More Snow, More Pictures

Dogs love to play in the snow, so here are pictures of some of the other Sanctuary dogs enjoying the weather this morning and this afternoon:

Posted on December 18, 2008 | Link

First Snow

Compared with last year, the weather in Forks has been pretty mild so far this year. December 14th brought the first snow of the year; here are a few pictures of the Sanctuary dogs enjoying the weather (click to enlarge):

Posted on December 15, 2008 | Link

Ruby Update #1

Ruby has been here less than two full days, she is still very sore and weak, but it is already apparent that she has a history of fighting. Her ears are in good shape, which suggests that she probably wasn't used in the actual 'sport' of dog fighting, but she attacks other female dogs without hesitation or provocation; it's good to find this out now, while she's easy to stop, and not to worry -- no one was hurt. We'll explore her compatibility with some of the male dogs once she's healthier, but for now, Ruby will stay isolated. She may still be able to move on to a single dog household if an appropriate one can be found, but realistically, she'll probably live out her life here. She's a sweet girl and she's been through a lot, so we're very happy to do whatever we need to do for her. She's eating very well, and while she is still quite underweight, Ruby's muscle tone has improved and she is limping a little less. Check back for more updates and photos.

-Steve

Posted on October 18, 2008 | Link

Meet Ruby

Yesterday, October 16, Olympic Animal Sanctuary and Friends of Forks Animals got together, as we often do, to perform the simple task of cleaning out the Forks city animal shelter. There were three Lab mixes in the shelter that had been there for quite some time and needed to be moved on to a place where they could be adopted. When I arrived at the shelter and spoke with the police officer waiting there, he said he didn't think all of the dogs had been there the minimum length of time required before they could be transferred. We were both a bit confused, because it was my understanding that there were three dogs in the shelter and they'd all been there since September, while the officer had been told there was an injured dog inside that we didn't know about. We went inside and found not three dogs, but five.

The Labs were looking healthy and happy, but a medium-sized terrier with a severely infected puncture wound on his neck wasn't as thrilled with his situation. And a few kennels down from him, there lay an emaciated pit bull that looked like she'd been hit by a car. I took her out of the kennel to examine her, and found that she was limping very badly, and her face looked like it had road rash. She had a large, black scab on her back, at the base of her tail, approximately four inches across, which, when I touched it with my finger, scattered they way oil scatters across the surface of water with a drop if dish soap -- it was not a scab, but a mass of thousands of fleas.

Some of the damage caused by massive flea infestation

I asked the officer if I could take the dog to a veterinarian and keep her at the Sanctuary through the required waiting period, although we'd all be shocked if someone claimed her. She appears to have suffered years of neglect. Pam from Friends of Forks Animals provided a dose of Frontline to start killing the fleas, but Frontline takes half a day to kill everything, so the poor dog had about two more hours of misery before we could get her to Sequim and give her a Capstar -- a pill that starts killing fleas within a few minutes, and kills everything within four hours. After about half an hour, the dog was already feeling significantly better, and even began to prance around the exam room, barking and howling.

The base of the dog's tail with flea damage

Dr. Schaeffer at Greywolf Veterinary Clinic began calling the dog Ruby Red; she x-rayed Ruby's shoulders, and instead of finding injuries from being hit by a car, she found severe arthritis. It turned out that Ruby was probably eight to ten years old; the limping was a result of hard years of neglect, and the scars and the presumed road rash were caused by Ruby chewing her itchy skin. The fleas had caused anemia and dehydration, and the Capstar pill had killed thousands of them, but now, flea-free, bathed, and on the mend, Ruby was animated, bouncing around the vet's office. The doctor prescribed three weeks of antibiotics for the skin infection caused by the fleas, and an anti-inflammatory for her joints.

Back at the Sanctuary, Ruby spent the night with me, and seemed to enjoy being in a big, soft bed so much that she didn't want to budge this morning, but I made her look up for one picture:

As long as Ruby isn't claimed by someone, and it's doubtful that she will be, she'll stay at the Sanctuary until she's healthy, at which point I'll evaluate her temperament and decide whether or not she can move on to an adoption organization. The difficult part is finding one that can place an older pit bull, as the shelters are flooded with more desirable, younger pit bulls and have a very tough time finding homes even for them. If no suitable placement exists, Ruby can stay here and enjoy plenty of good food, exercise, and companionship -- things she's probably had very little of until now.

