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A monthly newsletter to keep you informed.
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Rescue Results for December
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In December we had 11 new arrivals. 9 entered TGIE and 2 came straight off the track in Mobile, AL into foster care. We also had
9 adoptions.
That makes our 2015 totals 127 adoptions and 133 rescues (114 to AG and 19 to other groups).
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| 2016-The Year of the (Foster) Greyhound |
When you decide to take a foster hound into your home, there is a certain level of uncertainty that can cause some uneasy feelings. Will my foster get along with my other dogs? Can he handle the stairs in our house? What if he doesn't get the hang of going potty outside! How long until he finds his forever home? There are a lot of unknowns when we take a dog that we don't know and make them a part of our family temporarily and we often don't know the answers right away. We love them as our own with the understanding that they really don't belong to us. It's a bittersweet relationship that can only be explained through experience.
This handsome hound is Coal. He came from the track with a severe leg injury. His amazing foster family didn't bat an eye and took him in to get him healed and ready for his happily ever after. After multiple surgeries, splints, and casts, his doctors finally cleared him for adoption. Coal came off the track and into American Greyhound's care on April 3rd, 2015. He found his forever home just in time for the holidays on December 20th, 2015. For some the wait is longer than others, but without dedicated foster homes like Coal's, he may not have gotten the top-notch vet care and forever home that he so very much deserved.
American Greyhound is going to rescue more dogs this year than ever before. We can't do it without your help. I am asking everyone reading this to foster a greyhound in 2016. I'm not asking you to foster on a consistent basis, just ONE foster this year. Save a dog's life and experience the feeling of seeing that dog go to its forever home. I know we have pursued this in the past and it resulted in some unwanted pressure to continually foster. I assure you this will not be the case in 2016. One and done if you so wish! Is there a better resolution than helping a hound in need? I don't think so! Will you accept my challenge?
When you are ready to be there for the hound that needs you, give me a call at 219-395-4432 or send an email to [email protected]. Coal sure is happy his foster family was there for him.
Nicole Graves, Foster Coordinator |
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Roxie Sanders: Polar Bear Queen
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Most of us are aware of American Greyhound's big winter fund raiser in Lake Michigan, "Freezin' for a Reason", our Polar Bear Plunge. You may not know that over 170 different people have taken part in this event at least one time. But, of all the folks who have taken this icy challenge, one stands out for, by far, raising the largest amount of money. That person is our Polar Bear Queen-Roxie Sanders.
I met Roxie about 8 years ago when she and her husband Chip adopted their first greyhound, Butler. He was followed a bit later by Bella. They created portion of their back yard specifically for Butler and Bella, with sand to dig and run around in. After Butler passed away, they adopted a little lurcher named Chet, who has really blossomed at the Sanders home.
Toward the end of the year in 2011, I noticed that Roxie had created a fund raising page for our annual Polar Bear Plunge. Not long after that, I ran into her at a high school wrestling tournament and we talked about the upcoming swim and whether she was having any misgivings about jumping into a freezing lake. She was upbeat, with maybe a little apprehension (and I don't blame her). Roxie did a very nice job, raising $886 and coming in 9th out of 27 plungers. Little did I know that from that point on she would be on fire and never be out of the top two fund raisers, coming in 2nd twice and first three times. In fact, in the 6 Polar Bear Plunges that Roxie has participated in, she has raised in excess of $10,000! Outpacing any of the other polar bears by a good measure, even those who have jumped in more times than she has.
In addition to her outstanding efforts in the Polar Bear Plunge, Roxie also is a very active
member of our auction committee and holds adoption/fundraising events in her hometown of DeMotte, Indiana.
Roxie I know that I've said thanks before, but I don't believe I can say it enough. Thanks for your efforts to make American Greyhound as good as it can be. Thanks for your bravery in the face of the icy waters of Lake Michigan. Thanks for giving a wonderful home to Butler, Bella, and Chet.
