Tag: stray rescue of st. louis

Happily Ever After Stories

Happily Ever After: Whippet and the Carmean Family

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Once upon a time, Melissa Carmean decided she wanted to foster a senior dog or one that had special needs of some sort. She and her family had previously fostered dogs when they were living in Texas, and when they moved to Missouri about a year ago, she began following Stray Rescue of St. Louis on Facebook.

“I got addicted to their posts,” she says.

Earlier this year, Carmean saw posts about a 7-year-old dog named Whippet who came to Stray Rescue blind in both eyes. He had glaucoma, and his eyes were rupturing. He had surgery to have them removed and went to a foster home to recover, since the shelter was confusing for the blind pup. Carmean saw his posts and “couldn’t stop thinking about him.”

“When he went up for adoption, I put in an application right away,” she says.

Whippet’s foster family was enthusiastic about the Carmeans coming to meet him, so Carmean and her husband went to pay him a visit and see if he’d be a good fit for their family.

“My husband wasn’t totally sold on the idea, but when we walked in their door, he was the first one on the floor with [Whippet],” Carmean says.

After a brief discussion with her husband, Carmean filed with Stray Rescue to officially adopt Whippet. They brought the pup home the same day.

The Carmeans have had Whippet only for a few weeks, but he’s fitting in perfectly with their family. Whippet’s getting used to having a dog brother and sister, along with a sassy cat sister. Carmean says that aside from his blindness, the Golden Retriever-“ish” pup is “as healthy as can be.”

“He loves to go for walks,” she says. “He just wants to be wherever you are.”

One little bit of adjustment the Carmeans have faced with Whippet is talking to him constantly to let him know where they are in the house.

“You can’t leave a room without telling him you’re leaving the room, because he won’t know where you went,” Carmean says. “You just have to keep talking to him so he can follow you. His sense of hearing is great.”

Whippet has been particularly excited about meeting the Carmeans’ cat, but so far, the cat has insisted on swatting at the visually impaired dog until he backs away.

“He just really wants to sniff her,” Carmean says. “As soon as she meows, he’s got to go find her.”

Overall, though, Carmean says the biggest adaptation is just being mindful of Whippet’s presence because he’s so quiet and low-maintenance. The Carmeans have incorporated him into their daily routine with ease, though, allowing Whippet to come along on car rides to pick up their daughter from school.

“Seeing him with his head out the window is so cute because he loves the feel of the wind on his face,” Carmean says. “He can’t tell what’s going on, but the expression on his face is so sweet.”

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

Happily Ever After Stories

Happy Ever After: Hoonah and the Scott Family

robyndexter

Once upon a time, Hoonah the dog was found as a puppy, piled in a crate with his brothers and sisters. They were left outside Stray Rescue, where the organization sheltered them and cleaned them up. As time wore on, all of Hoonah’s siblings were adopted, and he was sent off to the Puppies for Parole program; there he continued to grow and grow … and grow.

Jenny Scott, a social worker for Saint Louis University, was participating in an online conversation with college counseling staff across the country. The topic fell on therapy dogs, and her colleagues talked about how helpful the dogs can be for new incoming students who miss their dog(s) from home. Scott had always talked to her students about how great Stray Rescue is, often sending them to volunteer at the shelter.

“I saw they had a program where you could get therapy dogs,” Scott said. “I contacted them, and they sent me a whole list of dogs. I was looking for a dog that was cat-friendly and would be trained and ready to go for the fall semester.”

This was May 2016. Some of the dogs weren’t ready yet, but Scott was told there was one that would be perfect for her. So she went to meet him.

“My jaw dropped when I saw him,” she says. “He was so adorable and huge.”

Weighing in at 120 pounds, Hoonah greeted Scott. She fell in love immediately, which was good, because the staff at Stray Rescue asked if she could take him home that day.

“I took him straight to work,” Scott says.

Hoonah hit the ground running as a therapy dog in SLU’s counseling office that day. He was at SLU the entire fall semester, welcoming freshmen to orientation and even getting to go to a square dance with approximately 1,000 of his new best friends.

“I use him for outreach events and also in sessions with students who have panic or trauma issues,” she says. “They can pet him and ground themselves when those anxieties come up.”

