Hey guys! We’re excited to try out an idea that I’ve had floating around in my head for awhile and that is to throw down a foster challenge. What I mean by that is this: we hear of a shelter in need so we ask a certain number of you lovely people to join us in fostering for a short period of time to lighten their load. I think it will be cool and fun. It will be a great way for us to work together to make a bigger impact than Nikki & I could on our own. It’ll be fun to see us achieve goals!

Our first foster challenge is for people here in the Austin, TX area. For those who don’t know, Town Lake Animal Center is moving to its new location at the Austin Animal Center in East Austin. This is so exciting for our community as we continue to be a leader in no-kill because the old shelter is very outdated and the new, state-of-the-art building will make the adoption experience more inviting. This is a huge undertaking, however, so TLAC is asking for temporary fosters to keep dogs, cats & rabbits during the move. This will make the transition a lot smoother. They are looking for fosters from today through about the 17th. It’s not a very long time but it will make a huge difference. So let’s do it!

If you’re already an approved foster with TLAC, great! If not, it’s a simple online form. I apologize that I don’t know exactly how it will work from there but for this challenge I’m just hoping to get 5 people from the ILRA community to sign up for and foster an animal from TLAC during the move. Just five, but it will help those 5 animals! We’ve submitted a foster application so that means we only need 4 more people to do the same to meet our goal! And once we have our animals, let’s make sure to take a bunch of pictures and videos of our animals and make sure that once they go back to the new Austin Animal Center, they’ll have lots of people lined up wanting to adopt! And don’t worry, they straight up say that if after those days you are too attached to let your animal go, you’ll be allowed to adopt them! So what do you have to lose? Let us know that you’re going to do it and let’s make our first foster challenge a huge success!

Filed under: Animals in Need, Causes, Projects on November 7th, 2011 | No Comments »

Hey all! As promised, the very first in a new series here at ILRA: Rescue of the Week! Want to know something funny? This was pretty much supposed to be the whole point of ILRA. It all began as a simple idea to celebrate rescued animals to show that they are just as good as any other animals. In fact, we believe they know how lucky they are and return the love you give them tenfold! We wanted rescue parents to be able to come together and celebrate the wonderful animals that have changed their lives. We hope that you will all join in and share your rescue kids with the rest of the world! Now on to the first ever Rescue of the Week; who better but our very own mascot, Spunky?

Rescue of the Week: SPUNKY!

Rescue’s Name: Spunky (Spunkadoo, Spunkaruffugus)
Species/Breed: Husky/Shepherd/Chow mixed breed dog
Age: 6.5 years

How did your rescue come to be in your life?:
Spunky came into my life my sophomore year of college. I was working an adoption fair trying to get local pound dogs adopted. Spunky was my charge and I fell in love with him right away. An application was filled out before the event was even over! Since then, Spunky and I have been practically inseparable.

Tell us more about your rescue kid:
Spunky has amazing resilience. He has been through three different households, moved all around the country and been an amazing big brother to over thirty siblings. Nikki calls him the rock of our family and I’m inclined to believe her. No matter what, Spunky is always there. Whether it’s tolerating a little kitten thinking he’s mommy, playing gently with the ferrets or being a model for the younger dogs to follow, he is always a patient, loving presence. This wonderful personality makes him pretty irresistible to everyone he meets. Seriously, ask anyone! Because of this, he has his Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certificication and he is in the works of becoming a therapy dog! Hopefully someday soon, he will be able to bring joy and happiness to even more people who are in need of his soft soul. Spunky’s favorite thing to do in the whole world, besides getting love of course, is to run. He is one of the fastest, most agile dogs I’ve ever come across and he loves that he’s always the leader in a game of chase. On the other hand, he can also lounge around like nobody’s business and makes a great partner for sleeping in late. He is also an incredibly photogenic boy (as you can see). Spunky makes an amazing mascot for ILRA because he was the one that really inspired the creation of our site.

Your Name(s): Ashley & Nikki
Where can you and your pet be found on the internet?: Right here! Spunky, as many of you already know, is the mascot of ILRA. He’s so glad he found his forever home that he wants to pay it forward and help other animals in need. You can learn tidbits about him on our twitter account, @RescueAnimals, too. He also has a Dogster profile. But if you really want to get to know him, you’ve got to check out The Family Menagerie, a webcomic based on our crazy, animal filled lives. You’re sure to love it!

Check back next week for another Rescue of the Week!

