Sunday, January 1, 2012

2011 in Review and 2012 Wishes

My apologies to my core followers for abandoning my blog... I do have a few good reasons.

1.  Christmas came a little early... Bailey's Gotcha Day is 11/22/11.  He was pulled from an Oklahoma City Kill Shelter by Friends with Four Paws, a volunteer (Thank you Ethan!) tagged me and the rest was history.  I had all intentions of fostering him until FWFP was able to find a forever home; however, my partner John had other ideas and he is now a member of the Schanzuer-tude! pack!


2.  In August of 2011 I answered a call to help a homeless man who was living in his car with his 3 Shepherds.  I was able to raise some money and the dogs were placed in a kennel in Staten Island until the owner was able to get back on his feet.  One week then one month and another and the owner never came forward again; he abandoned them.  Precious, Princess and Blackie were residents at the kennel for about 3 months.

  • Precious (now Precious Chance or "Chancy") is now with a wonderful family in NJ, she has two furry brothers, Bear and Buddy and is loving life with his new mom Janet.  Click on the photo below to see more photos of Chancy.  
Chancy with her new mom, this was their first day together.



  • Princess is truly that... a princess.  Living on Long Island with her furry siblings Dagwood and Megan along with her two humans and human brother.  
Princess on one of her many thrones  -- Her human's words, not mine :-) 



  • And finally, there is Blackie; he has a very long story.  I was able to find a foster for Blackie and on September 23rd when I was transporting him, he escaped from his collar and ran away on me.  Almost 16 days looking for him in Staten Island and with the help of an incredible core of local volunteers, SICAW, 3 trappers and 1 tracker (yes a dog scent tracker) we were finally able to capture him.  He was quarantined for two weeks and after three weeks, he went to a wonderful foster family in Flushing Queens.  He is currently enjoying his days with his furry foster sibling Kodi and a cat name Aphrodite.  HE IS UP FOR ADOPTION AND IF YOU ARE INTERESTED PLEASE CONTACT ME DIRECTLY.

So aside from the new addition, dog count is now four and these three rescues (something I'd never done before!) my time was not my own.   

I have a few wishes for 2012, top on the list is finding Blackie a forever home, paying off what I owe the kennel for boarding 3 dogs for almost 3 months, helping with more rescues but learning not to let it consume all of me (easy to say, hard to do) and finally, to be able to reach out to more people who can help with fostering, rescuing or even volunteering some of their time, either in person or virtually.    I started a FB page solely for rescues seeking fosters or forever homes.  Canine Collective is a core group of volunteers who I met during Blackie's search in Staten Island.  All animals posted on this FB page are personally seen by one of us and we are directly working with the rescue group or local ACC to help save them.  Please visit, "like" and share and cross post on your FB pages or on your blogs to help us reach more people that might be able to assist with a foster or forever home.  My final wish is to be able to dedicate more time to this blog, I will start with baby step and do my best to update weekly... wish me luck.

Wishing all of you a very healthy and happy New Year!

Claudia 

14 comments:

Rubie and Poots (her Mum) said...

Hi Claudia, Rubie and I have been wondering how you and the dog-a-logs are.....and well - there are more to enjoy now!! Congratulations on your hard work to find forever homes for the furry ones....you have a wonderful heart. PeeS: There would be no way I would let go of Bailey either!!

Have a great 2012!!

Rubie's mum

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

We're happy to hear from you. and we'll accept your excuse. That's a lot of work. good on you. Those pups will have a second chance.

XXXoOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

Sketching with Dogs said...

Hello!
Hope you all had a fun Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
Good for you for helping all those dogs.
Love, Dip Bridge Elliot and Lynne x

Sam said...

Living in Staten Island, I heard a LOT about Blackie getting lost then found again. I used to be an active volunteer at SICAW when they operated their own kennel but am sad to say I haven't had the time to do much, lately. I had no idea you were involved! Wow! You live in Queens, right?

Best wishes to you and yours in 2012.

Sam & MargeDog

Nellie, Yuchie, Calvert and Bailey said...

Hi Sam!

I had no idea you lived in SI. Wow, so happy all the PR I did for him worked out, now I only wish I could find him a forever home.

Blackie, Princess and Precious were at Country Estate Kennels and I found myself in SI almost every weekend in 2010; except for that Saturday when we had a snow storm :/

I live in Astoria Queens and yes it was very time consuming but worth it. I'll be honest, had I known what I was getting myself into I would not have gone into it willingly; however, sometimes we don't have a choice and things happen for a reason. I've grown from this experience... and made incredible friends because of it.

Best for 2012
Claudia
NYC&B

The Army of Four said...

Hey you guys! Sure sounds like you've been BUSY! Glad to see a post from you!
Play bows,
Zim

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

Welcome back, and welcome to the additions. We have missed you, but we totally understand where you have been. Very busy doing such wonderful work. We hope to see more of you and we will keep our paws crossed for Blacke to find a good home.

Woos - Phantom, Thunder, Ciara, and Lightning

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

Blackie's story was - ummm - khwite interesting -

Mom and I followed with interest from FB -

If we were khloser, we would have khome to help -

As fur the addition, sometimes things are out of our khontrol!

Welkhome!

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra

Brandon - The dog with a blog said...

We sure have missed you! What a furry busy year fur you guys :)

-Brandon

The Bama Gardener said...

Wow, you have been busy!

I found you on Rubie's blog. Hope you will continue to blog more so that I can see what life is like with so much Schnauzer-tude

Oskar said...

Wow, you are a true friend to doggies. I'm glad all is well & we hope to see you back in Blogville soon.

Nubbin wiggles,
Oskar

Two Schnauzers from New England said...

Hi, Nellie and Calvert -

Wow, your Mom adopted two furkids to keep you company. We have been blogging a lot lately and miss our blogging buddies.

Mama wishes she could adopt another furkid to keep me company, but we have such a small yard.

Anyway, we hope 2012 has been great for you!

Love -

Hershey and Kaci

Unknown said...

We're happy to hear from you. and we'll accept your excuse. That's a lot of work. good on you. Those pups will have a second chance.Challenge coins

World of Animals, Inc said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful year and have better plans for the upcoming new year. Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos. Have a fantastic rest of your day.
World of Animals