This post from the Pennsylvania SPCA had the following verbiage on Facebook :
Her name is Tangi.
Yesterday, she was found outside our shelter, sealed inside a taped-up box in the freezing morning air.
When we opened it, scared eyes looked up at us. She was shaking and so stressed that she was hypersalivating, clearly overwhelmed by everything around her. And yet, the moment a hand reached toward her, she leaned in, gentle and searching for comfort despite everything she had been through.
Throughout the day, during medical testing, behavioral exams, and every check we needed to do, Tangi just wanted to be near someone. She followed staff closely, rested her head against anyone who knelt beside her, and cried when she was left alone. All she wanted was to feel safe.
We are incredibly grateful someone spotted that box when they did. It was less than 30 degrees outside when she was abandoned. We truly sympathize with the circumstances her previous owner may have been facing, but we also want everyone, including pets, to remain safe. If you ever need help with a pet, please reach out to us, or any shelter or rescue in the area. And if you must surrender an animal urgently, please come inside and speak with someone.
Tangi is currently on a stray hold in case an owner comes forward. If no one does, she will be made available for adoption, and we know she’ll steal hearts quickly.
For now, she is safe, and so, so loved.
⬇️ to see Tangi.
I would like to know what in the hell is wrong with people? You’ve all these people in all these stupid social media groups wanting to get their Joey and Jill a puppy for Christmas. Well half of those puppies will end up in rescue after Christmas and I’ve said it before that’s how I got one of my best dogs. He was a Christmas puppy years ago who held no interest after a couple of months.
Then you have these people that are just dumping puppies. Case in point is a puppy that was posted to Ludwig‘s Corner Veterinary Hospital.
The post was updated to say no owner was NOT located and the dog is probably going into an already overcrowded rescue system.
Who dumps a puppy at Christmas?
Who tapes a dog up in a box and leaves it in bitter cold weather outside a shelter, where the box was almost missed?
And then they’re all the dogs that Main Line Animal Rescue has been posting that seemed to have been dumped in Lancaster City and other parts of Lancaster County.
I just can’t with this. It’s bad enough when dogs end up in rescue because their humans die and there’s no one to take them, but I just don’t understand people dumping their dogs.
Dogs give us unconditional love and so much joy. And people irresponsibly get dogs and then they just dump them.
It’s not just around here or PA in general. It’s like an epidemic all over the country. Our animal companions, much like human beings are not just disposable.
And then there are the people who assume if something happens to them, that certain people in their families or in their lives in general will take their pets. You can’t assume that you need to have a conversation.
All of these rescues are short on funds and often supplies. So if you want to do something meaningful this Christmas, don’t just shove a cute puppy under the Christmas tree that your kids may or may not really want. Adopt a rescue instead and meet your furever friend that way.
I’m sorry but human beings in 2025 have shown themselves in a lot of cases to just be assholes , whether it’s politics or pets.
It’s brutally cold out right now. No pets should just be out roaming around. And we live in a time where people just seem to dump dogs and cats, and even things like hamsters and rabbits without blinking an eye.
And now you have puppy mills overfilling rescues with dogs they can’t sell. They now are using rescues as an outlet to get rid of their excess product so to speak because they’re not viewing these dogs as pets, these dogs are like ears of corn, they’re a product.
Puppy mills give legitimate breeders a bad name. Yet people keep buying from them and then you have lots of big shelters with issues like the Montgomery County SPCA, which really needs a lot more happening than is currently happening, and then you saw what happened to the Delaware County SPCA years ago? That’s how it became Providence because the old Delco SPCA was finally shut down. It was so problematic. And now Providence is a much better place.
The Chester County SPCA also was rife with issues a few years ago and I don’t know what’s going on there today they’ve rebranded they’re now the Brandywine Valley SPCA.