Filed under: Personal Stories, Rescue of the Week on September 13th, 2010 | 8 Comments »

Yes, I know that this is now 5 days late but at least it’s finally up! There was just so much to write about and so many photos to go through that it took longer than I’d hoped. Add on top of that that we’ve been helping out at my dad’s business and been doing other random things to help prepare us for our move down here in a couple months and it’s just been really hectic. Still, I hope you think this article was worth the wait! Be sure to check out our gallery for more photos. If you were there, see if you can see yourself in one or more of them! It’s like “Where’s Waldo” only it’s “Where’s… You!” ^_-

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Wow! Just wow! Yesterday was the ASPCA’s Wag-n-Walk in Austin, TX and it was phenomenal! I posted last Thursday morning that we were headed to the event and I tell you it was totally worth the 16 hour drive! It took us until Friday afternoon to get here since we had to stop during the night at a gas station and there were bad storms in Texas that slowed our progress but I wouldn’t have given this experience up for anything! We were actually worried that it was going to get canceled because it was scheduled to storm (and I do mean storm, not just drizzle) pretty much the entire time. It was even raining in the morning yesterday so we kept checking the ASPCA site and seeing if they had twittered about it being cancelled and we even tried to call Zilker Park, where it was held, to see if we could reach anyone but since we didn’t we decided we would just go ahead and go. As we left the sky started to clear a bit and we even saw a little blue between the clouds which made us happy. I kept saying that this was a good cause so the rain should stop. I guess it thought so too! We got to Zilker just before 11 when the walk was about to start and the dogs were so excited we could barely get their leashes on them! As we walked up to the area where it was I actually got goosebumps because I was so excited to see all the orange everywhere and how many people had showed up despite the weather.

Click here to read the rest of the post.

Filed under: Events on April 22nd, 2009 | 4 Comments »

As we prepare to drive down to Austin for the ASPCA’s Wag-n-Walk, we have a lot to think about. Spunky as well as the snake are coming with us but all the rest of the animals are staying here with my mother and sister. This means that we have to consider what needs to be done for all of the kids. It can be overwhelming but it is something that absolutely needs to be done. You may think that leaving animals with someone means that everything is taken care of right there but that isn’t true. Before you leave, you need to think about any possible problems that may occur and plan for them ahead of time. Since I am a list person, I sat down and wrote a To-Do lis and a packing list. Those lists were filled with animal related tasks and items. For instance, today I went around and changed all the cat litters as well as added 2 more. That makes for a total of 5 litter boxes. This is because my mom and sister cannot keep up with all of our cats as well as we could if we were here. This way each litter box will last longer and with minimal cleaning everything should be fine for the week or so we’ll be gone. There is also concern over our kitten Merlin because he likes to bolt the door. As well as putting a note on the door to remind everyone to look for him before they open the door, there is also a laser pointer strategically placed by the door in case he does get out. By the way, that was a genius idea that Nikki came up with last night when he escaped on us. She ran off, grabbed the laser pointer and we guided that young man right back inside. Anyway, another task on my little check list is to put the bettas away in a cabinet so that there’s no chance of the cats getting them while they’re gone (trust me, taping the tops on can’t even guarantee that). All of the little ones cages have also been cleaned and we know that there is enough food to last however long we might be gone. As for the packing list, there are always items for Spunky and whatever other animals might be traveling with us. Always remember to pack food, water and bowls for your animals. Even if it’s a short trip or you know you can borrow food from someone at your destination, you should still travel with a small bag of a few feedings worth. All of this is just in case but as with everything else, it’s better to be safe than sorry. And in case you’re wondering why a snake is going this road trip with us it is because she will be staying with someone in Austin until we move down there in a few months. She will be able to have a better set-up there because here we have a lack of space and also don’t want to buy a terrarium here since it is liable to break in the move. Anyway, that’s the reason – we don’t just randomly haul snakes around in a car for fun. ^_-

So yes, if all goes according to plan then we will be walking to raise awareness of animal welfare as well as money to support the ASPCA on Saturday morning. Spunky is looking forward to networking with the Austin pups and to looking snazzy in his bright orange bandana. I’ll hopefully be able to twitter about it as it occurs and there may even be some twitpics of the event to be sure and tune in to @RescueAnimals. If anyone else is participating, it’d be great to hear from you! There will also be a walk in Los Angeles on April 25th so if you’re in that area then look into it! It’s such a great cause! Anyway, I’m off to get ready. Everyone remember to Go Orange for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month!

