RubyDee... yet another first for TLC... birth of a litter

Have you read RubyDee's blog yet?... We pulled her from a high kill shelter on January 6th and after bathing her, we suspected she was preggers... Our vet confirmed the fact and true to his prediction, two weeks later our RubyDee delivered three healthy puppies - JohnnyCash, JuneCarter and JerryLee! 

As a rescue, we are known for pulling moms and their litters as well as the hard cases or old guys... The shelter systems are not equipped to raise litters and by CA code, you cannot adopt a puppy until they are 8 weeks old... Many shelters abort puppies or litters (born or not) because they know many of the litters will not survive in the shelter system... 

Other shelter systems believe there are too many unwanted dogs now that can't find furever homes, so why bring in even more with puppies???... 

While we understand the mindset and how the system does the best it can with what it has, when we are are notified there is a mom with a litter, we generally get to the shelter and pull them all... This was a first for us though... This is the first litter we actually had born in the rescue and all are doing well - mom and three puppies~!!!

Kibbles and Bits... just snoozing and hanging out!

Update on BabyLove's progress...

BabyLove's skin and coat is already starting to make baby steps of progress...

While you can't see the progress on a daily basis, you can over a much longer period of time... And two weeks later, you can just now see the upper layers of lizard skin starting to peel off and fresh new (pink) skin trying to replace itself...

Her poor feet aren't near as swollen as they were originally... And there is a bit of peach fuzz coming in on the top of her head... We're still working on trying to remove the lizard skin underneath her eyes, but that's a tedious and long-term problem that only time, meds and daily baths will overcome...

She's still not that friendly with the baths... Some days I can count on it being an easy thing to get done... Other days, she's bound and determined that I will be as wet as she is!...

The BEST part of the progress is that the awful stench of the secondary skin infections and dead skin is starting to lessen a bit... OMG... That is the hardest part (at least for me) about cases like this...

She's such a sweetheart though... She's never cranky, noisy or snarfy... She'll play with us now, so you can tell the difference a few ounces of hard-won, good nutrition have done to her energy level... It is almost comical to see her play with those long legs and malnourished, thin body as she scampers... The legs get way out in front of her and the body has to catch up!

Read BabyLove's blog HERE for the beginnings of this journey!

Scooters and Yukon...

Scooters is teeny tiny at less than 4 pounds, but in his world, he doesn't have a clue how little he is!... He'll bark at the HUGE dogs that pass by the Xpens at adoptions without half a thought that he could have been their lunch except for that Xpen (smile)~!!!...

Scooters is sweet and docile, a lover and not a fighter, but whoever adopts Scooters will need to be his protectorate for sure... Scooters 'shows no fear' as the saying goes... 

He gets along with everyone, human and dogs alike... Here's a photo of Scooters with Yukon on the doggie steps... 

Can you believe Yukon is still with us and up for adoption?... We're amazed because he's such a sweet little dog... But people hear '8 years old' when asking about Yukon and 'keep on walking' as they say... They laugh at his antics at adoptions (if he can find a corner to 'walk up' on the Xpens, he can climb out easily enough - AND DOES~!!!)... He wants to be out and about with all the people - not stuck in an Xpen with dogs... Yukon is definitely more of a human dog than a doggie-dog, preferring the company of us rather than other dogs if given an option! 

Update on Missy...

Missy is doing much better now on the antibotics and medicated baths... The hair is starting to return around her snout and the tips of her ears, but we doubt seriously if the scar on her nose will ever grow hair again... That's OK - it adds character to her face!

While Missy is very loving with her foster family, she is a 'slow warmer' as they call it, a pretty common trait for the cross-breeding of the Jack/Chis with such distinct different personalities... 

Although she's not high energy like most Jack Russells are, she is certainly always on alert and playful... Highly intelligent and 'watchers of life' as they refer to Jacks, Missy is small like a Chi and much lower to the ground than a Jack is (and she doesn't have the 'Jack bounce' either)... 

Regardless of being a 'slow warmer', Missy's furever family (or person) will come along eventually... And she didn't have to die in a local shelter in the meantime!

Introducing Teeny!

Teeny is a small, delicate female Chihuahua we seriously thought of naming "Lady" but this is the name she came with from the shelter, so stayed with it... We found her in a shelter with an open gash below her left eye... The shelter's efforts to medically take care of it were unsuccessful, so she became 'rescue only' after ending up on the kill list... 

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It didn't take us long to realize what was wrong with her, so with TLC's policy of 'one hard case for every four,' we pulled Teeny out of the shelter and made a dental appointment for her the same day...

Once the vet was able to look at Teeny, he confirmed she had a badly infected tooth in the upper jaw and the infection caused the skin to burst, keeping the wound open, infected and nasty... 


Teeny wasn't too happy about getting it debrided and washed out twice a day, but she quickly learned we were going to do it and once she realized that she was starting to feel better, she easily went along with the program!


Teeny is EVERY much the lady... She takes treats delicately from your hand, is quiet and reserved, not a dominant Chihuahua, etc... She is about 7-8 years old (young for a Chihuahua with a lifespan of 15-20 years) and weighs less than 6 pounds... She is a classic 'Black Bandit' in markings and has been a treasure to foster~~!!! 

Prince - standing on "guard"...

During one of the brief stretches of 'no rain or downpour' last week, I snapped these photos of Prince as he was 'surveying his domain'... It SO reminded me of the cartoons of my childhood from the Wiley Coyote (??) series... Remember the ones I am talking about?... Where the coyote checks in for work, his job is to try and steal a sheep from the white sheepdog that guards the flock?... And at the end of their shift, they both sit with their backs to you, watching the sheep from crest of the hill?...

By calling his name, I got Prince to turn around and look at me... And I wish I could get better photos of him, for Prince is a magnificent looking dog in person...

He has a very intent and wise look about him, but as ferocious or intimidating as he looks, Prince is a big pussycat...  He'll curl up under blankets in a heart beat and prefers to be a cuddle at the drop of a hat... While he has a block-head and the pushed in nose of the Pug breed, he has few of the normal traits of Pugs... What his true background is, we do not know of course... But he certainly is a beauty!