Lunchtime!!!!

This week I got to spend a some time with my little brother, Nick. Nick lives and goes to school here in Montreal too, but with all the dog madness lately it sometimes feels like we still live 2,000 miles apart.

Viper and our foster dogs all love Nick. He's been so kind to dogsit for us a couple times and now whenever he comes over it's all tail wags and wiggly butts.

So, the other day Scott, Nick and I (aww it feels like the old days!) headed down to our old stomping ground near Verdun to visit Coquette et Finegueule an independent pet supply store and canine cafe!

Coquette et Finegueule is one of several amazing pet supply stores in Montreal that supplies Sophie's Dog Adoption with quality dog food and treats for all of our rescues.

It's one of our group's mandates to provide all dogs in our care with quality food that truly meets their nutritional and health requirements. Without the incredibly generous support of these stores I don't think we could afford to do it.

So, I just wanted to publicly thank Coquette et Finegueule as well as Little Bear, Le Reveil du Maitre and Naturalanimal & Pawtisserie for their donations and commitment to companion animal health!

Thanks again from all the people and all the dogs at Sophie's Dog Adoption!

Sleepyheads

Angelina, Viper and I sleep in after staying up late and spooking ourselves silly watching season 2 of "Lost".

But, seriously, who are the others???

Paper Pushers

Remember in my first post when I said that most times when you work in dog rescue your plans for the day are out the window before the day even begins? Well sometimes your entire week is like that!

Last Tuesday Scott and I were going to take advantage of the lovely, rainy day and stay inside completing some paperwork. Instead we spent it running dogs to the vet, to the spay/neuter clinic, to foster homes and picking up a sweet little dog off of death row. Then we played food delivery drivers, bike messengers, professional dog walkers and mediators.

And only now, a week and a day later have we been able to sit down, breathe and tackle the paper work that has morphed from a pile of seemingly benign forms into a blood-sucking monster encased in a manila folder, ready to strike the moment we open it! I guess my high school teachers were right, procrastination only makes a task more difficult.

But, I'm really, really, really excited to say that today we finished the forms and tomorrow we will send off Sophie's Dog Adoption's application for official Registered Charity status!!!!!

The application takes over our lives!

Becoming a Registered Charity would mean two legal & financial things for Sophie's; First, as an organization we can issue tax receipt for individual and business donations and second, as a group we don't have to pay income tax.

Consulting our team of advisors. Clockwise from top: Ginger, me, Taco, Sophie, Tyson, Angelina, Julius and Viper

While these two things are of huge consequence for us, especially since money is always short in the rescue world, the thing I'm thrilled about is that the process of filling out the application made us look at and verbalize our goals and objectives as an organization. We also got the chance to think, as a group of volunteers, about the long term role of Sophie's Dog Adoption in relieving the suffering and proliferation of homeless and unwanted dogs in Montreal.

Tyson wants a cuddle-time clause!

When we were talking as a group the ideas were flying off the walls! There is so much we all want to do to improve not only the lives of the individual dogs we are able to rescue, but to improve the lives and wellbeing of all dogs in Montreal.


And it's amazing to think that if our application is approved and we gain Registered Charity status we can move towards becoming more secure financially and then branching out to do this kind of outreach and education. Especially around the issue of sterilization.

All there is left to do is wait...

So cross your fingers and hopefully in 6-9 months we'll all be celebrating this new phase of Sophie's Dog Adoption!

Manic Monday!

After spending Sunday climbing the mountain, enjoying the beautiful (and warm!) fall weather and recooperating with our foster dog and Viper it was time to get back action!

After morning walks, feedings and a little bit of romping Scott and I split up and tackled our different tasks. Sophie and I were off to the South Shore to pick up three dogs who had just arrived from Lebanon.

Having survived the two wars and the bombing of the dog shelter I imagine the 14 hour plane ride and then week long journey up from the states were nothing. But, all three still seemed happy to be out of crates and exploring this strange new place.

I'm just glad they came on an unusually warm fall day to help ease the transition to the land of snow and ice!

This is Leslie:

She is shy, but alert and curious. Just a bit unsure perhaps. But then who wouldn't be after being shipped half way around the world?!

She is great with other dogs, but had the misfortune of growing up in a shelter, so we don't know how she'll behave in a house. Right now she's being kennelled in Laval. We hope to get her into a foster home soon! Contact me if you want to help!

This little guy is Bodi:

What an absolute delight! He seems to be a Teckel, Corgi mix. And I must admit his good looks have me smitten. Nothing seems to phase this little guy. He sat contently on my lap the whole car ride and then had a great time checking out the dog park and Parc Lafontaine. He's looking for a temporary place to crash too!

And this handsome man is Sunny:

Sooo affectionate and loving! He loves to be petted and reassurred. He had fun learning about squirrels and pigeons at the park.

