Throwback Success Story: Fabio!

True-Blue-Animal-Rescue-Throwback-Success-FabioLast week we received an update on Fabio!

His family tells us:

 “I don’t know if you will remember Fabio but he was debilitating shy when we first got him. I remember your husband asking me to please be patient with him. While he is still a tad shy around us and hides from strangers, he has also recognized his forever home and family! Our alpha (jealous) male still rules the roost but even he shares his garage chair with Fabio!”

We are so happy Fabio has such a great forever home! He was one of a litter of puppies who were stuffed in a plastic container and illegally dumped off in front of a country home when they were 7-8 weeks old in 2011. We couldn’t be happier to hear updates like these. It gives us the energy we need to refuel our passion and continue to help animals in need!

Please send us updates on YOUR TBAR animal! Email [email protected] and we would love to feature your pet’s update on our site!

Success Story! Lady!

True-Blue-Animal-Rescue-Success-Story-Adopted-LadyThis is Lady, a Cane Corso mastiff. She belonged to a breeder who had her in their backyard. They were not taking good care of her and turned her over to someone else after her puppies had died. She was passed around to four different homes till she was taken in by Casie Cooper with True Blue Animal Rescue. Casie let her have some time to adjust and then slowly introduced her to her family and other dogs. She was worried that Lady might growl and behave aggressively, but after she settled in she was fine with the other dogs. Lady is a huge dog, and a breed that needs to be handled correctly, so we knew it would take a special home to adopt her. After she was vetted and spayed Casie was able to network her and find her the perfect family. She has settled in nicely with her new people and doggie siblings!

Success Story! Ares!

True Blue Animal Rescue Texas Success Story AresWe love sharing success stories with you, and today we get to share that another one of our recent rescues has found a forever home. Here is Ares, one of the three husky puppies rescued from a high-kill rate shelter. You can see how much love he now gets from his new mom and new sibling! What a happy trio! Congrats on your forever home, Ares! And THANK YOU to Ares’ Mom for opening her heart and home to him!

Happy New Year!

TrueBlueAnimalRescueChristmas2014Happy New Year from the Hodde Family and True Blue Animal Rescue!

The Hodde’s pets are all rescues. They shared their super cute Texas Christmas picture so we could see how well Buddy (aka, Butch), the tan dog on the left, is doing. Buddy was adopted from True Blue Animal Rescue several years ago, and as you can see, he’s happy and loved in his new family.

You can help us make 2015 a great year by donating, fostering, or adopting!

Throwback Success: Eddie!

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Eddie is our Merry Christmas Throwback Thursday. Eddie came to True Blue Animal Rescue when he was one week old. He was bottle fed and cared for in a foster home and then adopted into a wonderful family. Here he is with his family for Christmas. He was bigger than what they were looking for but they gave him a chance anyway and he turned out to be perfect for their family.

With the help of Eddie and his new family we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Success Story: Tina!

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This weeks Success Story is Tina. and it’s a Christmas Blessing.

Tina’s New Mom sent this message:

Tina had a long talk with Santa this year.

She said she really wanted to stay in her foster home forever.

Santa couldn’t resist those eyes... and the snuggles every evening by the fire. So Santa said, “Come stay with me”.

Along with her BFF Jenny, who was also adopted from TBAR, her job will be to help Santa relax after a hard day’s work in the toy shop.

The second picture is Tina with her entire family. Her Dad plays Santa every weekend of Dec each year. Her Mom takes the pictures and all proceeds from their efforts go to True Blue Animal Rescue so more animals can be saved the following year. Her family is the Taylor Family and they are a blessing to rescue animals and especially to True Blue Animal Rescue!

Success Story: Gamora and Hanns!

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Success Story Wednesday! The last of Senior dog Sage’s puppies have found their forever home! Here is Gamora’s with her new family that fell in love with her at Oktoberfest!

We are also happy that Hanns, one of the puppies who was abandoned on the side of the road with his brothers and sisters, has found his forever home!

Both of these dogs look like they have nothing but happy lifetimes ahead of them! We are grateful to all the foster homes who rehabilitate these babies and to the wonderful adopters who make them part of their family.

Ace and the incredible Rescue Transport Network

Angie Hewett is a longtime supporter of TBAR (as she is one of founder Melanie’s sisters!) and recently she adopted her second TBAR dog! Where Angie lives, in Buffalo New York, it is much less common to see animals in need of rescue and adoption due to many factors, one of which is animal overpopulation control with the heavy promotion of spay and neuter programs. In many areas in the North it is much more common for spay an neuter to be enforced (otherwise you have to pay high licencing fees for your animals), and because of this there are many fewer unwanted pets in shelters than there are in the south (some even call it “pet underpopulation”). This with the combination of technology (websites, pet databases, etc) has created a whole new networking situation in the US today – people in the North want our unwanted pets, and a whole bunch of volunteers are ready to pull together to do rescue transport for dogs to get them up to their new forever home! In fact, compared to purchasing a pup up North, the transport option is still less expensive! Keep reading to hear about how rescue transport for dogs brought Jack and Ace together in their new family! 

TBAR Dog Transport (1)Jack and Ace are 2 dogs that we adopted from True Blue Animal Rescue. How lucky we are. We live in New York State and True Blue is located in the state of Texas.

We saw pictures of these amazing Dachshunds on True Blue’s Facebook page. I saw their pictures and really felt like somehow they belonged with me. I also could not imagine how I’d ever get them since I lived so far away from TBAR. I also was a little nervous because what if I found a way to get the dogs here and I found that they really weren’t good fit for our family.

As I previously mentioned Jack and Ace do live with us and here is how It all worked out.

