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Coastal Poodle Rescue is concerned about poodles and poodle mixes! We like all dogs but have focused on the poodle. When you review our main website or this petfinder site you will only see and hear about some of the dogs that pass through our care. Many dogs come in and do not ever get adopted. We can't know when we are called for a dog what the outcome will be. We take in as many dogs as possible given our volunteer base and finances. Of course we would love to say yes to them all. Here are some stories of dogs that were/are in our care, each was/is special. Our volunteers have told the stories as they see them, all volunteers are different and all the dogs are different so you read for yourself and share these stories with people you know. Nothing is better than seeing a rescue find a new 'forever' home. Remember, your donations go to the care of our dogs, adoption donations only cover approximately 40% of our total costs. From these stories you can see how the adoption donations would not cover the expenses but the community of dog lovers out there somehow (most of the time) pulls together and dogs are able to get the care they need. If you can help us, please do, we need foster homes, volunteers and funds. |
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Hi out there is viewing land, if you are looking for a dog to adopt, good for you! Let me tell you about the one I have adopted.
Misty, a 8 year old silver poodle, and she is just wonderful, I have never had one time to do any training with her, she comes when I call her name, I tell her to go potty and she squats, she is just a joy for me and I love her as much as i do my other 2 poodles, I am so happy that she came into my life, and I think she is as happy as I am. Mary Jane - new foster mom
When he arrived Grover was NOT sick...he was ten pounds of pure "i have HAD it with people" aggression. Grover came from animal control...I picked him up at lunchtime and took him to work...where he was vaccinated, bit three people and his own tongue badly enough to spew blood all over...and spent the remainder of the day in a rage. I got him into a crate and took him home, where he was fine with the dogs...but people couldn't get near him. He was supposed to go from here to a foster home, but when I called the "poodle line" to see about that...and told whoever answered just how aggressive he was their response was "take him back to animal control" even rescue cannot handle a dog like this when they are so full of dogs.
Well, it was a sure bet they'd euthanize him. And he wasn't causing any trouble in my house as long as no one tried to touch him...so we ignored him, made sure he had food and water, and just let him hang with the dogs. Seemed to me a whole lot safer than trying to catch the devil and get him back into a crate.
After a couple of days he was hopping into our laps. He was the sweetest most affectionate dog we've ever had...and maybe one of the happiest. He was an older guy...maybe 10, but bouncy. Stayed awhile, now accepted by poodle rescue, charmed everyone but groomers (who he was determined to kill even when he was sedated), and developed a tumor on a rear leg. We had it removed, and the outlook was good. He healed and went off to a new home.
Eventually the tumor came back. It wasn't removable this time, so his owner opted for quality of life rather than intensive and questionable treatments...but you know...he got plenty of love for the time he had left...and he made a lot of people really happy...he was a tough little guy.
Started out really bad for Grover, and all he really needed was a few days to decompress. Grover's cancer got the best of him finally. You can read more here.
(dog lover and foster mom)
How about DJ? He was one of the guys I thought would never be adopted. He came in at Christmas...went to a foster home, and was a behavior problem. Then he was injured in an accident, so he came back to my home. CPR treated the injury, and started looking at the bizarre behaviors. Actually we renamed him "Squeaky Pete", because he'd shriek at the top of his little lungs if anyone did something he didn't like, and sometimes for no reason at all. Even when he was actually injured he was like the little dog who cried "wolf"...it was hard to tell something was really wrong.
He'd been diagnosed with mature cataracts...although the vet said he had some vision remaining...but he was walking into table and chair legs...and shrieking...or walking into plants outside...and shrieking...if anyone touched him and he hadn't seen it coming, he'd shriek.
Well, I heard about eye drops that were supposed to clear cataracts...so we bought a bottle and started treating him. He could have been a poster boy for the drops...his eyes started clearing very early on, and he stopped walking into things. And he didn't shriek nearly as much. And he started learning to trust people again...and shrieked even less... and finally he went off to live with a very nice lady who really loves him. He was in foster care about 6 months. He still shrieks occasionally...but that's ok.
A foster mom's story..
Here is a story typical of what I've seen in rescue. I personally cannot foster often due to personal reasons but I do when I can and I love it! I help in many other ways, with events and administrative functions, etc.. I am going to tell you about my current foster Petey.
Petey is an 8.5 yr old toy poodle, his owner passed away. He was loved but was not well cared for. Poor Petey never had his teeth cleaned, has a severe dental infection, was not eating well/much, very thin. CPR took him in, he went right to the vet. When he had his teeth cleaned he lost 12 of them, also had yeast infections in both ears.
Petey is getting love, attention and proper care now in his foster home. He will be available for adoption shortly but will go quickly and probably never make the website even. He is a super sweet boy, great on house training, dances when you pick up his leash. Prances when he walks on leash. Great with other dogs, large and small, great with all humans, regardless of age/size. Great dog with a lot of life and personality!
This story is a little different than some of the other ones you have read about (or should read, or will read), I've seen some of the other stories people are sending for the website. I have found fostering is such a rewarding experience whether you can handle the tough ones or the easy ones. I recommend you (the reader) consider how you can help an organization like CPR.
Just before Christmas rescue called me and asked me to take a dog. Chip the poodle had just had surgery for an orthopedic problem and he was doing a LOT of daily rehab (I am a vet tech so CPR figured I was best foster for this guy)... it was the busy season at work..and she wants me to take a dog that has a dislocated right hip and a displaced fracture of the left femur. I wasn't having it, but the long and short of it is I ended up with the dog...who because Francisco...or Cisco.
