Mazie Wants YOU!

Here at Mazie's, we've officially declared 2015 the year of the dog.

In January, we celebrate one full year of practice in our rescue-only veterinary clinic.  We have spent this past year focusing on getting the clinic up and running, establishing relationships with our fellow rescue groups and setting up the infrastructure necessary to expand the mission.  That means we had to put our adoption program on hold.  That, in turn, means we weren't able to pull nearly as many dogs and cats as in years past.

Don't get us wrong, we are thrilled with our results so far.  To date, our little clinic has completed a whopping 600 spays and neuters (at a very reduced cost, of course).  Think of how many unwanted litters this has prevented in our community.  But we are ready to move forward, and that's where you come in.

In order to experience the type of growth we're aiming for, we need to drastically expand our volunteer base.  To that end, we've planned a recruitment/orientation meeting one month from today.  It will be in Addison on January 15, 2015.  At this meeting, we will offer you plenty of wine and snacks (first things first, right?) and then we will explain how you can help the ENTIRE DFW rescue community by working with us.

Wait.  You already volunteer for another rescue?  PERFECT.  We aren't trying to steal you away.  Our vision is to partner with as many rescues and municipal shelters as possible and work toward the same, shared goal of lowering the euthanasia rate.

If you are NOT currently volunteering for another rescue or shelter, we need you just as badly.  Our volunteers are pulling double and triple duty in some areas, and we need new faces to help us expand.

Some of positions we need to fill are:

1) Foster Coordinator.  This person will recruit new foster families, manage the flow of animals from the shelter into foster homes, make sure the foster has necessary supplies (meds, food, monthly heartworm tx, etc).  These are big shoes and we need the right person to fill 'em.

2) Foster Coordinator's assistant.  Assists the foster coordinator's daily duties.

3) Petfinder Manager.  All of our pets will need to be listed on PetFinder once they are available for adoption.  This will include getting current photos and descriptions from foster families and posting them online.

4) Marketing Coordinator.  This person will help us develop and execute campaigns to get our organization as much visibility as possible. 

5) Fundraising Coordinator.  Get. Dat. Money.  No, really, it's pretty self-explanatory.

These are overly simplified descriptions, of course.  Whether you have one hour per week available or twenty, we would love to see you at this meeting.  We need people willing to staff adoption events on weekends for a couple of hours, people to assist the above positions in their efforts, people to come up to the clinic and volunteer, even giving a dog a ride from the shelter to the clinic every once in a while is a HUGE help to us.  We have created a facebook event, so please RSVP if you are able to make it, or you can send an email to vet-care@maziesmission.org if you aren't on facebook.

We have high hopes for the the year of the dog, and the only way we can accomplish our goals and save lives is with your support.  Please share with anyone in the DFW area who might be interested.

Thanks for reading and sharing,


XOXO,

---The Mazie's Mission Family

Puppy Singing the Blues is Too Much Cute to Handle

If you follow us on Facebook, you've seen some of the story of mama Cajun and her puppies.  We will tell their whole incredible tale once they're a little older.  They are happy and healthy now, but have plenty of reasons to sing the blues.  Two of them were rescued from a drug addict by a neighbor, but not before four siblings died.  The rest were tied up in a plastic grocery bag and dumped in a Dallas park.

If you think you can handle the cute, here is Gumbo singing the puppy blues:

If you'd like to see more pics and follow these babies, like us on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/maziesmission
or
follow us on Instagram at maziesmission1

Vet care for a family this size is expensive, so we always appreciate donations!  You can visit our website www.maziesmission.org to donate for their care, and even sharing their story helps a ton.  :)

Thanks for reading and sharing,

XOXO,

---The Mazie's Mission Family

Journey from Death at a Shelter to a New Life

If you've followed our work here at Mazie's Mission, you know we root for the underdog.  Quite literally.  Since we opened the clinic, we do not have adoption events any longer, so we are limited with the number of animals we can rescue.  We started the Mazie's Bridge program to help increase that number.  You may have seen the post about our first Bridge beneficiary, Eeyore.  We pull the very worst medical cases, rehabilitate them, then move them to one of our rescue partners to attend adoption events.  This is the story of two such underdogs, Fonzie and Ramsey.

