JOY IN IOWA
5 FEBRUARY 2018
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Tammy Ramey & Joy
On 5 February, Melanie Oleksa writes:
This is my new foster, whom I picked up on Saturday.
She is the epitome of what networking can do:
Melanie & Joy
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There is a lady named Mary
who has been working with
an Amish breeder to re-home dogs
that are no longer breeding.
Mary was on a trail ride
with the receptionist from
a hair salon in Des Moines
and was talking about
some of the dogs
she was going to get.
Mary usually takes bigger dogs
and was going to have a
Cairn Terrier coming her way.
The receptionist mentioned it
at work to one of the stylists,
Tammy Ramey, who has been
working with the rescue group,
Bailing Out Benji.
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If you haven't checked them out - you should.
This organization was started by a college student attending
Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
There is a Netflix documentary about their work to end puppy mills
and the awful conditions the mill dogs live in.
Joy begins her journey to a better life
Their website, with LOTS of information about puppy mills, is HERE
Their Facebook page, with the story of the 22 dogs rescued
last weekend, including Joy, is HERE
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Tammy talked to someone
at Bailing Out Benji
who put her in contact with
Shell Lewis and CRUSA.
It's just amazing to me
how all these connections
happen and dogs are saved.
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Mary told us that the breeder called this little girl Lindsey,
but she has no clue that is her name and doesn't even look.
After talking to Tammy, Shell, my husband and my kids,
we all liked Tammy's suggestion of "Joy" as her name.
Joy is five years old; she has had three litters.
The second litter required a C-section.
Her third litter was almost three years ago,
and she is no longer "producing".
The breeder wanted Mary to re-home her
or they were going to euthanize her.
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Joy is the sweetest girl ever!
She just wiggles and dances,
(you can see her happy dance HERE),
and gives kisses galore.
She is not potty trained at all,
but I am already seeing
progress in that area.
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I began with pee pads in one corner of her playpen,
but she just peed and pooped wherever.
So I covered the whole area with pee pads
and then decreaed the area they cover.
She is going on the pads and not the laminate flooring.
I put a couple of used pads outside in the area where my dogs go
and weighted them down with some rocks.
So we are working on it being outside where she goes.
She is starting to show me some signals she needs to go
(or I'm starting to learn her signals).
My Dad used to always joke when we were training a new dog,
"who's training whom?"
I truly believe that it is a dance of their learning about us
and our learning about them.
I have a vet appointment for her today at 3:30 to get everything checked out.
We may have to reschedule that, as we are getting a snow storm.
Schools are letting out early and I'm going to head home
and see what the roads are like.
[What Melanie didn't mention is that picking up Joy
involved a three-hour drive, one way.
WE THANK YOU, MELANIE!]
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