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

News coverage of temporary animal shelter

Minnesota Daily: Makeshift shelters offer pets a safe haven from flood

Associated Press: Sit and stay: Pets wait out ND flood in shelters

Fargo to EARS: "What would we do without you?"

Submitted by Janell Matthies, UAN Emergency Services Manager

Even though the past few days have been incredibly chaotic and busy, the EARS volunteers here in Fargo, North Dakota are succeeding in taking absolutely wonderful care of the animals. The dogs and cats are cleaned and fed, soothed and comforted, walked and played with from early in the morning until lights-out at night. Somehow the volunteers even know all the animals by name. We’ve had a few owners come in to pick up their pets and all they have to do at the front counter is to ask for Bubba or Harley or Sammy or Princess and someone will say, “Oh, I know where he is! I’ll go get him. He just had breakfast/went for a walk/got a treat, etc etc.” The animals' owners are so immensely grateful for the care their pets are receiving. We’ve seen tears and laughter, stress and anticipation, but the overriding emotion is appreciation. I personally have been blessed by so many people coming in to visit their pets I feel sure I am going to heaven, at least for today.

Today we got to meet Davis and Delbert’s dad. We’ve all fallen in love with these two dogs over the past couple of days. Delbert is old and gentle and sweet, a perfect gentleman. Then there’s Davis. When you first meet him you would never know he was a working dog, he is all puppy (even though he’s three years old) happy and bouncy and wiggly. Their intake form noted they were seeing-eye dogs and we were wondering what was happening with their owner. He made it in today and spent about an hour visiting with the two dogs and many of the volunteers came over to introduce themselves and chat. It turns out he is also caring for his ill mother and her special-needs dog, in addition to helping his neighbors and their animals. He figured if they had to get out fast, he wanted to make sure Davis and Delbert were safe, so he brought them to us.

Fourteen-year-old Delbert is now his retired sight dog and Davis is his working sight dog. He told us he had another sight dog before Delbert, and when she passed away “a little bit of Delbert died with her." He got Davis so Delbert could retire, and they ended up becoming best friends. They now spend most of their off-duty time playing and snuggling. Their owner says “Davis saved Delbert’s life." How lucky we are to be caring for such wonderful animals! He kept saying he didn’t know what he would have done if we weren’t able to provide the service we do. That is a comment we hear over and over all day long: “I don’t know what I would do without you."

The dedication of our EARS volunteers is inexplicable. I am in awe of their kindness and compassion. Taking time off work, missing birthdays and vacations, sleeping at the shelter so they can keep a close eye on anyone they are worried about, and working non-stop for at least 12 hours a day once again proves the EARS volunteers' extraordinary commitment and selflessness. It is so obvious to the community when they come into the shelter, because they comment every time. And I think the animals know how lucky they are, too.

Helping flood victims in North Dakota

On Friday, March 27, UAN deployed a team of Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) volunteers to Fargo, North Dakota, to help care for animals being evacuated in advance of the potential catastrophic flooding in the Red River Valley.

A dozen EARS volunteers are now caring for more than 100 dogs and cats at a temporary shelter set up by the Fargo-Moorhead Humane Society at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds. The always-ingenious EARS volunteers even made cat hammocks (pictured) from blankets and towels to keep the displaced felines comfortable in their temporary cages.

UAN's Emergency Services Manager Janell Matthies reports that evacuees are able to visit their pets at the shelter, and the work the EARS volunteers are doing is immensely appreciated by everyone in the city.

Read our press release for more details.

Get information about the temporary shelter at the Red River Valley Fair Web site.

Check back often for updates from Janell and the EARS volunteers in the field!

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.