PLEASE HELP US WIN!

New England Border Collie Rescue has entered a contest sponsored by Petfinder, World's Best Pet Parent. We need your help in winning $10,000. The contest runs through Oct. 6th and you can vote once a day.

Follow the link below to vote for Kimberly competing for NEBCR:

http://www.tinyurl.com/gonebcr


You will need to set up an account with Petfinder (it is a free account), a user name and password. We are now in the final stages of the contest and less than 50 rescues remain in the competition. This gives us great odds at winning one of the top prizes! Even to remain in the top 10 we would receive $1000.

Thank you so much for helping NEBCR in this venture to win much needed funds. The economy these past years have meant fewer donations and a lot more dogs coming into rescue. $10,000 will help a lot of dogs get the care they need.

VOTING HINT:
when verifying your vote you are asked to type two words. Usually just one word gets you the vote. Ignore any words with punctuation, upside down, huge print, numbers, all caps or symbols. It is a rather annoying captcha that they are using but it keeps people from cheating. If it doesn't accept the first thing you typed in, just click on the "get 2 more words" button and try again.


NEBCR is a not-for-profit, all volunteer organization. We've been around for over 10 years and have an excellent reputation. Please help us continue to help dogs in need.

Life is so hard.....

It is a wonder I have the energy to get through the day...

Christmas Tree Hunting!

This past Saturday we went hunting Christmas trees...for those dogs that don't know what this is - it is a silly human tradition that involves bringing a tree into the house just to tell us that we can't pee on it. Seems silly but the humans enjoy it.

Dublin and I got to go with the humans to find the perfect trees. Limerick and Keely had to stay home because they aren't quite as well behaved as we are.

We got to the place and there were lots of people and even some other dogs! The Boss Lady said none of the dogs were as well-behaved as me, though. She was right - some of those dogs were lunging and growling at each other...and me! I just ignored them and spent the time soaking up the pets and snuggles from all of the humans that stopped to say how handsome I was. It is exhausting being the object of so much adoration, but I managed to get through it...

We took a hay ride way out to the back part of the tree farm and began our search. Some of the other peoples (not the Boss Lady's people, though, because they know better) were worried that Dublin and I wouldn't be able to handle the hay ride. Silly humans. We just hopped right up and settled down in a pile of hay. we were the best behaved of everyone on there!

Once we got dropped off, we started walking all over the back fields, looking for the perfect tree. I am not exactly sure what makes a tree "perfect" in the humans' eyes, because all the trees smelled pretty interesting to me. Finally, the humans choose some trees and cut them down. Then we had to haul them back to the pick up point where we loaded them and got another hay ride back to the main parking lot.

I had a lot of fun doing this, though I did start to limp a bit toward the end. The Boss Lady put me back in her van where I got to curl up on my cushy bed and pass out. She said I was snoring like a drunken sailor!


~Sir Casey GoodDog, Christmas Tree Hunter Extraordinaire

Keely is finally blogging!

Hi Everyone! I'm Keely! I've been with the Boss Lady for a few months now and I am ready to find my forever home. I've had a lot of things to learn...like how to play with other dogs and how not to eat the cats.

In my old home, I spent all day outside in a kennel run by myself, so it was a big adjustment living with 3 dogs. I've figured it out now and have even been known to try to play with Limerick! Limerick thought it was a trick at first (I was a bit...ummm, grumpy...when I first met him). But he eventually succumbed to my many charms and we had a good romp session.

I like to hang out with people in the house but outside I am all Go! Go! Go! I am super fast and can jump really high! The Boss Lady calls me her little pogo stick. Not sure what that is exactly, but she laughs when she says it so it must be a good thing. The Boss lady said I'd make a good agility dog if someone wanted to train me. 'Cause I'm super fast, like I said.

I'm also smart - I'm not bragging, the Boss Lady told me I was smart, honest. My old owners said I couldn't be trained but they just weren't doing it right. I pick up on new commands lickety-split. I'm very food motivated, so anything that gets me a treat is something I wanna learn!

I'm a tiny little thing, just 29lbs. I walk under Sir Casey GoodDog without ducking - luckily, he is usually so focused on trying to get the Boss Lady to play fetch, he doesn't even notice when I walk under him.


