Gifting Pups and other things I did this week

What a strange week. I want to start off by saying that it's my week off, which means that I work part time instead of full time. I've had a great break, but I wanted to share with you all of the things I did do this week.

First of all I thought I'd try out IE 9 beta. Bad idea. Now I can't personalize the font color, type or size in any of the fields I fill out online (including this one.) So I downloaded Firefox and I LOVE IT!

Great News!! Petco Foundation approved our food donation application and has already sent a whole pallet of food. WOOOOHOOOOO!! I never thought I'd say this but: Please do not donate anymore food. We have so much now that we're running out of places to put it. We no longer need food donations. I'll let you know when that changes. A special thanks to everyone who sent in food and helped up during our hard time.

Also on the donation front, we're received many "wish list" donations from companies and vet offices. Our puppies are doing well this winter. Thanks to everyone who has sent in donations. We have everything: blankets, ink, towels, toys, bowls, leashed, collars... it really is great!

Last week I was interviewed by Sr Youth Reporter Sophia Baker for a story in The Denver Post's Colorado Kid's Section. The story was about the ethics of giving a pet for Christmas and focused on pet owner-responsibility. When I posted on our FB pages that I had been interviewed about CPR's policies lots of people posted comments and opinions on the subject. The most common comment was to the tune of "I hope you told her that you are against the idea..." Since it was such a hot topic I thought I'd elaborate here.

Puppy #1071

CPR will not adopt to third parties. This means that you can not adopt for a person that does not live with you. The policy cuts out most gifts. The exceptions are as follows.

- An adopter must be present at the adoption event to adopt a CPR puppy. We want to meet you and know who our puppies are going home with. Is the person you're gifting to at the adoption event, meeting the puppy? If the answer is yes than we have no problem letting you pay and then allowing your friend to take the puppy home.

- We are open for adoptions on Christmas Eve. Most of our adopters that day will be parents adopting puppies as Christmas gifts for their children. It will be a surprise, the kids will have no clue until the puppy tries to eat the tree on Christmas morning. I know and you know that no matter what the kids say, the parents take care of the pets. Are you adopting for a minor child that lives with you? No problem. This is really YOUR puppy.

In our experience, it's a bad idea to adopt a pet as a gift for someone who doesn't live with you. People want to "connect" with their pet before they commit. When you gift a puppy, you rob them of that opportunity and ultimately the puppy will be re-homed. If a surprise is what you want, most shelters and rescues (including CPR) offer gift certificates.

An Email I received this week:

Hello

My family is planning on attending the adoption event on Saturday. But we would like to adopt a pair of siblings (sex doesn't matter) is that possible? Also, I was wondering the cost of 2.

Thank You

  Our average adoption fee is $150 + $50 for the state required spay/neuter deposit whether you're adopting one or many.

That's it this week. See ya soon!

It's a short one, but worth the read



Puppy #975

This week's intake: OMG those are some cute puppies this week! (Yes, I know, all puppies are cute. But these are REALLY cute!) I've been swamped with emails about these pups. I think it will be quite a busy day tomorrow. We have 6 babies whose mom was a Great Pyrenees but they look more St. Bernard. They are pretty small though so I'm not sure if there's a smaller mix in the pool too. We're getting two returns this week. That's a lot and not at all usual. # 938-968 was adopted a few weeks ago and I'm sure he's being returned because he cries at night. #960 was adopted last weekend and after a week of trying to work it out, the older dog still doesn't like her.

This week's most interesting email:

Subject: Silky Terriers

We have (2) 13 week old silky terriers, AKC> one male one female. I bought them from Pet City for my D/D daughter. They are wonderful and smart, but we now have been asked for an extra 500.00 pet fee to keep them in our condo. I paid near $1200.00 for these 2 puppies. They ideally would go together. Please help us find a premo home for them. I wanted them for my daughter for company, but they are too much work for me.

What she means is that she wants us to help her sell her puppies. Luckily I didn't have to write her back, she sent the email to Kim. (But really, what's another $500 once you've already spent $1200 on them?)

This week I worked on: EVERYTHING! And doing a pretty good job if I do say so myself. With Kim taking time off I'm been handling both of our jobs. I'm looking forward to a nice rest when Kim returns.