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This year, American Greyhound, Inc., celebrated one of its oldest traditions-the Polar Bear Plunge-for the ninth time!
Since 2007, American Greyhound volunteers have been ringing in the New Year with an icy dip into Lake Michigan. While it's been unseasonably warm in the area, the swim was still said to be cold. This is a good thing as some of us really needed to shake "2015" from our systems.
With the official air temperature in the 20's, the rush to the water's edge happened quickly as usual as these brave souls rushed into Lake Michigan and even more quickly rushed back out to the water's edge and their towels!
This year was another record breaking year for our Polar Plunge! We had over 50 participants who raised over $17,000 making it our second best plunge to date! American Greyhound would like to especially thank our top fundraisers. Our top Polar Bears were Kris Shultz and Steve Anderson. Our top Penguins were Roxie Sanders (our top fundraiser overall raising over $2,500) and Scott Hagberg. Our top Walruses were Mary Hildebrandt and Bob Wirtes, Jr! These folks did an incredible job raising not only funds, but raising awareness of our cause! Another huge thank you goes to the Old Town Ale House for opening your doors so early to accommodate us and for donating all of the tips from our fabulous Warm Up Party!
American Greyhound would also like to send a special thank you to our McAfee Animal
Hospital participants! These folks are huge part of the American Greyhound family! Not only do they provide us with outstanding veterinary care year round, but several of them took the plunge with us this year! A couple even helped our hounds while taking the plunge at our alternate location in the Cayman Islands!
Whether you jumped in, donated online or in person, you helped unwanted greyhounds a brighter new year to look forward to on their journey to their forever homes.
Best Wishes for a Warm and Wonderful 2016! |
| South Bend, Elkhart, and Goshen Indiana |
Last month, we highlighted the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois area as a region we would like to become more active with our fostering and adoption programs. This month, we'd like to address the South Bend/Elkhart/Goshen, Indiana area as somewhere we'd like to step it up a bit.
Over the years, we have had a presence in this area and moved a decent number of dogs into forever homes. However, over the past couple years our performance in this area has started to sag.
For that reason, we are starting the year out with an effort to increase our presence (and the presence of our dogs). We've established a new point of contact for this area, Ashley Martin-Sammut, and we're looking for some people who may be interested in fostering and volunteering, and helping to get things rolling again.
Also, we'd sure be interested in any events that may be of interest to the dog-loving public, that would get the word out about our mission and our dogs. We will still be working events out of the Petco stores in Mishawaka and Goshen, but we're open to other ideas that may help as well.
If this sounds like something that may interest you, give Ashley a call at (574) 304-7442 or shoot her an email at: [email protected]. |
Our dogs get returned for a number of reasons. Sometimes it is the dog's fault. Sometimes it is the family's fault. Sometimes it was not a good match to begin with. Sometimes it is no fault at all, but in the end the dog still comes back. Here are a few tips I read on RescueProud.com and may help in some of those areas.
SENSE OF SECURITY:
Dogs, like people, need certainty and predictability to feel safe and to not be on alert or worried. Think how unsettling it is to wait for test results or to see if you are going to get the promotion or new job. Dogs and people need to feel certainty and have the predictability of their person's behavior. Once things are predictable, dogs and people can feel safe.
SPONTANEITY
: But too much predictability is not fun for anyone. An occasional change in a routine is a must; change your dog's food, treats, or simply vary the locations of your walks or outings.
COMPANIONSHIP:
Being related to wolves, dogs need to be part of the pack. They can't live life socially, physically or emotionally alone. Allowing your dog to be near you while you are busy working in not companionship. Doing things together that your dog also enjoys, like playing tug-of-war, fetch or cuddling together are more like it.
LOVE & CONNECTION
: Research shows that dogs are emotionally and developmentally similar to human toddlers. They need what psychologists call "secure attachment" so they feel loved and secure at all times, even when they are away from you. For human prisoners, the toughest punishment is solitary confinement; and the same is true for dogs. Your dog doesn't care how fancy your home is, they only want to be with you.
