Tian's Shop

Today mom and dad visited their friend Tian. He is a very good carpenter and makes rustic furniture from demolition wood usually from old colonial farms being demolished around here. The wood is all noble wood, all hard wood. These wood types are Brazilian and have names like: Jacaranda, Peroba, Ype, Canela, and Sicupira. Many of these are now ilegal to cut down. We have several pieces of Tian's furniture in our house. I personally scratched one table by climbing on it. Mom was not pleased with me. I only wanted to look out of the window from a better angle. Tian is also going through a hard time as the tourists have vanished.

This Dog is not for sale. In fact Tian and his wife like dogs a lot and have adopted several from the streets. This is one of them.

Tian's tables and things.

Tian's furniture would be considered extremely cheap in the first world. We are thinking about selling it from a website so, if anyone wants to order any made to measure furniture for their homes or to resell then Tian is the man.

Mom saw this nasty looking thing whilst in the shop. Tian also built a new workshop for three men to work in, but it does not look like he will need it for a while. A resident in the new workshop is enjoying the shelter another one from the street adopted by Tian and his wife. It looked like Gracie's twin.

 On the way home mom and dad saw a dog stealing from a rubbish bin. He was caught in the act!

Look at that guilty expression!

Please don't forget to chip in.

Nothing new here. The truth that has been luking behind mom and dad for a while has suddenly become easier to see without the constant disaster activity to blur it. Mom is wringing her hands and wondering how they will pay all of next months bills. The Chip in has been inactive for quite a while. The few small donations dried up last month to a tiny trickle. None of the Foundations even bother to answer mom and none of the other organisations even care if 16 dogs get chucked on the street without home or food in the near future. Mom started this campaign to try to get our home back into her name. A handful of kind people kept them going two or three more months, but now they are in financial meltdown. We don't know what to do for them. They have been so good to us and always loved us dearly. We want to help them but we can't. If they did not have to pay the morgage and credit cards every month then they would have a chance. They decided that after all that happened here, if they could pay off the morgage and sell here then they would. They would then go to another state and start again with all of us in tow. They need to be near a big town with everyday industry etc. Even teresopolis could be a possibility. If only..........................

No teresopolis this weekend

Mom and Dad could not make it to Teresopolis this weekend. Mom is still quite ill with her cold, or flu hatever it is. She says that she has opened a twitter account to raise money for us. The next rescue, if we manange to raise any money will be called 'Twitter'. Mom was secretly hoping it could be the black one from Teresopolis, but he has probably gone to a new home by now. It was just nostalgia thinking of their dog that died all those years ago. They are hoping to be in action next week helping with the move at the shelter and finding new ways to fund raise here in Brazil. Locals should be more involved. Two days ago a man came to the front gate and told mom she had to take a mother and four pups, or he would release them in the streets. She told him off and sent him on his way,but he will probably do just that. We need a programme here in town. It is a tiny town, so with just a little funding we should keep on top of the situation. If we could manage ten spays or castrations per month it would make a huge difference. Now four more are going into the neighborhood and will breed. They were all females, Mom asked. Even the mayor of this little village sends all people wth dog problems to mom. Twice a week at least problems knock on our gate. people arrive with dying dogs expecting miracles. It is sad.

Friday

Mom and Dad are in depression again. There is absolutely no way to make money here in Brazil, not enough to pay all our expenses. Mom spent the day writing to foundations to see if she can get any funding for us. The situation is getting critical again because if they pay what they owe then they will have exactly zero and we can't eat zero. She wants to become a professional shelter and help more-- not disintergrate into a disaster. She is still awaiting her miracle, I love my mom, so I will go lick her face again. She even wrote to Micky Rourke, but has not received any reply. We are worried again. The disaster has killed off all tourist business around here. Shops to rent don't sell anything. Wages are pitiful and hardly pay for mom and dad's food.

MOM

Mom just stole my sofa! I walked into the lounge and she is stretched out filling up my sofa. I am trying to be nice about it, but I am a bit peeved. I left my sofa for five minutes only and she moved in. She never lies on my sofa. She was lying in her bed with what you humans call a cold when she got up and said it was too hot in the bedroom and just slumped on MY sofa.
She went to the vets this morning with Gracie for more tests and we should no if there is anything wrong with her soon. She looks fine to me eating and playing all the time. Dr bruno just managed to secure 300 kilos of Royal Canine ration for the dogs in the shelter. Mom is going to start a campaign to help  him out because he is now working seven days a week, four at the shelter and three at his clinic, paying all his own expenses after our Angel paid him he continued voluntarily. The other volunteer  vets all left on the 9th march except for Jaqueline, so things are still difficult. The shelter is getting on top of the situation now. The good news is the sick puppy on the drip pulled through and is fine now. It does have an owner,  a very poor guy who just wandered into the shelter begging for help. Dr Bruno could not refuse him. He stayed with his dog all day for three days, whilst it was being treated. Samba the other sick dog has improved greatly and is practically back to normal too. This makes it all worthwhile. When mom is better they will return to Teresopolis to get photos of Samba and the puppy. There are so many puppies that they don't have names just numbers at the moment. There is another adoption fair this weekend in Rio by the beach, so let us hope they all get some good homes.  Mom is trying to raise money for us and Dr Bruno all at once and I think the stress of the last few weeks finally got to her, so I am going to lick her face and forgive her for stealing my sofa.

