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!