Ruby is one of many 'hard cases' that have come to Olympic Animal Sanctuary, just in the past few months. Our veterinary expenses alone have been over $10,000 since July, and our food bill runs around $1,000 per month. We've been averaging over $1,500 per month in building materials as well. Times are difficult for all of us at the moment, but we're determined to continue moving forward, and even the smallest donation makes an impact. One dollar given today is a dollar we didn't have yesterday.

Donate by PayPal or credit card.

We can also accept donations by mail, sent to Olympic Animal Sanctuary, 1021 Russell Rd., Forks, WA 98331.

Thanks to all of you for your support, and be sure to check back for updates on Ruby and the rest of the hard cases at Olympic Animal Sanctuary!

-Steve

Posted on October 17, 2008 | Link

Where We Are Now

Olympic Animal Sanctuary has been officially in existence for just over one year, and in that time we've made significant progress, whether in the improvement of our facility, our reputation in the animal welfare community, or the number of animals we've been able to save. It has been a tough year, with plenty of setbacks, but we're working hard and moving forward.

Our building was constructed in the 1960s and used as a logging truck shop, and briefly as a salal shop, for many years. Since we moved in, it has been undergoing a slow transformation. The shop floor is disappearing, being replaced with new rooms that will one day house reptiles and other small animals, but for now, serve as bedrooms for our dogs. We've replaced some of the old siding, torn out much of the old wiring, and removed massive concrete slabs from the back of the building. We've also fenced the property and done significant work on the landscape, including the addition of a pond where the dogs can swim.

We've gained recognition on a national level as one of the only organizations that will take in truly non-adoptable dogs -- those that, whether for legal reasons or behavioral ones, can never go to a traditional home. Take Rogue, a Siberian husky from Michigan; Rogue was accused of killing a small dog in his neighbor's yard, and sentenced to be destroyed. Several rescue organizations tried to save him, but no one could take legal custody of him because he had been declared dangerous in a court of law. We were able to meet the legal requirements, and spent several weeks making phone calls to Animal Control and prosecutors in Michigan, as well as to our own police department, before a judge finally agreed to let Rogue come to Olympic Animal Sanctuary. We made the long drive to Michigan and took custody, and now he's healthy and happy here in Washington, having just completed his treatment for heartworm disease -- a preventable illness that he was not treated for in Michigan because Animal Control had always planned on killing him.

Brinks and Lucy are hounds from Georgia; after perhaps years of abuse, they found themselves at a no-kill shelter, where they were loved very much, but continued to bite people. They were each adopted multiple times, but always came back within a week or two, after biting their adopters. The liability in adopting them out again was too great, and their caretakers knew they needed to be placed in a sanctuary. They chose Olympic Animal Sanctuary, and Brinks and Lucy are having a great time with their new found freedom. Read what the shelter in Georgia says about them.

Then there are the Gabbs dogs: an animal hoarder in Gabbs, Nevada died, leaving 149 dogs behind, and of those 149, we took the five hardest cases -- dogs that had never been touched by human hands, and due to severe fear issues, were unable to adjust to regular human contact. They're all continuing to improve at different rates, and we expect to see dramatic progress over the next few months.

We've not just been working on a national level -- we've still taken in local dogs in crisis, like Rocket, a Jack Russell terrier mix who just couldn't stop biting children, or Toby and Cooper, dogs from the Quileute Nation who had been shot, stabbed, beaten, and run over in a community where few people cared if they lived or died; now they are thriving here at the Sanctuary. And there are many more: Micah, a wolf hybrid who killed a cat; Ginger and Lily, who ran around town for weeks, killing chickens and anything else they could catch; and Moose, a drug dealer's dog whose world fell apart when his owner died. He was so terrified that no one could get near him and he had to be trapped; fearing that he would be perceived as vicious and be destroyed at the humane society, Animal Control placed him here. He'd never seen a veterinarian, and after about ten years, his health was quite poor; we spent around $8,000 in vet bills, and in the process of treating him, one of the doctors fell in love with Moose, so we let him go home with her. Now he's spending his days relaxing on the couch with her two other, older dogs; we were sad to see him go, but it was truly a great placement for him, and we know he'll get the ongoing veterinary treatment her needs.

The downside to rescuing so many dogs over the last year is that we're now full to capacity. Unless we receive an accompanying donation of several thousand dollars, we can take no more dogs. Even with the capacity to build more sleeping quarters for new dogs, we are limited by the number of animals we can safely group together for play time in the yard. Our ability to save more animals in crisis will depend on whether or not we can acquire additional property.