Teresopolis Saturday

Dr. Bruno and Dr. Jaqueline are still working hard at the animal shelter in Teresopolis. Every day there are ups and downs. We start with a picture of a very cute baby, who is unfortunately sick, but we hope he makes it. He was sitting here naturally posing.

Mom and Dad also saw a gorgeous healthy dog that reminded them of a dog they had that died more twenty years ago. Humans have very long memories.The dog in the shelter looks like a Portuguese Water dog. It was hard for them to tell if he was really one or not. He is only young and full of life. Mom really wanted to bring him home but finances cannot withstand one more here. Their Portuguese Water Dog died when it was just two and a half years old with cancer. Mom always said she wanted another one. They are such fun dogs and intelligent too. Not as intelligent as me though! I said that not Mom. Here He is

That is Dad cleaning his cage. He has to wear boots because of all the mess those poor abandoned dogs make. They don't have grass like us to pee on. It is not often a healthy young dog gets in here, they are usually old or sick, or even dying. There have been a few exceptions though and luckily I was one. Gracie was another. Next is a dog called Samba. She is very sweet and docile. She has been very ill with pneumonia, but is pulling round. Yesterday she stood up. We gave her the remains of our chicken lunch.

Dr Bruno started off being paid for by our private donor and is now working voluntarily. He is a real Angel. Dr jaqueline too is an Estimacao NGO vet and working voluntarily. She and Dr Bruno drive miles at their own expense and last night they left the Shelter at past midnight.

Early this morning Dr Bruno treated a dog that has an owner. The lady that baths all the dogs has this very fluffy looking dog who made the mistake of trying to play with a toad. This is a very dangerous game here in Brazil. Anyway the toad released its poison into the dogs mouth and when he arrived early at the shelter his muscles were all stiff and he had started having convulsions. He spent the day there with Dr Bruno attending him. He was put on a drip and medicated. By the end of the day he was completely normal and fit to go home. We all cheered because it is so good to see dogs getting better. Here he is ready to go home.

We love his clothes and now we all want outfits like him too. He is very chic.

Here all the puppies. As you can see there are far too many to count. They give Dr. Bruno a lot of work becase they are so fragile. There is too much work for Dr. Bruno and Dr. jaqueline. They both have other professional responsibilities and are doing very long days for the shelter. We at Dogs in Brazil think they are doing a wonderful job.  

Thursday

If you look carefully in this fruit tree you can see one of the little critters that drive us crazy. They steal mom and dad's bananas, they eat the bird's eggs and chicks and they once managed to decapitate a quail. We all want to get them, but they move very fast and hardly ever come down from the trees. Sam goes hysterical and screams like somebody is murdering her every time she sees one.

   Here she is watching this one on the roof.

Sam is watching this monkey hoping it will fall. Why don't they ever fall?

Sam has her mouth open just in case one does.  

It has been a quieter week for Mom and Dad and us because of all the rain. Mom and Dad have been around locally and there are a lot of dogs here in the streets. They hang round the supermarket and beg for food. Its a hard life on the streets. We never heard anymore regarding the old stripey dog, so we will never know. Dr Bruno just had a difficult weekend at the shelter. He got bit on the behind by a dog. I guess vets are always at risk from our very sharp teeth and hey! find me a dog who likes vets! I just see that uniform and I start shaking. The only one here who likes the vet is Freddy and that is because he is a bit stupid! Mom is going to start her campaign again to save our home and they are examining the possibilities of trying to make money in the third world. Not an easy task!

