poor soul

This is heartbreaking we can not abandon a dog in such need.

His face says 'Help me' Can't we help him. it is horrible to see this and not respond. It looks like the swellings may be magotts, but mom has not sen him in the flesh, she has only  seen the photos like you. On both his shoulders he has raised lumps. Mom would know if she could see him. However, if we could raise the money and cure him what would happen afterwards. There is no room for him here. All kennels are full.  we cure him and let him lose again? That is the moral dilemma?

SOS

S.O.S
The black dog has just turned up at the bakery!
Photos tonight when dad gets home. We must do something about him. He just ate eight bread rolls! see posts below for pictures of this poor creature.

Emmy's putting her feet up

Here I am after a hard day's rescue work taking a nap. This sofa belongs to me. Jessie owns the other one and mom and dad have two hard wooden chairs to sit on. We also own the bed. Well mom and dad are still worried they need to sell that bakery quickly and move on. Mom is trying to get professional funding from several organisations, so they can help more dogs and spend more on us. Poor Jessie is still waiting for her surgery for her torn cruciate ligament. We need supplies of ear and eye medications and flea and worm medications. Most of all we need lots of food especially now there is Freddy and the Big Brown Lab. Mom
told me to post  about him seperately on his web site, but I heard mom say he has a big lump in his throat, so he will be going to the vet on Monday. We all like him except for Freddy and Pluto. I think they are jealous because he is so handsome. If,  mom does get proper funding then she said we would have to move to somewhere bigger because we are now at capacity level here and we also annoy the neighbors with our  chatter and sing songs. She and dad would like to devote all their time and energy to helping the others still out there. Like the black dog, He was so sick and without a lot more money there is nothing they can do. Mom said she can't stop thinking about him it was horrible. Mom says about once a month you see an emergency like that and you have to shut your eyes because of lack of funds.

Look who is here

The big brown lab arrived!

Full story and more pics on http://www.bigbrownlab.blogspot.com/

Good News

The Big Brown Lab is coming home tomorrow. Mom will buy a house for him early tomorrow and put him with Panda and Sam for now. Mom will eventually have to build a kennel for him if they manage to keep the house here. Of course, there is also the question of his girlfriend. it is raining none stop and he arrives soaked to the skin and shaking with cold. He is just too old for all this. We can't wait to meet him. Mom will take pictures of his arrival and post them tomorrow. I know because mom said there are a few humans with an interest in him.

All the dogs that passed through here

Mom was reflecting back today and tried to count all the dogs that her and dad have taken off the streets in the last eight years. She lost count at 63 because she could not rmember them all. She also recued a duck, an owl two wild birds and a horse.  She tried to save three monkeys but they died. Mom kept the worst cases-- old dogs like Bonnie, who suffered mutilation by humans, Panda who was severely beaten and bares the scars of a belt buckle until today. She is extremely nervous around men. Misty, who nobody knows what happened, but she is highly nervous, Sam because the cancer might come back. Jessie because of the brain lesion and her disabilities, Cassie because of her disabilities, Little One because she is so nervous, Pluto is just strange, Pebbles because she was so cute and had a broom phobia. if you picked up a broom she would run off in panic thinking you wanted to beat her. Harry because we loved him so much, but he was a real handful for mom at first. Emmy well just because I am so dependent and cute. Gracie because she loved Pluto and mom had the space. Sol nobody would stand-- she barks a lot and is snappy with other dogs and children. Tasha is a killer of other dogs, so can never mix with others although with humans she is beautiful, but then again she is incontinent as well.  Freddy is getting better and seems very happy with his new home, so he will probably stay unless really good people want him. If we can bring the brown lab then he will stay it would not be fair to risk him with anyone else here and his girlfriend too. So lets hope mom and dad can carry on the good work.