While Hoonah had a great first semester at SLU, second semester was harder for him. Since he’s such a big dog, he has hip dysplasia. He tore both of his back leg ligaments and had to have surgery to fix his knee in February 2017. Then, in May, he had his second surgery. Being kennel-restricted was hard for Hoonah, but he was very patient. Scott worked with him on colors and numbers while he healed. Though she had to haul him up and down the couple of stairs she has, she says it was a bonding experience for them.

On July 21, Hoonah got to go back to work.

“He was so happy to be back,” Scott says. “He loves being outside of his kennel and going for walks.”

Now that he’s on the mend, Hoonah’s quirks have come out. He loves sticks, apples and doughnuts. Scott says he absolutely despises water and will avoid puddles at all costs, but she’s working to try to get him used to water, because she knows it would help with his rehabilitation.

“It’s been a challenge with his surgeries. The students were so sad when he wasn’t there,” Hoonah says. “But Stray Rescue has taken care of both of his surgeries and medications. They’ve been so amazing.”

Scott believes dogs like Hoonah can help reduce the stigma of counseling.

“Having a dog there softens everything and reduces the stress of talking to someone,” she says. “It’s almost like magic.”

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here. 

Happily Ever After Stories

Happily Ever After: Stolie and the Urda Family

robyndexter

57f57bdfa2c9e-imageOnce upon a time, Emily Urda was looking for a family dog for her household. With a son with a disability, she knew the dog would have to be pretty special to fit into their family. She went to Stray Rescue of St. Louis to see if she could find one that would be a good addition to the family. While she was there, she spoke with adoption manager Valerie Strobo about service dogs. Urda had considered this option in years prior, but everything had been thousands of dollars, or her son Jackson was too young for the dog.

“Then I met Stolie,” she says. “She seemed like she’d be a great fit for our family, so we decided to go for it.”

Stolie was rescued by Stray Rescue in February and was enrolled in the Missouri Puppies for Parole program. The 2-year-old female terrier mix learned basic obedience at Missouri Eastern Correctional Center and received full training. Stolie knows “sit,” “stay” and “come,” along with being housebroken and walking great on a leash.

Urda has only had Stolie for about a month, but she says the dog’s been an exceptional addition to the family.

“It’s been so nice to see Jackson interact with her,” she says. “With his disability, he’s not really interactive with other kids and would rather be with adults. Now, he and Stolie are friends. It’s so sweet to see them together.”

One of the things they’ve been working on with Stolie’s training is a hide-and-seek-type game where Jackson hides and Stolie has to find him.

“It’s so entertaining because he’s not very good at hiding, but she’s very good at finding him,” Urda says.

Aside from her time with Jackson, Stolie enjoys hunting frogs outside and playing fetch with her ball. After Jackson’s asleep, she’ll curl up on Urda’s lap.

“She’s probably around 70 pounds, but she’ll do whatever she can to get in your lap,” Urda says. “She climbed over the armrest yesterday to get into my lap.”

Urda is still in the process of getting Stolie trained to meet Jackson’s needs, but “she’s as sweet as can be.” She says it took Jackson a few days to warm up to Stolie, but the dog is already very protective of the family.

“Stray Rescue has just been so helpful with this whole process,” Urda says. “They’ve always been there right away to help. They did a great job of finding the perfect dog for our family.”

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

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Happily Ever After Stories

Happily Ever After: Maloney and the Andrew Family

robyndexter

Once upon a time, a 7-year-old terrier mix was found shivering in an abandoned garage in North City, sleeping on a bag of trash. Winter of 2014 was a cold one, and Stray Rescue of St. Louis volunteers were doing their best to get as many strays off the streets as possible. They were desperate for foster families, and Valerie Andrew answered the call for the terrier mix, named Maloney.

Andrew had fostered for Stray Rescue many years prior and had adopted her older dog, Friede, from them. Stray Rescue told her she could come down to the shelter the next day and to bring Friede to the meet-and-greet room so they could all get acquainted.

“The first thing I thought was ‘He’s so big!’” Andrew says. “He was about 60 pounds then, and he’s 70 now.”

The dogs got along just fine, and Andrew agreed to take Maloney home as a foster. He was extremely skittish. Andrew says although she doesn’t know much about his life before ending up at Stray Rescue, she’s pretty sure he had been abused in some way.

“He was afraid of everything,” she says. “He ran away down the street the first day, but the Stray Rescue folks helped get him back home.”

The first days were rough for Maloney and his new mom. Andrew worried he would never bond with her. She turned to the folks at Stray Rescue for help, and they recommended putting peanut butter on her finger.

