Chico the foster dog

 Mike and I have been fostering dogs from local shelters and rescue groups since we have been together. It is part of what we do to volunteer and to help dogs who might have a tough time being adopted at the shelter, especially those who have been abused, neglected or who are older.

And yes, we have had what they call a failed foster. Shadow, our beloved 18 year old cockapoo who passed away last year started out as a foster. Of course at 14, no one was seriously interested in adopting her so we did. That was one of the best decisions we ever made!

Last weekend we went to MaxFund to see if they needed any of the dogs to be fostered. A few minutes later we met Chico, an 8 year old Pekingese (mix?) who has one eye and is just the cutest. A few days later I went and picked him up and he became our latest foster dog.

He is laying on a doggie bed at my feet while I write this post. I am kind of surprised as he is filled with fear, as most of our fosters are when they arrive. But this morning he went outside and came back in without encouragement (or force!) from us and he even ate breakfast. Last night he jumped out of bed with me and instead of staying cowered under the kitchen table he jumped up on the couch and went back to sleep.

The process for a foster dog who is that frightened is a long one. And it is wonderful watching them get more and more comfortable in the home, and eventually be so comfortable that we can begin having people over who are interested in adopting them.

I have written many times about volunteering at a local shelter as part of taking small actions to make the world a better place for all living beings. Fostering an animal from your local shelter is a great thing to do that will definitely change the life of an animal who could really use your help.

Oh, and Chico needs a forever home! If you live in the Denver metro area and are interested in him please let me know!

Thank you for reading!

Action of the week - reach out

I am still unemployed (today is day 21) and have been able to take "me" time during my job search. By the way, I did receive an offer letter yesterday and am hoping to take this job after looking into the benefits.

Yesterday I went to the Max Fund, a local shelter here that Mike and I support and where I have been volunteering for 12 years. We have fostered a bunch of dogs from here and last Saturday swung by to check about fostering Chico, a one-eyed Pekingese mix who is 8 years old and they believe would be better off right now in foster.

I had time yesterday after a lunch appointment to go visit with Chico again. He is pretty snappy and I wanted to see if he acted any differently on a slower day at the shelter. His only interest in my was to try to bite me, not in a way to harm me as he doesn't bite down, he just snaps.

While visiting with Chico a gentleman came into the shelter asking if he could pick up some food for his dogs. I am not sure of his situation except that he is experiencing difficult times and was asking for dog food as he could not afford it.

I wanted to tell him that I would buy all the dog food he needed until his times got better, but the Max Fund employee said to him that he would go check to see what they had. The employee came back in less than five minutes with a couple of bags of dog food. I was ecstatic.

If you are still thinking about Chico, more to come on him. I am going back today to bring him home as a foster. And you know that means a Chico blog post soon!

Do you know anyone like the gentleman who came in to Max Fund? Would you reach out to them with some dog food or treats, or a pound of coffee? Perhaps a care package with some treats? Mike and I are financially good right now but the gifts people have given since I lost my job did more than give us something nice, they filled us with love and gratitude. That's the perfect gift!

I have been unemployed for 21 days and have been blown away by the love and support I have received from friends, family, colleagues and people I don't even know. My hope is that all of us can do this, reaching out to those who might be in need. When the economy went downhill I clearly remember shelters I volunteer at getting more and more filled with dogs and cats from families who could no longer afford their care because of loss of a job or home. What can all of us to to support those who aren't quite there yet, but are struggling to care for their beloved companion animals?

Today when I go to the Max Fund going to donate dog and cat food for families struggling. I don't know what else to do but will ask them. I'm not sure how many animal shelters or homeless shelters have options to support those struggling, but I am sure there is something all of us can do.

Will you join us and reach out to those in need?

Thank you for reading!

Will you support a FREE spay and neuter day?

I have been volunteering at one of our local animal shelters, Max Fund, for about 12 years. I started out walking dogs and hanging out with the cats. When I was in college, I would gather my books up on Sunday and sit in the cat room all day and study. Now I clean cages and Mike and I foster a lot.

This past weekend I swung by to meet a couple of dogs who really need help getting adopted and (one of them) getting healing so he is adoptable. The little one who needs help with becoming adoptable very much dislikes men and so I worked with him for a bit and got to the point where he let me hold him.