Wednesday

Mom and Dad are walking around dazed and we are all so happy for them and us. A very kind lady has donated one thousand dollars to pay the mortgage this month, so you see there is a God for humans. It seemed like a miracle because that moning the little plastic card that mom uses to buy our food would not work anymore and she went into panic. Then this happened the same day. She saw the donation as soon as she arrived home. Just in the nick of time. It is a funny life--mom saved us and now humans will save mom and us.  We all learnt a lot, especially that not all humans are bad. There are quite a few good ones out there--you just have to know how to find them. Anyway we all send big licks, tail wags, and lots of woof woofs to this beautiful person.
Mom and dad are scheming on how to bring home the big brown lab and are making preparations to get him to his furever home. We haven't met him yet but they say he is silly like Freddy. God! I hope he doesn't eat like Freddy, who quite frankly is a bit of a pig woofing down his food. Mom is going to get a special bowl in case he gets the bloat.

weather

We hope you all had a good xmas. Mom could not post a lot because here we have torrential rain and  flooding. We don't like rain very much and tend to hang around the sofa and armchair all day long.  Pebbles hates it.  The elctricity has been coming and going and most of xmas day there was no power at all. Shops in town have water knee deep aand there is a foot of mud outside of the local post office. Walls have collapsed and blocked roads and still the rain is falling. The big brown lab and his female friend were waiting for dad the day after xmas. They did not get fed on xmas day because dad closed the bakery. It was his first day off since he started. He took extra food for them. The black dog seems to have moved on. People were revolted and frightened by his terrible appearance. They shooed him away if he came near. He was treated like a lepper. If you want to help one us like this then you have to grab the dog there and then because we are always on the move. Dad is asking around after him, but nobody up to now knows where he came from or went to. We all shuddered to think how lucky we are to have found this refuge. We hope we can all stay here in peace. We want the two oldies to come and live with us too. Please help facilitate this. Mom is trying to borrow a video camera so she can post a video of us all and our home. Of course, I will be the star performer!

"javascript"

A teribble sight

This poor, poor dog visited dads bakery today. He cried and then mom cried when she saw the photos. He has eyes full of pus, large lumps on his joints which could be cancer,or maybe magotts. He has mange  and mal nutrition. Oh why did we have to see this on Christmas eve with all our problems. This is a massive vet bill, if he can be saved. He should be PTS if not because he is in a terrible state. We are all crying. It's not fair. Please go the extra length. if we can raise 1000 dollars tonight then we would go and get him tomorrow and take him to the 24 hour vets to see if there is any chance for him. It looks pretty hopeless but I am not a vet.  i love Brazil but this is too much

dogs eating from the bakery

Here is the old tiger striped female dad gave her ration and now she is eating bread for dessert. She is also too old to be out there alone

A spot of happiness here

Take a look at Freddie and Cassie. Two labs enjoying each others company. I wanted to join in but mom would not let me because I don't have much of a sense of humour. I am apparently far too competitive.

And the winner was

Cassie! I think that Fredie let her win because he is a gentleman. Please don't forget to chip in and help Mom and Dad save the big old brown lab and the old tiger striped female, so they can play a bit before they get too old. The chip in gadget is further down because mom can't move the damn thing to the sidebar. It not her fault she is a bit slow with technology. She should have asked me. They still need to save our home too because we are all very happy here. Did you notice Little One got in on the photo too? freddie is having another injection tomorrow for his mange and is already improving. The big brown lab is apparently twelve years old someone near Dad's bakery remembers him as a pup. Lets get him home soon. he is too old for all this.

Tuesday

Thank you to all those on the pet blog hop who showed interest and offered to help. Also Merry Christmas to you all! Freddy is doing fine eating well and slowing right down on the scratching. He has had two injections and is due back at the ets on the 27th. He is a beautiful personality and it's difficult not to fall in love with those big sad brown eyes. I still miss Harry. Sam is doing fine-- no reappearance of the cancer. She has settled down well with Panda, who recently lost Riquinho. The big brown lab is still on the streets. He has also been injected for his agonizing mange and Dad is feeding him twice a day. Mom just cannot risk bringing him here at the moment because there isn't a kennel for him and they are still very worried about their financial situation. Thank God we dogs don't have to worry about that too. Mom is going to open another blog site just for him on a dog blog site called 'I Remember love'. She is also going to join forces with other concerned bloggers to hep him. Lets hope this works because he is too old to be out there alone. More pics coming soon.

old brown lab

Look at this poor old guy. He will be spending christmas alone on the streets. Can you help him for christmas? Donate now.  He is in a terrible state. He needs to go and retire somewhere secure with love and food.

