my story as told by one of the volunteers who rescued me...
"I found myself climbing a fence"
Late at night on December 20, I found myself climbing a 6-foot fence in a disaster zone.
It started the night before, when I had come flying out of the bathroom, toothbrush still in hand, raving about the story I had overheard from the girl next to me at the sink. For the last seven days, I’d been working with a hurricane relief organization in Houston, Texas with four of my good friends, and now I had a new focus.
I threw open the door to the communal sleeping quarters and paused, standing between someone’s half-inflated air mattress and someone else’s dirty laundry, with the four wondering faces of my friends pointed at me, and I stuttered:
“So there are these dogs…”
Flash forward. It’s pitch black and nearly 24 hours on the dot since I exited the bathroom. I was sitting – carefully – on the top of a chain-link fence in a trailer park, having second thoughts for the first time. There were two starving dogs beneath me. Big dogs. Was I completely sure of what I was doing?
My sister – confident in the McDonald’s hamburger she was holding – jumped down first. And then I didn’t have time to doubt anymore, because I sure wasn’t about to let my younger sister beat me.
It started the night before, when I had come flying out of the bathroom, toothbrush still in hand, raving about the story I had overheard from the girl next to me at the sink. For the last seven days, I’d been working with a hurricane relief organization in Houston, Texas with four of my good friends, and now I had a new focus.
I threw open the door to the communal sleeping quarters and paused, standing between someone’s half-inflated air mattress and someone else’s dirty laundry, with the four wondering faces of my friends pointed at me, and I stuttered:
“So there are these dogs…”
Flash forward. It’s pitch black and nearly 24 hours on the dot since I exited the bathroom. I was sitting – carefully – on the top of a chain-link fence in a trailer park, having second thoughts for the first time. There were two starving dogs beneath me. Big dogs. Was I completely sure of what I was doing?
My sister – confident in the McDonald’s hamburger she was holding – jumped down first. And then I didn’t have time to doubt anymore, because I sure wasn’t about to let my younger sister beat me.
We handed the puppies over the fence first. My friend on the other side of the fence placed the puppies in a laundry basket while we yelled at the fourth girl to fetch this and that, get the car ready, grab a leash, etc.
We had told the property owners that we could only take the puppies in our car back to Nebraska. But then my sister was crying, in between a Rottweiler and a Shepherd mix. The father dog was a nearly 70-lb huge black and yellow guard dog, and he had wrapped himself around her shoulder and was licking away her tears.
So naturally, we found ourselves throwing suitcases and unneeded objects out of the back of the car to clear room for mom and dad. We threw out and left behind what we could, then shoved blankets, tennis shoes and the first aid kit in any space the Honda CRV had left.
This is a story of one boy on a plane, four girls in a car, two dogs, five puppies, a 15-hour drive through the night, three state lines and a smell that still haunts us in our dreams.
This is a story about a two-car garage that no longer contains two or even one car – instead, it is filled with a puppy pen, two kennels and six baskets of wood shavings.
This is the story of some kids who had no idea what they are doing, but continue to get up at 7 a.m. each morning and take the dogs outside in below-zero weather.
The vet in Omaha diagnosed the dogs with each of the following: giardia, hookworm, roundworm, heartworm, fleas, sarcoptic mange and secondary infections. Two of these conditions were contagious to humans.
Fantastic.
We had told the property owners that we could only take the puppies in our car back to Nebraska. But then my sister was crying, in between a Rottweiler and a Shepherd mix. The father dog was a nearly 70-lb huge black and yellow guard dog, and he had wrapped himself around her shoulder and was licking away her tears.
So naturally, we found ourselves throwing suitcases and unneeded objects out of the back of the car to clear room for mom and dad. We threw out and left behind what we could, then shoved blankets, tennis shoes and the first aid kit in any space the Honda CRV had left.
This is a story of one boy on a plane, four girls in a car, two dogs, five puppies, a 15-hour drive through the night, three state lines and a smell that still haunts us in our dreams.
This is a story about a two-car garage that no longer contains two or even one car – instead, it is filled with a puppy pen, two kennels and six baskets of wood shavings.
This is the story of some kids who had no idea what they are doing, but continue to get up at 7 a.m. each morning and take the dogs outside in below-zero weather.
The vet in Omaha diagnosed the dogs with each of the following: giardia, hookworm, roundworm, heartworm, fleas, sarcoptic mange and secondary infections. Two of these conditions were contagious to humans.
Fantastic.
Every day for the two months, we went out into the cold four times a day. We gave meds, scrubbed fur, called donors and rescues, and searched for families willing to adopt. On Christmas, when many were curled up by the tree opening presents, I was out in the garage, holding a puppy we weren’t sure would make it through the night.
We were our own photographers, pet groomers, spokespeople, advertisers, funders, organizers, coordinators, caretakers and family. We raised nearly $5000 for vet bills and treatments. We interviewed adopters, having no prior rescue experience. We gave up our holidays with family and our time for studying. We have rearranged work schedules, chosen to commute long hours every day and cancelled temporarily our entire social lives. We have done it all as students, no training or experience, and certainly not as professionals. We have done it because our community rose to help us.
Our community, who helped clean out the garage and pens every other day, who shared our story, who made videos and sent money and contacted the news.
We were our own photographers, pet groomers, spokespeople, advertisers, funders, organizers, coordinators, caretakers and family. We raised nearly $5000 for vet bills and treatments. We interviewed adopters, having no prior rescue experience. We gave up our holidays with family and our time for studying. We have rearranged work schedules, chosen to commute long hours every day and cancelled temporarily our entire social lives. We have done it all as students, no training or experience, and certainly not as professionals. We have done it because our community rose to help us.
