Chapter Two:

Picking up five dogs is no small feat. Especially when four of them are tiny little things, and when you're not entirely sure whether the mama has ever been in a car for longer than the short ride to be dropped off at the shelter to begin with. Poor Joselyn was discombobulated, tired, and anxious, trying to keep track of her babies and figure out what was going on all at once.

Thankfully, after about an hour (and a few tummy upsets), she seemed to settle down and she and the puppies were quite, cool, and comfortable for the remainder of the long drive back to Virginia. We arrived back in Sterling around 9pm, a very long day for everyone (including the foster mom who had spent all day preparing for the arrival of her new house guests!). Joselyn seemed incredibly grateful to have a bed (honestly, this has been an across the board thing for just about every dog I've seen come from a shelter), a full bowl of water, and some food! What a start to her new life!

That was only a couple of short days ago. Joselyn has learned about us and our routines, about the three other canine residents, and about getting a bath. Her puppies have come forward by leaps and bounds, and that's almost literal at this point! They've become very mobile and are exploring their pen with gusto, though they still get lost and stuck and cry for mom, who just sighs and gets up to go rescue them like a good mom should. Truly, this little girl, who is just a baby herself, is an incredible mom. But that is a post in and of itself.

I think it's picture time!

Tomorrow's post will be about Joselyn's personality and the babies individually. :)

Welcome!

So I guess, in starting a blog, it is best to begin with how we got here. My part is equal parts complicated and simple, depending on how you wish to look at it. But the blog is not for me, so we will simply say that I have a heart for rescuing dogs and always have. Joslyn, well, her story is why you’re here, I assume, so I think we can start with that instead.

Much of Josyln’s past is a mystery. Who knows where she came from, or how she ended up in someone’s yard, heavily pregnant. Her story is exactly like so many of the shelter dogs in this country: strays down on their luck, just looking for a safe place to go where they can at least find some food every once in a while. Mostly, good Samaritans will feed them for a little while, until they cause a problem or start having puppies. And then they end up at the county shelter.

The shelter’s purpose is a good one. It’s meant to be a safe haven for animals, a place for them to have food and, well, shelter, until they are either reclaimed by their distraught owners or adopted into new, loving families. But as with most systems, there is a problem. A huge problem. Supply and demand don’t exactly meet up, and I so wish I could say it was in the favour if the supplier, but it’s just not. There are MILLIONS of animals in this country that are homeless, and there are MILLIONS of animals in this country who are put to sleep every day because there just aren’t enough homes. There are approximately 12 dogs (yes, you read that right, TWELVE) for every ONE human born. While I would love to own 12 dogs, it is neither legal nor feasible for me to do so, nor do I expect anyone else to do so. Where does that leave us? I could go on a rant here about irresponsible breeders and uneducated owners and a gigantic failure to promote spaying and neutering in our country, but I’d rather keep this blog rant-free. You can do your own research on that front. Let’s get back to our little lost Mama, shall we?

So, Joselyn wound up in the county shelter with the odds against her. I mean, seriously against her. And this is in a shelter with very dedicated workers who obviously care a LOT about their animals, who do everything they can to get as many dogs as possible out into rescues. Imagine shelters where the workers don’t care! It happens, sadly. Thankfully, because of the hard work of the shelter employees, I happened upon Joselyn’s picture in a rescue forum. She was so heavily pregnant in the picture, it was almost painful to just look at her, and sure enough, the little girl had EIGHT babies not long after.

For many reasons, four of Jos’s babies died. This is really not unusual in stray puppy litters where the mother is not in the best physical condition, nor is it rare in cases where the mom dog is so small. So now there were five lives at stake, waiting for a rescue to open up to take them.

I scrambled through a week of networking, on day one thinking there was no way I would be responsible for these guys making it out of the shelter. But one piece of the puzzle after another just seemed to fall into place. I found out Joselyn had a sponsorship. I discovered my friend was willing to foster. My rescue was full but there were people who knew people who were willing to go out on a limb for me, for this little family. I honestly couldn’t believe when everything fell into place. So it was that I found myself driving 7 hours into West Virginia on the hottest day in ten years to pick up Jos and her babies.

And so ends Part One. Stay tuned! Also, next post will include pictures, since I know that's what everyone's always waiting on!