The 2011 Foster Puppy Calendar. I compile all of the pictures that our fosters sent throughout the year and pick 13 to go into the calendar. Active volunteers and fosters get it for free. They are available to everyone else for a $10 donation. In the previous years I've picked the cutest pics that fit the required size specs. This year I'm looking for something different. I want a calendar that says "See how much fun you can have fostering for CPR?" If you do have an undeniable urge to foster after seeing the '11 calendar, you can email Renee at foster@coloradopuppy.org.

I ordered this year's volunteer appreciation lapel pins and I'm very pleased with them. I also ordered a starter batch of "Proud to be a CPR Foster Failure" T's. Once they come in they'll be available for a $20 donation. Haven't failed at fostering? No big, next week I'm ordering t's that are just as cute for you too.

See ya soon!

The Puppy Run (Brook style)

On Thursdays we drive out to the boonies to pick up puppies from shelters or from other drivers that the shelters sent to meet us half way. We call that trip "The Puppy Run." Kim usually drives the puppy run. She likes to go by herself; it's her "quiet" time. When I drive the last Thursday of the month, I like to take a volunteer with me. I like to show people where we're getting our puppies from. It's a part of the rescue that not everyone gets to see (or wants to.) They see one of our partner shelters, meet the staff and drivers of other rescues and help load pups in the van. Volunteers also help me keep track of the keys because it's well know that I've locked them in the car on puppy runs before. Most volunteers have a great time. It's a 6-8 hour trip so only volunteers that can stand me for long periods of time are invited.



Our Puppy Mobile

 Yesterday I drove the puppy run because Kim is taking some much needed time off. I drove by myself, which turned out okay because I made a puppy run "mixed tape" and brought a book to listen to.
Destination: Noah's Ark Animal Shelter in Trinidad, CO. Three and a half hours south on I-25. I left at about 8:15 so I could get an early start and take my time if it snowed any harder than it already was. Cup of coffee in hand, music blasting, I was on my way. Traffic was no problem and by the time I hit Monument Hill the skies were blue so I was flying. (I've been known to pick up speeding tickets on this trip...not THIS time though!)

While passing through Pueblo, I saw a large Veterans Day festival. There were tents up and convoys and it looked like all kinds of fun. Since I was running early I stopped for some food and to check it out. This is one of the best parts of the puppy run. Kim often stops at various farmers markets on the sides of the road. It's fun to see what the towns have going on and bring home great snacks too. I bought a burrito from a guy in a van, listened to some bands play then I was back on the road.

I pulled into the dirt driveway at Noah's Ark around 11:35am. That's where I met Pat. She is one of five volunteers that transports puppies to a meeting place for us because CPR can not drive to all of our partner shelters and rescues every week. They are just too spread out.  Pat picks up puppies from rescues and shelters in the Taos and surrounding areas and drives them up to Trinidad or one of our other meeting spots and she does all of this on her own dime. She is a volunteer. Over the years that we have worked with Pat, through CPR and Lifeline, she has transported well over a thousand puppies to us from kill shelters. She has saved their lives.

A stray at the Taos Pueblo where
some of our puppies are from.

Pat brought 14 puppies with her. They are so cute! Three are from the Taos Pueblo. There were seven in the litter but when Pat went to pick them up yesterday morning four of them were missing. This means that they'll probably turn up soon and we'll get them in a few weeks. Five of the puppies are chunkers. They weigh 6-8 lbs and when we got them home we saw that most of them didn't have their teeth yet. They are too young to go up for adoption this week and they'll have to stay in foster homes for at least another week. After giving all of her puppies a look over and finding a crate to put them in for the ride, Pat was ready to go and I was ready to see if Noah's Ark had pups to send with me.

Noah's Ark Animal Shelter is kind of hard to find if you don't know where to look. It's a small older building that is waiting for enough funds for a good fix-up. There is a small staff with big hearts. All of the animals there are taken care of and given a chance. Like most shelters in Colorado, they sometimes need to euthanize for space. That however, is a last resort. They will do everything they can to adopt and transfer their animals to keep from needing to euthanize. That is why they need our help. 