Our community, who helped clean out the garage and pens every other day, who shared our story, who made videos and sent money and contacted the news.
All looked like it would be okay. The puppies had homes! All this hard work, all of these sacrifices, would be worth it in the end.
And then in February, we said Goodbye to Duke.
We had no where else to go, we had no other options, we had no experience with the rescue community of Omaha, and we were lost.
When I left the shelter that day, I thought that was the end. I was basically told that if I left him there, he would be put down. But I was out of money, out of space, out of time. I couldn’t find anyone willing to adopt him or foster him or any rescue that could take him. I had called more people than I could count. I had fund-raised, advocated, facebooked, texted, messaged, yelled from the top of my lungs to find a home for him.
The only thing I found was myself sitting in the parking lot of the shelter, wondering how it could’ve come to this.
When it felt like everyone turned their backs, when no one else offered their hand, when I was literally out of options, that’s when Muddy Paws came to me. That’s when Muddy Paws rescued Duke.
And then in February, we said Goodbye to Duke.
We had no where else to go, we had no other options, we had no experience with the rescue community of Omaha, and we were lost.
When I left the shelter that day, I thought that was the end. I was basically told that if I left him there, he would be put down. But I was out of money, out of space, out of time. I couldn’t find anyone willing to adopt him or foster him or any rescue that could take him. I had called more people than I could count. I had fund-raised, advocated, facebooked, texted, messaged, yelled from the top of my lungs to find a home for him.
The only thing I found was myself sitting in the parking lot of the shelter, wondering how it could’ve come to this.
When it felt like everyone turned their backs, when no one else offered their hand, when I was literally out of options, that’s when Muddy Paws came to me. That’s when Muddy Paws rescued Duke.
The day I met Terri at the shelter was like meeting a freaking Angel of God.
They told me to bring something that smelled like me to coax Duke out of the kennel. He had devolved quickly in the back room of the shelter, surrounded by other dogs labelled as “aggressive” and “without hope.” Muddy Paws came when the shelter told us there was nothing else we could do.
Duke is alive today because of the tireless work of volunteers acting in the name of Muddy Paws.
For anyone involved in the Omaha dog community, you know that there are hundreds of rescues and you need to find one that aligns with your beliefs. I have worked with multiple rescues before, and I have never met a rescue full of people like Muddy Paws. One that doesn’t just foster dogs, doesn’t just accept owner surrenders, but raises funds to keep dogs in their original homes. Muddy Paws pays for vetting, food and supplies for loving, qualified owners who could not otherwise afford it. They believe that the home that is right for the dog is the one that loves them, and they would rather keep a dog in a home than take it out if money is the only obstacle.
Muddy Paws Second Chance Rescue, Inc does NOT give up on an animal. They take old dogs, dogs with cancer, flood cats, guinea pigs, chickens and more. They take dogs from the reservation, they take dogs off the euthanasia list, they take problem dogs and unsocialized dogs. They offer free and affordable training with qualified professionals to adopters and the Omaha community. Let me tell you, they may be CRAZY, but every single Muddy Paws volunteer is there because they are crazy about the right things. The animals.
I have worked with multiple rescues, and there has never been a rescue that compares to the work that Muddy Paws has done. And although we have come so far, we aren't done yet. There are more people than I could name who have stepped up, walked him, trained with him, advocated for him. Duke has everything he could ever want for the past three years, except for one thing.
One thing.
And it's time he got that. It's time Duke got a home. He's waited SO LONG. So please, read more about Duke, and give him a chance. We love him dearly and he deserves the home the other six have found.
Please, help us send Duke home.
They told me to bring something that smelled like me to coax Duke out of the kennel. He had devolved quickly in the back room of the shelter, surrounded by other dogs labelled as “aggressive” and “without hope.” Muddy Paws came when the shelter told us there was nothing else we could do.
Duke is alive today because of the tireless work of volunteers acting in the name of Muddy Paws.
For anyone involved in the Omaha dog community, you know that there are hundreds of rescues and you need to find one that aligns with your beliefs. I have worked with multiple rescues before, and I have never met a rescue full of people like Muddy Paws. One that doesn’t just foster dogs, doesn’t just accept owner surrenders, but raises funds to keep dogs in their original homes. Muddy Paws pays for vetting, food and supplies for loving, qualified owners who could not otherwise afford it. They believe that the home that is right for the dog is the one that loves them, and they would rather keep a dog in a home than take it out if money is the only obstacle.
Muddy Paws Second Chance Rescue, Inc does NOT give up on an animal. They take old dogs, dogs with cancer, flood cats, guinea pigs, chickens and more. They take dogs from the reservation, they take dogs off the euthanasia list, they take problem dogs and unsocialized dogs. They offer free and affordable training with qualified professionals to adopters and the Omaha community. Let me tell you, they may be CRAZY, but every single Muddy Paws volunteer is there because they are crazy about the right things. The animals.
I have worked with multiple rescues, and there has never been a rescue that compares to the work that Muddy Paws has done. And although we have come so far, we aren't done yet. There are more people than I could name who have stepped up, walked him, trained with him, advocated for him. Duke has everything he could ever want for the past three years, except for one thing.
One thing.
And it's time he got that. It's time Duke got a home. He's waited SO LONG. So please, read more about Duke, and give him a chance. We love him dearly and he deserves the home the other six have found.
Please, help us send Duke home.