TBAR Dog Transport (1)

Did you know that there is a transport service that will deliver reduce pets to anywhere in the US? Did you know that the fee to do this is not very much and the animals are very cared for and comfortable as they travel?

Well these services do exist, and it is exactly how we got both Jack and Ace

Now for the other concern I had. Both Jack and Ace were with one of TBAR’s foster homes. These people are amazing. They take these dogs in and do whatever they need to do to heal these dogs and allow them to be successfully placed in forever homes. The foster that had our dogs is named Shellie. Shellie is amazing. She started with sending us lots of pictures of the dogs and even sent us videos so we could really get a good idea of the dog’s personality. We also talked to Shellie several times over the phone.

TBAR Dog Transport (2)

We have young grandchildren and wanted to be sure Jack and Ace got along well with little kids. We also have another larger dog and wanted to be sure the little dogs would be ok with big dogs.

Well, Shellie solved this for us too. She took the little dogs to a friend’s house who had little children. Jack and Ace did well with them. She also went to another friends house who had a big dog. Another success.

After the conversations with Shellie and finding out how easy it would be to transport the dogs across the country we decided to adopt Jack and Ace, and I must tell you we couldn’t be happier.

TBAR Dog Transport (3)

I want you to know how worth it that it can be to adopt a rescue dogs. Sure there’s an adjustment period, you have to get used to each other (generally they tell you it takes at least 2 weeks for them to settle a bit and start to show their personality), but once this is accomplished you couldn’t have a better pet. Rescue animals really appreciate it when they feel safe and are finally in their forever homes.

Please don’t ever rule out taking a look at True Blue Animal’s website. If you see the perfect animal listing I promise you that transporting the animal to you will be easier than you could ever imagine, and you will be able to talk to the person fostering the animal to be sure this animal will be a good fit for you and your family.

We love Jack and Ace so much and we are so happy we took the chance. They really complete our family.

If you are interested in any TBAR animal, don’t let distance stop you from inquiring! Email [email protected] or call (936) 878-2349 and we can discuss with you our rescue transport for dogs!

TBAR Foster Feature: Cricket

Today’s Foster Feature comes from one of our wonderful True Blue Animal Rescue Foster Homes: Casie Cooper! 

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We picked Cricket up from TBAR on Valentines day a few years ago. She was part
of a group siezure at a breeding facility.

I knew she was going to be a challenge from the moment we met her. She was in
the working pens ready to be loaded when we walked up. I reached through the
fence to pet her. She froze and started shaking like a tiny chihuahua! I figured
it was best not to mess with her much in the chute. We loaded her up.

Once we unloaded her into the round pen at home, things got a little better. It
was obvious that she had not had much interaction with people. But through all
of her fear and insecurity, she was never aggressive or mean. Never offered to
kick, bite or even paw. She was legitimately scared, but seemed to know we
weren’t going to hurt her.

After about 2 weeks of good progress in the round pen, she was able to be
touched, haltered, led and moved her hips when asked. At that point, we thought
it a good idea to try some transitioning to working in a larger area. Boy were
we wrong! Hah!

We opened the gate to the round pen and stepped to the edge. She stretched and
sniffed. I waited. Then walked through. Well, she bolted! Ran like crazy!! Got
loose from me and jumped the fence into the back pasture. Then the front
pasture. Then the front yard. Then the back pasture. Then the front again and
finally the back again and ran like crazy. All I could think, after “Please
don’t break your neck”, was “What the heck was that”!? “I must have done
something wrong? Too fast?” I decided I was out of my league! We called a
friend who trains horses.

Our trainer friend came over once we got her back in the pen. A week later, he
felt confident he could transition her. Same scenario. Less dramatic, but the
same outcome nonetheless.

We felt hopeless. Figured we would have to keep her forever and just have a
really pretty yard ornament and no space to foster a more adoptable horse. Then
we realized that if she ever needed medical attention, minor or emergent, we
would have no way to care for her. Unacceptable in an animal lover’s eyes.

In comes Juan Vendrell. We took Cricket over and unloaded her into his working
pens. Within a week, he could lead her through an opening from one pen to
another! She still rushed, but absolutely traveled through an opening into
another area with lead still in hand!! At the end of the month, Juan had her in
the pasture doing lunge line work with ease. Anyone who has hit a roadblock with
a horse understands the happiness this brings!

We now have a horse who was almost unhandleable who now has true adoption
potential. She has gained confidence in new situations and continues to learn
with every interaction we have. No matter how sparse they be lately. Seems like
whatever lessons he gave her, are solid enough that I don’t feel like I have to
rush home from work every day to reinforce. His help has made my job as a foster
much less stressful and even rewarding again! Thanks Juan! 🙂

Thank you Casie for sharing your story, for being a TBAR foster home, and for not giving up on Cricket! For anyone interested in becoming a Foster Home for True Blue Animal Rescue in Texas, please visit our info page, email [email protected] or call (936) 878-2349. It is because of foster homes like Casie that TBAR is able to save more lives!

Success Story: Joey

Remember Joey, the one eyed cat? Here he is with his new family! Poor Joey had a severe infection and had to have an eye removed and he is FIV positive. It seemed that his chance of finding a forever family would be impossible but then he met the PURRFECT family for him. They knew that he could manage just fine with one eye and that FIV can only be contracted through deep wounds or mating which makes the risk to other cats minimal. They knew that Joey was a special guy who deserved this special chance so they adopted him! Lucky Joey and lucky family!

For more information on FIV go to http://bestfriends.org/feline-immunodeficiency-virus.aspx  or http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/living-with-fiv/

Joey