Hmm...I guess that's all I have to say for now!

Talk to you soon,
Keely the Brave

Finally...pictures!

Here I am the day after my surgery. I am not sure what was worse - the stupid blue cone or my scar.

Here's a close up of my scar. Looks pretty painful, huh?

I'm made tougher stuff though and I was still trying to get the humans to play fetch with me!

But for some reason the humans just shook their heads and called me Petunia.....

Loooooong overdue update

First - apologies for the delay in updates. The Boss Lady has been very busy and hasn't had as much time as I'd like to post updates for me.



So to recap the last few months.....I started going to this special vet office for swimming lessons. The Boss Lady calls it "Physical Therapy" but it usually involves at least some swimming. First I get my massage, complete with heat packs. I loooooove this part. Sometimes I even fall asleep and start snoring! Then they make me do my stretches - I am not as big a fan of that part. I have to stretch my legs way out and then pull them up against my stomach, repeat, repeat, repeat.... Sometimes we even dance with me up on my hind legs. (Truly, you humans are nuts!)

Then I get on the doggie treadmill and walk uphill with weights on my legs for a mile or so. Then I get in another treadmill with a big plastic box around it. Once I am shut in, they start to fill the box with water. I was not happy the first time they did this - I thought they had tricked me into getting a bath! And when the ground started moving I was even more surprised! But since I'm a smart guy, I figured it out pretty quickly. This is the "swimming" part...I even kind of like it now.



After all that is done, I get to have ice packs applied on my legs which feels really good at that point. All of this is supposed to help me get stronger in my back legs.



Evidently it worked, because just when I was finally running around really well on my right leg, the Boss Lady took me back to the surgeon and had them operate on my left leg. I was not happy about this - but the Boss Lady told me it would be for the best in the long run. So I had to start the whole silly process all over again. I had my second surgery in the beginning of October. I was stuck wearing a stupid floppy blue cone for waaaay too long. The humans kept calling me Petunia for some crazy reason. I didn't care what they called me as long as they would play fetch with me....which they did eventually, rolling the ball a few inches at a time. (I'd have liked to post a couple of pictures of me looking pathetic in my blue floppy cone so I could get your sympathy, but for some reason, Blogger isn't allowing me to upload any pictures....)


Anyway, back to the update...
I've been getting daily physical therapy from the Boss Lady and twice weekly physical therapy at the vets, so I've been doing really well. I might even be able to go to my new home in a month or two. I'm gonna miss the Boss Lady, but I am looking forward to having a "Forever Home". I know the Boss Lady will pick a good home for me. I sure hope they know how to play fetch though.....that's the only thing I am worried about.

What a way with words....

This poem was written by the 16 year old daughter of one of NEBCR's volunteers. This young lady has an amazing talent and was able to perfectly capture the living hell that these puppy mill dogs go through. NEBCR's "Lucky Seven" are truly the lucky ones...they have a lot of rehab time ahead of them still but they managed to escape their hell. My heart cries for the millions of dogs that aren't so lucky...


His Tomb
Alexandria Malfitano

In the dark and dreary room,
he sat in his personal tomb.
Stack upon stacks of crates,
cutting tiny paws
that have never felt the cool grass beneath them.

The dark blanket covers his dwelling,
hiding his face from mine,
and I feel weak.
The foreboding air tells a story of horror.
Be loved,
or be nothing.

His small life has only begun,
and yet he has been slated for death.
I look under the cover, and he looks at me.
A face so full of fear and desire,
a body emaciated from lack of food,
fur that has never been brushed,
eyes that have never been met with love,
and it breaks my heart in two.

He is but a product to sell,
and nothing more to those who own him.
I snap the photo, and whisper,
“I’ll come back for you.”
His eyes light up with hope,
then turn dull again.
He hides back inside himself,
the only safe place left.

I will break open this puppy mill,
and save his life.
No longer will he and the others,
live in their own tomb,
but with real families,
who will love them and care for them.

I will help him.

I will help them.

We can save them.

If you would like to donate toward the care of the "alledged" puppy mill dogs that New England Border Collie Rescue recently took in, please visit http://www.nebcr.org/