The shelter contacted us about these two in June.  Ramsey, the dachshund mix, looks a lot like Eeyore did-- NO FUR!  Fonzie, the Papillon mix, was not there yet, but was still missing large chunks of fur.

We found a foster who was willing to provide them the level of care and attention they would need for their journey to recovery.

 Dogs with mange this severe need to be bathed every other day with medication.  Even though they will act like you are Ming the Merciless torturing them, it must be done!

I love you, even at bafftime

Care must also be taken with their sensitive skin.  Their foster parents made sure they were both comfortable AND stylish.

Slowly but surely, the fur always starts to grow back.

Fonzie already had fur back on his paws after just a few weeks!

 They had a glorious time with their foster family, playing and healing.

And of course, napping!

Such happy, grateful faces make our jobs easy.

Once they are ready for adoption, we have to find a rescue partner to take them.  We contacted Stacy Smith with The Humane Society of Flower Mound, who accepted them into the Love on Wheels programs!  Love on Wheels takes adoptable animals from this overpopulated area and transports them to a group in New York, where they are more likely to get adopted.

Even kids can help!  They decorate bags that are donated for the dogs to take with them.  In the bags, their new families will find treats, a favorite toy, and a letter telling their stories.

On the day of transport, a truck shows up, and everyone is loaded on.

We are not sure about this...

In fact, Fonzie decided he just wanted to go home to his foster mama and not get on the truck at all!

Peace out, guys

 But after some coaxing, everything went smoothly and now these two hunks are in the big apple, waiting for the perfect family!

The rescue they are with now is called Helping Hounds.  You can visit their website here:
http://helpinghoundsdogrescue.org/pet/

The journey of Fonzie and Ramsey is an inspirational one, and we hope that you've enjoyed taking it with them.  Not all shelter pets, especially ones with medical issues, are so lucky.  Lots of people came together to make this possible, and that's what the Mazie's Mission Bridge Program is all about.  If you would like to foster one of our medical cases, or even if you would like to try temporarily fostering a dog that will be transported with the Love on Wheels program, email us at foster@maziesmission.org for more information.  Fostering is possibly the most crucial piece of rescue because you can directly save a life, and it will change yours forever!

THANK YOU for saving us!

Special thanks to:
Emily Marshall and Kyle Wakefield for fostering and for tons of great photos
Humane Society of Flower Mound
Love on Wheels
Debbie Daniels Photography
Michelle Stockton for transport and photos
Helping Hounds Rescue



And thanks to all of you for reading, sharing, volunteering and DONATING so that we can save more just like Fonzie and Ramsey!


XOXO,

The Mazie's Mission Family

Hands down, the BEST rescue pictures you've ever seen

Two days before Christmas, 2012, a little black puppy was dumped at Dallas Animal Services.  She was missing most of her fur, except for two fluffy ear tufts.  The vet who was working must have looked at her as they took her to the back for the needle and thought, "NOT on this day" and hid the little dog in her office until she could figure out what to do.

She snapped a picture of the little dog she had named, "Fraggle" and called Dr. Shults at Mazie's Mission.  There are thousands of people that work in rescue every single day in the DFW area, but just a handful that call us ONLY when they have no other options.  (You know who you are.)  I feel like when one of these dogs comes in and they make the decision to call us, they stand over a bright red Bat-phone and say, "Call Commissioner Gordon.  Tell him to send out the Bat-signal"

Two days before Christmas, 2012, Dr. Shults sent me this picture:

The blurry tail is what gets ya

Two days before Christmas, 2012, I took one look at that face, and even though we were at our limit, said, "Bring me the dog.  We'll make it work."

The little bit of fur she had was gone as soon as she started treatment, as is common with mange.

But she never lost that funny ear-fur.

She had demodex mange, worms...all kinds of nasties had hitched a ride on this poor baby.  She had to be bathed every other day as her skin came off in layers.  If you have read our previous blog post on mange, you know that demodex isn't contagious, and is easily diagnosed.  Sarcoptic mange, on the other hand, IS contagious, and rarely shows up on skin scrapes.  She happened to have both.  We let her sleep in the bed with us.  We both got sarcoptic mange.  If I've said it once, I've said it 1,385,411 times:  IT'S NOT THAT BAD.

I digress.

Slowly, her fur started to grow back.

