For Love of the Heelers...

...my passion turned into action. i really wanted to document here the special dogs i've saved that will always have a place in my heart. although there are a lot, these are only a fraction of the pics that i've taken documenting the cattle dogs that have been rescued over the last year. with maebri's arrival, i've had to ease up on some of the heeler rescue i've been doing non-stop over the last year & a half which has added so much to my life & is so dear to my heart. my two amazing blue heeler boys, luigi & angelo, were the motivation i needed to do all of this & i am so grateful to have them in my life. i've managed to start & organize a rescue group & networking group, save from the brink of death & adopt out almost 60 heelers into wonderful homes, maintaining about 10 dogs at a time in foster homes-always one or two in my home, learn the ins & outs of the shelter system as well as understanding more about veterinarian practices, manage fundraising efforts to help vet & treat all of our rescue dogs, recruit & built relationships with dozens of foster parents, transporters, fellow rescuers, shelter volunteers, vets/vet techs, adopters & so many more wonderful & truly genuine people. i have hand fed the sick ones for days homemade dog food until they could finally lift their heads & get up to walk, i've carried the injured to the yard everytime they had to go potty until they could heal from their surgeries, i've conditioned & trained the terrified & insecure to be brave & stable adoptable dogs, i have watched the ones that had no desire to play, grow to love toys & relive their puppyhood again, i have cleaned thousands of messes without a word because i have seen the conditions that these innocent animals have come from. in return they have taught me patience, unconditional love, strength, empathy, understanding, perserverance & dedication to something larger than myself. i feel so fortunate to be able to do what i am passionate about, have it be a selfless mission & save lives in the process. & i am so grateful to have jeff in my life to support me, no matter how frustrating the situation, because he knows it's what i love to do. 'what we do for ourselves dies with us. what we do for others & the world remains & is immortal.' this quote is an example of one of the important things i would like to instill in my daughter...giving back, doing good, helping the helpless, having a cause beyond yourself. in addition, i want to give her roots so she knows the importance of a strong & loving family & give her wings so she can fly & explore the endless possiblities of what she can achieve in life if she just puts her heart & mind into it.

list of our dogs that have found loving homes: vinny, sweetie, daisy, enzo, snoop, parker, libby, chloe, luca, kory, randy, bridget, doc, brindle, vince, paco, gordon, max, indy, lanie, shotgun, carson, nalu, penny, bentley, lucy, victory, spot, blondie, crosby, rango, trevor, bubbles, rodeo, lizzy, koda, bubbles, smiley, cooper, matilda, kip, missy, larry, mini, jesse, pete, dottie, izzy, penelope, sally, gabby, vegas, daisy, shadow, libby, rudy, henry & we have 6 more in foster care waiting for their furever homes. For Love of the Heelers :)