogs here like to hear about those dogs. And we try to keep families and friends posted, and we always answer their emails. Most folks understand that Ricky and I put in long days here, strictly as volunteers, making sure that everything goes well. Taking photos of our dogs is something we'd like to do, but it does not always get done in the crush of other tasks. It is not our highest priority.

Today, we were blasted with the following attack on Facebook:

"We sent you a dog in October of 2010 named Oz. We just want to make sure he made it alive!!!There are no pictures of Oz on your farm in your website. Please> I beg of you for those concerned and for those who donated for him to have a safe flight and a home. You just recently posted a picture of Ruby and Jones welcome day. Yet we had not seen an inch or a spec of writing on welcoming Oz. Please. Is he alive? Is he on your farm? We are starting to think the worst....Here is our original posting: http://www.facebook.com/l/b6c8a/smilingdogfarms.chipin.com/mypages/view/id/4915a4905811137e ...Please relieve our worries."

This is a sad photo of Ricky holding Oz in front of our TV to prove that as of 2/26 Oz is alive and well and here at the farm. It is sad because Oz is really heavy and hard for Ricky to hold! And it is sad that we need to prove Oz is alive and well.

The writer ignores that back in October, we emailed all interested parties as well as telephoning Oz's owner. Everyone knew he made it to the farm alive and healthy. For the first couple of weeks, Ricky sent texts to Oz's owner every few days. Under these circumstances, for her to say "We just want to make sure he made it alive!!!... We are starting to think the worst" is just over the top.

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A couple months ago, this same woman created a similar stir with similar accusations and demands. We contacted Oz's owner to ask if she spoke for him, and to figure out if he was unhappy with his decision to send Oz here. He assured us that he would talk to this woman and tell her to stop making trouble.

But here we are again, tonight, with the same demands and accusations.

Many dogs' arivals here go unheralded. We do not feature every dog on the blog or on Facebook. Not because we don't want to but because we can only do so much.

One would think this woman would be grateful... not just because we gave Oz his second chance that we think he deserved, but because we place the dogs' care and welfare above Public Relations and photo ops!

Well, those of you who know me, know my computer skills -- or lack thereof! (When I was in school, a computer took up a whole floor of the GM Building in downtown Detroit. High tech meant an electric typewriter!)

And I know even less about Facebook. If you have asked to be my friend on Facebook and I have not replied, it is not because I don't like you!! I have no clue what to do to declare my friendship to all the people who have asked!! I just don't get Facebook, and I doubt I ever will. I am operating with a 1950 model brain and it does not have all the bells and whistles modern brains come with!

Well, I got this unpleasant Facebook message from this unpleasant woman in my email. I read it and felt equal parts of hurt and outrage. So I shot off what I thought was an email to Ricky. Turns out, I sent it straight to Facebook!! lol So this woman -- and I guess everyone else on the planet earth -- got to read my knee-jerk reaction to this hateful Facebook posting!

I am the "A" personality whose emotions are all over the map, and Ricky is the calm, steadying "B" personality. He figured out how to remove my email from Facebook. And then I typed an entry that he posted, since I am clueless how to do that -- well, unless it is by mistake!

We love Oz here at the farm. He has a pathological hatred of other dogs, but he is sweet as pie with humans. As long as we keep him separated from other dogs, he is a really good guy.

But if the family who sent him here is sincerely worried about the way we are caring for him, then Oz needs to go back home. Asking "Is he alive? Is he on your farm" is frankly insulting to Ricky and me. We work too hard for our dogs, put in too many long hours to take this kind of abuse.

There is also a measure of entitlement evident in this woman's diatribe because she sent some money to help with Oz's funding. So we returned her $40 tonight. We need donations, but not so badly that we allow donors to treat us as chattel.

Anyone who contemplates sending a dog here should do their due diligence on the front end, long before a dog embarks on the long journey to the farm. They should contact our references and check with our vet to see what kind of people we are, and what level of care we offer our dogs. Shame on anyone who sends their dog someplace they do not trust!