Yesterday I noticed that there were not many dogs. Noah's Ark had five puppies to send with me. All of them were 3-4 months old and on the larger side. The puppies were in an outside run that was in the middle of being hosed down when I arrived.  All five puppies were soaked and after picking them up and hauling them to the van, I was soaked too. Brrrrrr! I was sure I had ice crystals on my jeans. I turned on the van and cranked the heat. I tried to put the puppies by the vents so they could air dry a bit. Then I took pictures of all of the puppies to post on Facebook. I think it's fun to show everyone a preview of what's about to arrive.

The ride home was pretty uneventful. I pulled over twice for carsick-clean-ups. I arrived home around 3:30 to a house full of volunteers ready for puppy intake... which is a story for another time.

See ya next week!

Guest Blog: Why Christy Volunteers for CPR

I'd like to introduce Christy, a volunteer for Colorado Puppy Rescue. She works full-time and volunteers with CPR when she has time. Christy wrote this for me about two years ago and I'd like to re-post. Thank you Christy, for sharing your CPR experience.



Christy's Puppy Sammie

 About a year ago, I dragged my son and husband to a Colorado Puppy Rescue (CPR) adoption event at Petco on Mississippi. I actually left my mother's 75th birthday party early so I could adopt a puppy. I arrived right at closing time and fell in love with "Big Girl". She had a "nipping" problem so it had been difficult finding a good home for her. OK so she is a heeler and she nipped more than your heels - but I fell in love with her. She will now nip at my pant leg or shirtsleeve and pull it when she feels she has not gotten the attention that she deserves, but to me that is endearing.

About a month, after we got our puppy I was looking for a volunteer opportunity for my son, something where he could get involved in the community and stay busy.

In my search on the web, I found a volunteer opportunity for him at Colorado Puppy Rescue. I signed him up and went with him to the volunteer orientation. I dropped him off for intake later that week and picked him up when he called and said he was done. The next week he came out the car and asked if I could come in and help, because they were short handed. It was probably a lie, but they got me in the door and I was hooked.

When I first started volunteering my husband gave me a hard time about the time I spent with the puppies, but now he knows that a little time at CPR makes me a much better person. I am a working mother in a high stress corporate job, but all week long, I look forward to Thursday nights. I make sure no one can schedule a meeting with me after 3:00 so I can leave on time. As soon as I pick up that first puppy I can feel the stress just melt away. There is no way that I can stay mad when holding a cute innocent puppy. It is not all fun and games, there are still messes to clean up, baths to give and crates to clean, but for all of that the payment is puppy time. The most treasured part of intake is after the initial rush, when we sit down and get to know the other volunteers. I feel such camaraderie with this group of people and have made so many new friends over the last year. Sometimes we are lucky enough to have some wine and extra puppy time too.

Sometimes I am able to foster, this is a special occasion because when I foster I want to dedicate every minute to watching the puppy. I cannot get any work done; I am too engrossed in watching the puppies every first. Sometimes I see them use stairs for the first time, touch grass for the first time, use the doggy door for the first time, play with older dogs for the first time and bark for the first time.

Just watching a puppy makes me smile.

Saturday is adoption day, when the sweet innocent puppies find their new families. Saturday is also a day when I find more companionship with the other volunteers.
People who love dogs make great friends.

If you have a story or pictures to share of your Colorado Puppy Rescue puppy send an email to info@coloradopuppy.org.

Tuffin!!! COME!

Halloween is my favorite holiday. While dressing up in a costume no longer appeals to me, I wear my Walmart and Target Halloween shirts proudly. I love to look at other people's costumes and dress up my son and my dogs. I enjoy giving out good candy to the kids who dress up and peanut butter kisses (those icky candies wrapped in orange or black wax paper) to the ones who don't. I like celebrating Halloween at our adoption event on the last Saturday of October... but this week we're closed.
     We couldn't pull together enough puppies for a puppy run this week so we held this week's adoption event yesterday evening with five puppies. I wasn't sure what to expect, we've never held a Thursday night event before. It went really well; four puppies found homes right away. We have one puppy who still needs a home.



