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| "Is this a good angle?" |
Betty (affectionately known around here as Betty Boop) was pulled back in 2013 from our local
Manatee County Animal Services when the dog overpopulation called for more kennel space. She arrived at Animal Services after being confiscated by police when her owner was evicted from his home. She found herself middle-aged and homeless, and it wasn't her fault. She came to us 5 years old, thin as a rail, heartworm positive and
sassy as all get out.
Two days after being sprung from the crowded shelter, Betty surprised us all by giving birth. Only one of her two puppies survived, but she was a determined little rascal. She was a spitting image of Betty -- a little mini-me. Betty's pup quickly found a great home and Betty continued her medical care so she could be placed for adoption and find a family of her own.
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Betty's all-time favorite toy:
The Rubber Chicken |
Eventually, Betty put on a healthy amount of weight (although if you ask some of us, she could stand to lose a few pounds) and began to look like the normal, happy dog she is. She was spayed so there would be no more surprise puppies in her future (something we do for every dog who walks through our doors) and we made sure she had all the medications she needed to fully recover from her heartworms.
A year passed and Betty spent her days walking and lounging with kennel staff and volunteers when they were around, chewing on her favorite toy (a rubber chicken), and using her big doe eyes to convince us all to give her treats whenever we had them. Her photos were on all of the adoption sites, and she often made an appearance on facebook looking for suiters, but she didn't score any dates.
(If only we could photograph inner beauty, online-dating and dog rescue would be a whole different ball game.) Another year passed, and still Betty's only family remained the volunteers, kennel staff, and barking neighbor-friends that surrounded her.
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| "Did I say you could stop rubbing my belly?" |
Somehow time has flown, and Betty's third anniversary with our rescue is quickly approaching. Nothing in this sweet dog's life has ever been fair, but each day when we are greeted by her exuberant wiggles we're reminded to keep our heads up and persevere, because she's not going to let anything ruin even one single day for her, and we know her forever home is out there. Betty ended up homeless due to no fault of her own, and the only reason she hasn't found love is because she's overlooked due to the grey around her muzzle. She's an amazing dog, and she will be someone's very best friend some day. #BeTheOne to see past the grey.
Betty is a huge inspiration for our new campaign, #UnforgettaBULL, in which we hope to educate the community on the plight of pit bull-type dogs and other dogs that are overlooked based on health, age, or appearance. These dogs often end up falling through the cracks, and no dog deserves to be forgotten. Our goal is to remind you that all they need is a second chance and a little extra time, and to think of dogs as individuals, not statistics.
#GivingChallenge16 #SeniorDogsRock #GreyIsGreat #OldDogNewTricks #Adopt
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| Betty makes an appearance on our UnforgettaBULL t-shirts (far right) |
Interested in meeting Betty? Fill out an application
here, we'd be thrilled to hear from you!
If you follow our
it goes quickly. The fact that our donors are able to triple their generous donations is almost unbelievable to us, and we hope you're just as excited about it as we are.
We share a common goal with Manatee County Animal Services: We want to see these dogs get great homes. We were thrilled when MCAS director Sarah Brown agreed to partner with us for the Best Business Partner challenge this year. Immediately, we began to plan an adoption event for the dogs at the county shelter. We decided to call it "Clear the Shelter" because that was the ultimate dream. Sarah Brown believes being a No-Kill county shelter is achievable, and of course we will do whatever we can to help her in that mission. The kennels were overflowing with dogs, and still are, but by working together with Animal Services to promote this event and bring our event to life, we were able to help the county shelter adopt out 25 cats and 27 dogs in two days.
While our primary goal was adoptions and clearing kennels at the county shelter, we also set out to educate people on the dog overpopulation crisis in our area and how easy it is for great dogs to slip through the cracks and become forgotten in a crowded shelter. That is the whole idea behind our UnforgettaBULL campaign. So many people were astonished by the number of pit bull-type dogs filling up the kennels, and some of those people ended up going home with one of those blocky-headed friends. We couldn't have asked for a better outcome. 
During our 
This gives us hope that we'll be able to get Thumper corrective surgery for his leg and he'll soon be in ship shape! We scooped the little guy up at the end of the Clear the Shelter event on Saturday and we all giggled as we gave him kisses and loaded him into the van. Thumper is less than a year old, and soon enough we'll find him a new home to enjoy the rest of his long, healthy life in. The freedom ride was glorious, and it was a beautiful end to a beautiful day.
We have some residents that we know may never leave us. Some of our dogs are still overcoming traumas that keep them at a sanctuary status, and some will never recover, but they're safe here. We love these dogs. They're our family. We knew what we were getting ourselves into by becoming a No-Kill rescue and housing sanctuary dogs, and part of that responsibility is affording lifelong care for dogs that will never be adopted. An example of this is Hero, our resident "Dangerous Dog" designee (AKA victim of a weird and outdated law that was recently turned upside down by 
We grabbed some pups and hit the road! We'll be popping up all over town to find adopters for our dogs, meet new friends, and let people know about the Giving Challenge. We'll be touring the town for 24 hours during the Giving Challenge to celebrate 24 hours of online giving. We'll be starting out around noon in Downtown Bradenton in our "tour bus" (OK -- it's actually an RV, but it's big and has couches... and dogs!). If you would like to join the Forget-Me-Not Tour or you have a great place for us to stop by and show off pups, send us a shout out on 
We try our best to save as many as we can. We work with what we have but of course we're limited by space, able bodies, and by funding. But honestly, our community does a pretty great job of keeping us running smoothly, and for that we can't thank you enough! We are based in the Manatee-Sarasota area. Most of our dogs come straight fromManatee County Animal Services and the farthest out we go to rescue dogs is an occasional trip to Highlands County, also known as Sebring. That means your donation and your hard work stays in this community. We believe euthanasia is meant only for the terminally ill dogs that have no comfort left in life, and we are proud to be a No-Kill rescue. We love these dogs. They're our dogs until they're adopted, and we treat each one of them as loved family pets -- because that's what they are.