Sam

Mom got replies to her e mails about Sam and she has posted them below her picture. Freddy is going to the vets today because he has a new problem. maggots have entered his sores. The vet is the only solution now to resolve him. More money going out and none coming in!!!!!Mom will post photos later today when she has time.

New Dog Freddy

So as you can see Freddy looks very pretty from a distance but the real story is quite different, apart from hunger and no road sense whatsoever, he has a bad case of mange over his whole body. He is greatly irritated and biting until he bleeds with the itchiness. This is a pedigree dog probably bought by the rich to appease one of their kids whims. When the novelty wears off they give the dog to their maids, who of course cannot afford to treat a dog because of the very low wages here. They may love the dog, but won't take it to the vet, or by any products to cure it. So now Mom has to pay 800reais for Riquinho's bill. Blood and faeces tests for Sam and medication to treat Freddy and this is just one week and and lets not forget she still has not paid the outstanding vet bill at the local vet clinic. Freddy seems a nice Guy. Mom says he will have to be castrated because he is in love with Cassie and she had to have both the heads of her femur bones removed due to the incurable displasia that she had when Mom found her crawling in a rubbish dump. Cassie has a very weak back and and cannot be mounted by this handsome huge labrador.

there are other Angels too

Well it looks like we may get a second donation. That gives us all a little optimism that things may get better! We are still in the same shaky situation and we have all had our meat quota cut. After Riquinho died another very needy dog turned up at Dad's bakery full of mange. He was bleeding and severely irritated. Dad called Mom about ten times saying what should I do as he has mange and absolutely no road sense at all. He was running all over the road and in serious danger. He was obviously freshly abandoned. Mom said well bring him home then. They could not stand by and watch a young dog (nearly 35 kilos) get run over. Here everybody worries about mange being contagious and immediately throw their dog out onto the streets. Mom will post a picture of him soon. He has been injected with ivemec and will have to have treatment for some time to see if his fur grows back. Dad also rescued a dog from the river today. What a hero! Please help us so we can stay here all together with Mom and Dad.  The new dog is with Cassie and Little One and seems very pleased with his new surroundings.

Save the 14

Angels Exist
Thankyou the beautiful lady in Texas that gave the one and only donation in three years. Thankyou for believing in mom and thankyou for caring about us street dogs. It was a very emotional moment for mom. She was so happy even though we are still in the same situation. It was not the amount that mattered--. it was the deed. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou 

not a drop of happiness anymore

Riquinho died today at around midday. He died alone in the vets clinic. Mom could not be with him because their is too much work here. He was a nice old chap and Panda will miss him a lot because they shared a kennel and slept together even though they did not have to. He had a tick disease and was around 15 years old. he just could not stand anymore 14 days in the vets clinic and no improvement. We are all very sad and Mom is crying again. Mom cries every day. She said at least he does not have to go through the trauma of being given to some uncaring Brazilian, or euthanized because we are about to lose it all. Mom and dad don't even have money for our food anymore and bread is becoming top of the menu. Nothing goes right she says, nobody gives a damn, only their own little microcosms matter their kids and their pets. Dad is bringing home his body at eight o clock tonight after he finishes his 17 hour day. Mom has been on her feet since 5'o clock this morning only a very few special people appreciate their efforts. Riquinho at least had a long and full life, which is more than can be said for many of the dogs that have ended up here because they were ill in the streets. I remember the little four week old german shepherd that mom tried to save. The mother was poisoned and mom and two friends divided the puppies. We all stayed up at night watching her try to save him--he died anyway. As did tall he other puppies. Another one was little panda 2 ,another puppy whose pancreas did not work she died too, there have been quite a few. Nobody appreciates Mom's efforts really. Worst still Mom thinks Sam and Gracie may have the same illness, but has no money to check this out before they get really bad. She owes the vet here money and had to take Riquinho forty kilometres away because the local vet won't treat us anymore even though Mom has paid him a fortune during the last eight years. well soon we will all be gone from the blog site as  time is nearly up for the telephone line to be cut. I expect many of you will be wondering what happened to us all, however wondering is not enough!