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I regret that my intemperate email to Ricky (I thought) was published. But I do not regret the sentiments, only the choice of words. If this woman means what she wrote on Facebook, Oz needs to go back home. And if she didn't mean it, she had no right to say it and needs to stop making trouble.

Titan from Seattle Suns Himself at the Farm

Titan must have wondered if he had gotten on the wrong plane, when he arrived here a couple weeks ago and the temps dropped into the 20s and 30s!

We had promised him Florida-like weather! Our unprecedented cold spell is hopefully a part of history, now. We should never see anything like that again!

Today was more like it. Our high was 73 degrees, and our overnight low will drop down to 62 degrees. This is what we expect from winter, around here!

Titan got into trouble back home in Seattle. He bit someone. Technically, two people, but in one incident. Let me describe what happened and you tell me who was to blame!

Titan was on a walk with his new family. A jogger came running up from behind, intently texting and not really watching where she was going. She ran right into Titan, before she noticed him!

Titan was startled to have someone come up from behind and push right into him! A stranger, no less! So he turned around and he bit her. Because he felt attacked!

In the melee, he also bit a man who was trying to help the jogger.

Well, Titan was declared a dangerous dog. His friend Sevia went to work to find a safe haven for Titan, so that he would not have to be put down. She made a lot of phone calls and had a lot of disappointments. It seemed like there was no organization that would take a dog with a bite history, like Titan.

Then Sevia found Smiling Dog Farms. She called and told us Titan's story and asked if we would be willing to take him here. And we said "yes"!

Fortunately, the folks at Seattle Animal Control go above and beyond to help families find a safe place for their dogs who have been declared dangerous. Working with Sevia, they made arrangements for Titan to get a health certificate and an airline approved crate so he could fly to Texas. They even drove him to the airport!

I can say that we are proud of our partnership with Seattle Animal Control and consider them to be one of the most dog-oriented shelters in the nation. We have already accepted another Seattle dog who would have been put down if the folks at Seattle Animal Control had not intervened and suggested our program to the owner! Seattle AC follows all the rules, but they really care about the dogs.

Sevia paid for Titan's townhome and play yard, and she is working to find monthly sponsors to help pay for the day-to-day costs for Titan.

Titan is just glad he had a safe place to come, where he can spend the rest of his days without fear of being put down -- even if he bites us! lol

Deaf Girl Needs a Family of Her Own!

My name is Marylou. I came from BARC, the animal shelter in Houston. Smiling Dog Farms was going to let me hang out at the farm until another rescue took me, but Jay and Ricky said that they would help me find a family of my own!
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They say I have a lot of personality. I guess that is because I like to engage people, and interact with them. I like everyone I meet!
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And I have a LOT of energy! I am still young and average size, approximately 35-40 lb.
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I get along pretty well with other dogs, but I prefer the company of humans! I would love to lay next to you on the sofa... and then maybe you could throw my chew-toy for me to chase!
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Oh... I almost forgot to mention that I am completely deaf. I can't hear you if you speak to me. But I can read your lips and your expression! And you will never have trouble figuring out what I am saying to you! Ha ha. My hearing loss doesn't bother me one bit.
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I am really anxious to have a family to love me and call me their own! Would you like to be my new family? Ricky and Jay said if you want me to come live with you to contact them at Intake@smilingdogfarms.org. They said they have Adoption Partners and friends who will help with homestudies all over the country -- you don't have to live in Texas to adopt me!

Vote NO on Pit Bull Ban

Many of you already know that the Texas Legislature is considering a ban on pit bulls.
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Radio station KLBJ in Austin is doing a poll regarding this legislation. Because this station is in Austin, this may be a poll legislators listen to. It is really easy to vote. Just click on this link, http://www.590klbj.com/ . The poll is toward the upper right section of their home page, beneath bright yellow letters which say KLBJ Poll.
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It does not matter what state you live in. You can vote in this poll!
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If you live in Texas, make sure you contact your state representative and your state senator to let them know how offended you are that they would even consider such stupid legislation!

Rooster's Revenge...

Had to pass along this story from our friend Ames McGarey in Arizona!