All of these bigger rescue organizations participate in these clear the shelter events or “mega adoption events.” The problem I have with those events is pretty simple. They pretty much just let whomever adopt to literally just clear out the shelter cages and then a few months later you have a lot of those animals coming back into rescues. Ask any of the smaller rescues, especially ones that handle cats and they will tell you about all the kittens that get adopted during clear the shelter events…. and then dumped as young adult cats. And I especially have an issue with holiday mega adoption events and remember the good old days when rescues paused at Christmas because so many Christmas pets end up back in rescue after the holiday glow has worn off? One of my favorite rescues was an ooopsies Christmas pet.
So back to the impetus for this post: loose dogs. Dogs get out even if they are a beloved family pet and sometimes they just want to go on walk about. Sometimes it is because a human is not paying attention.
Yesterday on in Willistown off Paoli Pike, and I guess around Cedar Hollow Road a woman walking her smaller dog, was attacked by a pit bull mix. I don’t know what the end result is, but I was told last night by someone I know that people weren’t sure if the dog was going to make it because it was pretty badly attacked, and that the dogs human also had wounds.
I just drove past a disturbing scene on Paoli Pike. It appeared that a Pit Bull was loose and was mauling another dog and a woman. Police were on the scene and had just pulled the dog off of the person and dog who were lying on the ground. I hope everyone was ok, but by the sounds of the screams, I don’t think so.
Now I will honestly say that the owner of this dog did show up in local social media groups and apologize. That’s a good start, but….its not all that needs to happen.
I would like to apologize to the malvern, Paoli and surrounding residents for the accidental incident that took place earlier today. I am the owner of this rescue pitmix, XXXXX. She escaped out of her reinforced enclosure while I was gone from home. My dogs are up to date on their shots. I am so sorry to the owner of the other dog and will pay the vet bills. I will take even further precautions so this does not happen again. The safety of my community members is of utmost priority to me. Thank you to the Williston Police department for promptly showing up and separating the dogs and help contain XXXXX. I really hope the other dog is ok and not too badly injured. I just wanted to clear the air because I see a lot of posts going around speculating their own stories from me being a terrible owner to someone dumped a dog on Paoli Pike. My sister called me while I was driving panicking because Honey escaped and I told my sister to call 911 ASAP. I rescued this dog and I am responsible, I will not dump her at the spca and let them deal with this issue as they already have a lot to deal with. XXXXX is not human aggressive. She is very loving towards humans so I am not sure if she deserves to be put down, she has never had an incident with aggression towards humans. I will be reinforcing her enclosure further to make sure this does not happen again. Thank you.
But we don’t know how that poor woman is or her dog are today do we?
The fact that the owner publicly owned up to what happened and said sorry is a help, but it’s not the solution. It’s only part of a potential solution.
Twice in my lifetime I had dogs of mine attacked while we were walking on a leash. One time was just walking down a public sidewalk and the other time was on the nature trail at Haverford College.
One of the dogs that attacked one of my dogs back then was a golden retriever. I had to push for the owner to get a $50 fine and he continued to walk his dogs off lead, and the dog continued to go after other dogs on leashes. That particular dog caused thousands of dollars in vet bills to my dog because the golden retriever was a big dog and it ruptured a disc in the back of my dog, which was just your average sized field dog. It was a springer spaniel, a breed not prone to back issues.
The second time it happened it was another spaniel at another point in time and we were walking the nature trail at Haverford College. We were attacked in front of lots of people by two black labs off leash the owner and the black labs took off and my dog got rushed to the vet and it’s neck had been bitten / ripped open.
So I actually know what this feels like and for those of you who assumed I would say it was because it was a pitbull doing the attacking, I would not. I also had an old neighbor once upon a time that was at a dog park in Gladwyne, who was attacked by a much smaller dog and had its whole underbelly ripped open.
But if this dog has gotten out before and has done things like this before, or even if this was just the first time, that dog needs to be professionally evaluated, especially if it drew blood on a human as well as attacking a dog. What if that had been somebody’s kid walking their family pet?
I am not trying to deprive someone of their dog at Christmas. But what happened was horrible.
This dog that went after the other dog could have leash aggression. It’s an actual thing, but it’s something that has to be dealt with.
And I just feel for the woman and her dog who were attacked. I have experienced it.
I rarely write about animal issues any longer because so many lack reading comprehension and we in the age of social media just shoot from the hip.