Sunday

Well some more people came to see the house, but no offers yet. Mom still dreams on and thinks that will give her more time to wait and see if an Angel appears. Riquinho is still in the vets and not eating yet. God knows what the bill will be. Still mom loves the little old guy.  Dad's street dog, the one that is a bown labrador has mange and needs treating for this. He is also losing weight again for some reason. We are powerless and without resources to help him. He is old so he would also be a high risk dogfor a lot more expenses. Poor old Guy. Imagine being that old and on the streets with mange, no teeth and probably some other illness too. He is a pure breed dog, so someone once bought him and then the novelty wore off.

No Hope, No comments, no contributions!!!!!!No hearts

Mom and Dad got turned down for their business loan today, so they are stranded penniless in brazil with us 14 on their backs. mom is crying. The bakery is not making money because dad can't  buy stock for it. We don't know what will happen next. Dad is too old to go back to England and work. He probably would not get a job anyway. Mom has health poblems so we are all stuffed! Dad nearly cried when he realised that when we close the bakery at the end of the month then he will have to leave his three street dogs who now depend on him for food. Two of them are really old. The Bakery is 40 kilometeres from where we are. Oh no! mom has started crying agan. It was incredible that not a soul in the whole wide world made a single contribution to help us here. Dad says it is because we are in Brazil and the whole world thinks Brazilians are bandits, but mom and dad are not Brazilians only us dogs are. Mom said anyone could visit and verify the situation if they were interested enough.  Well we will be gone soon Mom said the time is nearly up for them to cut the telephone and internet. They gave Mom 45 days to pay the bill, but of course our food took priority and Riquinho is still in the vets very ill running up yet another bill. Up to yesterday it was 270 reais and he still is not eating. Mom thinks he will probably die because he is very old.. Nothing goes right here. Plans never work out just like us dogs. We plan to have decent owners that love us but for the most part here in Brazil that is just a dream.

prospective buyer

Well it looks like the man wants our home. Mom says she hates him because he is buying our stability and all our memories although she knows it is not his fault. She said once he gives a deposit on Monday then thats that. We are out! not that anyone cares anyway. lets hope we can all stay together and some one accepts letting 14 dogs into a rental home. The save the 14 campaign was a dismal disaster without a single contribution--it is hard to beleive. Mom and dad give to charity and the have next to nothing. They supported an old woman in the himalayas for years. The always give a little to the homeless here in Brazil and all of us. They have helped a lot of people and now no one wants to know. As Bobby Womack said, 'Nobody wants to know you when your down and out'.

Saturday

Well today some one is coming to see the house to buy it, which is better than the bank taking it, but still mum is very sad because she does not know where we will all go. We will be at the mercy of landlords who may complain about the noise we make. We can't help barking and howling sometimes. We may not even find a landlord to accept all of us. Riquinho is ill at the moment and it does not look good for him. He is around 15 and has a lesion on his kidney and a bladder full of stones, with an infection too. He is taking medication all day long. Little Sam (the pretty one)who looks like a Cairn terrier, only she isn't because of her floppy ears, is doing okay. The tumor hasn't reappeared and we all wish her well. She is too young to die. Mom is still wishing for her miracle, but the chip in gadget just chipped out. None of us understood the notion of 'chip in' because to us chips are fried potatoes. Mom says they are the great British invention although the French would dispute that. Still apparently no body sent a single chip! Well if the guy offers to buy the house then the great roller coaster of worry will be put into motion. Where will we go, how will mom move us and build new kennels for us in a week? we just don't know. She looks very worried now! She doen't want to leave Harry here. He is buried near to the house because he was so dependent. Then there is our special pathway with our stones each one has our name paw print and a mosaic sun that mom made especially. So many memories--Tequila, Bonnie, the others that died in the first days too weak and ill to make it. They are all here resting peacefully. All the plants and flowers that mom planted. We thought this was our home and now we will all have to go.

