Update on Miss Georgia From Georgia

Georgia from Georgia.

Georgia is a wonderful girl who first came to us from a fight bust in Georgia.

Since then, she's been making a career out of being given lots of love, good routine structure and some fabulous beach fun by her new person, Noelle.


By looking at her, you can tell she didn't start out with the best life, but now she's flourishing under the best care of all. Here she is sunbathing on the beach. She seems so appreciative of all that she has now and most of all we appreciate what she brings to us. Georgia is a wonderful soul!

Thanks to Noelle for all your good work with Georgia.

Update from Missouri

Hello everyone! This is Smiley King Elvis in Missouri to fill you in on the happenings at the bunker. My mom, Gale, came home and had me in stitches. Tracey with Our Pack is here in St. Louis, and she and mom were instant friends. That is Tracey's picture at the left. Talk about two peas in a pod...I cannot wait to meet Tracey, too!

Tracey spent her first day in awe of the bunker. I cannot say much because of the gag order, but I can tell you they had a blast and enjoyed the day. She was warmly received and put instantly to work cleaning kennels and hugging dogs. Tracey was in heaven and in her element - behaviorist dreamland.

My mom met Tracey, and you know how loving my mom is, she took Tracey right under her paws (or is it wing for humans?). They had a blast working with the dogs, documenting personalities and sharing wonderful treats with the dogs. It must have been awesome. I am so proud of both of them.

Here is Tracey pictured with her own dog, Missy. Tracey says, "It was a very rewarding day on location in Missouri working with the bust dogs. I love the people at the Humane Society Missouri. HSMO will welcome volunteers who will clean, and give hugs and kisses."

Our Pack Traveling to Missouri to Help in Fight Bust Case

Our Pack's Tracey Cutler is traveling to the Humane Society of Missouri this week to help out with the dogs from the recent fight bust case. She will be there until October 3rd. The Our Pack team has been assisting with rescue efforts as well, and we are so very glad to have a chance to help these dogs.

There is a gag order in place as the dogs await the results of forfeiture proceedings, so we can't give specifics on any dogs until we get the go-ahead from HSMO. We are very aware how important it is both to HSMO's effort and for the dogs themselves not to jump the gun and to respect the legal process, so we are awaiting the results of the proceedings. These are completely separate from the guilty criminal verdicts that were announced yesterday. Tracey will keep us updated on what we're allowed to share, so stayed tuned.

What we can say is that Our Pack will be taking some dogs from this case, and we just can't wait to work with them in our program. There will be training, structure, good positive leadership and lots of cuddles and love for the dogs. Meanwhile my dogs are waiting, sunning themselves. Wish the MO dogs good luck!

Congrats to our Friends at Mutts-n-Stuff!

A big shout-out to our friends at Mutts-n-Stuff, who announced today that they are building a new halfway house, called Phoenix House, that will provide safe haven for dogs rescued in fight bust cases. The facility is named for Phoenix, a a dog previously rescued my Mutts-n-Stuff, and is being built on land donated by a previous adopter. It will serve as a halfway house for dogs rescued in fight busts after they are released from their court cases.

The dogs in the cases are held as evidence until they are no longer needed by the courts, then they're released, often with no where to go. Suitable foster homes aren't always immediately available, and the dogs often require time to learn basic manners.

Our Pack is partnering with Mutts-n-Stuff on the HSMO fight bust case. Gale Frey, dear friend and founder of the rescue group, has been one of the people working with HSMO to help care for the dogs. Congratulations Gale!

Get the details about Phoenix House here:

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=185028

RIP, Jasmine

Our hearts go out to sweet Jasmine, her family, and our friends at Recycled Love. Jasmine was recently killed in an automobile accident.

Many of you will never forget Jasmine gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated and, in the process, becoming an ambassador for Pit Bulls everywhere.

We remember her with love.

HAPPINESS!

I don't think that we can add anything that says it better than these pictures of Raven with her new mom

and enjoying a romp with a tennis ball in her very own back yard!!

Well maybe just a touch of bling!

Congratulations Raven on winning the lottery with your wonderful new mom and dad!!

Introducing Raven (or Confessions of a couch potato)

HI EVERYONE! My name is Raven, I'm available for adoption and I admit it...I do love the couch, I especially love being on the couch if there is a person on it with me!

Some of the ladies from Our Pack came and got me from the Hayward Shelter, and I've been living with my foster dad now for about a month and they say I'm ready for adoption..I hope that means I get a couch of my own. I spent the night at my foster auntie Mary's last night and she let me share the couch with her, and even let me have some time on it by myself.

I do like to play and I'm very respectful of my playmates. I've met a cat at my aunt Mary's house. So far I've only smelled her and actually she looks a little scary when she gets all puffy but Mary seems to think with some time and patience we might get along just fine. Everyone says I am a very sweet girl. I really love everyone I meet, big people, little people, men, women. They tell me I have to learn not to put my feet on everyone, but I really just want to get up in their laps and be as close as I can. I am about 2-3 yrs old. They don't know for sure and a lady doesn't talk about her age. I love to go for long hikes and I do really well at ignoring other dogs when we are walking. I'm still working on not pulling when I'm on my leash because I'm still very excited to get out and go but I'm getting better or at least that's what my foster dad tells me ( I thought I did fine all along).

Here I am with one of my little friends, he was really a cool kid and I loved hanging around with him.

And here is a picture of my profile...I think I'm quite magnificent looking, I weigh just under 50lbs and need to put on just a few more pounds and then I'll have that perfect girlish figure

So, this is me! I hope you'll want to learn more about me and maybe give me that forever couch! If you're interested you can contact mary@ourpack.org to find out more details and maybe get to know me even better!

Thank you Michael Vick???

Yes, you are reading the headline correctly, but thanks to this case and the landmark decision to give rescues a chance to work with these dogs, other fight bust dogs are also being given a chance at a new life. No big names involved here, no presss and notoriety, but deserving dogs nonetheless. Can you tell from the pictures which of these came from a raid? How can we not give them a chance at a normal life in a loving home?

THIS is what it is all about.

As we work with the bust dogs we come to find out that they are, oh no, oh my, uh oh, they're just dogs.

Happy Endings

Once upon a time there was a sweet little dog who found herself at the local shelter. She was one of those wiggle butts who says hey, pet me, come and see me with her entire body. Unfortunately she also had some spots on her skin so the shelter had to run tests to make sure she wasn't contagious. In the mean time most of her interactions were through the kennel but that butt never stopped wiggling.

Finally she was deemed to not be contagious but by then she was also full of unspent energy from waiting in the kennels. Let's just say that Heidi (which is what I had started calling her) did not have the best leash manners in the world. Can we say leash reactive??? In spite of this I convinced (ok, maybe begged just a little) Marthina to go and check her out. Gino the budda dog came along to see help with the evaluation. After a rough start she actually did quite well and into OurPack she came! She came into our foster program and we could all see her potential. She had great focus, when she wasn't doing the zoomies, and she won many hearts but she would take a special home who wanted to work with her and continue her forward progress.

Fast forward....a goofy choclatey brown pit bull named Choco and his mom and dad had been trying to find a new addition to their household. Look at this pooooor lonely guy. Well as luck would have it, they saw Miss Heidi's picture and thought they may make a good match.

Choco seemed to be head over heals for her

Thankfully his mom and dad were too!! It was such a good match for two goofy young dogs and fabulous pet parents.

We are thrilled to announce that Heidi is in her forever home...could it end any better!!

Thank you Alan and Celeste for giving our special girl such a perfect home!

pictures courtesy of Stephanie Lamm and Celeste Uy