Recap of October
What a month October was! Reunions, adoptions, festivals, new outlooks on life, and Jack Russell smiles for the weary walkers!
“Adoptober” … for Sure!
They don’t call it “Adoptober” for nothing! October saw a phenomenal amount of dogs going to their forever homes for our little rescue. Dodger, Sparky, Renny, Gracie, Julie and Ruby all found their forever homes. Six adoptions may not seem like much for most rescues, but it was a major success for us.
We weren’t surprised that little Julie and Ruby found their forever homes. After all, they were irresistible babies who made us all squeal on a daily basis. There’s nothing like puppy breath to bring out the maternal side in everyone.
We also weren’t surprised to see little Sparky find his home with Heather on. Oct. 11. He is, after all, the perfect little man — sweet, loving, fun, and gets along great with everyone.
Renny was an awesome boy, but a bit on the wild side and needed a specific adopter who understood (or even desired) his massive energy … which is exactly what he found. Leslye Pinnell came looking for this boy to be her next flyball dog on Oct. 12. He couldn’t have found a better “job” or home.
Gracie went to foster care with two of our awesome volunteers, Ben Callon and Nikki Luckhurst, to heal after her spay. On Oct. 17, they informed us she wasn’t coming back. 🙂 She had found her forever home.
It was Dodger whom we were rooting for most. He had been at rescue for months, he wasn’t a Jack, and, as awesome as he was with people, he didn’t play well with other dogs. He was going to need to find someone special … and find someone special, he did. Phil Yarborough rushed to secure a fence around his acreage to bring this boy home to be an only dog. (After all, Dodger got his name because he had been an escape artist and was “dodging” in and out of traffic when he was picked up.) These days? Dodger goes to work with Dad and is living the life.
Harry Goes Home … Forever
One adoption we always wished had happened but never did was Dirty Harry’s. This little scruffy, independent, dirt-rolling boy was at rescue for three long years, waiting to find his forever family.
Unfortunately, he never did.
On Oct. 5, he began showing signs of illness and spent much of the week in the hospital. The vets were stumped as to what it was and, unfortunately, it turned out to be something as simple as severe bronchitis and pneumonia. Unfortunately, no one caught it in time before he took his last breath on the evening Oct. 11. This tragic loss will forever weigh on our hearts and souls, and we would give anything if we could turn back time and fix things. We know things like this happen; we just pray it never does again.
We love you and we miss you, Harry.
Reunited … and it Feels So Good
Every October brings a chance to do one of our favorite things: Dress the dogs up in costumes and parade them around for our own amusement. Hey, what can we say … This year, we took it to a whole new level by branching this holiday pastime out to others. We conducted an online Fall into Fall Costume Photo Contest, which helped raise more than $1,000 for the rescues, and we hosted our very first JRT Friends & Family Reunion.
For years, we had talked about having a get-together with all adopted parents, fosters and/or volunteers; a chance to enjoy some food and drinks while bringing back former rescues to see everyone. On Oct. 25, we did just that … and we did it at the ranch. It was a quick and fun-filled evening with supporters traveling from various states to bring their babies back to say hello to Mama Donna and Team Russell. It was so wonderful to see everyone come together, and we hope to do it again in the future.
Floyd Gets a New Outlook on Life
Surgeries are never something we like to have to do, especially when it involves completely removing a part of a dog’s body. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what we had to do in October when Floyd had both of his eyes removed. This, however, was a blessing in disguise.
He was already blind and the fluid in his cataracts was causing him pain. With the pain gone, nothing can slow this little man down now! He knows his way around his foster home like all of the dogs with vision and can smell a treat a mile (if not more) away!
Although he’s doing well at our satellite “JRT Senior Center,” he is still looking for that special forever family who understands there is no such thing as being “handicapped” in a Jack’s world.
Instagram: The Final Frontier
Our Facebook family has always been our No. 1 source of support and contacts for rescue. We started small, but now have almost 5,000 followers. We have been working to grow our other fan/follower base as well on Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and GooglePlus.
One social media outlet we had not tapped into as of October was Instagram. We weren’t sure about the demographics, but we knew we had tons of great stories to share through photos by our volunteer photographers and foster/adopted parents. So, we took a stab at it on Oct. 5 and we now have more than 1,000 followers! Our audience continues to grow everyday and we invite you to join us!
Taking it to the Streets
One thing we like to do on a monthly or bi-monthly basis it to “get out there” and greet the public. Festivals like Doggie Palooza afford us that opportunity. We had a great day at Rucker Pet and met a lot of wonderful people, including Eddie’s sugar daddy Mike, whom we like to call Daddy Starbucks.
Even our adopted dogs like to “get out there” and show their support. Isabella and her mom, Wonder Donna, showed up at the 3-Day Walk to support Kim Davis, one of our dedicated Team Russell members. It wasn’t just Kim who was happy to see this little girl, though. She put a lot of smiles on the faces of a lot of wearer walkers. Way to go, baby!
