Weekly Update for August 14, 2008

Longtime friend of Hope Sanctuary and Doll,
Debbie Young, stopped by with her grandson, Austin.
The dogs were thrilled.

From Doll:

I'm on my way to Washington, DC for the AR2008 Conference, so here's a brief update and I will send photos and a bit more to everyone when I can.

We spent much of the week preparing for our transport to Denver over the weekend. In addition to caring for our animals, responding to the needs and requests of people seeking aid for animals, and the myriad of other daily tasks we made sure our 26 dogs and 23 cats heading for Every Creature Counts (ECC) were ready.

All but 1 puppy and 5 kittens were altered. The 6 were males who hadn't developed enough for surgery. ECC will ensure they are altered when they are ready before they are made available for adoption.

All the animals had shots, parasite prevention, and had received weeks of care to recover from the horrid condition most of them were in when they arrived. Most of the kittens had been through a series of antibiotics. The cleanliness of the our cattery is always a priority, but when most of your cats have come in sick within days of each other maintaining a healthful environment is a real task.

As always we'd fallen in love with the animals we cared for and parting was emotional. With that said, we express our highest regard and appreciation for the wonderful folks at ECC for making our dreams come true for the precious animals we've cared for. Their partnership for the placement of the animals we both are working so hard to save is truly making a world of difference in our ability to aid the animals we rescue.

Chele Whitehead and I left for Colorado early Friday morning. As we neared the Arkansas boarder with Oklahoma the Hope Sanctuary van experienced electrical problems. I called Eric who immediately contacted the nearest Enterprise Car Rental. The manager, Mack, was closing the office for the day, but answered the phone and went above and beyond to help us. Mack drove out to pick me up off the interstate and even contacted a towing service for us who rushed out to retrieve our stranded van. Once we got everyone resettled in the new Enterprise van, we were off and had only lost about 3 hours, which, considering the circumstances, was pretty amazing.

We arrived at ECC Saturday morning and off loaded our precious cargo. We stopped by my step-daughter's house for a bite to eat and some much need rest before hitting the road back to Mississippi.

We arrived back at Hope Sanctuary around 11 p.m. Sunday night. By Monday afternoon the electrical problem in our van was fixed and so I headed back toward Ft. Smith, AR to retrieve it and return the rental.

Lauren and Phillip held down the fort and new volunteer, Joe Johnson, helped with cutting the grass and maintaining the grounds.

Well, that's it for now. As I said, more later and photos when I have time.