Puppy #938

 Meet Puppy #938: Pup 938 came in a little over a week ago from Noah's Ark Animal Shelter in Trinidad, CO. He was one of three boys who all looked different. One was cream with long hair, one was black with long hair, and #938 has black, short hair. We think he's a lab mixed with something BIG because he's a pretty good size at only 14 weeks old. What a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky boy. He's always up for a good time whether it's hiking, playing fetch or cuddling up for a movie. If it's a BIG boy you're looking for, he's the one for you. He's great with kids and loves to play with other dogs. He's not very happy in his crate but will quiet down after about 20 minutes (if you're willing to stick it out that long.) Contact info@coloradopuppy.org for an appointment to meet him.

This week's most common phone call: Had to do with training. We all know that feeling of panic when your dog bolts out the front door and to the maple two houses down. When this happens to me, I bolt after him yelling "Tuffin!! COME!!" He lowers his leg, sniffs at me and waits till I'm just out of arms reach before taking off in another direction. Now I have a few choices: 1. Keep chasing him and hope I eventually out-smart him. I'm embarrassed to say that could take awhile. 2. Offer him a treat- but I don't want to reward him for this. 3.  Go get the car and lure him in with a car ride. All terrible options.
Like the previous adopters that called this week, my dog knows his basic commands, is generally a good dog and I love him very much but some of his bad behaviors have me mumbling threats while I try to dig him out from under a car.
     I said the same thing to these adopters that you'd say to me. "Try having a trainer come to your home and see these behaviors in action. Then you and the trainer and formulate a plan of action."
     "Yeah, but how much is that going to cost?" one adopter asked before explaining all of her financial obligations.

How I need your help with it: She needs a low-cost solution to her behavior problems and I could not recommend someone for her. I couldn't recommend someone for ANY of the five adopters who called with training questions/complaints this week. That's when I realized that I need to build a database for trainers. Please help me. Leave a comment below if you've been to a trainer that helped to save your relationship with your dog. Please include what the trainers strengths are (ie. aggression, house training, digging...) so that if someone calls with that particular problem I can find the right person to send them to. Please keep in mind that we're trying to keep this as low-cost as possible.

My solution to last week's Facebook Dilemma: I'm going to start posting the same thing on both pages and hope I don't tick that many people off. Thanks to all of you who wrote with solutions.
 
Still no word from the Petco Foundation: about the $1700 dog food donation we asked for a few weeks ago. We'll give it one more week before we start making any big decisions about finding a new place to hold our events. In the meantime, I've decided to submit another application for general supplies. Things like brushes, shampoo, wire crates to replace our bent and rusty ones, new playpens, etc.
 
Next week: We're closed for intake and adoptions. This will give us some time to take care of some things on the business end, like grant applications, that we've been meaning to get to for awhile. I hope to be running again the following week.
 
Guest blogger: I think it would be fun to have one guest blogger a month. I'd like to hear from previous adopters about what it's like to adopt from CPR and I'd like to hear from volunteers and fosters about what it's like to volunteer and foster for CPR. If you're interested in guest blogging, go ahead and write one up and sent it to me at info@coloradopuppy.org. I'd love to slot you in! I'll through in an extra on on Monday to wet your whistle. It was written a few years ago. See you!

Five Years Ago Today...

It all began five years ago today. Our first adoption event was held on the lawn at Church Ranch Vet Wellness Center in Westminster. We had fifteen puppies at the event and adopted three. It was a big blow to our ego. Kim, Tom, James and I had come from Lifeline where we were used to adopting 60 puppies in a weekend. But we're nothing if not persistent. In five years we have found homes for well over 5000 homeless puppies. Whew!!! I am very proud of where we are today. We have over 50 active volunteers and foster homes and the continual support of our adopters.

You're Invited: to our Birthday Party at our adoption event - October 23rd from 11am-2pm. We'll have cupcakes, hats and 20 puppies to party with. See you there!

This Week's Volunteer Favorite: Puppy #936- Great Pyrenees/ Lab Mix boy. We think he's about 13 weeks old and will be a pretty good sized dog. He's starts out a little shy but warms up after he gets to know you. He's fluffy, loves to play outside with his doggy friends and uses a stool as a pillow. Our boy loves to nibble on the bushes outside and chew on bones. Everyone wanted to foster him this week.

