Slobbering hounds will steal your heart
Shelly Gordon of ABC Basset Hound Rescue
Howllo Fellow Hound and ABC lovers: Check it out! Our very own Shelly Gordon was featured in
The link to the story is right above, but I have also provided it for my readers in this blog. Here it is:
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After my husband and I adopted our first basset hound, Doc, and fell head over heels for him, we decided to give back to the organization that helps these homeless bassets, ABC Basset Hound Rescue.
ABC does not have a kennel or shelter, it relies on foster families to temporarily open their heart and home to a homeless basset. There are about a dozen foster homes throughout New York State, hardly enough for the 60- plus dogs taken in every year.
Throughout my five years of volunteering, I have spent most of my time fundraising for the group. I devote about 20 hours per week to running the Slobber Shoppe, an online basset hound gift shop at www.nybasset.org . All of the money goes to helping homeless basset hounds. I have, on rare occasion, let a homeless dog spend some time at my home when the foster homes were full.
The first foster, Dudley, I couldn’t part with. The second, Gunner, my parents adopted. Diesel, well, I couldn’t part with him either. I didn’t seem to be a good foster home. The dogs always captured a piece of my heart, and I couldn’t let go.
A few weeks ago, the shelter I adopted my cat from called me about a basset it had in its possession, Spike.
Spike spent the first three years of his life tied to a trailer in a rural area, left outside all year. For food, his owner would cut open a bag of cheap dog food and leave it out for him. Not only did Spike have to eat from this bag, but other outside critters ate from it as well.
The town’s dog control officer finally took Spike when she discovered the food was mushy after the last rainfall. Spike was infested with fleas and had bad teeth due to poor nutrition. The shelter neutered him, gave him his shots, got rid of the fleas and put him up for adoption. After a few weeks at the shelter with no one interested in him, Spike was turned over to ABC. So we took him in.
We had Spike in our home for a week. He was a ball of energy more energy than I am used to. He peed and pooped in the house every day. Why wouldn’t he? He didn’t know the difference between inside and outside.
He jumped from the couch to the love seat to the chair all in a matter of three seconds. He chased the cats, ate Dudley’s biscuits and took Diesel’s spot in bed next to me. I think my poor old guy, Doc, is deaf from all the barking. I began to ask myself: Why did I bring this dog into my home and disrupt it like I did?
But then Spike found a new home. He has been there for several weeks. I think of what his life was like before I picked him up he was living outside, eating cheap dog food, receiving no human attention and suffering from flea infestation.
Now Spike is on his way to years of belly rubs, good food and loads of attention from a little boy and a family who adore him.
Although the week he spent at my house was stressful trying to house-train him and teach him manners, it was a small price to pay for the years of happiness ahead of him.
If you have never fostered an animal before, invite a homeless dog or cat into your home to liven it up a little and then realize that you just made a difference in that animal’s life. That’s priceless.
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How cool is this for ABC and all homeless basset. I love Shelly! She is one cool lady who works hard for homeless hounds.
Thank you my dear! Tell your hubby thanks as well!
More from this pawsome couple later…..
Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma
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