But I am going to give a shout out to the people trying to save the Montgomery County PA SPCA and the animals. They are doing God’s work. (https://share.inquirer.com/0ZyV4v ) Again, the Montgomery County PA SPCA needs to have what happened to the Delco SPCA – it needs to be shut down, clean house and start again. I am told there are lots of good people in lower levels who work or volunteer for the Montco SPCA but leadership and the board? Not so good.
Our pets deserve our best and this past year has seen an increase in dumped, lost, stray, loose animals. Accidents happen, no one disputes that. But we as the humans? We have to do better for them.
Mine Line Health is trying to slip through a 4 story, 140,000 s.f. giant Urgent Care on the Lloyd Farm In Caln.
They bought 14.5 acres of the 60.
Essentially this is a hospital without rooms or emergency facilities.
They will have 4 surgical suites for those nice things like arm and knees, colonoscopies. legs, etc. This is a hospital for people with insurance. Only God knows what will happen to all the people in Coatesville or have bad or no insurance.
I have an ever more interesting thought on what they are doing. I have to ask if thy came in and lied through “information” meetings? Since they only had to tell people 750 feet from the site, few came.
Now we all know Caln Township is sleazy and I thought they might improve with retired State Senator Andy Dinniman’s former chief of staff Don Vymazal as the new manager (His email is dvymazal@calntownship.org
But alas he apparently has drunk the Kool Aid.
MAIN LINE HEALTH IS SUBMITTING A PLAN TO CHANGE THE PRESENT ZONING FROM RESIDENTIAL R-2 TO COMMERCIAL C-2TO ALLOW THEM TO CONSTRUCT AN URGENT CARE FACILITY
A 140,544 SQUARE FOOT BUILDING – 4 STORIES HIGH (65 FEET) WITH 500 CAR PARKING
THIS IS NOT A HOSPITAL – IT WILL PROVIDE NO EMERGENCY SERVICES
TAXES: Unlike YOU, as a non-profit, they can & will apply for the exemption from County, Twp., and School Taxes. Their employees will pay taxes.
TRAFFIC: 500 MORE CARS on Lloyd & Rt 322 AND a new intersection at Manor Ave & Rock Raymond Road. PATIENTS will be going in and out of the facility all day, including rush hour 8 AM and 6 PM…except traffic is so bad some days aleady it feels like rush hour all of the time.
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT? COME TO THE MEETING AND HAVE YOUR SAY! SPEAK UP, RIGHT NOW BEFORE ANYTHING IS APPROVED. THE PLANNING COMMISSION IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO APPROVE THIS ZONING CHANGE. THEY CAN SAY NO IF YOU WANT THEM TO.
PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MUNICIPAL BUILDING 253 Municipal Drive, Thorndale, PA Tuesday, November 19, 2024 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
These dogs get out far too often. Maybe people are going to think I’m being harsh but these are dogs that live on a street off of 401. What’s with the humans in the equation?
These pups wander far and wide. They are very friendly, loving dogs. But the owners are being irresponsible because they keep getting out, and I am allowed to have this opinion. If the dogs on an electric fence, maybe they need new collars with longer prongs? Maybe their collars need batteries? Maybe they need to be trained to the electric fence properly? Maybe there’s a break in the electric fence ?
This is of course, assuming there is an electric fence because you don’t know if there is or not. It could be a regular fence. They are getting out of a property which could be completely unfenced.
There could be many reasons why they are getting out but why are their humans not keeping a better eye on them?
Whatever is going on here this is not right. And I would hate to see these dogs get hit or someone to be put through the trauma of accidentally hitting them because they’re running free when they’re not supposed to be.
What is happening is upsetting and I’m posting this because there have been so many instances recently of these dogs getting out day after day and they’re being found in all different parts of Malvern. In one case, my friend‘s daughter helped catch the dogs one of the times they were loose.
Accidents happen, I get that but this is happening far too often. Which makes you wonder is this a pattern?
All we keep seeing in our social media feeds are found dogs and dumped dogs and dumped cats and found cats. I just don’t understand what’s going on in this world in which we live. It makes me very sad.