Some of her Facebook followers even sent her clothes!  A previous Mazie's adopter knitted her this precious shrug "for her spring wardrobe".

And a group named Pros for Paws threw her a fundraiser, so she had to have a fancy dress.


When her fur was looking close to normal, we noticed that she had a perfect little heart-shaped patch of fur on her chest:

Blurry tail +  Tufty ears + heart-shaped patch of fur = RIDICULOUS amounts of cute.  It doesn't get better than that, right?!



Wrong.

She was adopted by the cutest family ever.  



And they love to play dress-up with her:

Best.  Pictures.  Ever.

She was born to be a Diva.

Ok, one more, and this one is my favorite:

!!!!!!!!!!

 Her family says she loves to strike a pose, and the kids think everything she does is hilarious.  If you'd like to see more, you'll have to follow us on Instagram!  Our name is Maziesmission1 and you won't be sorry.

Warm fuzzies like these are possible when people work together.  Shelters, rescues, volunteers, adopters.... "Big black dogs" have a much tougher time in shelters, so next time you think of passing one over for a smaller fluff ball that will have an easier time getting adopted, we ask that you think of Fraggle and her story...and take a chance.  Look at what the world would be missing if she had been euthanized two days before Christmas, 2012.

We always need volunteers at the clinic.  Even if you only have a couple of hours, we can put you to work saving lives.  Because ya know what looks good on college scholarship applications, resumes, etc????  Volunteering.  Visit our website to find out more:  www.maziesmission.org

Thanks for reading and sharing!


XOXO,


---the Mazie's Mission family

A circus with dogs and cats as the stars? Have you ever seen such a thing?

This past weekend, my husband and I saw a show in Vegas called, "Popovich Comedy Pet Theater".  I have to tell you, that as an animal rescue person, this might be the best show I've ever seen.  Not because it had millions of dollars in production value or expensive costumes, but because the performers are all rescues.  SAY WHAT?  Gregory Popovich, performer and trainer, has cats, dogs, mice, two little goats, geese and a parrot.  All of which are rescued, except for the parrot.

My hero, Gregory Popovich

It is made clear in the show a couple of times that he encourages pet adoption.  If you do a little more reading, you'll find that he supports spay/neuter.  He fundraises for local shelters.  He uses positive reinforcement training on all of his animals, and they all live with him and his family on a large, two-house farm area.  When the animals are ready to retire, he slowly eases them out of it--still taking them to the shows for a while so that they don't feel left out.  A man after my own heart! 

You can read an interview in Las Vegas Weekly that goes into more detail here:  http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/as-we-see-it/weekly-qa/2013/aug/06/gregory-popovich-pet-retirement-and-how-train-cat/#/0  

And of course, a video here.  The cuteness is Off.  The.  CHARTS.

There is a huge debate right now about the use of animals as performers.  Many of you may have seen "Blackfish", about killer whales and Sea World.  Personally, I did not watch it.  I know the story, and after bawling my eyes out watching "The Cove", I didn't think I could handle it.  Highly intelligent marine mammals are stripped from their natural environment and forced to live in tiny enclosures in the name of entertaining children and of course, "conservation". 

Then, we have the circus.  The circus should, and COULD be such a wonderful place to take children.  Trapeze performers and tight-rope walkers in sparkly costumes are thrilling to behold.  Elephants, huge behemoth performers, with their flappy ears and swaying trunks have a hypnotic effect on the entire audience...  so what's the difference?  Why is it ok to be enamored of a show with cats and dogs, or with trapeze artists, but be morally repulsed by performing elephants, tigers, dolphins and orcas?

Let's break it down.  Circus acrobats = willing performers.  They train willingly to travel with the circus.  If they are injured, old, or for any other reason decide that they don't want to perform any longer, they retire. 

Dogs and cats (and let's just throw in the mice and geese here as domesticated animals) have evolved over thousands of years to coexist with humans.  The dog napping quietly at your feet or playing fetch with you in the yard is a product of human intervention and coercion at a biological level.  You can't go out into the forest, capture a wolf, and just because it shares very similar DNA with Fido, expect for it to follow you home and be your buddy.  A group of Russian scientists have successfully domesticated a close relative of the dog, namely, the fox.  There is an in-depth discussion of how they went about it starting in the 1950's in a National Geographic article here if you are so inclined to take that journey. 

