Slow But Sure

100+ temperatures in NE Georgia for the past two weeks is making puppy rescue efforts extra difficult, but so far, we’ve managed to get five of the eight little puppies under the rubble of the burned out house.

After a long day in Atlanta last Sunday, I decided to swing by the rubble and leave some food.

It was about 6pm. When I put food out for them, they all came out to eat. So I easily picked up two. One, a little black and white female with floppy ears and the runt, a little short-legged black and tan female (daddy must have been a Dachshund).

They went to Jennifer, a friend of mine who runs a shelter out of her house. She’s full too but had friends who volunteered to foster them. However, they yelped and screamed all the way to the car and that scared all of the other puppies who wouldn’t come near me after that.

The puppies are under the piece of roofing on the bottom left of the photo above, so you see the challenge.

Tuesday, after lots of ant bites and no luck getting any more to come out while I stood there, I finally decided to call Bobby at our animal shelter for his help; not to take the puppies, but to help rescue them.  He brought out a humane trap.

Then on Wednesday evening after work (temperatures at 101), my friend Wendi and I went to check the trap Bobby set that afternoon. Now, Bobby brought a humane trap large enough to catch a grizzly. We don’t have grizzlies in NE Georgia, but I guess you never know.

We get there and there are two more little puppies panting in the trap. It took two of us to get them out. One to hold open the door and one to crawl inside and retrieve them.

They went to yet another lady, Joan, who is vp of the local humane group (not affiliated with our animal control shelter) and lives around the corner from me. This little saint and her husband keep dogs and puppies in their home, get them spayed/neutered, tested, vaccinated and adopt them out at metro Atlanta Petsmarts and PetCo’s.

She complained that she was full (and she was) and there was no room at the inn, but we whimpered a lot and she agreed to keep them until I could get them to Jennifer.

Then Thursday afternoon, Bobby set the trap again in the late afternoon. On my way to cover a news story near my house I decided to swing by there and check it. Sure enough, two more puppies in the hu-normous trap and it’s 101.

Well even though the trap is in the shade I can’t leave them in there. I’m in my nice white pants and sandals and pretty top, trying to get the puppies out of the trap. I’m alone, so with one hand I’m holding open the door on one end and trying to reach in with the other to get a puppy.

The puppies are squished at the other end of the trap, certain that the big bad monster is coming to eat them and they’re screaming for mama.

Well the trap is about five feet long and my arms aren’t. So the only thing to do in my nice white outfit, was to get down on my hands and knees and crawl into the trap and reach for them. The more I reached, the more they backed away and screamed and the more I had to get in there.

Meantime, the neighbors are watching from across the street. Think they would come over and help? Not a chance.

By this time, I am crawling into the trap on my belly, white pants all shmutzy now, sweating like I’ve run a marathon, feet being bitten by ants, with puppies screaming in my ear, reaching with all my might to get at least one. Mama dog is running around the trap trying to help because her babies are screaming for her. It was ALMOST segment from the old Andy Griffith Show where Barney gets caught in his own trap.

Finally got hold of one puppy while the other one ran past me out of the trap and under the house.

At least I got one. As I’m driving off with the puppy, the people across the street who look like living in house with indoor plumbing is a relatively new experience for them, stare at me with this, “Well shoot, what was she doin’ under thar annaways?” look on their faces.

So that puppy went to Joan’s and later yesterday evening, Jennifer drove an hour to Joan’s and took them and mama back to her house. It’s not clear yet whether she will keep them and foster them to adopt out or take them to another larger shelter in the metro area.

All three puppies at Joan’s were glad to see mama dog and she was glad to see them.

I did go cover the news story after going home, showering, changing, etc. Got there and it was over. Glad it was wasn’t anything critical, just a local business event that ended two hours early.

Still three puppies under the rubble. Anyone interested in seeing them can contact Jennifer at litternot@windstream.net. She might have them on her Web site as well: www.adoptabuddy.petfinder.com.

Mama is a 25lb black mixed breed. Puppies are: four black and white, two yellow lab looking ones, one black one that looks like mama, one runt whose black and tan. They’re about 10wks old.

What I don’t understand is how our county fathers have allowed this burned out building to remain on that property and why the owner hasn’t been fined. Sometimes rural mountain life mystifies this city girl.

Whatever happened to the three puppies at the construction site? Bobby trapped two of them and they’re at the animal control shelter. He’s hoping someone will adopt them but we have almost no adoptions at our shelter. Anyone interested in them can call the shelter at 706-282-3275.And I’m still feeding the third black and tan puppy that’s left out there. She licks my fingers but I still can’t touch her. She’s always happyt to see me and comes running when my car pulls up. She’s quite lonely, poor thing.

Other people feed her too, but she can’t stay there because she’s going to get pregnant soon and then there’ll be more puppies to deal with.

It just never ends.