Filed under: Advice, Events on April 16th, 2009 | No Comments »

Ever since there was a leak that the first dog was going to be from a breeder, people have not been able to stop talking about. Some people are happy about it, some are upset over it and yet others claim not to care yet they still take the time to comment about how little they care. I will say I am one of those that am disappointed by the news. I loved the “mutt like me” idea and was looking forward to the amount of exposure shelters and rescues would get if the Obama’s adopted a dog. I know that President Obama never outright promised that they were going to adopt a rescue dog but, let’s be honest, that was what we were being led to believe would happen. I fully understand that there was a need for a hypoallergenic dog. I know that this greatly reduced the number of options the family had. I have no problem with that. I will admit that I was rooting for the mutt route, i.e. the Labradoodle. I have never owned a purebred in my life but that certainly doesn’t mean that I have anything against them. I just thought it would be that much more poignant an example. Still, I would have been perfectly thrilled had they adopted a Portuguese Water Dog. I know finding one in a shelter would have been difficult but there are breed rescues. Some people claim that not getting one from a breeder would still put Malia Obama at risk since their background might be unknown but I think that’s just an excuse. You could easily get a DNA test on the dog for as low as $50 and the results would have come back well in time to have the dog arrive on Easter (they’ve been searching for months now). I realize that the dog was a gift and so the Obama family didn’t really have much say in the matter but I still feel that this was a huge missed opportunity for raising awareness of animal welfare in this country. That being said, I don’t understand why there is a such a huge fuss.

I’ve read innumerable articles on the subject at this point and most of them have sounded very grounded and reasonable. It seems to me that the people that comment on these articles are the ones with the biggest problems. Some of the comments are downright nasty and to be honest, it’s not the people disappointed that seems to be the most hot-headed. I’ve seen people personally attacking those who have voiced their displeasure and it makes me wonder just what kind of life those people lead if the best way they can find to spend their life is finding people to hate. And some of the things they say are just downright ridiculous. I can’t tell you the number of people that have said the whole situation is stupid because a dog is just a dog and we have so many other problems to worry about in this country. Well no kidding! No one in their right mind would think that the selection of the first dog is more important than the War in Iraq or the collapsing economy. There are plenty of issues that are personally important to me that haven’t been addressed either but I’m patient. That doesn’t mean that we can’t be disappointed with what happened in this case. Other comments have said that the “animal activists” are cruel because they’re saying that the dog should be ripped away from the girls who love him. I have a problem with this one for a few reasons. First not everyone who is disappointed is an activist. Second, calling someone an activist is always used in a derogatory manner which is stupid. Lastly, no one has ever suggested that they get rid of the dog! Not a single person. However, the children only met the dog after he had been chosen so it wasn’t like they just happened to fall in love with that particular dog. I also don’t like the suggestion that Bo is a rescue dog. He’s not. At all. He may be a second-chance dog because the first people that got him didn’t want him anymore but there is absolutely no way that dog would ever have ended up in a shelter. The breeder, who is actually very responsible from what I’ve seen, would have taken the dog back and found another home for him. It’s in the contract. That’s how all breeders should be and I commend this one for their policies. Still, this means that Bo was not rescued in any way. Now probably the dumbest and most irritating comment I came across was one praising President Obama for choosing a breeder dog because adopting one from a shelter would be “reinforcing all the irresponsible pet owners dumping their pets there”. This one just shocked me. Are people really that stupid? Shelters house countless strays and with this economy there are many people FORCED to surrender their beloved pets due to a lack of money or even the lack of a house. It is idiotic ideas such as that one that make some people leery of adopting from a shelter or rescue. My last comment on some of the excuses being thrown around is that while I’m glad that donations have been made to shelters that the Obama family were looking into that doesn’t really fix the problem. It’s a great gesture, don’t get me wrong, but it’s still not the message that so many people were hoping for the decision to send. This to me says that shelters are great but they’re just not good enough for us. If less people would think like that then there would surely be less animals sitting around in shelters.

That being said, I’m pretty sure that President Obama would never intentionally send such a message and that he truly does have concern for animal welfare. This decision fell short of my hopes but there are plenty of other causes that he can get behind that will help improve the lives of animals in this and other countries. And Bo is an incredibly cute dog and what really matters at this point is that he is cared for and happy. He still has a chance to be a role model of sorts for how pets should be cared for and that is something that is invaluable. So yes, many were disappointed, as they had every right to be, but I think it’s time that everyone start to move on and focus on other animal welfare causes that can still be supported to our satisfaction.

Filed under: News, Opinion Article on April 14th, 2009 | 4 Comments »