Home at last!

Gentle Ben, a ten-year-old, blind Akita rescued from a puppy mill in Logan County, Arkansas on March 23, just completed a 1,200-mile road trip to a new foster home with an Akita rescuer in New Jersey. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) offered to transport Ben from Arkansas to New Jersey, and Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) regional director Diann Wellman joined the ride as his "handler."

Joan Willoughby of HSUS reports that Ben met his foster family on Tuesday afternoon, April 14. Joann and Matt, Akita rescuers in New Jersey, promptly fell in love with this gentle giant! Ben is already getting settled into his foster home, and even has a kitty named Ziggy to pal around with.

Gentle Ben's great American road trip

Submitted by EARS Regional Director Diann Wellman of Hartford City, Indiana

As I write this, Ben is being transported to Delaware to meet up with his foster parents who will take him to New Jersey. I missed my big gentle roomie last night, and hoped that he was doing alright.

Yesterday (Monday), Ben got to go to HSUS headquarters and meet a lot of new friends there. He loved all of the attention, but was most interested in just laying in the grass out in the sun. I sure hope whoever adopts him has a big fenced yard where he can just enjoy the outdoors and have plenty of room to explore.

Ben also went to the vet yesterday to see if anything could be done to help him see better. Unfortunately for Ben, there is too much damage to his eyes and it's been that way too long. The vet was sure that Ben isn't in any pain, though, and they gave him some drops for his eyes. I'm sure that once he gets in a permanent place, he will quickly adapt and soon know the lay of the land.

It was truly an honor for me to be part of Ben's trip. I feel so lucky to have gotten a chance to know this majestic animal. These are the types of things that keep me motivated to do what we're doing and remind me that we're making a difference in the lives of these animals.

And now I must sign off so we can get on the road to Indiana ... where my own pug babies are waiting!!!

Gentle Ben, road warrior

Submitted by EARS Regional Director Diann Wellman of Hartford City, Indiana

We drove from the Pet Expo and National Conference on Animals in Disaster in Las Vegas to pick up Ben from the Bella Vista Animal Shelter in Arkansas, where he has been staying since his liberation from the puppy mill a couple of weeks ago. Ben is a ten-year-old, blind, BIG Akita who is one of the most gentle souls I have ever met. Because he lived for ten years confined to a very small cage and is unable to see the world very clearly, he relishes in every new thing. It makes me very emotional to see how even the smallest things make him so very happy. His nose has been in overdrive since the time we picked him up!

The first night on the road, Ben was my roomie in the hotel. He quickly settled in, but was very fascinated by the television, especially if a woman was talking. I think he must like women more than men, because he really perks up when he hears a female voice. I was a little worried that we wouldn't get much sleep that night, but Ben slept pretty well and woke me up when he wanted to go outside. How smart is that for a dog who has never had that luxury before?? When I was taking a shower that morning, I was a little startled to see a big, furry head poke in the shower curtain!!!

Today we drove pretty hard all day to get to Maryland, so Ben can go see the folks at the HSUS headquarters in the morning before he heads the rest of the way to his new foster home. We are glad to be somewhere we can rest, and relax for a bit...

I have been trying to take photos as often as I can. Sometimes it's hard to do anything on the computer without a big wet nose trying to figure out what I'm doing!

Thanks to everyone for your support of this big gentle giant. I feel very honored to have been able to meet him, care for him, and be a part of his trip to a wonderful, new life.

More to come soon!!

Diann

An eerie silence

Submitted by UAN Emergency Services Manager Janell Matthies

Everyone has officially left the shelter and the silence is strange. Just yesterday it was filled with barking, yipping, howling, meowing and chirping. The turtles were the only ones not making much noise. Today it is silent and the wind is blowing through the barn, making the puppy potty pads blow around. We are pretty much done breaking down everything and the trucks are loaded up. Again, the silence is almost eerie. It doesn’t seem possible that 24 hours ago the place was filled with 361 animals.

I just received a call from Bella Vista Animal Shelter with an update on my buddy, the Akita. They have named him Ben (as in "Gentle Ben"). They took him to his indoor/outdoor run yesterday and showed him how to go through the extra-large doggie door to the outside. He cautiously stepped through the door and started to investigate. After making his rounds and peeing on a few things, he plopped down, put his nose in the air and smelled the wind. He stayed like that for hours, just letting the fresh air blow around him. The staff tried to get him back inside for the night, but he didn’t want to go. They think he was worried he may not be able to come out again. They put some blankets outside and left him there for the night. This morning when they went to check on him, he was still outside, sound asleep on his blankets.