California man killed by fighting rooster

By Eyewitness News February 7, 2011
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EARLIMART, Calif. — A Lamont man was killed earlier this week by a chicken.
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Jose Luis Ochoa, 35, was stabbed by a knife attached to the leg of a fighting rooster, the Kern County coroner's office said Friday.
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The accidental stab wound to Ochoa's calf, as determined by the autopsy, happened Sunday in Earlimart in Tulare County. He was taken to Delano Regional Medical Center, where he died about two hours later. The coroner didn't specify what killed Ochoa, whether it was excessive bleeding, infection or something else.
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Even though Kern County handled the autopsy, the Tulare County Sheriff's Department is handling the investigation.

More Arctic Weather ...

We awoke to dropping temperatures and freezing rain today! Temperatures steadily dropped as the day wore on, hitting the TWENTIES! That is just unheard of around here.
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Most of you know we are in Wharton, Texas. That is about an hour and a half southwest of downtown Houston. Normally, our winters are very mild, with temperatures in the mid to high 60s and 70s.
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We were once again operating in Survival Mode today. Our team members brought in the older dogs, the smaller dogs, the dogs with medical issues. Once again, we have crates stacked floor to ceiling to accommodate all the dogs who needed to come inside.
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Those who remained outside all have big, cushy puffs, courtesy of Doskocil Industries in Arlington, TX who donated enough dog beds for everyone at the farm to have a big, fluffy bed of their own! Then we wrap their units with tarps to help keep in the warmth.
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All hoses have to be disconnected and drained and stored in the garage so the water does not freeze in them overnight. (Speaking of freezing, last week our refrigerator's water feed to the icemaker and water in the door froze inside our house! I guess it runs along the kitchen wall behind the cabinets and it was cold enough to freeze and we got no water from the water dispenser until the temperature warmed up!)
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In the morning, we do everything in reverse. Dogs go outside to their yards to play, tarps come off, and the dogs have access to their yards again.
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What was so rough about last week is that it did not happen for a single day, but lasted for four days! And for those four days, we did not accomplish much except to keep the dogs warm and safe. But there was no time for anything else!
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For our ZIP code the forecast is overnight lows in the 20s for the next two days and highs in the upper 30s to lower 40s. Saturday we are supposed to have a high of 60 and Sunday is supposed to be 65.
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We would normally consider that cold weather. But after this artic weather of last week and this, we will embrace 60 with enthusiasm!

These Were Too Good Not to Share....

Instead of my usual report from the farm, I am sharing two really cute emails that I received today from friends of Smiling Dog Farms. The first is this incredible photo of a dog with one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen. Thanks to Suzanne Young for sharing this!

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And then there is this hilarious video from the UK of talking animals. It comes courtesy of our friend Linnea Attenson. This is too funny, and definitely worth the couple minutes it will take to watch!

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http://www.wimp.com/animalvoiceovers/

Year End Fundraiser Finally Winds Down...

Our Year End Fund Raiser has come to a close.

Including Paypal donations and checks we picked up at the Post Office, you donated $1225 today!
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That means we came to within $2853 of making our goal. That is pretty amazing, considering how much money we needed to raise.

We also had two new monthly sponsors sign up today for a total of $25. That means we got to within $630 of our goal for new sponsors.

Thank You, everyone!

All of you who make up Team Smiling Dog... who are always ready to help our dogs... YOU make it possible for Smiling Dog Farms to exist. We would literally not still be here if not for YOU!

We sincerely appreciate and welcome to the Smiling Dog Farms family everyone who became a monthly sponsor and everyone who donated during this Fundraiser.

And it is hard to find words to express just how much we appreciate those of you have have been part of Team Smiling Dog all along. We have come a long way, together, with your help!

Your donations really do save lives.

We look for 2011 to be our best year yet.

Going into this new year, we have two active Adoption Partners who are helping find quality families for our adoptable dogs.

We have an incredible website, packed with information.

We have a building program to slowly replace the older cottages with the new townhome and play yard model.

You ... the members of Team Smiling Dog... have made all this possible by sharing our dream, and believing, as we do, that all dogs deserve to live.

Thank you for making our Year End Fundraiser a success!