And I’m sorry if the owners feel like they’re being singled out, but in this case, how many times do their dogs have to get out before somebody looks into the why?
May Saint Francis continue to watch over them until somebody does look at why this is happening and takes steps to correct it.
A few short days ago, I introduced you to my dog (seethis post.)
Today we said good-bye to him at VRC in Malvern. The grief has been hiding at the edges since we took him in last week. Now it’s here. The tears are running so fast, I can’t see some moments. But writing has always been my catharsis, so I have to write it out. I need to tell a little of his story. A beautiful rescue dog who will forever, remain in my heart.
He is one of the happiest dogs we have ever had. Always wanted to play, always wanted to bring you a toy. Or greet you with a leaf he picked up off of the ground. A fearless chaser of squirrels, chipmunks, deer.
He came to us at six months old when he was dumped with his sibling on the streets of Philadelphia. I can’t find his first photo when I first met him. I have it somewhere.
Boo Boo came to us unexpectedly. We weren’t looking for him. I had (back then) recently said good-bye to his predecessors, Iggy and Mr. Peanut. Iggy we had lost at 8 to canine lymphoma. As I was finishing my radiation for breast cancer, Iggy was starting chemotherapy.
Anyway, one day a few months after losing first one then the other, I got a phone call at the office from Bill Smith, then at Main Line Animal Rescue. There was a puppy. He and his sister had been dumped on the streets of Philadelphia. A PSPCA volunteer was taking his sister. “Did I want him?” my friend Betsy asked (she was also on the call.) She knew it was soon, and we had just said good bye to Iggy and Mr. Peanut a couple of months before. Then they texted me a photo. It was all over. He came home. He was, as they say, a foster fail. He never left.
Keeping watch for squirrels and foxes and deer and chipmunks.
Ten years have gone by in a flash. I wish I could find the amazing words like John Grogan or James Herriot, but right now I feel, well, gutted. I can see him on the very first day we bought him home and so many moments in between.
He was almost Clarence, but then he was just a Boo Boo.
The kaleidoscope of memories includes him marching back and forth on top of the old logs in the woods, daring a chipmunk to pop up, chasing a deer out of my garden beds, investigating Christmas presents under the tree, rolling in deer poop (yes really, he was Captain Deer Poop), racing through the snow to chase who knows what, barking barking barking (boy loved to bark), curled up on someone’s lap, the grand poobah of the bed, begging food, under my feet like a trip hazard in the kitchen while I cooked, giving us kisses, and chasing the hose.
Oh that dog chasing the hose and water. I could garden up until watering time, and then I had to put him in the house. Then he would sit inside and whine. He just loved chasing the water.
Boo Boo also had a group of ladies. My friends. They would come over and he would sit in their laps making eyes at them.
Puppy dreams as a puppy.
This was a dog who was just happy, so very happy. He loved and was so loved in return.
Then last Tuesday, his world fell apart. It was like he couldn’t control his limbs. We called our regular vet Dr. Hahn at Main Line Vet in Malvern. “Take him to VRC.” Was he sure? Yes he was sure. We went to VRC.
At first they thought it was Myasthenia gravis. Then that test was negative, and so was the extra large tick borne disease panel. Yesterday they did an MRI. The only thing left was something brain related. We almost lost him going under anesthesia to go through the MRI machine. His heart rate dropped dramatically. They stabilized him, he went into the MRI on a ventilator, and he did really well with the test.
Dr. Tracy our neurologist called as he was coming out of anesthesia. We finally had what it was: something kind of rare. Immune mediated meningitis – not environmental. With a lot of dogs the recovery rate can be up to 85%. They treat it with steroids and something cytosar, which is a chemotherapy drug. His brain stem was inflamed, brain swollen.
Deep breath. Here we were again with a dog with a chemotherapy drug. Boo Boo was already on steroids, but they started the infusion yesterday afternoon, and we were ALL hopeful. This time yesterday, I was making plans to bring him home.