What I've been working on this week: I have spent the week getting ready for tomorrow's birthday party and getting set for The Horrifying Day of Scrapbooking and Fondue- A party for volunteers and fosters where we watch scary movies, update our scrap books and eat fondue. It's always a good time but it takes a lot of prep work. And all the other boring stuff.

I need your opinion on Facebook: We have a Facebook profile page and a Facebook fan page. Here's where I need your help. We have 621 "friends" on the profile page and 729 "fans" on the fan page and 233 people are both a fan and a friend. I find that it's pretty tough to keep up both pages. I end up posting different pictures and different updates on each page because I'm worried about the 233 people getting bored with me. That means no one gets the same information.
I'd like to take it down to one page. I don't know which one to keep. Please let me know what you think.

Puppy Food Update: Thanks to the donations from new adopters, previous adopters, volunteers, and the passer by, we were able to collect enough food for the next few weeks. On the Petco front, we have submitted the second part of the application and are "Awaiting Foundation Action."

A Letter We Received This Week:
To CPR,
I adopted puppy #593 on 24 Jul '10. I had been looking for a pup for a few weeks. I had even gone to The Maxfund and they said we were not a good risk for a puppy. I was in tears when we left. All of my dogs live well into their teens. The large dog in the pic above (not included) is 14 years old, her name is Goldie. Pup #593, now known as "Jazzy" has made a good friend in Goldie. They play together, eat together and go for walks together. So much for Maxfund's bad risk. I tell everyone Jazzy is a rescue puppy from CPR and I hope some of them get their new family member from you. Thank you so much. We just love our little Jazzy.
Rebecca and Carl

See ya next week!

What's All the Excitement?

Everyone found homes last Saturday. I was pretty worried going in because 20 seems to be the "magic" number. Any less than that and it's hard to get a crowd. We didn't have that problem last week. Adopters were lined up at 7:30 waiting for Petco to open.



Puppy #901-919



We Did Get One Return: Puppy #901-919 was adopted last Saturday by a young couple who were obviously very attached to her. They arrived early just for her and it looked like love at first sight. After getting home the adopter found that she was allergic to the puppy. She said she'd never had trouble with allergies before. The adopter was heart-broken and covered in hives. Our sweet girl was returned on Monday and went to stay with a foster home until tomorrow's adoption event. She is fun, energetic, and playful. She has been fostered with kids of many ages and other dogs. This pup is working hard on her house training and jumping. She will make a great family dog who will help to run energy out of your kids. She loves to give kisses and lay on your feet.  

While I'm writing this: It's 6:44 am, I'm listening to my son's favorite "Tractor Show," drinking/chewing one of those Fruit 2day things for breakfast and updating the website with pics that the fosters sent in overnight.

Volunteer Orientation: is scheduled for Tuesday. We'd love to have you volunteer with us. You call fill out an application and sign up at http://coloradopuppy.volunteerhub.com/.

On New Adoption Locations and Food Donations:

Last week I mentioned that we're hurting for food. It's why we have been limiting our intake. We can only bring in as many puppies as we can feed. We launched a new food donation program last weekend, "Donate a bag of dog food and get a CPR t shirt." It was a success on Saturday with 6 donations. Enough to get us through this week. We used to receive support from Petco, first from our partner store and then, when policies changed, from the distribution center. But policies have changed again and now we need to appeal to the PETCO foundation and go through their grant application process. I applied to PETCO last week and asked for about $2000 in food donations to get us through next year. Our application is still awaiting review from the PETCO Foundation. I'll let you know when we hear more. The website says that this can be an 8-12 week process. I hope that is not the case. In the past I've been reluctant to ask for donations from a store other than PETCO because it will mean that we need to move our adoptions to that store. While the PETCO at I-25 and Colo. Blvd is a prime location (easy to find and right in the center) and has plenty of space to host us, we need to go where the food is. End of story.