In the case of the above mentioned Vegas show, where dogs and cats rescued from shelters live with the performer, are still treated as pets, trained with positive reinforcement, and allowed to retire and still live with their humans when they no longer want to perform, I believe it is quite safe to say dogs and cats = willing performers.

What about circus elephants?  Elephants are highly social creatures, so does being in front of a large group of people satisfy their social nature?  They live out their entire lives walking miles per day, foraging for their food.  Does being chained to a train car from city to city satisfy their need to wander?  What about family?  They stay with a life-long bonded matriarchal family group.  If you've ever been around a dog or cat that has puppies or kittens and seen what happens around six weeks of nursing, then you know about the fundamental difference!  At six weeks, mama-dog has had enough of the nursing interlopers and starts shaking them off of her.  Not that they don't get along once weaning is over, but when mama is done, mama is done. 

Not so with elephants.  Elephants nurse their calves for upwards of four years.  If you'll think back to the Disney movie, Dumbo, you'll recall that the mother elephant was locked away and labeled insane for trying to protect her baby.  This representation is actually truer to life than we would like to believe.  Baby elephants bound for the circus are ripped from their mothers before one year of age to begin "training".  This involves a series of "learned helplessness" exercises.  Baby elephants are strapped to the ground, hog-tied, waterboarded.  That's right.  I said waterboarded.  A huge elephant can only be controlled if it thinks it is helpless.  Bullhooks are used to stab all over their bodies to keep them in line.  Elephants = NON-willing performers.  There are plenty of photos and videos, so don't take my word for it, please.  You can click here to see training photos, or you can do a simple Google search and find plenty on your own.  Again, all of this is done in the name of entertaining children.  Oh, and of course, "conservation."  

A huge problem here is that parents mean well.  Parents want their children to have memorable experiences, to learn about animals, and to be entertained.  Businesses like circus groups prey on this.  If it really was just about the children, they would have retired their wild animals a long time ago, but they know that elephants bring in crowds. 

That's where we, as rescue folks, come in.  On Wednesday night, July 30th, we're bringing a different kind of crowd to the circus. 

Mazie's Mission was founded on many principles, one of which, is to bring rescue groups together.  We only serve other rescues, not the public, so we encourage working together with groups that share common interests.  The group that has organized this protest of the treatment of animals by Ringling Bros Circus is Animal Connection of Texas.  Their website is here.  They have created an event on Facebook with the details that you can visit and share here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1422741611346763/

We hope that you will come stand beside us.  

It's just a couple of hours for those of us that are willing participants, but it is a lifetime for the non-willing, tortured animals inside American Airlines Center. It is a peaceful protest and signs will be provided.  

At the very least, we ask that you share this information so that maybe one day, circuses will only employ willing performers.  

Thanks for reading and sharing,

---The Mazie's Mission Family

Top Ten Reasons to Get on Instagram Right MEOW

Ahhhh, Facebook.  Social media bread and butter for rescue groups.  We can network, share animals in need, commiserate, send messages....  Where would we be without it?  Of course, sometimes the drama can be a bit much.  Also, there's twitter, the birthplace of the hashtag.  Here's me when I find myself in the twittersphere, trying to tweet or whatever:

What I look like, tweeterittering

Maybe someday I'll figure it out.  #dontholdyourbreath #nottrendy #imdoinitrong

Then, there's Instagram.  Oh, how I love Instagram.  There's no drama b/c you can't share stuff.  Okay technically, I guess you could if you wanted to, but it takes like, 47 steps and I draw the line at 45 mmmkay?  People are there because of common interests and/or for the sheer beauty of photography, so there's a shocking (and dare I say wonderful) lack of selfies.  If you come across a bunch of selfies on Instagram, you're following the wrong people.  Here are the top 10 reasons we've found to keep going back to Instagram:


10)  Sookpit

Not only do you get adorable pics of rescued pibbles, you get great shots of the South Texas landscape.  Sookie's people recently got a GoPro and the shots are amazing.  #dontbullymybreed



9)  InstaSquirrel

ermahgerd.

