Previous Animal Updates: July 12, 2009
You oughta be in pictures!
In our last Animal Update, we brought you the photography of Butch McCartney, one of several professional photographers who volunteer their time in support of our sponsorship program. In this update, we feature the photography of Sarah Ernhart of Sarah Beth Photography. Sarah's photos will be included in our communications with our animals' sponsors.
To see more of Sarah's photos from her Home for Life® shoot, see her blog entry about the experience.
Olive
The essence of Olive: soft and sweet. © 2009 Sarah Beth Photography.
Olive is a female Manx with white fur as soft as a bunny's and extraordinary bi-colored eyes: one yellow and one bright blue. She came to Home for Life® several years ago from Feline Rescue.
As a Manx, Olive does not have great control of her bathroom functions and needs help staying clean. Due to their anatomy, it is a real challenge to keep female Manxes healthy, but HFL's dedicated staff members assure that Olive is always clean. Cleanliness makes a critical difference in maintaining Olive's health by preventing painful infections. Being clean also contributes to Olive's quality of life — like any cat, her appearance is of utmost importance to her.
About two yeas ago, Olive suddenly developed chronic urinary tract and bladder infections that we could not clear up, even with powerful antibiotics. X-rays revealed what looked like a mass in the bladder. Olive was only three years old at the time — too young for cancer, but what else could it be? It was decided to operate in a last-ditch effort to restore her rapidly declining health.
The surgery revealed a weird mass made of infectious matter and tissue — the culprit that was causing Olive's persistent infections. After the surgeon removed the mass and Olive had time to heal, we were thankful to see her energy and health rebound. Olive has remained in excellent health ever since.
Nowadays, Olive is active and loves to venture outside to the cat runs on warm summer days. She also loves curling up in the big napping dishes atop the cat trees. Olive also has at least one very passionate sponsor — Kris Mielke. Kris is planning to compete in the 2009 Ironman Wisconsin endurance race on Home for Life's behalf! See Olive's sponsor goes the distance at right for more information.
Birds of a feather
Candy makes one of his regular bids for attention.
© 2009 Sarah Beth Photography.
It's summertime and Candy is in his glory, eager to welcome guests who come for summer sanctuary tours. Candy has always been atop the HFL bird community's social ladder, and quite possibly atop the Home for Life® social ladder in general. That is, until recently.
Enter Oscar, a striking Catalina Macaw. Oscar is another macho man in feathers with a personality as big as Candy's. What's more, Oscar always has several construction projects going at once, many of which rival Candy's, and he uses his cage as more of a headquarters than a home.
Oscar prepares to leave his headquarters in pursuit of a new project. © 2009 Sarah Beth Photography.
In fact, upon arrival Oscar's arrival, Candy decided he liked Oscar's cage better. Thankfully, Oscar coincidentally seemed to prefer Candy's cage. So they switched. This was totally their OWN idea.
We were worried that Candy would be jealous or threatened by Oscar's arrival, but the two guys have become friends and regularly converse (in "bird," not English) while perched on the tops of their cages.
As for summer projects, each bird seems content with his own plans. Candy has been busy unscrewing the grates to the air return vents. Oscar's favorite project involves putting blankets through the holes he carves in the many cardboard boxes he collects and stacks in his cage.
Due to both birds' voracious appetite for woodcarving, we enlisted the bird store PARROT ISLAND to create special toys for them that would last more than a minute. About every three weeks or so, Candy and Oscar each get a couple of new toys. Each toy weighs several pounds and is made of vibrantly hued pieces of wood in various intriguing shapes, all suspended on a heavy-duty chain. Oscar and Candy spend hours whittling away at their toys and occasionally visit each others' cages for a toy swap.
The only arena where the two bird differ is in their eating habits. Since his arrival, Oscar has been eating a much healthier diet of high-quality pellets, fresh food, and cooked mixes. He relishes each and every bite. Candy, on the other hand, "eats like a bird" but manages to maintain quite a manly physique. We believe he eats on the sly when no one is looking.
