TBAR Adoptable Puppy – Eddie

TBAR Puppy Eddie
This weeks Pet of the Week is a little adoptable puppy named Eddie. How can you resist a face like this? He is 6 weeks old and has had his first shots and worming. He came into True Blue Animal Rescue because his mother passed away when he and his siblings were only 1 week old. Luckily some Tbar members were able to take them in and bottle feed them. Bottle fed puppies are very friendly and lovable. As you can see Eddie was comfortable as he had his foster mothers hand there. He’s starting to play with toys and loves to hop around and explore everything.

T-BAR is a 501(c)3 non-profit no-kill Texas animal rescue. Save a life and adopt instead of buying a pet. If you are looking for or would like more information on the bottle babies, or another animal you see, please call 936-878-2349 or email,  [email protected]  to make an appointment – and read about fostering or adopting and download an application.  Fill it out and send it back (email or regular mail) and once you are on file as an approved adopter or foster home, you can meet any animal you want and take them home for a sleepover – try out. Please remember to have all your pets spayed and neutered. It is the right thing to do.

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!

Upcoming TBAR Event: Horseman’s Market Days 2014

Horse event

Make plans to come out and support True Blue Animal Rescue on August 6th at the annual Horseman’s Market Day! We will have many items for sale (including saddles, blankets, halters, and clothing). All money raised will go directly to the care of TBAR animals! We will be able to take payment by cash or check only.

Would you like to donate some horse-related items to TBAR for us to sell at the event? Please email [email protected] or call (936) 878-2349 and we will be happy to accept your generosity!

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Event Info:

Horseman’s Market Day, also known as Equestrian Market Day or The Horseman’s Flea Market, is sponsored by the Brazos Valley Driving and Riding Club. It takes place this year on Saturday, August 16, 2014 from 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM at the Brazos County Expo – East Pavilion building. The address is 5827 Leonard Road, Bryan TX 77807 (just East off of Highway 47).

There is free admission and free parking. Shoppers can expect to find all sorts of new and used equine-related items. There will be all sorts of vendors and you can buy, sell, or trade all sorts of equine-related items. There were over 150 booths last year in the 60,000 square foot sales space! Please note that there will be no animals on site.

There is a concession stand on site. Dress appropriately and be aware that the facility is not air conditioned, but it is kept comfortable with large ceiling fans.

Please consider printing the provided poster and helping to spread the word about this event! The more people that attend the more likely we are to raise more money to help Texas animals in need! Printable poster

Throwback Thursday: Cotton and Candy

I’ll never forget the day I came home and found these precious babies had been tossed in the yard out front. I’ll never understand how someone could just toss their puppies into someone’s yard with no regard for the dogs or the person who they are dumping them on. Dumping animals is illegal and irresponsible. Thankfully I’m not the kind of person who would do that so we took care of this special brother and sister pair. We named them Cotton and Candy due to their fluffy white coats and sweet personalities. Candy, the all white female, was deaf and her brother, Cotton was her ears and her protector. Thankfully a special family understood their special bond and adopted them together. Special people like those who adopt dogs like Cotton and Candy make the world a better place. We were thankful they found Tbar and these two special babies. Cotton N Candy

Success Story: Skywalker

Skywalker’s foster home intended to work with him and find him a new home but in the end, they fell in love with him and decided to adopt! We call these foster failures and even though it sounds negative, this is the best kind of failure. You fail to adopt them out but you decide to love them forever and never let them go. Who else out there is a foster failure?? I am!

Skywalker

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

 

Foster Blog: Kassy

Kassy1 As you know, dear readers, Jason and I took in our first foster dog on St. Patrick’s Day this year (and we even named him Patrick)! He was with us for three months, and when he left Jason and I felt like the house was a little quieter. It had been four years since we had worked with a puppy and our dogs are now at that blissful stage in life where sleeping is the main goal for about sixty five percent of the day (unless there is a yard man near by!)

Another Tbar member, Casie Cooper, brought to my attention a group of dogs that needed to be saved or they faced certain doom. Rescued from a hoarding situation, these dogs were moved into the Sealy pound. Casie shared pictures of the dogs in need and my heart strings were tugged on by the image of a dog cowering in the corner with a hand holding up her little face. I was nervous about taking on another dog as I remembered how bringing Patrick home caused a stir (to say the least) with my corgi mix, Jack. It took about a month until all was well and my dogs became a happy pack. Did I want to do that again? And so soon? I confess when Patrick left I had a good cry but that feeling of helping a dog and a family find each other was such a good feeling it overpowered the sadness. In the end Jason and I knew we wanted to do that again, so I decided to take Kassy.