At a little before 9:00 AM the phone rang. It was Dr. Tracy. Boo Boo was worse, could we come in. Basically, we were out of options, and we needed to come back for his final time on earth.
We got to VRC and the parking lot was jammed. So many people, so many dogs. They took us back to ICU. We could see his time had come. VRC tried so hard. It was just simply too late when we finally figured it out. In the ICU with Boo Boo was that Bernese Mountain dog that got stuck in the mud on the banks of the Schuylkill River for 13 days until some kayakers saw her. She seems to be holding her own.
We weren’t so lucky. Boo Boo wasn’t so lucky. I am glad for that dog’s humans, but I selfishly wish my boy was in his bed under my desk as I write. Just like he has been for the past decade.
We went to the good bye room and waited for them to disconnect him from his IVs. My friend’s daughter is a nurse at VRC and she bought him to us, which was another blessing in the midst of this raw sadness and grief I am feeling. She is also a magnificent human being like Dr. Tracy, and has that soul of true kindness just like her mama.
We all held him, and in true Boo Boo fashion, he tried to rally because his humans were with him. He wagged his tail some, and gave us all a lot of kisses. That almost broke me then and there, because he had not been able to do that really for a week.
Boo Boo loved the snow.
I told him I loved him and always would. They came back with the drugs. I held him as he passed. He quietly slipped away and I felt his last beat of his little and huge dog heart. Dr. Tracy was with us the entire time. I am forever grateful for his care and for genuinely caring about our dog.
We are not bringing his ashes home. He is in every corner of our home and forever in our hearts. He is being donated to Penn Vet for science. Maybe then someday, other families will have answers more quickly and not go through what we are going through. Veterinary medicine, like human medicine is constantly evolving. I daresay, even a decade ago, we would not have even had this last week with him.
Now all we will have left after the sadness and grief recedes, are memories. Memories of a dog whom I loved fiercely (even when he decided to pee on the edge of a cabinet, or door, or something he wasn’t supposed to), and who loved all of us just as fiercely in return. It will be a long time before I stop thinking I see him running through the back yard into the woods, or running OVER a squirrel to chase the one beyond that particular squirrel. At night I will continue to hear the bark bark bark of his nightly routine and woods patrol for a long time.
Dogs give us that unconditional love. In return, we have to do what’s right when it’s time. And that is the hardest part, setting them free of what is ailing them. We want to keep them close, but then we have to say good bye, because it’s the terribly hard and right thing to do.
Well that is the abbreviated story of 10 years of a glorious dog life. How lucky we were to have him.
Chase those heavenly squirrels now my darling Boo. Run free forever. The bad stuff is over.
Me? I wish I could be brave and have the proverbial stiff upper lip. But I just can’t. My heart aches. These magnificent creatures are in our lives for such short periods of time. There is never enough time. Then they live forever in our hearts and memories.
Dogs. The canine hearts of our lives. They make us crazy, then they make us laugh. They give us the unconditional love that no human being, especially in today’s world is even capable of.
I have one that is suddenly very ill and I don’t even know how to process it in my head. I want to be positive and know that he’s going to come home and I’ll be able to love him for a few more years, but I am equally parts terrified he just won’t.
He is one of the happiest dogs we have ever had. Always wants to play, always wants to bring you a toy. Or greet you with a leaf he picked up off of the ground. A fearless chaser of squirrels, chipmunks, deer.
He came to us at six months old when he was dumped with his sibling on the streets of Philadelphia. He is now 10. And right now he’s at VRC in Malvern as they try to fix what’s wrong.
And save his life.
Literally a couple of days ago it’s like he lost all control of like his motor functions. In other words imagine trying to tell your arms and legs and head and tongue and throat to move only they’re not. He has been initially diagnosed with a rare disease called myasthenia gravis…they think.
Myasthenia gravis is nasty disease…in humans and dogs. Myasthenia gravis is a disease in which there is a malfunction in the transmission of signals between the nerves and muscles. Dogs with myasthenia gravis exhibit extreme weakness and excessive fatigue. Sometimes dogs are born with it, but mostly they acquire it.
