WOOF CONNECTIONS: UPDATE ON THE ARKANSAS DOG SITUATION...

Many of you may already know the situation Woof Connections is currently trying to help with in Arkansas, but for those of you who do not, here is the summary. We were contacted by Kevin's niece, Wendy, about a large pack of dogs (some apparently starving) on some property not far from us. Wendy's friends, Robin and Nick, took a picture of some of the dogs that Wendy later "tagged" Allie in on Facebook.

Well of course we knew we had to help in some way. Over the past few weeks, a team of us (Kevin, Allie, Wendy C., Robin C., Nick, C., Lauren Y., Brian Y., and Kelly S.) have befriended the owner of the dogs, Mr. B. The team of course goes beyond these people, but these are the ones on the "front lines" at this point (will pay respect to the others in a bit). Mr. B has a good heart, but he just didn't have enough funds to spay and neuter the dogs so it quickly became out of control. There are currently at least 35 adult dogs and several puppies (that we could see anyway) on the property.

Some people do not realize this, but people often dump dogs in the country when they are no longer wanted. In this area, there is no animal control facility that will claim responsibility for the strays in the country because they are considered "county dogs". Therefore, the numbers multiply quickly or sadly, the dogs just do not make it. Mr. B tries to care for many of the unwanted strays. We must be clear here...we are NOT going to belittle Mr. B. Yes, we realize that the conditions on this property are far from ideal. We are there to help at this point. However, we hope that Mr. B will learn to trust us in time and will allow us to re-home some of the dogs he is understandably attached to. He has already allowed us to take several puppies and a pregnant dog so far.

Kevin and Wendy feeding the troops

Jo (Wendy's daughter) and Kelly meeting the crew

Jo, Wendy, and Kelly

Our immediate goals include building proper shelters for the dogs as well as some smaller pens. We plan to spay the females as soon as we can get smaller pens built for recovery areas and secure the appointments. Most of these dogs have not been socialized with other people very much, so they will be flight risks. We are needing 10 x 10 pens, fencing material, large dogs houses, and other materials necessary to make this come together.

After the "pack" can be separated into smaller groups to make it more manageable, we plan to start treating them for mange with Revolution. It appears they all have sarcoptic mange and are absolutely miserable right now (it is caused by mites that burrow under the skin...they itch tremendously). We want to thank our good friends at Wish Upon a Paw in Wisconsin, Emily A. and Natalie N., for their VERY GENEROUS donation! They are in the process of sending us an entire case of Revolution (saving us nearly $600)! Check out Wish Upon a Paw's wonderful rescue work at WISH (click here)!

We are waiting on some information regarding low-cost spay/neuters in Memphis and surrounding areas. We could really use some experienced dog rescuers to help transport the females to their appointments in Memphis. Allie is generally available to pick them up, but since most of us work full-time, we have a very difficult time getting them to their appointments in the morning. If you can help, please call Allie at 901-240-9848 or email allieot98@yahoo.com We could use some large crates for transport as well (we will certainly return them when we finish).

Some very happy (and full) doggies today! You can imagine the amount of dog food required daily to feed these poor babies!

Woof Connections would like to thank Shelley S. of DOGS ONLY (click here) in AR, who INCREDIBLY has offered to help pay to spay most of the females!!!! We are also grateful to Ruth E. of PROJECT SNAP (click here) in MO for helping to coordinate some of this "rescue" stuff and for starting a Chip In to help pay for the vetting of these pups. Special thanks to Elizabeth W. with KEG ANIMAL RESCUE (click here) for taking in some of the puppies as well as Mama dog, Spotty! We appreciate fosters Carolyn and Nancy so very much as well! Without foster homes, dogs like Spotty would be still wondering when her next meal would be and where she could have her babies safely. It definitely takes a village and we are so proud to be part of such a great team! Lastly, we are humbled by the generosity of all of you who have donated to this cause- THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts.

If you are able to help financially with vetting, please contribute to the CHIP IN for Medical Care AR Pups (click here). If you live in the Memphis/West Memphis (or nearby) areas and would like to help in other ways, please contact Allie! To reiterate....in addition to monetary donations, we desperately need donations of good quality DOG FOOD, LARGE DOG HOUSES, PLYWOOD (and other building materials), PALLETS, T-STAKES, CHAIN LINK (or Chain Link Dog Pens), STRAW, and anything else you think would help these pups. You can email info@woofconnections.org or call Allie at 901-240-9848 if you'd like to help! Here are some of the fur-babies we can help with your support: