From Homeless to Home for Life: The Story of Rory

The Story of the year at Home for Life has been the rescue of Rory and her 10 puppies. A story that could have ended tragically instead has given hope and happiness well beyond the gates of Home for Life. 

On the morning of November 30,2014 on a cold and blustery winter morning (air temperature -3, windchill  - 25!) one of our staff members received an unexpected call at the gate. Home for Life's front gate has a call box so people can contact us up at the facility. A man's voice came over the intercom and said, "Hey! did you know there is a dog tied to your gate?!" He then hung up.

Rory's collar, the heavy hook that was used to chain her out and the new chain leash used

to tie her to our gate when she was abandoned

The staff on duty ran down to the front driveway to Home for Life's front entrance. There they found a starving, shivering, very scared and VERY pregnant dog tied to our fence.  On her gritty old collar- so dirty that the color couldn't even be determined- was a heavy hook.                                                  

What was interesting was that attached to the other part of her collar was a brand new  chain leash, with the tag still on, that had been used to tie her to Home for Life's front gate and fence. Our working theory is that a "Robin Hood" saw this poor dog's predicament; cold, starving, pregnant and chained outside with little shelter. This kind person freed her and brought her to Home for Life, knowing that we would take care of her. 

The dog was so frightened she would not walk up our long driveway, so we carried her.  Even with this extreme duress, she was still very gentle. She was a beautiful red color with soft brown eyes and ears.  We named her Rory after one of Home for Life's beloved paraplegic cats who lived at the sanctuary for  many years.

The next day, Rory visited our veterinarian who determined she was very close to delivering her puppies. Home for Life rarely has puppies let alone any pregnant animals at the sanctuary, so we had to quickly learn about all aspects regarding the care required for a dog who was about to give birth. The veterinarian found that her temperature was dropping- a sign that the delivery is imminent- and thought that she would give birth within a few days.

That very evening, December 1, Rory began pacing and became very anxious. We quickly prepared a birthing box- using one of the swimming pools that our dogs play in in the summer- and lined it with soft blankets and towels. Her first puppy was born at approximately 6: 30 pm that evening and 7 others followed  within the next 2 hours. Rory was very conscientious about cleaning them off and making sure they were nursing, but needed a little help from HFL staff serving as midwives for puppies 6, 7 and 8 as she was very tired. It's amazing she did so well in her condition and with the stress of being left at the gate in the freezing cold just a day before.

We thought she was done at 8 puppies, so left her to be quiet with her new babies. Upon returning just an hour later, we thought we were seeing things when there were 2 more puppies. We kept counting and recounting, but our eyes were not deceiving us. Rory had a total of 10 puppies: 7 brown like their mom and 3 spotted. 4 little girls and 6 little boys.

Rory was fed nearly 6 times a day in those first few weeks and cleaned her plate each time. She had to build her own health back plus take care of her 10 new puppies. We took great care of Rory, keeping her warm and well-fed. We supplemented her calcium (with TUMS!) and she did the rest. Fortunately all 10 puppies survived, and Rory was an excellent mom, keeping them immaculately clean and always well fed and content. 

Our puppies' weights were monitored every week to be sure they were thriving and all continued to steadily gain. By three weeks, we knew we were out of the woods with them and that they would all survive.   Once their eyes opened, and they could creep and crawl, we bought collars for each puppy. We used kitten collars- in 10 different colors- to help tell them apart. The collars had a safety latch so there was no danger of the puppy getting caught by his or her collar and not being able to get loose. 

When the puppies were 4 weeks old, it was time for their first official Home for Life portrait. They were not just a litter anymore but developing individual personalities as they became stronger and more active.  Photographer Mark Luinenburg captured the puppies and their mother Rory December 29, 2014.

Our hope  for each puppy was that we  would be able to find them a loving home where they would never face the harsh treatment and  neglect their mother had. Her life and those of her puppies could have so easily ended tragically, on the end of a chain, out in the  freezing cold. Instead, all 10 puppies survived, healthy and strong, and were eager to start their new lives. At age 8 weeks, we offered them for adoption along with a free spay/neuter, shots and microchip. Thanks to Fox-9 News, the Twin Cities local station, Rory and her  puppies were featured in a story aired January 9th here and on Fox affiliates in Michigan, Washington DC, Florida, Illinois and California!  The widespread interest in Rory and her puppies and their story of survival was a testament to people's longing  for good news and a happy ending.  

While they waited for their new homes, another adventure was around the corner for the puppies...

 PUPPY KINDERGARTEN!

After FOX-9  News aired a feature on Rory's dramatic rescue on their news program, Home for Life was able to find loving new families for three of her puppies. For  the remaining 7 pups, 2 girls and 5 boys, we wanted to do all we could to be sure they would make great companions when they did finally find their new families. They had the best food so they could overcome their tough start in life when their mother suffered with malnutrition while pregnant with them.  The puppies had their shots, and were housebroken - they  learned how to use both a litter box and a dog door to go outside. But we wanted to do more for them while they waited to find their new families. 

Home for Life was just starting the latest session of the  Renaissance program, a collaboration with the St. Paul School System and Boys' Totem Town of St Paul, MN.  Now in its 13th year, the Renaissance Program pairs younger dogs at the sanctuary with boys at Totem Town, a detention for juvenile offenders. The boys teach the dogs obedience with the goal of attaining a level achievement so the dogs can pass the Canine Good Citizen's test. The Home for Life dogs who have completed  the Renaissance Program  are then recruited for involvement in our community outreach programs, providing pet therapy to at-risk people of all ages in our community.

BY THE NUMBERS... 

In the Renaissance program, Rory's pups became part of our community outreach programs, Peace Creatures, where the love and care that Home for Life gives our animals is leveraged to provide solace and joy to at risk people of all ages-annually, Home for Life touches the lives of over 1,200 adults and 1,000 children and teens in our community through our  model pet therapy programs.

We had never incorporated puppies into a Renaissance session, but with seven little ones  who needed socialization and training, it was too great an opportunity to pass by. For the six weeks, our puppies traveled from Home for Life to Boys' Totem Town once a week to work with two different classes of kids- 20 students between the two sessions.  The kids  taught the puppies to sit, to come when called, to stay, the down command and helped the puppies  learn to walk on a leash without pulling- or chewing the leash! Besides learning puppy manners and basic obedience commands that will keep them safe and ensure they would be great  companions, the puppies received plenty of one on one attention and  lots of love from the students. It was so touching to see a tough teenage boy tenderly hold a tired puppy after the training sessions.

 What a win-win for the puppies and the kids in the the first "puppy kindergarten" of the Renaissance Program !!

Though it was time for the rest of the puppies to find their own families, it was certainly  tough to see them leave us.  

Home for Life did our best to screen potential adopters to find forever homes for the rest of the puppies.  Finding the right families for them was a challenge. Many were interested in the puppies because they were so cute but we wanted them to find forever homes, and not have them given up after only a few months or a few years.  The puppies- energetic hounds- would need plenty of  daily exercise and activity, ideally in a fenced area so they wouldn't follow their noses and wander away, or with owners who could devote  time to daily long walks. With their short hair, the puppies had to live in the house, as a part of the family, and not be  chained out on a stake or to a dog house as their mother likely was. They would  grow to be medium sized dogs and would have a loud baying "hound bark " like their mom so living in an apartment, a rental or close confines of a suburban neighborhood would not be a fit. We thought about sending them to a rescue or a shelter to be adopted out, but our staff had put their hearts into saving Rory and  her puppies. We felt their best chance to find the right home was with us. In the end, we were able to  find loving new families for a total of  8 of the puppies. The last two puppies continue to live at Home for Life for now. Rory, who was such a devoted mother, loves to have two of her puppies still near. 

On these summer evenings, she will often drag a dog bed out into the run so she can sleep outside and watch over her two puppies who have their own townhouse right across the driveway from where she lives in the main dog building. How sweet!  

 Even with all our effort to find forever, new homes for Rory's puppies, it's true that sometimes adoptions fail for a variety of reasons. The many calls and emails we receive each week reveal that many animals don't keep their homes. For this reason, Home for Life  put a safety net under all these puppies so  if their adoption failed for any reason, they could always be returned to us. No matter what the future holds, they will always have a home at our sanctuary. 