Bea and Efran Look for a Family Together

This is Bea and Efran. They are a mom and her son. Efran was born at Smiling Dog Farms, and has grown up here. He has lived with his mommy his whole life!
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Bea came to us from a Texas shelter. She was a "cracker jack" dog, who came to us with a surprise inside! We had no idea she was pregnant when she arrived!
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Bea didn't really "show", so she caught us off guard when she finally delivered Efran. She had a second baby who was not born alive, sadly.
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Bea was an excellent mom to Efran. We don't really know if she had puppies before and was experienced at mothering, or if she just naturally knew by instinct. But she was a great mom to Efran. Efran still follows his mom everywhere she goes!
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That was a little over three years ago, before we had an adoption program.

Efran has never been separated from his mommy. And because they are so bonded and clearly love one another so much, we do not want to separate them in adoptive homes.
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We are hoping to find a family who will accept both Bea and Efran, together. They are not large dogs. Maybe 25 lb for Efran, and 30 lb for Bea.
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Bea is more gregarious with people, and Efran is somewhat more shy. But both dogs enjoy being petted and fussed over. They are easy going and get along with other dogs.
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If you or someone you know might consider providing a forever home for this special pair, please contact us at Intake@SmilingDogFarms.org.

Ed Has Been Going Over the Books...

My family brought me to Smiling Dog Farms from Dearborn, Michigan a while back. I have a cottage and an oversize play yard that I share with my friend, Ilse. She is kind of shy. I could not get her to join me for this photo. (And, no, that is not a funky hat I am wearing. That is our bed that we moved outside our cottage. Bad camera angle!)

I am one of the dogs who would not be alive without Smiling Dog Farms. There was just no one else, no other rescue or group willing to take me, because of my bite history!

I need to talk to you today about finances at the farm.

Today is the absolute last day of the Year End Fundraiser. It should have ended January 1. But we had not reached our goal, and American Dog Rescue offered a second $2500 Matching Grant, to try to get us over the top. (A friend of Smiling Dog Farms had offered a $2500 Matching Grant in December.) These matching grants each turned $2500 in donations into $5000 in new funds!

So we extended our Fundraiser through January. And then one last time to today, Monday, February 7. In hopes we would raise the money we need.

Sunday, you donated $100, which reduced the amount we still need to $4078. Thank you!

And we got one new sponsor for Blue, and another existing sponsor for Blue increased their monthly donation. That is a total of $20 in new monthly donations, reducing our goal to $655. Thank you!

Today is pretty much going to be it. We can't keep dragging this out. Whatever we have by the end of today will determine which programs we keep, and which ones have to wait until we can fund them.

Most of you who are reading this have already donated... or you are a regular monthly donor... or you are both!

We can't ever emphasize enough how important you are to our core mission. You are the reason we are still here, helping the dogs who have no where else to go. Quite literally, without you there would be no Smiling Dog Farms! We owe our very existence to you and your continuing support. Thank you does not seem adequate to express our appreciation.

We try to keep our fundraising efforts down to just three major events each year. No one likes to always be asked for money. And we don't like asking for it. So we will "give it a rest" after today.

If you know someone who might be willing to help us today... to keep chipping away that that $4000 we still need... please send this on to them.

All donations are fully tax deductible because Smiling Dog Farms is a 501c3 non profit corporation.

You can make a donation, or sign up as a regular monthly sponsor at http://smilingdogfarms.org/Donations_Page.html

If you have already donated... or already donate as a regular monthly sponsor... or have already gotten a friend to donate, THANK YOU! We are not asking you to donate again!

But if you know someone who might want to help, please pass this along to them.

We are still hoping for a $4000 day! All the dogs and me have been barking it up for a BIG final day that will put us over the top!

Nigel Reports on Odds & Ends...

Since I live here, I guess I can report on "odds and ends"... information we wanted to share.

Cookbooks:

We all remember the sad story of the cookbooks. All summer, we collected recipes. A volunteer said she was reformatting them as they came in, getting them ready to go to print. She said she would turn them over to Ricky in September to be printed in plenty of time for Christmas. But what she turned in had not been formatted at all... in fact, it did not even include all the recipes that had been turned in! It was just a mess.