He came straight to the clinic I worked at, and my boss examined him. There were no other marks or bruises on him that would indicate that he was hit by a car or anything like that...it just looked like someone had kicked him across a room or somtehing. A couple of other vets checked him out as well, and their advice was to simply amputate the left leg. They said they didn't see any way it could be fixed. So my boss called a HUMAN orthopedic specialist, and he ended up putting a pin in his leg in a pretty unusual way.
First the break and then the pin placement made it necessary to keep him AT the clinic, which is always filled to capacity around Christmas and New Years...and Cisco also had kennel cough. Did I forget to mention that? We had boarding dogs jammed into every possible corner...and he just couldn't be around them because he was contageous. He lived in my boss's office for awhile...and in the cat room (since dogs and cats don't cross contaminate in most cases)...but wherever he stayed he was always sweet and cuddly and just happy to be around people. The dislocation was reduced immediately...by the first clinic who saw him, so he hopped around in the beginning on the broken leg with supporting bands under his belly to take the weight off of it. Once the pin was put in he could hop on the cast. The ONLY time he got to hop at ALL was going to the bathroom. The rest of the time he had to be either in someone's arms or in a very small cage to minimize movement.
Every week or two there were more xrays, and four times the pin had to be adjusted, but the xrays showed the bone was healing, so we adjusted it and kept going. Finally the bone looked good enough that I could take him home, but he still had to live in a cage. He hated that by now, it was the end of February. 8 weeks in a cage will make anyone cranky. A week later he was neutered. He'd been anesthesized so many times in a short period, he was worn out, his heart stopped on the operating table, they restarted it. Cisco went on again.
I less than a week he was walking a couple of laps a day around the block and barely limping. He could run and jump. And he just loved people. He went off to another foster home for a couple of weeks (due to an issue with one of my other dogs) before he went to his permanent home. Now he walks a couple of miles a day with is new mom. who asked when she adopted him "are you SURE there was something wrong with his leg?" --- a Foster Moms reward is a loving home for a dog that really needed it, sometimes this is hard but the rewards are there and it is wonderful to see the spriit of these guys pull them through whatever fate has dealt them.
As some one who recently retired I decided to go to the next step -- fostering dogs.
While I have fostered only two dogs, I can't explain the love, eagnerness to please, attention and gratitude that was returned to me. Believe me I got a lot more back than I put into it with minimal costs. It was fun, in fact it is an experience I will continue.
Enough about me. Let's talk about the second chance it gives a dog. Instead of a dog going to it's caged cell, it provides a caring environment until it is adopted. The dog has an opportunity to live in a more personal and loving setting. It also provides a safe secure place where the dog’s personality can come out.
Does it hurt when the dog leaves - yes, but you know it goes to a loving home. Because you live with the dog and get to know it, you can make sure it is goes to the right home. Like a proud mama whose kids have gone off, I still keep in touch with the adoptive parents. I talk to them and I receive pictures. Every time we talk I can hear the joy in their voice and I know the dogs are in the right home.
Arthur and Bubbette, I thank you for the experience.
Saying goodbye isn't easy. Over the months, I've blustered and whined about having a dog who doesn't run and play, who doesn't like to be touched, petted or heaven forbid, held. A dog who has a favorite spot for elimination, 3 blocks from home, and who only wants that spot, rain, shine, hot, or cold, with me on the other end of his leash. I've fussed to friends about having to get up several times in the night, many a night, and most mornings up and out by 4:00 am. Over the last fourteen months, a little curly haired, sixteen pound, rescued, Mini Poodle, blind, deaf and obstreperous, wheedled his way into my heart. A fussy eater, I cooked for him. Loose bowels, upset stomachs, itchy allergies, we battled it all, day in and day out. His only pleasure was at the end of the leash trotting up the street. How he loved to walk. These last few months, his steps grew slower. We shortened the route and went out more frequently. Little 5 minute walks every couple of hours, then in for a nap. Some days the home-cooked mix of turkey, rice, carrots and green beans that had been so eagerly scarfed down in the past, went untouched. Even treats held no appeal. And his favorite elimination spot became the kitchen floor. The cataracts in both eyes obscured his vision, but he navigated the house, even up and down the stairs, with a fantastic built-in radar system. Yet, when his eyesight failed completely, he developed increasing separation anxiety, wailing his little heart out if left for more than an hour or two at at time. I can sleep all night now, linger in bed in the morning, if I choose. No need to dash out in the rain to trot up the street looking for just the right place to make a deposit. The little guy who demanded so much of my time and attention has gone to the Rainbow Bridge. And I miss him terribly. --foster mom
Here is the story of Jude. We have had Jude approx. 5 weeks. He was a 5 yr. old male, un-neutured poodle. When we got him he was full of fleas and dirty but the amazing thing about little Jude is that even then he was full of love and wanted to be loved. He weighed 7.6 lbs.
The next day I took him to the vet where he got immunizations and rid of tape worms. He has a heart murmur and heart worms. He stopped eating within a week and the vet put him on antibiotics and soon he was back to eating 3 meals a day. He weighs 8 lbs. now and loves fish, eggs, and organic dog food. We are vegetarians so he fits right in.
He is not house trained yet but with patience he will get there. My daughter (14) named him because she loves the Beatles. The goal is to get him as physicallly and emotionally healthy as soon as possible to have the heart worm treatment (he is heartworm positive). He loves to play with his toys and is adapting to our other dogs, Frisky and Rascal.
We love Jude and I cry almost every time I think about his previous life and how anyone could mistreat any animals. -- foster mom
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