  As for Rory, at this time, our intention is to make her a permanent member of Home for Life, and perhaps train her in our therapy dog corps as part of our community outreach work. While several people emailed and seemed interested in adopting her after the news show aired, none followed up with the adoption paperwork and application. Before she came to us,  Rory had a "home" and they didn't treat her very well. She is lucky to be alive. As Cleveland Amory wrote in his book, Ranch of Dreams,  about the famed Black Beauty ranch, "It is not that we are selfish hoarders of  our animals. It is rather that so many of our animals came to us in the beginning, abused or ill used  that we do not want to take even the remotest chance  that such misfortune would ever happen to them again." 

  Who would have ever thought, on that  bitterly cold November morning when we found a scared, starving pregnant dog tied at our gate, that her puppies, born the very next day, would grow up  to give  so much? The story of their mother's rescue and the birth of her 10 puppies inspired people across the country. As part of Home for Life's Renaissance program, these little puppies, born of an unwanted, abandoned dog, have helped at-risk teens by giving them much needed love, a chance to express kindness and compassion and achieve a sense of accomplishment, maybe for the first time in their lives. And now, thanks to the teens' hard work and dedication, the puppies have become wonderful, well trained companions for the families who have adopted them.  

Saving the life of this one dog has impacted the lives of so many more- her 10 puppies, the many people hungry for good news and a happy ending, the kids who helped socialize and train the puppies and were helped in return, and the families that the puppies have joined. Their happy ending has  had positive consequences far beyond the rescue of one dog.  Instead of their lives ending on the end of a chain, on the ice in the bitter cold, Rory and her puppies have overcome this terrible start, because of your support, and will go on to have lives full of meaning and purpose- their story a testament to the power of good triumphing over  heartless indifference, cruelty and fear.

Special Cats get Special Care at Home for Life or Home for Life Sanctuary is the Cat's Pajamas

Pictured above is Peaches, who is one of Home for Life's many paraplegic animals. She is enjoying the summer day out in the catrun attached to the cattery. Home for Life has three catteries, and all have attached cat runs.

She got out in the catrun by herself, maneuvering with her strong front legs and upper body to pull herself through the catdoor.

Peaches belonged to a family who let her roam outdoors. Some cruel person, a neighbor, shot her in the back when she was only a year old. Somehow, she was able to drag herself back to her family and her home.They did bring her to the vet,but the bullet had caused such damage to the spine that she was not able to regain mobility, and she was also now incontinent. Peaches needed to have her bladder expressed and help keeping clean. The family loved their cat and did a good job taking care of her as long as they could.

However, like so many others, Peaches' family was experiencing financial problems and was unable to stay in their home. With their relocation, they were unable to bring Peaches with them.They pleaded with Home for Life to take her.They told us that if we did not they did not know what they could do and sadly, would have no choice but to put her to sleep.

I just hate it when Home for Life is put in the position of having to take the animal to spare him/her from the owner's putting it down. We receive this ultimatum too often from owners,shelters and rescues who threaten us with this "ultimate solution" - I suppose out of desperation and thinking that if they threaten us with the death of the animal we will feel guilty and/or responsible enough to try to find room for just one more. This occurs with all types of animals in need, not just paraplegics. I especially hate it when organizations who call themselves "rescues" threaten to euthanize their animals if we won't take them. Emotional blackmail. We have been sworn at, called insulting names, told that if we won't help the animal in question the death of the animal will be our fault,ect. When a "rescuer" resorts to talking to me this way, that will be the last time we deal with them. Almost worse is the cold voice stating the alternative if we cannot take the animal- as if they are indifferent about having to put the animal down if we cannot take it. Depressing.

But we digress. In the case of Peaches, as with almost any paraplegic,there are very few options for them,with rescues,shelters or even most sanctuaries. Paraplegics take alot of work and creativity to care for to ensure them a quality life. It takes patience, work, and imagination to picture the potential of the animal instead of focusing on the limiations. Dogs will usually be helped before cats but not always. The incontinence as much of the lack of mobility cause the hesitation to help them. Also the prevailing idea is that if an animal cannot ambulate they must have no quality of life. That position is pretty ignorant. Most animals want to live if they can and will make the best of their situation, focusing on what they CAN do not their lack. If they can enjoy the sun,tasty food, treats and attention,the company of their dog or cat friends, the animal still has quality of life that should be preserved and cherished.