Ricky retrieved all the original emails that had been submitted but it was October by then and there was no chance of getting the cookbook completed for Christmas.

Thanks to our friend, Dione, we got some really great software for getting all the recipes into the same format, which is necessary to make a book out of them.

Now the problem is time. We just have not had any.

Ricky and Jay wanted me to ask if there was anyone who might be willing to help us get the recipes into this software program so we can get them print ready. It would have to be someone with some time to donate, and someone who is meticulous and pays attention to details!

If you think you might want to tackle this project for us, please contact Ricky at Intake@SmilingDogFarms.org

Whatever it takes, we promise we will get this cookbook finished and printed, even if it takes until this coming Christmas to do it!

Weather Conditions:

Today, things were closer to normal for the first time in five days. Our high was 60, and the low overnight will be in the mid 40s. That is still extremely cold for our area, but it's positively balmy compared to what we have had all week!

Today, everyone enjoyed the sunshine and milder weather. Tomorrow, it is supposed to be even warmer. We are just holding our breath that whatever it was that took over our weather this past week is gone for good!

I always tell people that our climate is much like Tampa, Florida. And 99.9% of the time it is!

I don't know what blew through here this last week, but I hope we never see it again!

Building Schedule:

We have pretty much lost a whole week because of the weather. The artic weather left us in pure Survival Mode all week. The focus was on keeping the dogs warm and safe, and that was about all we got done! Even with most team members working overtime each day.

Even if there had been time, it was so cold it would have been impossible to build anything!

Ricky was able to resume his construction schedule today, and will be working at it again tomorrow. And we are hoping the weather will hold this coming week.

There are some ominous predictions for another cold wave, but it is hard to imagine that we could possibly have cold on the scale we just endured! This past week has been a once-in-a-lifetime kind of winter.

Yvette Visits Happy at the Farm...

This is Yvette. She is in the military. She adopted me from a shelter in Virginia a while back, because I was an older girl and no one thought I would live much longer. She didn't want me to die at the shelter. So Yvette took me home with her.
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Back then, I could still run and play. My back legs had not given out on me, yet. Now I sort of drag myself around by my front legs because my back legs just don't work.
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But I still have fun and I can still get around!
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The problem came when I lived too long! ha ha I guess a better way to say that would be that I've lived longer than anyone expected, and Yvette is being deployed and has to go back to Iraq. And there was no one who could take care of a big girl like me, who has to be carried up and down stairs!
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Yvette found Smiling Dog Farms on the internet and she asked if I could come live out the rest of my life at the farm. And Ricky and Jay said "Yes"!
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So I came to live here last Summer.
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Because of my age and my bum back legs, I get to live inside the house.
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A couple weeks ago, Yvette came to see me here at the farm. She wanted to see me before she had to leave for Iraq. Neither one of us wanted to think about it, but we both knew that it may be my last chance to see Yvette, because she will be gone for about a year.
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We had a great time. She packed me up in her car and we went to the park and we just enjoyed being with each other once again. You can see how happy we both are in this photo Yvette took of us in her car!
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I am really glad that I got to spend the afternoon with Yvette one more time. She writes to Ricky and Jay about me, and they tell me how much she still cares about me. But it is still nice to be with Yvette, to touch her and feel her touching me again.
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This has to be one of the things I like best about living at Smiling Dog Farms -- families who send dogs to live here are encouraged to come back to visit and can even check us out for a day or a weekend or however long they want!
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It meant that I got to spend one very special afternoon with Yvette, whom I will always love! I will cherish those memories from that day, and keep them in my heart!

Puppy's Advice About Contests...

I'm Puppy.

I'm an older guy. I'm supposed to have acquired a little wisdom over the years.

So here is my advice about The Animal Rescue Site Contest: Don't vote for us. Or anyone else!

We all remember what happened last December. Smiling Dog Farms was way ahead in Texas. A huge lead of 2.42% going into the final day of the "contest". Team Smiling Dog had really pumped out the votes and kept Smiling Dog Farms number one in Texas every single day from the middle of October right to the end of the contest!