He was scared of other dogs at the run, but after circling the area a couple of times together he seemed more confident and started having some fun! Those eyes could melt any heart!
Scott spent his morning with Tiny on the mountain, where they both had a great time. So great that Scott brought the rest of the dogs up there later and Viper scaled all the way to the summit! We'll have to put a little "Viper-man" flag up there now.

Tiny is a young Great Dane who came off of death row at a high-kill shelter here in Montreal. He's pretty excited to be out of dangers way and he's definitely seizing this new life! He's a HUGE puppy and like all puppies is getting himself into plenty of trouble with us humans.

He's great with other dogs (even blue ones) and loves the dog run.
And leaning up against you to get your attention. Which is so cute, if you can stay upright :)

After the all the busy running around Scott and I got home and were so tired we could barely hold a conversation and had to work pretty hard not to fight with each other. After some food and a "no more dog talk" rule we fell asleep to the sound of rain.

A rainy day after a manic Monday. What could be a better excuse for staying in doors and doing all the paper work we're behind on?

Meet Viper: Scott's Best Friend!

Scott and I have fostered a lot of dogs and a lot of times we fall head over heels in love with them. Sometimes we even talk about adopting them ourselves. We've never decided to adopt because we always end up finding homes the dogs love just as much as us and adopting would mean one less space for foster dogs in need.

That was until we met Viper Benjamin!

Viper came to Sophie's Dog Adoption in late July. A woman who knew Sophie had decided to buy a Maltese advertised online.

When she phoned to enquire about the dog the "breeder" told her that she was getting rid of all of her Malteses, including the bitches and studs, because she was going to start breeding Chihuahuas. She told her that she could sell the now popular Chihuahua puppies for $1,600 compared to the $650 she was currently getting for the Maltese puppies.

So this breeder offered the woman a "2 for 1" special and the woman brought the "freebie" to Sophie's Dog Adoption.

This is what Viper looked like when he showed up. He absolutely reeked. This nauseating smell was emanating from his mouth and was made all the worse by the smell of the cheap perfume the "breeder" doused him in before dumping him.

His coat was rust colored from compulsive licking. And worse than any of these superficial things, was the utter lifelessness in Viper.

For the first few days he didn't move. He had no reaction to light or sound: loud music, whistling, city traffic, fireworks, nothing made him look up. The only time he reacted to people was when they would touch his mouth. And he'd snap at them.

As we became more and more worried that he had neurological problems Viper made his first move towards the food bowl and we began to measure his progress in inches and then steps and then one night he crossed the entire kitchen. The first time he wagged his tail we all cried and hearing him bark the first time had us talking for weeks!

After being fixed and having 16 rotten teeth pulled, Viper came to stay with us as a foster. We massaged his legs daily hoping to make them more pliable and his gait less jilted. Scott was, of course, immediately in love and after a month of watching Viper's transformation into a content, comfortable and "real" dog Scott decided to finalize the adoption.

Now he's the resident pup in our place and welcomes all of the foster dogs to our home.

Viper is still progressing and developing, he walks further everyday, smiles more, has started playing with toys, cuddling with humans and making dog friends. These normal dog activities are milestones for Viper because he spent those first 5 years of his life in a cage, never exposed to sunlight and only had human contact when he was moved around for breeding.

Viper is one of the hundreds of thousands of invisible faces that make up the sick reality of backyard breeders and puppy mills. The cute puppies you see advertised online and in pet stores come from these horribly abused animals who don't have enough room to move, who have legs so atrophied they can barely walk, who piss and shit where they eat, who never see daylight or other dogs or caring humans, who are in such ill health they can't walk or chew food, who have to have 16 rotten teeth pulled from their heads.

Please never buy a puppy from a backyard breeder or a pet store.

Viper is one of the minority of breeder dogs who will get a chance at a real life. And he's learning all about the world and finding some tings he really loves, like:

Going for walks around the neighborhood:

Sleeping in his bed (and sometimes even sharing it):

Dogs that look like him (hi Dude! How is your new home??):
Being petted on the head:
and, of course, Scott, his beloved:

Welcome to a Dog's Best Friend!

I've wanted to blog about all the amazing dog rescue work that goes on here in Montreal for a long time. But, as anyone who has a dog, much less rescues dogs, could tell you: sometimes it's hard enough just keeping up with the day to day stuff.

In our rescue we are constantly in a state of emergency. It's a life or death business. And that means that the plans for the day usually go out the window by 9A.M. when you find out there is a dog on death row or a forfeit at the front door or a sick rescue who needs medical attention.

But, as trying as it can be, it is also joyous, enlightening and often hilarious work. So I want to share our stories- the good and the bad, to offer them as support to the thousands of other people out there working for animals. And to showcase our rescue dogs and share their stories because they are the reason we dedicate our free time to hanging at the dog park, driving back and forth from the vet and, of course, cleaning up a lot of poop!