Kassy was only 30 lbs, smaller than Jack, but by height only, and being female I knew Jack would have less of an issue with her since she was not any competition. Casie and her wonderful husband Cody went to give Kassy her freedom ride. The dog smelled terrible and was so scared she was messing herself and the crate she was in. I have never seen a dog so full of fear. I would liken her fear state to that of a spooked horse. To be safe we carried her in the crate from the truck into our back yard. I could see this new dog bolting and since she didn’t know us the chances of us catching her if she got loose were slim. That alone made me a tad nervous, but  we got her into the yard and gave her a bath. It was hard for her to be bathed, and believe me it was for Jason and myself as well, but it had to be done. Not to be too graphic, but she was covered in her own messes. Once inside the house our dogs smelled the cage (now cleaned) that Kassy was in, but they were pretty bored about her arrival into the house. Lucia, our oldest, really could have cared less. Chloe, our middle dog, once again behaved the way she did when Patrick came into the house (Kassy could be a table for all she noticed). Jack, after his experience with Patrick, did so well; no growling, no sizing up, he just smelled her and moved on. I was impressed and so proud of him (I may have sprouted off a few tears). Kassy3 Kassy’s first days with us were surprising calm. At first the new dog made no sounds at all and always wanted to be in her crate. Making her go outside to potty was hard and often resulted in accidents when we would touch her. No eye contact was ever made and she even refused to point her nose in our direction. If we walked near her kennel she would shake uncontrollably and ram herself into the corner as far away from us as possible. All the while Kassy was too afraid to point her body or head at us. I started to sing around the house to get her used to my voice and Jason would talk to her non stop once he got home. Kassy2 Still things were tense, and basic things that many take for granted were hard. Feeding time was a nightmare because she would pee as soon as I went to put her food into the crate. Not wanting her to get used to the smell I would have to get her out of the crate and get her a new towel and wash the crate floor out. Then the struggle of putting her back in the crate started. All the while my other dogs are starting to unravel while waiting for their food. Getting her outside was a chore and I am sure each time I went to let her out I was grinding my teeth. She started to pee the moment I opened her kennel and peed all the way to the door. We had to move all the furniture around in the kitchen to get her cage right by the back door. Success! The new system worked for her and made her feel more in control of her movements but most of all she seemed to feel safe. I started to get a little tense when it was potty time for the pack. Once outside she ran around non stop. I mean she was always moving. Only when she was exhausted would she finally go potty and then she would lay down far away. My dog seemed to sense she was scared and gave her space but I wanted her to have more of a life. I fretted as I watched her on the third day. She held herself differently something had changed. Jason and I were in for a surprise…. To Be Continued!

Pet of the Week: Starlette

How about a beautiful bay Mustang in your life. Star is one of the most magnificent horses in her breed and being young, around 3 years old, she is ready for whatever your heart desires to do with her. Once you have a Mustang in your life, you have a piece of American heritage in your heart. Why in you heart? Because to see a creature like this doesn’t happen often. She has had a month of natural horsemanship training with Juan Vendrell of TC Ranch Ventures and now she’s ready for further saddle training. Before training, she was in her true element of being a Mustang but now the trainer can touch her and work her with the rope. She even gives to pressure on her neck and leads now.

T-BAR is an all volunteer no-kill rescue. Save a life and adopt instead of buying a pet. If you are looking for more information, please call 936-878-2349 and a volunteer will get back with you as soon as possible, or email,   [email protected]  to make an appointment – and go to the website, www.t-bar.org to learn about the adoption or foster program guidelines and download an application.  Fill it out and send it back (email or regular mail) and once you are on file as an approved adopter or foster home, you can meet any animal you want.star

Throwback Thursday: Cooper

This sweet hound dog is named Cooper in his new life with his forever family. When he came to Tbar we called him Blue and then Trooper for his strength in recovery. He endured and recovered from a broken leg and a terrible skin condition. It seemed that he’d never be happy again until he met the Silvey family. They adopted him despite his lack of hair in some places. They helped his soul heal. One of the best stories his new Mom tells is how he will now roll down a hill for pure joy. What a special boy and such a special family. Like this boy’s facebook post to show your support for special families who adopt special pets despite their differences.

In the bottom picture Cooper’s rehab foster Mom is on the left and Cooper’s adoptive Mom is on the right for a happy reunion.

Trooper before and after