Ben has quickly won over the staff at the shelter and approaches everyone. If they stop petting him, he noses them and asks for more. One of the girls gave him a little piece of roast beef last night and he could not figure out what to do with it. He’d pick it up and put it down, sniff it and move it around before finally eating it, then deciding he wanted more. They plan to move him into the office during business hours and back to his “quarters” at night. He is definitely a character and I’m so very thankful to everyone who made it possible to give this boy a real second chance.

Saying goodbye

Submitted by UAN Emergency Services Manager Janell Matthies

Yesterday was in an incredibly busy day. We started at 7 a.m. vetting the animals who had not been checked yet and organizing to get the first load of transports out. SPCA of Texas showed up with a huge truck full of crates. We started loading and loading and loading. Of course many of the dogs were frightened and it was a long walk down rows of barking dogs. So they preferred to be carried, even if they weighed as much as some of us. We got the truck loaded, figured out the paperwork (a daunting task) and got them on the road in about three hours. We also made multiple trips to the airport throughout the day to load animals on planes headed for the Denver Dumb Friends League. It was a long day of getting scared dogs out of the crates, calming them, and getting them out to the trucks.

I kept taking my big boy Akita out on a leash to get him comfortable walking on a leash with me. I wanted to make sure his journey out of the shelter was less stressful than his journey in. The wonderful folks from Bella Vista Animal Shelter came to get him and a couple of us took our time and got him to walk outside. He sniffed, stepped and dropped, sniffed, stepped and dropped. It took a while, but we weren’t in a hurry, so we moved along at his speed. So amazingly trusting for a blind dog. We finally got him to the van, where he put a paw inside the door and scooched himself right in. It was a very calm, nice way for him to leave us…

Bella Vista has a perfect area for him where he can go inside and out. Lots of room for the big guy that he is, but small enough that he can get familiar with it quickly. He should be very comfortable there while he waits for his forever home.

On our way back to the EMPTY shelter to finish breaking down crates and cleaning up…another long day ahead, but it’s wonderful to know so many animals are now on to much better lives thanks to all the individuals who worked so hard to get them there.

Making friends

Submitted by UAN Emergency Services Manager Janell Matthies

HSUS and Logan County Animal Control were able to reach an agreement with the owners and ALL ANIMALS were surrendered!

Today we worked from before dawn until long after dark preparing for and receiving around 300 dogs, 15 cats, 30 miniature horses, 1 regular sized horse, 5 red eared sliders (aquatic turtles), 5 tortoises, 5 cockatiels … 361 animals all told. The property was over 82 acres, so as the rescue team was loading up they were discovering more and more animals. Many of the dogs are pregnant and we expect our population to increase even more over the next couple of days.

As always, UAN's Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) volunteers were amazing. Even with all the activity today, they were able to care for, comfort and get to know many of the dogs. As Ruth said when she asked to be assigned to her same row of dogs tomorrow, she’s “already made friends over there." We all know about the pug who sings, the two Yorkies who were “obviously on the bottom” (row of kennels at the facility…their fur is horribly matted with feces) and Yorkie-town (18 Yorkies who were living in a shed together on the property.)

Many of us have developed a soft spot for the one large dog on the premises: a beautiful, absolutely humongous Akita who is incredibly sweet, even though he is completely blind. He had a hard time coming in as he didn’t know how to walk outside and was terrified. We helped him along and he’s now resting comfortably in his cage. He even ate his dinner.

It’s getting late and we are starting extra early again tomorrow to hopefully finish vetting all the animals, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

EARS volunteers bringing 400 puppy mill dogs from crisis into care

Volunteers with United Animal Nations' Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) are currently assisting with the temporary shelter of nearly 400 neglected dogs rescued today from a Logan County, Arkansas puppy mill by The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Humane Society of Missouri. Twleve EARS volunteers from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Kansas deployed to the emergency shelter to care for the animals.

This photo of EARS volunteer Judi Burnett courtesy HSUS.

Read more and check back for more posts from the emergency shelter.