Congratulations, Community Heros !!

Dear Corinne,

Congratulations! The local Chapter of the American Red Cross would like to congratulate you for being selected as the

2008 Animal Rescue Hero!

The Heroes Breakfast will be on Thursday, September 25 at the Marines' Memorial Hotel on Sutter Street (starts at about 8 a.m.).

The American Red Cross joins with San Francisco County civic leaders to recognize those in our community who have shown courage, dedication and character through acts of heroism and kindness.

Join us in saluting our 2008 Community Heroes:

Life Saving Hero, Youth: Daniel Bateman
Life Saving Hero, Adult: Jocelyn Rollins and Greg Lawrence
Act of Courage Heroes: Bill Mutch and Michael Waring
Community Service Hero, Individual: Sue Parcell
Community Service Hero, Organization: Champions Youth Ministry
Animal Rescue Hero: Give a Dog a Bone, Corinne Dowling, Founder

You may purchase tickets at http://www.redcrossbayarea.org/ or by calling (415) 427-8170 for $50 each. Proceeds benefit disaster preparedness and relief efforts throughout the Bay Area.

We are deeply honored not only to receive this award, but also proud to be part of this community. Thanks to all our special volunteers, past and present, you are all special and give so much, and thanks to those whose generosity continues to make our work possible.

Kudos to all of you who better the lives of shelter dogs.

Thank you for recognizing and contributing to the importance of the animal/human bond.

Not just our own beloved companions and for what they give us day after day after day, their unconditional trust in us; but those who do more: Disaster rescue dogs, animal assisted therapy dogs for seniors, for sick children, for vets - those people who find themselves unable to respond to other human beings but can give a soft smile to a four legged being, those who suffer from mental health issues, the homeless - the disenfranchised.

We make a difference and you can too: donate to our small cause and count yourself as a hero.

Because you are.

You won't find these little girls in a chi-chi bag in Hollywood

Chihuahuas (chi’s). Coming in a close second to pitties for dogs dumped, at least here in San Francisco, we are seeing more and more of these frightened little dogs. While Give a Dog a Bone's charges are mostly custody dogs, we also take medically challenged dogs under our wing.

"Dumped dog" is not a nice term, but then, neither are the dogs that are found wandering the streets, brought into the shelter by a Good Samaritan (Good Sams, we call them), or just dumped in a box in front of the shelter, the pitties and chi’s are usually in sad shape and go directly to a medical isolation kennel.

Many of these dogs are terribly undersocialized, as well as having severe medical issues. Having been bred to sell as a member of a fad breed for maximum bucks and for all the wrong reasons, care is not taken to ensure their well-being in ways that dogs need to become good healthy (behaviorally and medically) companion animals. We have adults, puppies, adolescents, all shapes, colors, and sizes. We have dogs that come from backyard breeders or puppy mills and they all consider the dogs whom we treasure as a commodity. Perhaps I preach to the choir, but you who read our blog do know that those cute dogs that you see on on-line lists, newspaper ads, and pet stores come from these places? People also surrender these dogs to shelters because they haven't done any breed research and have no idea who the four-legged being is who will be sharing their home.

GADAB starts their lives over. While the vet staff does their part, we treat skin holistically, work on fear issues with slow, soft, gentle approaches, using calming methods recommended by Turid Rugaas. They work. Most recover enough to go to a solid rescue organization, usually Grateful Dogs Rescue, where they go to foster homes until they can be adopted to a forever family. I say most, because sadly, some of these pitties and chi’s cannot recover from earlier traumas, and as much or as long as we try, their lives have become so awful that we are the last to care for them on this earth. Perhaps we have also been the first.

These three little girls went to Grateful Dogs Rescue, where they await their forever homes.


Written by Corinne Dowling.