Fame

Today I am a very proud dog. Our Dad made it to the front page of the IDA (In Defense of Animals)newsletter. They show him doing Search and Rescue a few weeks back. We are all quite famous now. Nicki is famous, I am famous and Mom's writing a book about Jessie so we hope she will be famous too. Mom told me that a famous guy called Andy Warhol once said that, 'everyone is famous for 15 minutes of their lives'. So we have had our quota here. Yesterday Mom and Dad were at the shelter helping all day. There was one very good moment when Bonnie the KC volunteer handed over to Patricia,  the head of Estimacao a huge wad of cash. $2000-- This was the money for the vet that we were all unable to find. What a nice gesture. Today the first KC volunteer vets will arrive and they will work alongside Dr Bruno (Our Dogs in Brazil Vet privately paid for by our own special person) for a while. He works seven days a week including his work in Dr Antonio's clinic and he is getting tired because the work is so intense and stressful. Mom and Dad say they will soon be taking a rest too because there are now enough vets there to cope with all the problems. ThankGod! Mom and Dad are going to concentrate on our local street dog problem again and us. They are going to try and raise money to start helping local dogs and spaying and neutering some of the many strays around here.
The photo that appeared in the IDA news letter was taken on the day that dad rescued three dogs with the KC. One was a gorgeous yellow, labrador mix, and it was very thin. Yesterday this dog got returned to the shelter by the foster owner who said he was aggressive. We played with him for quite a while and could not detect any aggression in him at all. Here he is playing with the kids that help at the shelter.

He looks really, really aggressive doesn't he????? He was actually an adorable young dog who just wanted to play. Mom said she would take him if she had an empty kennel  and more resources. Mom and Dad are working on resolving that problem at the moment. We all hope this little fellow gets a great home with some patient, puppy loving people.

This little beauty is tiny and found a new furever home yesterday. She was just like a little toy dog. Mom said that just my head is bigger than her. She could not live here with us because we are all big and clumsy and we may squash her on the sofa because she is so tiny. We liked her though!

This poor little soul is sick. Mom helped Dr Bruno force feed him and treat him.

The adult dog is in shock and connected to a drip. She has gastro enteritis and lost a lot of blood then her body temperature dropped, andher blood pressure too causing her to faint and enter shock. She stayed on the treatment table all day on a drip and had plastic bottles of warm water placed around her. The puppy, which is not hers was also being treated for mal nutrtion. He sensed the warmth of the bottles and snuggled right down there too! It has been cold and raining the whole week. Mom is very worried about more floods and landslides here. She keeps looking out at the mountains with a very worried look.

These two horses were running free all over a main road on the way to Teresopolis. Mom and Dad did not know if they are abandoned horses due to the disaster or have just escaped!

Here is the magnificant Guga. He is getting a bit fatter now that he has assumed his right as leader of our pack to steal our food. We all love him even though he snores very loudly every night. I love him and even Mad Misty loves him.

This little puppy is featured here just because he is so cute.

Teresopolis Yesterday

Dad went to the shelter yesterday and had to profound moments: one of happiness and one of sadness. First the happy moment. The dog below was thrown in a bag from a car window to the shelter.

The poor little fellow is blind and has a leg injury. There has not been a vet there, so we don't know if his leg is broken, or just badly bruised. Tomorrow Etimacao vet Jaqueline will be there to see. On saurday the first Kinship Circle Vets will arrive. Thank God, So long without proper veterinary care full time. Dad thought that nobody would ever want the little chap. Although his sight has gone maybe due to the blow on the head when he hit the ground, he still responded to dads voice. During the day two Angels, who have 40 street dogs in their home came by and said they would take him and he would be the lady's companion going every where with her and even to work with her.  They also took two very old dogs with them. Tomorrow Dr Bruno, thanks to our Angel will be there through to Monday. After this weekend when the KC,  Brazilian, volunteer vets arrive Dr Bruno will go back to his normal life. We can all relax then knowing the dogs have vets to take care of them. Now the sad moment.this little puppy is dead.

This photo was taken moments after he died, most likely from mal nutrition. It gave me a terrible feeling of profound sadness to see this. I felt sorry for poor dad dealing with this.

There are over forty puppies in the shelter and this little fellow looks like he is going to make it. There is a Kinship Circle volunteer called Bonnie working with the puppies. She is feeding them and cleaning their area and trying her best to look out for them. Being an animal recuer is not easy it involves a mixture of sadness and happiness. Nothing is simple in life. Here in Brazil it has been raining non stop for three days. We are on major alerts for more landslides and flooding. The river is full to bursting point again. We are all worried here.   

Our Teresopolis work

Today Dad is in the Teresopolis shelter again. Yestreday there was only Bebete and a handful of cleaners, so Dad had to go and help.Tomorrow and from then onwards there will be a vet everyday. Here is one more photo of an adorable , but thin dog he has no name yet.

Mom fell in love with him when she saw the photo. His her eyes are so sparkly saying I am full of personality give me a chance to prove it please. Later in the day mom called dad and that very same dog was being injected at that moment. Dad cut off the phone call because the dog bit the person holding him and escaped he then got into a fight with another dog. Fortunately all wounds were superficial.
I have not forgotten the Stylish Blogger award and we will still be giving the other two out. The problem has been because mom and dad have been so busy since the disaster. Things should calm down soon and I can do the Blog Hop to with mom again. Gracie has not been back to the vet because she scheduled for today but it has been raining where the clinic is and it is flooded again.  It is also raining here again and everybody is scared.