I don't think it will be too difficult to find another company willing to work with us. (Petsmart is the obvious one, but even Walmart or some smaller, local supply stores too.) We bring more than just local business with us because our adopters travel from all over the state to attend the adoption event. We've adopted 905 puppies so far this year. If we assume that every adopter spent $25 on the way out on a leash, collar and dog food (I know, some spent less and some spent a lot more but I'm going for an average) then our adopters would have spent about $22,625 on pet supplies at our host store since January. I think we could take those numbers anywhere and ask for space/time to host our event, a closet to store our supplies in and $2000 in puppy food annually in return. What do you think? I'm just learning the ins and outs of the corporate world and need some advice.

The Really Good New is: We received a donation of $300 from Deathwish's CPR fundraiser. Please drop by their Facebook Fan Page to drop them a word of thanks. http://www.facebook.com/#!/deathwishdenver 

Also, our volunteers earned $618.31 for CPR by working at The Taste of Colorado. A special thanks to those volunteers who braved the heat and sticky beverages for us. Thanks also to Corinne for organizing the fundraiser.  Money from the fundraisers will go to our health fund to help puppies like the one two weeks ago that needed surgery for a cherry eye and for more vaccines and parvo tests.

It's time to stop playing and get on with the day. Until next week...

October Resolutions and Reflections of the Week

October is my favorite month for many reasons. October, with it's chilly temperatures, red, yellow and orange trees, crunchy/smelly leaves, is full of holidays and celebrations. CPR's birthday is in October (we'll be 5 this year.) My parents' birthdays are in October. Halloween of course, but it is my birthday that is the cause of today's blog. It was a milestone birthday and with each one that passes I think of my "October Resolutions." One of them was to pick up this blog once and for all and run with it. 


Puppy 900

 At This Week's Intake we brought in puppy# 900. The 900th puppy that we have rescued and adopted this year. See her picture to the left. We're calling her an English Pointer Mix. She's from the Taos Shelters. This photo is one that her foster mama submitted.

While I'm Writing This I'm eating lunch (a Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich- no, not all rescuers are vegetarians,) I'm listening to Alien Ant Farm, checking the general email, and updating the websites and facebook.

The Most Interesting Email This Week:
Subject: Puppy # 863
Is this puppy still available? And if so can she be transferred to a Pueblo animal shelter?

LOL!!! Our mission is to support shelters by getting puppies out, not transferring them in. This puppy came from the Valencia County Animal Shelter in NM. That's a long way to travel just to send her back to Pueblo. If a person does not want to travel to adopt a dog they need to look closer to home.
But I didn't say any of that. I just said "No."

The Most Common Phone Call This Week:
About the Spay/Neuter Deposit. I want to clear something up. Adopters can only get the s/n deposit back by proving that their dog has been s/n. It is Colorado State Law. Colorado Puppy Rescue does not have the power or authority to bend the law. (Although that would be very helpful when I get pulled over for speeding.) 
An adopter can not get the deposit back by:
1. Sending in a letter from the vet informing us that the s/n will take place at a later date. This only puts your deposit on hold so that you don't lose it when your 90 days are up.
2. Sending a letter asking for the deposit back because you are moving to a state that does not require s/n.
3.Faxing or emailing your proof. It must be mailed to the address on your adoption contract.
4. Sending proof of s/n for a dog that you did not adopt from CPR. (That's just silly!)

How You Can Help This Week:
We REALLY need Puppy Food. Although we adopt 100 puppies/month from our partner PETCO Store, we do not get support from them in the way of food donations. Food donations is what keeps our adoption fees low. You can help by donating a bad of puppy food. We'll take any size, any brand. You can drop off at our PETCO Adoption Events or send an email and I can arrange for a volunteer to meet you closer to your home.

A PETCO groomer asked this week if we had posted on our website that adopters should arrive when PETCO opens at 9am to sign up on the list. (Some people will arrive as early as 7:30- but you didn't hear that from me.) We do not post a time to arrive. Adopters started coming at 9 on their own. On the website I advise our adopters to "arrive early." The people get to PETCO at 9am or earlier are the people who arrived when we open at 11am and found that they were too far down on the list to adopt the puppy they came for. They've learned from experience. The groomer asked me if we would post an "advised arrival time" on the site to even every one's chances. Not at this time. Adopters rarely complain to me about the system. They are the early birds for the next.