This is the North American Squirrel Preservation Association aka, You Had Me At Squirrel  :)  It says on their homepage that they donate $1 to NASPA for each new follower so get to followin'.  #instacute



8)  dallasvegan

So maybe you're thinking, "I'm not vegan".  YET.  I mean, do you see this here food?!  Plus, maybe you have friends come into town.  Maybe they're vegan and you didn't know it.  Maybe they ask where a good place for dinner is....  Maybe you're all, "ummm.... most Tex-Mex places have cheese enchiladas..."  Wrong answer, compadre.   Then maybe you remember you follow Dallas Vegan on instagram and BOOM.  InstaHERO is your new name.  You're welcome.  #getinmahbelly



7)  Bite sized bakery

Disclaimer:  This bakery is NOT in Texas.  It's NOT vegan.  I have no idea how I stumbled on this account, but I am not even sorry.  They specialize in cake pops.  Those are Calla Lilies made out of cake and unicorn dust, fool.  Each picture looks more delicious than the last.  #sugarcoma





6)  Hotelroomer

This countdown was seriously lacking in cats until now.  This is....wait for it....


A HOTEL FOR CATS.  It's located in Lyon, France, so you don't understand a word they say, but also, they're CATS.  I hope they accept people too because if I ever find myself in Lyon, France, my ass is checking in.  I will put on a cat suit and make myself at home.  #dontjudge




6)  Sylvia Elzafon

You can find her work on the walls of Dallas Animal Services, on the sides of buses cruising around Dallas, at Be Raw Food and Juice, on the cover of Beg by Rory Freedman, and lots of other places.  Of course that would mean a lot of driving around, and Instagram can save you all of that.  Rescue dogs, delicious food, glorious photography.  #toknowheristoloveher




5)  Tofu the Tiny Pig

Okay.  This is exactly what it looks like.  A tiny pig and his dog-brother.  I melt every time this account posts a pic.  GAH!  Have to move on.  #friendnotfood




4)  Ivy Raptors

This one is SUPER fun because you can tag them with a pic of your pet with it's best raptor-face and they share them.  The whole account is dog and kitty funny faces.  #rawr





3) Hamilton the Hipster Cat

522,000 followers can't be wrong.  At least not all of them.  Yes, that is a cat with a perfect mustache. No, I have never tried to google an address so I can go steal him.  There are tons of pics and videos of him, and they are all equally adorable.  #hetotallydrinkscraftbeer



2) Nelson the Goldendoodle

He was featured recently in D Magazine's Blog, Front Burner for being the "coolest dog in Dallas".  I'm sure you tell your dog that he's the coolest, but let's be real.  This dog rides around bar-hopping in the sidecar of a vintage Vespa wearing doggles.  If I am ever lucky enough to see this dog in real life, you will hear the scream.  I will be like an 11-year old girl at a One Direction concert that has cameos from Justin Timberlake and Harry Potter (no, I don't mean Daniel Radcliffe, I mean the actual Harry Potter).  #thereisnohashtagcoolenoughforthisdog




1) Mazie's Mission

HEY it's our blog, so we make the rules.  Don't make this cat drop down from her perch and get you.  Okay, really, we are new to Instagram so if you go on there to check out these cool accounts, let them know we sent you (and they will be like, "who?") and maybe we'll get some followers out of the deal.  :)  #followusaround  Our instagram username is Maziesmission1.

And of course if you have some you'd like to share, let us know in the comments.  :)


xoxox,

---The Mazie's Mission Family

The Nature of Loss

For some reason, the last few months have been especially difficult for the animal lovers in my circles.  My parents and several good friends have lost their beloved pets in just the last week.  My sister and several other friends have as well in the last couple of months.

There are only a few ways for it to happen when you boil it down.  Sometimes an accident or acute illness takes one from us very suddenly.  There is shock and sadness, but at least we know he didn't suffer.  Other times old age creeps up and takes one.  It doesn't make it any easier to know it's coming, but he has lived a long, full life.  If we are being realistic, is there anything else, anything better we could ask for?  Then, there's the toughest one.  A pet is ailing and we know he isn't going to get better.  There are more bad days than good.  Anyone who has had to make a call like this will tell you that the pet lets you know when he is ready. 

I read an excerpt from a book several years ago that said animals do not fear death the way we do.  They do not dread what is to come.  They live in the moment and that is what makes them such beautiful creatures.  The problem is that even knowing this, we are still devastated.  This is one situation that knowledge cannot mitigate.  It doesn't matter that we know the suffering will end.  And it's hard to know whether or not we are being selfish by keeping them with us one day longer.  The final act of mercy we can give our companions is to end the suffering when the time comes.