Some of dad's street dogs that will also suffer as we hit rock bottom

His eye is all damaged by the constant fights. Dad has been feeding him for nearly three months.

This old scarred dog is always being beaten up because he only has teeth in one side of his mouth. He also has been fed by Dad since he opened the Bakery, if you look closely you can see that even after three months of feeding his ribs are still visible.

Mom cried yesterday

Mom received a reply from the Colonel Potter Cairn Rescue and they said that Sam, the new little dog with cancer, is not a cairn terrier because she has drop down ears. Well that did not matter to Mom. What made her cry was that the nice lady, called Sue, said to Mom 'thank you for taking care of the street dogs. What a wonderful thing you do'. Mom said it was the nicest thing she had heard for months and was really happy that somebody appreciates her and then she cried. She is keeping the e mail to look at it when she is depressed.

A Tribute to Harry, Bonnie and Tequila

As you all know our pack leader and best friend Harry died recently Mom says he is at the Rainbow bridge so this is for him and the others that died.

New pictures of some of us

First of course me!

Now a very grown up Pluto.

Pluto and Gracie AKA The Terrible Twins. yes we know that they don't look anything like each other!

This is Mini abandoned by her owner who moved to an apartment in Rio de janeiro.

This old dog has been adopted by our Dad at the Bakery. He is feeding three street dogs there as well as all of us.

Is this a Cairn Terrier?

This  is the little dog with a tumor. She seems very nice and loves mom. She is having her fourth chemotherapy session on Thursday. We all hope she makes it. She is a bit of a joker like Tequila was. Mom says she looks like a Cairn Terrier. We think she is just another Vira lata. What do you think?

Sam is not a pedigree, Mom found out. We all love her playful cute character anyway especially mom. Here are some of the e mails mom got about her

You e-mail was blocked for some reason so we missed it. We apologize for our late response.
We are a family from Belgium and we love animals and dogs in particular. We have several dogs, most are Havanese.
It's a great job you do with the street dogs. We think it's wonderful that people help them. We try to support friends of us who do the same here in Belgium. We used to work as volunteers in a local animal shelter, but since we have several dogs of our own now and we do lots of activities with them we don't have time anymore to do that. Dogs mean a lot to us. They are trustworthy and so attached.
The dog on the picture is a very special dog. We are so sorry to hear that she has cancer. 
We don't think that she is a Havanese. Her coat is different and she is too large in size. A Havanese is between 23 and 27 cm. It's like a Maltese but a little bit larger and can have all kinds of colours and patterns.
The coat of a Havanese is long, but doesn't touch the ground. It's silky or wavy.
Her head is also different. The ears are placed higher than in Havanese.
But she is a pretty dog though. We can't define the breed. It's possible that she's a mix of several breeds.
We've also visited your blog. Great job! Keep up the good work!

Lots of greetings,
Linda, Kristine, Laura
& i nostri Felici Animali
www.felici-animali.be





And here is another one
No this isn't a Cairn terrier. They do not have drop ears. The coloring is
similar and she could be a Cairn mix of some kind. Possibly with some
Soft-coated Wheaten terrier - do they have that breed in Brazil? She is
beautiful whatever she is - thank you for taking care of the street dogs -
what a wonderful thing to do.

All the best,
Susan
Volunteer Coordinator - CPCRN

yet more bad news

The little dog mom picked up starving who she thought had a prolapsed uterus apparently has a vaginal tumor. Mom took her to vets who removed it and spayed her. She was started on chemotherapy immediately. Oh my God more money going out and not enough coming in. Hey what could mom do leave her to die? A lot of people would in fact the majority here would. I love my mom! I wish other people could see how good she is and how she sacrifices for her canine family here. Not a single donation and less than two weeks t go!!!