My Project for the Week:
I've been putting together an online photo album to display our Homecoming pics. It's taking awhile because I have about 700 photos to sort through. I should have it live mid-next week.

That's it for now. See ya later!

Writen on a cloudy day...

Greetings on a dark and cloudy day.

Earlier this week Kim took Sasha to Broadview Animal Clinic to have her front, right leg amputated. This was the best thing for Sasha's pain, activity level, and quality of life. She came through surgery with flying colors and is now resting and recovering at Kim's home. She will start feeling better next week. Right now she needs help to stand and to go outside to potty. Her full recovery time should be just a couple of weeks.
Her surgery cost just over $600 so it was great to have the help of Sasha's sponsors and the Cycle Slut fundraiser.

One of the most common questions I get is about tracking down litter mates for reunions. We had our first meeting of the CPR Alumni Homecoming Committee this week. The Homecoming Event will be a great big get-together of all of our previously adopted dogs and puppies. Since CPR opened it's doors in Oct. 2005 we have rescued and adopted over 4000 puppies. I do not think everyone will come. My hope is that we'll have at least 100 alum at our event. SAVE THE DATE: we're planning for September.  Think you'd like to attend? Drop me a note so that I know I won't be the only one there! Right now, we think that there will be no cost to get into the event. We're planning for contests and games (these will have entrance fees because they're fundraisers) as well as inviting Animal Industry Folk to join in and sponsor a booth. (Are you an interested industry folk? Let us know!) We will have all of our photos books out, we'll be taking photos for before and after, we'll have ways to meet up with litter mates, prizes and MORE.
Would you like to help out but aren't the type to plan or go to meetings?
WE NEED:

• Ideas for a location that can accommodate us (electricity is a must).
• Cool, fun or classy items for our BIG Raffle (We can send you a letter of intent, our 501(c)3 and a donation receipt.) 
• Maybe you have a time share you can, um, share?
• Restaurant gift certificate?
• Pet Lover’s item?
• How about a basket of goodies for the pampered pet?
• Or pampered pet owner?
• Connection to an airline, hotel, manufacturer, retailer, groomer, trainer….
• Are you a talented artist with a work you can donate?
• Tight on cash but long on time? Maybe you would make a call or write a letter or email to ask for a donation on our behalf.
• A neat, eye-catching invitation design asking for event sponsors that we can send to local businesses.
• A neat, eye-catching invitation design inviting previous adopters to the event.
• Recommendations for event service companies (that provide tents, chairs, tables) that would be willing to offer non-profit discounts or donations.
• Have you come up with some way you can help that I haven't? We'd love your help. Please let me know what you'd like to do!

There's a lot going on at CPR that I'd like to share.

The first is Puppy #291, now known as River, pictured on the left. River came in on Thursday from a shelter in Santa Fe. She has a Cherry Eye. Unlike people, dogs have a third eyelid in the corner of each eye that contains a tear duct. Normally you don't see it but sometimes, for reasons unknown, it can come out of it's normal position and swell. That is a condition called cherry eye. You can see it on her left eye. The treatment is usually to surgically move it back into place.
Today I met River's adopter at Broadview Animal Clinic so that her Cherry Eye could get treated. She was in the great spirits of a puppy who'd never been to a vet's office and didn't know what was in store. She had a great weekend of hiking in the mountains and seeing a herd of deer. Today her eye looked a lot better. I could hardly see her third eyelid but the adopter and I chose to go ahead with the surgery just to make sure that it was taken care of. CPR paid for the surgery as agreed upon on our contract with River's adopter. He's promised to keep in touch so we can see River as she grows.

Last Friday Denver Cycle Sluts threw CPR a fundraiser. We played BINGO with Denver's Original Camp Drag Comedy Troupe. Visit their website here. We had too much fun! There were a TON of prizes, some provided by CPR and some by the Cycle Sluts. It was hosted at Hamburger Mary's so there was food and lots of drinks. (BTW, it was 21 and over only. Not a family event!) They raised $1,150 for us at that event. Thank you Denver Cycle Sluts for a great time and a fabulous fundraiser. Also thanks to Kitty for getting us in there and to Kitty, Rhonda, and Kim for setting up prizes.