Olympic Animal Sanctuary, while currently focused on domestic dogs, was always envisioned to be a sanctuary for many species, and our future plans reflect that vision. As we are able to complete more construction, the dogs' sleeping quarters will move to the second floor, where there will be 20 new bedrooms. The downstairs rooms will accommodate reptiles, birds, and small mammals, while a new, 4,500 square foot, indoor/outdoor enclosure will house wildlife; will it be capuchin monkeys? Bobcats? Bald eagles? Kinkajous? Time will tell.

One thing is clear to all of us in the nonprofit sector, and that is that there are difficult times ahead of us. The irresponsibility, greed, and recklessness exhibited by Wall Street executives and bankers have destroyed our nation's economy and left Americans without the discretionary income that the nonprofit world relies upon, or at least the confidence to spend it. In the hard days to come, we will continue to seek small donations of as little as $1 to fund our ongoing expansion and development. We intend to complete a video documentary about Olympic Animal Sanctuary in the near future, but we have elected not to rush the project, in order to ensure that it is of the highest quality and tells the best possible story.

We thank you for your continued support, and hope you'll check back with us often.

Posted on October 13, 2008 | Link

Gabbs Dogs Update #5

From Steve Markwell, Executive Director:

Our website has been down for a few days while our hosting company moved everything to a new data center; supposedly we were given several notices that this would be taking place, but if we did get them I don't remember any of them. So that's why this update is late.

Abel has moved in with Dixie; I felt that he would make better progress if he was sharing a room with a calmer dog. The first couple of days Dixie was a bit more nervous and flighty, but she calmed back down and is rubbing off on Abel. I'm petting both of them frequently, Dixie is taking treats from my hand, and Abel is showing interest in the treats, but waits until I leave to eat them.

Tippy, whose behavior and physical movements seemed strange to me initially, is behaving more normally now. Unfortunately, she has taken a cue from Herbie and barks at me when I enter the room. Due to a fairly intense week of construction at the Sanctuary, I have not yet moved Herbie to a more isolated room, which I believe will be helpful for everyone. That will be done this week, and we should start seeing positive results soon. Itsy and Tippy seem especially influenced by Herbie's fear of people and will benefit from his removal from their immediate proximity, and Herbie will feel safer in isolation, with no pack to 'protect'.

This will be the last of the weekly updates; I'll be spacing them out a few weeks apart from now on.

-Steve

Posted on March 30, 2008 | Link

Gabbs Dogs Update #4

From Steve Markwell, Executive Director:

Dixie gave birth to three puppies Monday morning; one was stillborn. The other two seemed to be having trouble feeding and Dixie was not making much of an effort to care for them. I feared she might be too stressed to take care of the babies, and I was concerned that they were not nursing, so I rushed mother and puppies to the vet. An exam determined that the puppies both had severe cleft palates; they would not have been able to nurse without fluid going into their lungs, and would have died horrible deaths by starvation, suffocation, or aspiration pneumonia. There was little to no chance that surgery would have saved them; fortunately we caught the problem before the little ones had a chance to suffer, and I made the decision to have them humanely euthanized. It is always sad when puppies die, but I'm thankful that they were able to go peacefully, when so many dogs are killed every year under much more horrifying circumstances. Dixie seems to be coping with her loss, and I have continued to work through her conditioning process. She has started leash training; we're not going on walks yet, but Dixie is getting used to feeling the pressure of the leash through very brief sessions.

The other dogs continue to make progress, but I feel that Herbie presents a bit of a problem, in that he continues to bark and behave fearfully when I pass by the kennels, and his fear tends to be contagious. I will probably move him into his own room this week, so that he is not as heavy an influence on the others, and I can work with him without distractions. I think one of the reasons I have had more success working with Dixie than with the others is that she has been isolated from the rest of the group; her only socialization with other dogs has been with Clyde, Charlie, Lupe, and others who are easygoing and love people.

The kennels I purchased are working out well, but the flooring is not ideal for indoor use. I'm debating whether or not to remove it. it is designed to channel urine out of the kennel and keep the dogs' feet out of their waste, which is great, but it is very difficult to clean and tends to trap feces. I think my bare wood floor with a mop and bucket, some bleach, and a little pet stain and odor remover will make for an easier setup to keep clean. As far as the flooring is concerned, I might find some use for it, perhaps if I ever need to set up a kennel on my deck and I can clean it with a hose instead of a mop. Of course I'll need to build my deck first.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support.

-Steve

Posted on March 21, 2008 | Link