YET MORE PROBLEMS

Well mom is still very depressed but she is so busy with illnesses that she has not had much time to reflect on the impending doom looming over all of our heads. Still nobody responds to our cries for help. Erica Jong wrote if God was a Dog--huh obviously not. Well one of the two new dogs here (photos soon) had a pyometra, which is an infection in the uterus that is very common in unspayed dogs. She was abandoned because her owner moved to an apartment in Rio apparently. This will cost mom and dad another 500 reais and the other little dog that mom took last week wwho was hanging around town for over five months while  Mom watched her get thinner and thinner until all her ribs and spinal column became visible and saw that she was not going to make it alone. She was here for three days and has now got a prolapsed uterus so she will be spayed on Friday i fshe is up to surgery by then because she is very mal nourished. Her uterus is visible and open to infection, so this will mean more money. Mom says we are all in deep, deep trouble and if we are all angels then we should all pray. We are doing all we can to help and we are eating less food to help although some like Cassie are complaining. I don't complain because I can see her suffering in the house and I know that she is also eating less and cutting back on everything. Although without a Guardian Angel it is obvious that we won't make it.  

We are worried

Well as you can imagine we are all very worried about the dire situation here. Mom has given up and sunk into depression and we all want to help her. It is only the humans who don't want to help. We can all sense there is something very wrong just like the first few moments after a human abandons a dog. We usually panic suddenly feeling very alone and begin to run frantically along the streets looking for the people we depended on. When that wears off we begin to get hungry and afraid. We know what mom is suffering. The only difference is she can't visit restaurants and sit looking at the clients wagging her tail hoping they throw a scrap of food her way like we can. The general consensus of opinion from friends and family is that she is stupid to have wasted her money on us. Some have even suggested get rid of the dogs.Well! of course, we despise this sort of advice and we know that mom loves us with all of her heart and won't abandon us. These people just don't understand what it is to love. We understand because loyalty and love are canine traits and not normally human traits.

Lost the house

well the bad news is mom and dad remortgaged the house and now can not afford to pay the payments so we are all moving hope they can find someone to accept all of us. Mom is crying and angry because nobody gives a damn not even those closest. Nobody wants to know you when you are down and out we know that because we were all in the street and down and out. They remortgaged the house to find a way of paying for our huge maintenance bills and bought a bakery but it is not makng enough to pay for everything we need. It probably will some time in the future but by then it may be too late. Mom tried everything to save it but it is not to be. Let's hope we don't lose the only two people who ever loved and treated us with respect. What a shit world we live in! Just because mom is not a registered charity nobody helps. Mom gets up at 5.30 to clean kennels feed and let us all out in rotation. Dad goes to the Bakery at 4.30 and does not return until 8.pm He does this seven days a week. They say God helps those who help themselves, but he doesn't. They do not have the money to construct all of our kennels in another location. Mom works all day until 6.30. She cooks for us because it is cheaper than buying food. She cooks vegetables, rice and meat, with dog ration. There are two new dogs here as well. Mom took one in that was half her normal body weight. She is really a sorry sight. Mom said to St Francis 'if I accept that dog, which I really cannot afford to with all of my problems then help me, but he didn't. She told us today to forget the big dog in the sky because he is probably just as indifferent as the human one, or maybe they are one and the same!

Emergency Leishmaniasis

We are all very frightened here. The neighbours dog has a disease called leishmaniasis which is fatal. The vet is doing a second test on her and should it prove positive she will be killed by the vet. We are no more than twenty metres from her. The disease is transmitted by mosqiutoes known as sand flies. There is a vacination for dogs but it requires three shots at 80 reais each, so mum needs 240 reais per dog times twelve now that poor Harry is dead. Totalling 2,880 reais. A huge sum of money here and impossible for her to get. She has been praying for a miracle but they are few and far between in todays harsh world even we know that. Mum and Dad can also get this disease as humans get it too. We are desperately hoping someone will help but still there has not been any response from any of the 'animal lovers' worldwide. Incredible!It is one problem after another for mum and dad they try so hard to do good things but without a proper income and infrastructure they are very vulnerable financially. Mum is still very upset about Harry we all miss him so much.