UNDERSTANDING THE HIERARCHY:
A dog needs to feel he has a real leader, so he can relax instead of trying to run the show. But what kind of a leader do you want to be? There are those who try to dominate everyone by making them submissive and there is the leadership style that empower people to be what they never imagined they could be. Do you want your dog submissive and afraid or do you want him to be all he can be?
PHYSICAL STIMULATION:
A tired dog is a happy dog. It's unrealistic to expect a dog who slept all day while you were at work to be calm and content when you finally come home. A dog needs to run and play, preferably outside in nature and to interact with other dogs if he is dog friendly.
MENTAL STIMULATION:
Growing and learning keep humans sharp and it is the same for dogs. Most dogs are taught maybe five to ten words when they are capable of learning at least 150 words. So many unwanted behaviors, like chewing, barking and digging stem from boredom and not being sufficiently mentally stimulated. Keep their chew toys interesting by rotating them. Also try changing up the treats in the stuffable toys to avoid peanut-butter rut.
-Barb Coggins
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Happy Holidays Greyhound Family! American Greyhound Association has had an eventful year finding loving homes for our beautiful faithful friends. The prison program continues our efforts to socialize the hounds and then find temporary or permanent homes for them. Last month, as things began to cool down, our pups had a very nice surprise from one of our supporters. Patti Browall, the mother of Board member Julie Certa, delivered about a dozen and a half of the nicest greyhound coats I have seen.
Patti at one time worked as a professional seamstress, making London Fog jackets at a facility in
Hammond, Indiana. She retired in April of last year and has free time to do more sewing now. With that free time she decided to make sure American Greyhound didn't have a bunch of cold pups running around. Julie tells me that it takes her very little time and no pattern to knock one out. And trust me when I tell you that they look like she slaved over them for days.
American Greyhound has already put some of them to work keeping our foster dogs warm and
likewise will send some to Coldwater, Michigan to assure our TGIE dogs are toasty this winter.
Julie's dogs have never had to worry about keeping warm with their benevolent grandmother
making them nice coats. And, now neither do our dogs. Patti, thank you so much for your kindness and generosity.
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| Detroit Free Press Highlights TGIE |
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On December 21st, The Detroit Free Press ran a very nice article highlighting TGIE, the prison
training program we are associated with in Coldwater, Michigan. Here's a link to that story:
Thank you for your ongoing support of American Greyhound's participation. While we originally
entered the program as a means of helping more dogs, our continued participation has shown that we are helping a lot more than just a few dogs.
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Pet Supplies Plus Orland Park
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What a greyt partner American Greyhound has with Pet Supplies Plus in Orland Park, IL! The store set up a donation bin through the holidays for customers to put donations in for AG. They said their customers were very generous, and that they were! We came home with two bins filled with canned dog food, treats, toys, and small bags of dry food. They also gave us a card thanking us for participating with them! We hold meet and greets at their store the third
Sunday
of every month and feel they need a big shout out for their kindness and generosity!
THANK YOU PET SUPPLIES PLUS, ORLAND PARK!!!
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As we mentioned last month, we are putting together a list of potential volunteers to participate in our hauls. This is a great opportunity to experience what it takes to move a hound from a track, farm, or wherever, into our rescue and ultimately find them their forever home.
If you're interested in participating or would like more information, contact Jeff Coggins at
[email protected]. We'll enter your email address into a list that will be sent out whenever we are planning a haul (that may be weeks in advance, or may be less than 24 hours, it varies from haul to haul). You'll hear back that your message has been received and you have been added to the list.
We'd like to give as many people as possible the chance to take a ride. So, get in touch and we'll take trip that will make a huge impact in the lives of the dogs we will haul, and I'm guessing you'll be impacted too!
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