My dog appears to have the acquired version. He’s gone from being a dog who literally bounces, to one yesterday who was like a limp rag doll when he went back to VRC for the second time within 24 hours.
When they initially took him in they thought they’d be able to send him home with steroids pending the outcome of the rest of the tests. And of course this is a disorder that literally maybe has like one lab in the entire United States to analyze it.
Terrifyingly he had a few good minutes yesterday and then the rest of the day was a roller coaster for me….and him. He ate 3 tablespoons of canned food. He didn’t take in any water. He was having difficulty swallowing too. And then when I took his temperature twice he had a very weird temperature reading, so back he went to VRC.
More about the disease:
Some dogs diagnosed with myasthenia gravis require treatment in the hospital until their medication dose is stabilized. These dogs are treated with a class of medication that inhibits a nervous system enzyme called acetylcholinesterase. Anti-acetylcholinesterase medications will be required for the rest of the dog’s life. Because of their compromised ability to swallow, some dogs will actually inhale food, liquid, or vomit, resulting in aspiration pneumonia. Aspiration pneumonia is extremely serious and often requires aggressive intensive care including oxygen therapy, antibiotics, IV fluid therapy, and supportive care. If the dog is unable to eat or drink without regurgitation, a feeding tube may be needed until the dog’s medication doses are stabilized.
Ancillary treatment of myasthenia gravis is as important as determining appropriate medication doses. In cases where there is a thymoma, it must be removed surgically. Food and water dishes should be elevated, and these dogs often do best with smaller, more frequent meals of a high-quality, high-calorie food. There is no single “best” nutritional formulation for dogs with myasthenia gravis. It is important to assess what works best for the individual dog.
Most dogs with myasthenia gravis will limit their own activity based on the severity of their muscle weakness…..improved muscle strength is an obvious barometer of response to therapy. In addition, chest radiographs (X-rays) are evaluated every 4-6 weeks for resolution of megaesophagus. Finally, acetylcholine receptor antibody levels are evaluated every 8-12 weeks, and should decrease into the normal range with remission.
I am going to be honest I don’t know where to go in my head with this. I cry when no one’s around. To watch a dog that is so joyful suddenly be like a limp washcloth is just horrible.
This begs the age old question of how long do we keep trying and if it doesn’t work when do we say goodbye?
I lost a dog to cancer who was going through chemotherapy when I was going through radiation treatment. I made a decision back then I would never do that again. At the end of the day I feel like I should have let him go, versus what I put him through. So in a way I’m faced with that decision again.
I’m not making any decisions today, but I have to keep in mind as we try to go through this what is in the best interest of my dog. If he wants to try, I will try. I figure that’s the best approach I can have. I have a friend who had a cat with this who lived a few more years after diagnosis with a great quality of life. I’m hoping for that. But right now I’m just scared.
I have not heard anything since my husband took him back to VRC last night. I am sending up prayers to St. Francis like a house on fire to send my boy home with some quality of life.
This will probably be a very odd post for a lot of my readers to read, but it goes back to why I write a lot of the time anyway. I write for me. It’s part of my process. And I’m sure the people who love to hate me although they’ve never met me or had a conversation with me will be cheering that something horrible has happened in my life. I can’t control that. That’s on them for being miserable human beings.
But for those of you who are animal lovers, if you have a minute send up a prayer to St. Francis for my boy.
Dear Cowards who hit the dog on W. King Road this afternoon:
Here is the dog you hit. She’s a pretty little girl isn’t she? She is beloved to her humans and right now she’s at an emergency vet fighting to stay with her people.
Yes, she got out. It was an accident, it happens. But you hit this precious little dog and kept driving! How can anyone with a heart or soul or a conscience do that? How could you have not stopped and pulled over?
What is wrong with you that you did not stop?
Everyone else around you stopped.
You know you hit this dog and you kept on driving.
Accidents happen, it’s how you deal with them that makes all the difference.
Please contact East Whiteland Police Department and own up to this. At least to apologize to the family.
To anyone else who is reading this post:
This little dog was hit on W. King Rd. mid afternoon this afternoon. If you know anything or you have any details on whomever it is that hit this dog please contact East Whiteland Police Department.