“That did the trick,” she recalls.

While fostering Maloney, Andrew took him to a few adoption events, which is a customary practice for dogs in foster care.

“I was so afraid someone was going to be interested in him,” she says. “That’s when I knew I had to keep him.”

Maloney got to be one of the Stray Rescue All Stars at this past December’s Hope for the Holidays Gala at The Chase Park Plaza and is featured on the organization’s calendar as Mr. March.

“People are really attracted to him because of his speckled nose,” Andrew says. “Then, once they get to know him, they realize what a sweetheart he is.”

Andrew and her four-legged crew belong to the Woodson Road Dog Park in Overland, and Maloney loves getting to meet new friends there.

“He loves to chase with the other dogs, but his favorite thing is just to get a squeaky toy and parade around with it,” Andrew says.

Maloney has been a bit of a menace to Andrew’s garden. It turns out, he loves broccoli and kale, and will eat both right off the plant.

“He also loves orange slices, but only if you eat half of it and give him the other half,” she says.

Andrew describes her life as “richer” now that Maloney is in it. She has other animals that she adores, but something told her it was time to do something more and foster.

“Every day is something new and exciting,” she says. “Who rescued who?”

This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

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Ladue News Feature Stories

Stray Rescue of St. Louis

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The streets of any city can be treacherous for our four-legged friends if they don’t have anyone to look after them. Luckily, many once-homeless pooches have found a friend, hero and rescuer in Randy Grim, founder of Stray Rescue of St. Louis. Grim has built a phenomenal network of animal lovers who are dedicated to making St. Louis a more compassionate city through Stray Rescue.

One of these efforts is an event called Urban Wanderers – Faces of Survival, which features artwork from more than 60 artists from all over the country. “They take one of our rescue dogs, and whatever their medium is as an artist, they turn the image of the dog into art,” Grim says. “There’s so much excitement around it.”

Faces of Survival is a six-week show at Gallery 400 Event Space at 400 Washington Avenue. At the end of the six-week run, the art is auctioned off, and all proceeds go directly to helping St. Louis’ four-legged friends. This year’s event runs from July 10 to Aug. 2, and begins and ends with a party.

Shep, Stray Rescue’s 2014 miracle dog, who is featured in this year’s show, has overcome being shot in the back, being paralyzed and sodomized. “Shep is a true inspiration,” Grim says. “Even when the vet said to put him down, I wanted to give him a chance. Now, he can run and has been adopted.”

Grim says Stray Rescue of St. Louis is truly unique because “we’re really in the trenches. We don’t put dogs down just because they were shot, burned or mutilated,” he says. “We heal the dog – mind, body and soul.”

Grim works daily with police, city employees and Mayor Slay’s Animal Cruelty Task Force. “We’re working in the toughest parts of the city, but we’re able to save more than 3,000 dogs a year,” he says. Grim sees cases of unspeakable cruelty, but also success stories, full of hope.

One such dog is Diseno, who has been undergoing intensive care. “When we got the call, she had been lying there for four days screaming and nobody did anything,” Grim says. “It bothered me so much that nobody cared. She was close to death and had a bullet that had gone under her eye and landed in her spine.” Grim was relieved when a surgeon was able to remove the bullet. Now, Diseno is making great progress with walking already. He also notes that they are close to solving the abuse case and hopes someone has to answer for what they did to Diseno. “I have a feeling she might be our ‘spokesdog’ next year,” he says. “She loves all people and has an incredible ability to forgive, as dogs do.”

While most shelters just put their dogs down, Grim and his staff are able to give their furry friends a second chance. “These dogs are often stigmatized because they’re ‘secondhand’ or ‘street dogs,’” he says. “But we’re able to give them a real bed, food and love.”

Stray Rescue’s volunteer base is strong, but they have approximately 300 to 500 dogs and cats on any given day. “We’re out in the community and spay and neuter as many animals as we can,” Grim says. “The community knows and respects us, and we’ve been able to solve many cases that way.”

Years ago, Grim says it was a challenge to get anyone in the community to divulge information about animal abuse cases, but as the program has become more recognized, they’ve been able to prosecute felony animal-abuse cases with prison time. “We do this all out of love for the animals,” he says. “I always say that if we all took after our dogs’ ability to forgive, we would be such better human beings.”

 This story was originally published at laduenews.com. Read it on LN’s website here.

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