Sasha is a 10-11 mth old lab/whippet mix that we brought into the rescue back in October, pictured to the right. She was one of a litter of six pups that were hard to find homes for because they were a little older to begin with. Volunteer Christy Elly and friend of volunteer Robin both adopted pups from this litter. Poor Sasha has had the hardest time. She's been adopted and returned 3 times. This last time the adopters discovered that she has a growth plate problem that will require surgery. They are not prepared to handle such a surgery so they chose to relinquish her back to our care so that we can get her the help she needs. Kim and I have taken Sasha to an Orthopedic Specialist and an Orthopedic Surgeon for opinions and cost estimates. It looks now, like the best thing for Sasha's recovery, quality of life and opportunity for re-adoption is to have her leg amputated. She goes in for surgery next week. Her foster mom Jackie will tell you that she is active, loves to run and play, as well as sit next to you on the sofa. All of these things she'll continue to do after her surgery. After a short recovery she'll go up for adoption and find a new home. Many people have asked about helping with Sasha's surgery financially. Thanks to last week's fundraiser and a private sponsor (Samantha and her CPR Alum Three-Legged dog Scribble) we'll be able to cover Sasha's surgery and recovery. However, donations are always accepted and appreciated. Donations can be make directly to our Camma-Lyla Fund from the donations page on our website. Click here to go to the CPR website donation page.

I'll be sure to update you on River and Sasha as information comes in. See you soon!
Brook
ps. I love Google's spellchecker!

Crazy Busy!

Wow! 33 puppies were adopted at yesterday's adoption event. Great news. It was very busy. Our list was a page and a half long before I arrived at 10:15. There was a couple who flew in from Portland for the Greater Swiss pups. They ended up adopting on of the GSMDs and the Blue Heeler/ Mtn Dog Mix.  A couple of ladies from the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Rescue were there. They just wanted to make sure that our adopters knew that GSMD was just a breed guess and that we didn't have any proof. That is the case with ALL of our puppies. Since we get them from shelters and not individuals we do not get to see the parents and they very rarely come in with paperwork. I don't think anyone expects to get a papered GSMD for a $125 adoption fee.  The ladies brought their GSMD's with them so we were able to give our many adopters an idea of how big these pups would turn out to be. I knew it would be busy because I must have fielded at least 200 emails over the last few day. They're still coming in too. People want to know if we have any of our puppies left.

We do! You can view them using our new pet adoption portal (from rescuegroups.org) on our website at www.coloradopuppy.org/puppies.html. I'm very excited about the new portal. I think it looks cleaner, more professional and I love that you can see the puppy picture and the puppy details/description at the same time. It should make it easier for our adopters to find the right puppy for them. The big draw back? While the portal will update adoptapet.com and our main website automatically it will not update petfinder. I need to go through a different software program that is supposed to sync it for me. Unfortunately I can not run it without errors and I still need to update petfinder manually.  On the bright side it will still save me time because I only need to enter the info twice instead of three times.

Special Thanks to the Hill Family and their very generous donation of $800. Harry, Angie and their dog Bear (adopted from CPR a little over 3 years ago) visited our adoption event yesterday to say hi and present us with a donation. We'll have to discuss what to do with this pleasant surprise. We're trying to buy a new puppy van now and this will go nicely as part of a down payment. We could also use it to update some of our adoption equipment. Our black wire crates are getting old and a little rusty. Our hard travel crates are loosing their handles and some screws. Wow! Think about all the food we can get! $800 is a lot of money to us and it will take a little time to figure out where to use it. Thanks again Hill Family!

One of our partner shelters, Colfax Pet Rescue in New Mexico was forced to close due to a problem with their lease. They are unable to find another place to move the shelter to at this time. We brought in a few litters from them last week including a mama and her 12 day old pups. Mama is a white, small sized terrier mix. Maybe a Norfolk Terrier Mix? She has 5 small puppies. All but one of them are black. The last is black and white. Check back in a few days for updates.
Many of you already know that Colorado Furbabies Rescue has also closed. We are already feeling the impact as their partner shelters scramble to find a place for their pups. We have been bombarded with requests for transfer. During this time we'll be forging new relationships and reacquainting ourselves with old ones. We're planning for more busy times ahead.