It was an accident, a horrible accident but the kids who went into the road to get the dog could have been hit by traffic if other people hadn’t stopped.
God bless the nice couple who stopped and helped the mom and her children get the dog to an emergency vet.
We are all hoping that St. Francis is watching over this beloved pet and she continues to hold her own. We asked that any animal lovers out there whisper a little prayer for this sweet little dog.
And to those who travel back-and-forth on W. King Rd. please slow down. No one pays enough attention to the speed limit and it is so easy to fly from the edge of Immaculata’s campus out past the Little League field. Next time it might be a human being who is hit and we don’t want that.
Now that the weather is nice W. King Rd. is dangerously busy seven days a week, especially when there are activities like all the Little League games.
People are in too much of a hurry.
Slow down… please.
And again, if anyone knows who hit this poor little dog please contact East Whiteland Police Department. It’s the right thing to do. We should still live in a world where occasionally people do the right thing.
UPDATE 11/11/2015 12:56 PM : Francisvale’s Executive Director has contacted me. In the spirit of keeping things civil our discussion remains off record. I consider this at an end.
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This is Elsie. She is a dacshund mix. She has been living in an office at Francisvale for I think four years. Recently she was sprung from an awful kind of of animal purgatory by one of my dearest friends who agreed to be a foster mom to her.
Elsie has been with my friend for a month and a half and has made great strides. She is finally almost completely house trained (dachshunds are stubborn!) and she is a good dog who has had a crappy life.
this is Elsie’s photo off the rescue’s website. Note the way they have her harness and leash and collar hooked up. Guaranteed to hurt a dog shoulder right? That is their photo, not the rescue mom’s living eith her.
I have spent quite a bit of time with Elsie and my friend and really like her. I think she’s a great dog. But she does have some fear based aggression which is not unusual for rescues. Today even though she has been around me, something in her switched and well, she bit me. Through my clothes, yes broke skin, but clothes didn’t tear. She made a mistake. It happens. I have to admit it was somewhat startling because I’ve never been bitten by a dog before.
My friend had to call Francisvale to report this as a foster mom. The executive director was terse with my friend. All my friend asked was for permission and the money they said was there to take her to behavior training at What A Good Dog in Malvern. What A Good Dog is amazing with these issues.
But no, no conversation, just bring the dog back. They have an endowment, correct? Why not pay for the training? Why are they in the rescue business? To act a non profit hoarding situation?
The executive director did NOT even ask my friend for my name and phone number at the time to see if I was ok. How is that for a caring rescue? Professionalism is optional?
So I called the executive director twice. I did not want Elsie removed from a caring foster situation, just get her the help she needs and keep her out of the kennel and get her to a furever home. But the woman would not take my call. “Too busy” was what I was told by whomever answered the phone—I got this woman who was practically reading from a script about how to patronize people while calming them down.
I am now in tears and so is my friend as she takes Elsie back to life in a cage. Or worse.
I am so upset and technically I am the aggrieved party with a dog bite. But the reason I am upset is I know Elsie is a good dog. Not vicious, just scared. She made a mistake and they are a rescue that can afford behavior modification training. Her foster mom is willing to devote the time to do this – Francisvale just needs to pay for the training which is what they are supposed to do dogs and a foster situation aren’t they?
You know years ago I considered rescuing from them. I even was one of the people who supported them the last time their neighbors are nearby streets complained about noise coming from the kennels.
I am being public with this post because I think Elsie and my friend are getting the short end of the stick.
The phone number to Francisvale is 610 688-1018. Their address is 328 Upper Gulph Rd., Radnor PA 19087
I think they pretty much suck right now.
Again let me reiterate: I got bitten. I know it was an accident and I know this is a good dog. I also know that any rescue worth it’s salt doesn’t like dogs coming back into a kennel once they have gotten out as it can ruin a dog.
It makes me very very sad that I now wonder if this rescue is actually living its mission.
Elsie is getting the short end of things right now. She is a victim of stupid human tricks. I hope St. Francis looks out for her.