It's never too late to get your "diploma"!
Photographer Mark Luinenberg photographed this spring's Renaissance Program graduates. Here, Minnie finds the perfect handler in Mike.
Home for Life's Renaissance Program is now in its 10th year, and for the last two-and-a-half years has partnered with Boys Totem Town of St. Paul, operated by the St. Paul School District and the Ramsey County Corrections Department. The program pairs young HFL dogs with students who love dogs and have an interest in working with them. The boys teach the dogs obedience with the ultimate goal helping them achieve therapy dog certification. The certified dogs then become candidates for participation in Home for Life's Pet Peace Corps outreach programs, which help people in need throughout the Twin Cities.
In addition to providing obedience training, the program also develops confidence in both the dogs and their student handlers. For young dogs who were traumatized as puppies, the Renaissance Program can work wonders by restoring their faith in people and showing them a new world of possibilities.
One such dog is Minnie, a miniature Schnauzer who completed the Renaissance Program this spring.
Minnie came to Home for Life® about three years ago as an adolescent, along with Jack (a Rat Terrier mix) and Fritz (a standard Schnauzer). All three dogs were sadly mistreated by their former owners, a chemically dependent couple. The husband was particularly sadistic, depriving the three dogs of adequate food and even shelter in the harsh northern Minnesota winters.
A friend of the couple, who did not even like dogs, was so aghast at the dogs' maltreatment that he called a friend and HFL donor for help. Through their efforts, the dogs were surrendered to Home for Life®.
As the youngest of the three dogs, Fritz was the most traumatized and has never really recovered from the abuse he endured. Because he was so young, we initially thought he might be amenable to training and enrolled him in the Renaissance Program. However, Fritz's entire sense of security derived from knowing that he had a safe and permanent home at the HFL. He did not want to leave the sanctuary or his new dog friends, even for a short time. Even though he worked with a very kind, patient and gentle student named Daniel, Fritz could only tremble and stand frozen in place. We realized that Fritz needed more time to heal before trying the Renaissance Program again, and that indeed he might never be able to participate.
As the smallest of the three dogs, Minnie arrived at Home for Life® as a self-protective and shy wallflower — a real departure from the typical feisty and self-assured Schnauzer. She did not immediately appear to be a candidate for Renaissance, and we felt protective of her after all she had been through.
Gradually though, as she felt more safe and secure in her new home, her naturally salty Schnauzer personality emerged. She began to respond to the overtures of Harry the Maltese, who would engage her in a game of tag. Minnie revealed herself to be a quiet yet observant and intelligent dog with a sense of humor and fun.
As time went on, Minnie began to long for a new outlet as she watched the other dogs eagerly load into the van for outreach visits. This spring, she seemed ready at last for the Renaissance Program, and she found the perfect handler in Mike. Mike and Minnie had a special rapport from the start. Unlike most of the students, Mike preferred to work with a smaller dog. (Most of the boys want to work with larger more "manly" dogs.)
Minnie and Mike share a quiet moment.
Minnie was anxious to please but easily discouraged. Mike worked patiently with Minnie whenever there was a new challenge. For example, Minnie had difficulty learning to hold the sit for a stay, and would get up to leave every time the command was given. Mike worked diligently and patiently to teach Minnie what was expected, until she understood and could proudly hold a sit-stay as long as was necessary. Minnie and Mike did extremely well in the therapy dog evaluation at the conclusion of the semester, and Minnie will make a tremendous addition to our therapy dog team.
At our annual spring brunch event, Tiramisu for Tails, Mike and Minnie made a splash in the dog parade — Mike in his bow tie and suit and Minnie in her new plaid collar!
There is nothing more rewarding than witnessing the restorative effects of the Renaissance Program on dogs like Minnie, and seeing the pride the kids have in the work they've done and the long-term effect they will have on their communities through the dogs' participation in our Pet Peace Corps.