Georgia Lab Rescue

Note from Ian Douglas, GLR Webmaster

   Written 2007-10-11 02:25:51 by ian douglas

Hi everyone,

While I do what I can to help out GLR on a regular basis, we haven't posted any news here in ages -- our last article wished everyone a happy new year, yikes! Even though I'm on the "other" coast (I live in Los Angeles, California), I wanted to pass along a few thoughts about GLR and handling hundreds of Emails coming in every day.

The last I spoke with Kim on the phone, over a month ago, her computer was completely unusable. She currently has about FOUR THOUSAND Emails backlogged waiting for her whenever she does get online. In the meantime, she's asked that I help sort through the messages and keep important notes, and so on.

Generally, anyone sending Kim an Email about a dog that needs a rescue, I point them to the "Labs in Need of Homes" forum to post a message. For people that have sadly lost their dog for whatever circumstance, I point them to the "Homes in Need of Labs" forum to post a message. Last time I checked, everyone has been VERY good about not posting their phone numbers in forum messages, which is very important with Internet security -- since we are indexed daily by Google, MSN and Yahoo, having your phone number in a forum message would make it world-wide public knowledge.

For those that have recently Emailed GLR offering to help volunteer, first off THANK YOU!!!, and secondly, I need to get Kim on the phone and ask her how to reply to these people. I'm certain that there's work that could be done, but I'm not sure, given Kim's health, how much needs to be done yet. To those still sending in donations, words cannot express the gratitude Kim feels for this -- running a rescue group often puts enormous financial strain on an individual, or group of people, and your donations are helping to offset (last I heard) over $20,000 of leftover debt from when GLR was last running full-swing. Every penny helps.

To those asking about a 2008 Calendar (our 2006 Calendar was a HUGE hit!), Kim and I have some neat stuff we've talked about and hope to get something launched online before the end of the year.

From my own personal experiences lately, I'd like to share a quick reminder to PLEASE (!!!!!) keep your dog's vaccinations up to date. We left our Lab-mix in a kennel for a 4-day trip and despite getting her a kennel cough vaccine, Dakota contracted the disease, which appears to have lowered her immune system enough that she caught a very nasty strain of Parvo going around southern California lately. You can read about it here and here. What we found out through some investigation is that the rescue group here in California who got Dakota as a young puppy got the first three rounds of vaccinations (of 4) done in a timely manner, but the family who adopted her from the rescue group didn't get the 4th round of vaccines done -- instead they turned around and claimed they'd only had Dakota for 2 weeks and adopted Dakota to Elizabeth and I, and told us Dakota was a month younger than she really was. So when we got her 4th round of vaccines done the day after we brought her home, we thought we were right on time, when well over a month had passed since her previous vaccinations. Perhaps this lapse in vaccinations is what contributed to Dakota getting Parvo, we don't know. After spending the first $1500 in emergency bills for Dakota, I had left a tearful message on Kim's answering machine that we had some bad news, that a previous Parvo-negative diagnosis had a week later turned into a Parvo-positive diagnosis. That got us thinking we were going to lose Dakota to such an awful disease, but we decided this puppy was worth the expense to us, and in total spent about $2500 to make Dakota her happy self again, though she's still quarantined from being around other dogs for a few weeks yet until we redo the ENTIRE vaccine panel.

I know from personal conversations with Kim that GLR was always extremely careful to be timely about vaccines, and would always spay/neuter dogs that were rescued. GLR, and just about every reputable vet clinic also recommends getting your pet microchipped. If you aren't sure when you're due for vaccinations or boosters, please don't put it off -- call your vet today and ask about annual vaccinations, heartworm prevention, ad take care of your furry friends.

Much love,
Ian Douglas, GLR Webmaster