So,three years ago, when Peaches was offered to HFL, we knew she had few if no options and it was either accept her at HFL or let her be killed. So of course we took her!

Peaches is a large female, and from what I understand an unusual color for a female cat- most orange cats are males. At the time she was surrendered, she had long thick fur, and while the owners had done their best, she was difficult to keep clean. At HFL Peaches is kept in a lioncut with her head long and the lion plume on her tail but with her body shaved close.This haircut is more than aesthetic though she does look very pretty with this style- the close cropped fur allows us to ensure that she can be easily and quickly cleaned up if she has an accident.The skin will quickly breakdown from urine scald if permitted to remain on the skin-urine is very acidic and harsh on the skin. All our paraplegic animals receive twice daily bathing to help them keep hygenic. In the case of Peaches, the water therapy helped heal the pressure sores she arrived with and now keeps her skin clean. After she is bathed, she is dried in the cage dyer where she socializes with other paraplegic cats including Rory,another of our cats who was shot in the back and lost the use of her back legs. Paraplegic animals who have been injured often cannot totally void their bladders without help so the staff assigned to their care each shift expresses the bladder at each bath time. Urine left in the bladder will cause infections to which these special need animals are prone. We use prodcuts that protect the skin from abrasions like Alu-Spray( a product used for horses that rub their faces on fences), and sprays to help heal and prevent infections.

The paraplegic cats do not use carts as most of our dogs do. We have found that the cats resent the restriction the cart imposes on them. They are much happier being free to move under their own power.

With the paraplegic animals,we study how they move and where the pressure points are. We strive to afford our paraplegic animals the most freedom that we can. They would be easier to care for if caged all the time but our cats think they are like any other and refuse to admit there is anything they cannot do.They use the litter box, go outside and climb the cat trees. Through observing their movement it becomes clear where they will need extra protection to prevent the development of pressure wounds. This is where creativity and imagination come in. With Peaches, she is a heavier cat and to move pulls herself along on her hip and upper leg- very difficult areas to keep bandaged. Dogs and cats have no shoulders so it is difficult to keep any kind of bandage on by anchoring it to their upper body. After some consideration and experimentation, the staff came up with the idea of a baby Onesie for Peaches. The outfit covers the area that is prone to abrasions as she moves along.To keep it on,we tape it around her waist. Initially Peaches was indignant at being dressed like a doll but now has come to accept the process of getting dressed each morning and evening and appreciates the freedom she enjoys once the routine is completed. I have fun shopping at Target and Walmart in the baby department for her outfits.

She is free of any sores and can move along in the cattery and in the cat run as she likes. Her feet are also bandaged like a race horse to prevent the sores that can develop as she moves along.

We first apply the ointments or Alushield after her water therapy,then gauze pads and gauze wrap,tape and then colorful Vet Wrap. There is a real art to bandaging the legs of our dogs and cats: the trick is to get the wrap snug enough so it will stay on during the animals' active days without cutting off the circulation in their legs.

Rory,the tiger cat in the first photo above,who is much lighter,lifts herself up on her front legs as she moves along at lightning speed. With Rory, only her one back leg tends to drag as she moves and so that is the only leg that is wrapped and only the lower part that tends to chafe. I have heard of animals and people who experience phantom feelings or even pain in missing limbs and sometimes it seems like

that happens with Rory;she appears to be trying to scratch her back with her hind legs and you can see her mind telling her hind legs to scratch, and her legs trembling as she tries to do so but cannot due to the damage from the shooting.

Both Peaches and Rory are adventerous. It was probably their intrepid spirits which got them into trouble. Rory was found in the city of Minneapolis by the police after someone had shot her.She had been exploring in an alley and like Peaches was barely a year old when injured.However this boldness probably accounts for determination of both girls to make the most of their lives-they used up at least half the nine they were allotted when the survived their injuries. Both cats love nothing better than to come out and sit in the grass while I weed the flower gardens. They love to semi-hide in the tall grass and watch as I work, catch bugs and focus on the birds that visit the nearby feeders and birdbaths. Through the efforts of our staff these two cats can still enjoy their lives to the fullest despite their disabilities.