I love volunteering at shelters. One thing that stares you right in the face while volunteering at your local shelter is how important spay and neuter programs are. There are statistics all of the place in regards to the difference in just one female dog or female cat not being able to reproduce makes in the overall picture of animal overpopulation.

Mike and I have had this idea, and we are speaking with Max Fund about it. What if The Gay Vegans hosted a free spay and neuter day? Then we got to talking about two days, one specifically for cats and one for dogs. The more we spoke about it the more excited I got and the ideas just started flowing.

Before we can commit to this, we asked our friend sat Max Fund to look at what it might cost to do this. While they work on the cost, we wanted to check in with our readers and supporters to see if there was anyone who would want to financially support this idea. Mike and I would put a good chunk of the money needed out there, yet we would need some help. We would also need some volunteers that day to help with check-in, etc.

Let us know if you would be interested in supporting this idea. You can email us at vegandude@msn.com or respond via Facebook, Twitter, or here. A simple "I'm in" is fine for now and we'll create a list from that. If we move forward, we would most likely ask those who want to donate to make an online donation at The Max Fund's website just to make it easy and so we can keep track of funds.

We would love to do this and would be even more stoked about this idea if our blog community wanted to support the effort. Imagine what we could do if we could put on two totally free spay and neuter days!

As always, I would totally love your thoughts! Especially with this idea, your feedback is essential!

Thanks for reading!

Your local shelter needs you

Meet Gypsy! Gypsy is a sweetheart. She is one of thousands of animals who need a home today. When I first met Gypsy at The Max Fund Shelter in Denver you could not see her eyes and barely could see her nose. Her hair was so overgrown that you couldn't see her face. The mats on her feet were almost all two inches wide and her ears looked triple their size because of her mats. When I opened her cage to show her some love she trembled as I picked her up.

This week she was spayed at the shelter and by the time you are reading this I will have had a visit with her. (well, I have visited her twice now!) She still shakes. You can just tell that she was accustomed to being on someones lap all day at some point in her life. Now she is terrified and in a cage.

But she can see. And she has no mats. This is because I met her and had the time to groom her.

NOTE: I am in no way a professional groomer. Ask anyone, including our companion dogs. Yet I felt I could at least clean her up and remove all the mats. Mission accomplished.

No matter where you live, no matter how busy you are, no matter how many causes you are involved in, no matter if animals in shelters are "not your thing", you can make a HUGE difference in an animal's life with very little time. An hour a week can mean the difference between a terrified animal and one that feels a little better off. It can mean the difference between getting a walk or no exercise at all. It can mean a clean cage right after an incident and them waiting till someone else notices that they are lying in crap. It can mean the world to shelter employees who day in and day out rock it for the animals and many times don't have enough time, money, resources or help.

You can find a shelter online or in the phone book. Give them a ring or swing by. My experience is that many things can happen once you offer to volunteer:

They will say they do not need volunteers.

They will not return your phone call.

They will send you a list of the volunteer training schedule.

They will say thanks so much, and here's broom.

They will ask you to foster an animal.

And so on.

In the ten years I have volunteered at The Max Fund, I have had many amazing experiences. I have looked at other places to volunteer but have always come back to wanting to volunteer for The Max Fund. You can find the shelter that fits best with you and your schedule (and your belief system). Keep in mind that you may not always have great experiences and that the shelter may not meet your expectations all the time. I have to constantly keep in mind that I am there to serve the animals, and nothing else matters (aside from any type of cruelty towards those same animals).

My point is that I may not dig someone on staff, I may not dig their policies, I may not dig their adopting system and I may not dig their euthanasia policy (if they have one). Yet I am there to clean a cage, to take someone on a walk, to brush a cat, to cut out mats, and most of all, to love. Yep, I want as many of those beautiful creatures to know they are loved. My favorite times are taking one of the animals out of the cage, going to the play room, and just totally loving on them. Regardless of their circumstances, you and they will feel loved for that time.

And please keep this in mind. I looked all over for statistics on how many animals, dogs and cats, are euthanized in the US every year. It looks like the number many groups use is 3.7 million and that is from 2008. That's 3.7 million in one year. I definitely realize that there are many conversations going on about what to do about this number. While those conversations are happening, we can support the animals by volunteering at our local shelters.

I would love to hear about the shelter you volunteer at!

As always, thanks so much for reading!