Really Bad News

Hi!
I`m Emmy`s mum writing because Emmy and the others are all too shocked and sad to speak right now. Harry died on the 19th July at around 11.15am Brazilian time. He came early in the morning to give me his usual morning nuzzle, which normally goes on for a full five minutes. He was in perfect health and ran to the gate barking as usual. Everything was totally normal. He ate his breakfast and hung around as normal. He even came into the bathroom with me because he always took a shower with me. We had noticed he was looking older lately and slightly thinner but he was just as fit as ever. He played with Misty like a young pup. We heard a weird scream around 11.15. He was in the bathroom, which also was totally normal for him. We went running to see what was going on and found him dead. I tried artificial resusication for more than ten minutes until a vet arrived but it was hopeless. He seemed to have suffered a massive heart attack. Since then I haven`t stopped crying. I miss him so much. Th house seems so quiet and empty without my beautiful Harry. We will never really know how old he was as he was a street dog from Copacabana. We reckon around 10 or 11 years. We tearfully buried him in a coffin and laid flowers on his grave. I can`t pass the grave without talking to him. I hate to think of him out there all alone he was so dependant and desperate for attention all the time. God how we all miss him. Misty is at a loss and Emmy has no one to hassle. This mission is very hard to bear at times. He was with us eight years and was one of our five house dogs. He like all the others was unique and irreplaceable. The only consoling factor was that he did not suffer like Tequila and Bonnie.

Visit Draw the Dog to see hundreds of delightful dog cartoons.

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1991134,00.html
here are just a small percentage of the huge number of stray dogs in Brazil living in misery waiting for a miracle. Adoption here is minimal and large numbers are killed by traffic, starvation, and cruelty.

Well! almost two years since mum started this blog and the response has been amazing! Not a single donation or offer of practical help and only one comment so far. Mum and Dad have been working hard trying to make ends meet, but of course with such a large family it i a constant strugle. There is still one empty kennel here but not enough money to put one of the tragic street dogs there. Nobody wants to sponser one, so it remains empty. mum has seen another two dogs dead in the road and many more maimed and crippled on the streets. The Western world all profess to be dog lovers, but they only love their own personal dogs. There are ten dogs here that need teeth cleaning and Harry has another ear infection. Just to give you all out there an idea of the expense---teeth cleaning is 90 reais each dog. The medication for Harry`s ear is 40 reais and that is not counting the four vaccinations this month and our food. Fortunately there have not been any real big emergencies health wise here for a while. Jessie still has not had her other leg surgery done for the same reason. This is exactly why the a kennel remains empty and as each one of us passes on (we are all getting pretty old now xcept for Pluto and Gracie) then more kennels will be left empty. We all think it such a shame that there is no help at all out there for the few humans who care about us. Well we certainly are a bunch of down in the mouth depressed dogs at the moment. Above are two pictures of another abandoned horse. Mum is trying to treat the horse but can only borrow the abandoned stable for three days. So there isn`t much hope there because she has no where to keep a horse. She also doesn`t have the money for a vet or transport to a vet. the horse has a bad wound full of maggots. Not many humans around here give a damn about it. the horse is worth more money dead as meat than alive.

Two sad pictures the first is a dead dog that was in the process of being devoured by a pack of vultures still present behind the dog. They fled when we arrived to get a picture. The second is a baby horse born in the streets desperately eating from the communal rubbish bins. Well hope all of you had a nice christmas.

Hi Folks, We all survived the fireworks on New Years Eve! Although Panda and Jessie nearly had heart attacks. Above is a pic of Gracie after being speyed just before Christmas. She wasn't very happy about being grounded for ten days and seperated from Pluto. She stayed in the house with us and made a real pest of herself complaining non stop. We are all glad she is now better and back with Pluto. Below is a pic of one of the best looking German Shepherds in Brazil, of course, it is me reclining attractively on the sofa. If, anyone knows of a better looking GSD than me please send in their photo and we can have a vote on it! Meanwhile here Jessie is still waiting for her surgery due to financial issues. Everybody is due for their annual vaccinations too. Panda had a slight tummy bug but was soon better. The weather is very hot. Still nobody responds to our website. Mom saw a dead dog in the road yesterday being eaten by vultures she says she will post the photo next time.