To me, the people who are the most selfish are the ones who refuse to accompany their long-time friend and companion on his final transition.  Dogs have been domesticated by us for thousands of years to crave our company.  Their very DNA has been bent to convince them that humankind is the center of the universe.  They trust us.  To abandon a soul like this, either by dropping him off at a shelter or leaving him at a vet for their office to do the dirty work because it's "too difficult" is unforgivable as far as I am concerned.  

Everyone who reads this will have similar experiences in loss.  My parents had to take their little schnauzer, Gretchen, on her final journey last week.  I remember her as a spry, barky puppy...not as the blind and deaf senior lady she had become.  My dad took her out to their land and buried her because he felt like that was where she would want to be.  She was 13.

Some very dear friends had to make a similar decision last week.  A final act of mercy.  Their sweet boxer had stopped eating and they learned she had late-stage lymphoma.  I remember when they brought her home 10 years ago.  They named her after Pallas Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, companion of heroes.  She had the sweetest smushy boxer face you'd ever see.

Sixteen years ago, a fellow animal rescuer brought a tiny beagle home with her "temporarily".  On Saturday, she spent his last day on earth with him.  A final act of mercy.  I am convinced that if all it took to keep our pets alive was our unconditional love, that rescuers would have pets that lived exactly as long as they did.  Of course that would mean that we as humans are capable of the type of unselfish love that dogs bestow upon us.

So now that you're sufficiently depressed, there is one other type of loss...but this one you can help with.  As I said earlier, showing a pet a final act of mercy by ending his suffering is one of the most noble things we can do in this life.  What if the final act of our mercy isn't ending a life, but giving our pets a better one?

There is a clause in the Mazie's Mission adoption contract that says the adopter agrees to notify us if there is ever a time when the adopter can no longer care for this pet.  We want to make sure that the animals we have spent so much time on rehabilitating never have to set a paw inside a shelter again if at all possible.  If an adopter is having difficulties, we offer any assistance we can give.  We supply things like food and other basic necessities.  We work with a local non-profit called Hope's Door that takes in victims of domestic violence to offer temporary foster solutions for their pets.  And on the rare occasion that despite all efforts, pets have to be returned, we assist the adopter in re-homing pets they can no longer care for.  If you have followed us for a long time, you may remember Rally, a pit bull mix whose facial injuries from abuse had to have several surgeries.  Her name is Eleanor Rigby now.

When we first pulled her from Dallas Animal Services, she had a missing lip, prolapsed uterus and bronchopneumonia:

You may also remember Ox, a gorgeous black lab who was left tied up to a dumpster and picked up by local animal services.  He now goes by Miles Davis:

They have lived happily together for the last 3 years, but their adopter contacted us last week and explained that she could no longer adequately take care of their needs.  This is not a case of "I got new curtains and the dogs don't match them now" or "I'm moving tomorrow and need someone to take these dogs".  The first line of the email read, "This is the hardest email I've ever had to write".  

Without going into all of the personal details, these two sweet dogs need new homes through no fault of their own.  We have been given a couple of months to find a place for them to go.  

It is very easy to judge someone.  It is not easy to stand up and do something.  Last year, we helped a woman with terminal cancer re-home her precious yorkie.  Somehow, the universe gave me the fortitude to sit with that lady for 30 minutes while she talked about how she believed that our volunteer, who met her at Baylor hospital, was an angel sent to her to help find a loving place for Tootsie to go, without bawling my eyes out.  This final act of mercy was one of the bravest, most self-less things I've ever seen in my life.  I defy anyone to say that she should have just kept the dog.

Tootsie, with flowers her mama sent to her new foster

We are asking for your help in doing the right thing.  If you are able to foster or adopt either Rigby (Rally) or Miles (Ox) please contact us as soon as possible. The adopter says they do not have to stay together.  They love each other, but are not inseparably bonded the way some dogs are.  They are currently in Oak Cliff, just south of Dallas.

Thank you for sharing so that we can assist this family in their final act of mercy for Rigby and Miles.  They will see this post, so if you have any similar stories, please share them here.  Pain shared is divided.

<3