But the prize went to another group. The folks at the Animal Rescue Site just pushed our concerns aside, condescendingly telling us "the other group got more votes than you"! Without so much as an explanation of HOW any group could make up 2.42% in a single day, when the MOST that had been recorded in a single day during the entire contest was just .23%... or less than 10% of what the "winning" group allegedly did on that final day.

Didn't make any sense then. Still doesn't make any sense now. Never will.

Well, when you look at how much time and energy our team expended... it was just not worth it.

When our supporters are focused on a contest we can never win, it saps energy that might be used more productively. It gives our supporters a false belief that their hard work might actually result in us winning that contest. But we have seen how that goes.

The worst part about voting for us -- or for anyone -- is that is tacitly approves the way those folks do business. It tells them that it's really ok the way they did us.

No, I don't think any of us on Team Smiling Dog want to send that message to Greater Good and Petfinder.

The message we want to send is that we know we had the votes, and we know we were Number 1 in Texas in that last contest. We are not stupid. They can't just say we got less votes and not back it up, when the contest was not even close!

Now we sure do appreciate all the good folks on Team Smiling Dog who have been voting for us on that contest again. We know you are doing it because you want to help us.

But it just sends the wrong message.

What do I think you oughta do? BOYCOTT that contest. Don't vote for us. Don't vote for anyone. Stay off their website altogether.

Let them know the folks on Team Smiling Dog believe in honesty and contests that are fairly run. And we just want no part of their contest.

That's what I'd do.

But I'm just an old dog -- who still has a few new tricks left in me! Ha ha!

Buddy Snuggles Under Covers to Stay Warm!

It really got cold around here yesterday! I'm a Florida dog and I am not accustomed to this kind of weather!

You can see that I was one of the dogs who came inside last night because of the weather. Ricky and Jay said that all the smaller dogs, the older dogs and dogs like me who have issues that make us more vulnerable had to come inside. I am a cancer patient, so I could not risk staying out in the cold!

Most of the dogs who came inside stayed in kennels stacked in the living room and bedrooms and hall... but I got to spend the night in the bed! The covers really felt good!

Everyone who works here at the farm was working extra hard and extra long hours today, to make sure that everyone had a soft, cushiony puff to curl up in, and that the extra partitions were installed on the housing to keep dogs out of the cold night air.

We all got to go out today and play in the sunshine, even though it was still pretty cold. But it felt good to breathe the fresh air for a while and have a chance to run and play.

Tonight, we did the same drill as last night. We are back in the house to stay warm.

I heard Ricky and Jay saying that this cold spell is now looking like it is going to last longer than we first thought yesterday. So I guess we will just keep doing what we have been doing until the weather breaks and it feels like Texas here again!

I saw on the Weather Channel tonight that it is even going to be cold in Florida tomorrow and the next few days!

I thought we were supposed to be having Global Warming!

Winter Storm Hits Smiling Dog Farms

When I woke up this morning, I had to check to make sure I wasn't back in Pennsylvania! Boy, was it cold!
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Normally, our overnight lows are in the 60s. We think it is cold when it drops into the 50s around here. So you can imagine everyone's shock today when it dropped into the low 40s and high 30s!
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The smaller dogs and the older dogs and the dogs who might be adversely affected by the cold came inside. They stacked crates from floor to ceiling all over the house, so everyone could spend the night inside where it was warm!
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All the team members at the farm were working overtime today to make sure that everyone was tucked in, snug and warm.
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I heard Ricky and Jay saying that it has never been this cold since Smiling Dog Farms moved to Texas! The weather report is calling for bitter cold again tomorrow and Thursday, then slowly getting back to normal for the weekend.
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Wednesday will be in the 40s and then Thursday will creep up into the 50s and by Saturday it is supposed to be in the 70s again.
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Today was actually the worst. In the early morning, we not only had cold but strong, gusting winds. My friends Oreo, and Lyndon Baines, and Anastasia each had the roof blown off their cottage! Ricky and his team members were out in the yards, putting roofing back on houses!
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However, not a single one of the new townhomes were affected by the gusting winds! Ricky and Jay were proud that the new construction is so much stronger than the old.
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We will all be glad when it warms up again and things get back to normal!