Nine puppies arriving to the Northwest!

My co-rescue coordinator and I were contacted about a litter of 8 three month old puppies needing rescue who were born to a Rat Terrier mom. At first both of us thought "CRAP, there is no way we can pull this off!" but an email was sent out to our NW foster parents to see if anyone was up for squeezing in an extra puppy or two to their load of foster dogs. As usual, a bunch of folks stepped up to the plate and before we knew it all 8 of the pups had found a foster spots.

A donation from a NW NR volunteer of $50 was made so that we could get them all their first vaccination.  Then we waited 3 weeks for them to have their second booster since we didn't want to put them on a transport unless they had 2 DHPP vaccinations under their belt.

Then on Thursday, the day the puppies were supposed to hop on their transport, my co-rescue Coordinator got a call from our New Rattitude volunteer who was temping the puppies in Fresno for us. She had taken all the pups in that morning to get their health certificates and the shelter vet saw the pups and then brought out another puppy the same age, same size, who had been stepped on and had their shoulder dislocated. The shoulder had been reset and x-rays had been done and everything was okay - she just needed some cage rest. The vet wanted her to see if we could take that puppy too. OY! A ninth puppy?! We couldn't promise anything since the foster homes taking the puppies were already in overload but, she emailed the foster parents again and sure enough, another foster parent stepped up and a ninth puppy joined the crew.

The pups arrived late last night, picked up and overnighted with my co-rescue coordinator.  I'm driving down to federal way this morning to pick up 6 of the puppies and meeting 3 sets of foster parents in Bellevue for hand offs.  One of those foster parents is then driving over the pass to meet up with our Yakima foster parent so she can head home with her foster pups.

Eight pups will be fostered in Washington and one in Oregon. That makes our NW foster homes full to the brim with 20 dogs currently in our foster homes up here.  This is truly amazing that so many volunteers were willing to open their homes, several of them already with foster dogs and knowing that this would put them beyond their normal dog limits.

As you can see we are not taking on a puppy - I'm still recovering from Cayuse and Klipsun! It's also not possible for us to have more than 4 dogs in our house without me losing my mind! However, I'm glad I was able to help with the coordination of helping these puppies catch a new lease on life!  Finally I'm tickled to be a part of such a amazing team of volunteers who are all about stepping up to help even when everyone is taxed.  These 9 little lives have a very bright future thanks to our group - way to go team!

To follow these puppies make sure to check out their foster parents blogs at:

Foster parent in Federal Way, WA

Foster parent in Yakima, WA

Foster parent in Snohomish, WA

Foster parent in Hood River, OR