Mr. Mike Needs Our Help

[DiamondTiger]

We were contacted by a woman last week who had found a near dead Pit on the road. She took him to a feed store where the owners run a small rescue and had kennel space for him. They've been treating him for mange and trying to put weight on him, but they need a more experienced rescue to take him and we REALLY need to get him indoors as he is in an outdoor kennel right now.

This was Mr. Mike a week ago...





We put an ad up on craigslist with a plea for donations for Mr. Mike and our community responded far better than we ever expected. We can't thank those who donated supplies enough! People brought all sorts of goodies for Mr. Mike yesterday and after our event we were SO happy to take 2 bales of straw bedding, 2 big bags of cedar bedding, warm blankets, towels, food, treats, a collar, leash and bowls and more to keep him warm and happy until we find him the right foster home. The people at the feed store have been treating him for mange and he's responding well, putting on some weight and has a little more energy than he did a week ago.

When we went to meet him last night, he was SO happy to see us and absolutely soaked up the attention we gave him. He allowed us to examine his teeth and body, and we put him at being between 2-3 years old. Of course we couldn't do a complete evaluation on him due to his condition, but we will keep a very close eye on him and monitor his temperament as he heals. He's a good ways away from any of our volunteers and our vet, so we'll work on finding a vet near him who will work with us to treat him and get him well enough to move into a new foster home soon.

These are only a few pictures we took of Mr. Mike yesterday and we'll update regularly as things progress with him.

Oh, did I mention... people make me SICK! sometimes. But then I meet people like Tom and his wife (owners of the feed store and small rescue) and those who donated items for Mr. Mike... and it restores my faith in humanity.

[RealPitBull]

OH mannnn this poor baby!!! I know what you mean about people making you sick, then ya turn around and run into some real angels. I'll be cross posting this, if that's ok.

[DiamondTiger]

That would be super Mary! Mr. Mike can use all the help he can get. We've actually got a chip in widget on our web site and blog where folks can make a donation for towards his care if you want to include a link to that. It's not set up specifically for Mr. Mike, because Golda still needs quite a bit too... so it's sort of a combined fund raising effort. (Just wanted to explain why our goal amount is so high.)

Thank you for offering to cross-post this guys story. He is SO sweet and I really pray he'll stay that way as he heals more and regains his strength.

[DiamondTiger]

OMG I am SO mad right now I could seriously rip somebody's head off. Alicia just called me... extremely upset and rightfully so, because the people who have Mr. Mike (the woman actually) called her and very RUDELY asked us to not contact them about Mr. Mike anymore and to remove the ad that we had posted on craigslist seeking a foster home for him.

What the HECK is wrong with people that they are so damn worried about their own super egos they'd have to put a dogs life on the line because THEY feel something MIGHT make them look bad? GAAH!

The ad we posted on craigslist made no mention of who has this poor guy or even his general location. We actually sang praises to the folks who have been caring for him.

Now she wants to claim that we made her husband feel like an idiot by bringing donations that we gathered for this sweet boy??? ??? Excuse me? Say what!?? So that's why hubby was thanking us and rushing to unload the car of EVERYTHING we brought? And why he was in complete agreement when we talked about finding a vet closer to them to work with us, treat Mr. Mike and get him healthy enough to move into a foster home?? Ummm... okay....

To my knowledge this poor dog hasn't even seen a vet yet. They've just been treating him based on self diagnosis and giving him various medications they have in stock. This dog is wormy, but to what extent we don't know... there's a VERY good chance that he is HW +, he's got what appears to be an ulcer on his leg (beneath the pink bandage) that this woman's husband thought was a protruding bone.

And ALL because this woman (and possibly her husband) can't remove her own ego from the equation... Mr. Mike will spend the winter in a cage with NO wind break and no heat... wet and possibly being flooded out (because the area he's in is prone to severe flooding), undiagnosed...

I'm so sick to my stomach right now. What is wrong with people? Really.... what is wrong? And the saddest part is... we've had a few foster apps come in from people who WANT to help this dog, and these people want nothing more to do with our rescue because they're pride is now hurt for some selfish reason. Mr. Mike will suffer for it!

[RealPitBull]

That is really SICK. I don't even know what to say. That dog needs to be vetted and given proper shelter! Jeezus! You gals must be LIVID!!! I'm mad just reading this.

If you know the dog will be left outside in that cage all winter, is it advisable to contact AC, or......?

[DiamondTiger]

Unfortunately they are perfectly within the law here with the set up they have. He's got shelter, fresh water and food... that's all he "needs". And yes, we are beyond livid. Alicia is actually handling this because she is SO much more professional when it comes to these things than I could ever think of being. All I can say is that this woman is damn lucky she called Alicia to blow up with her egotistical rant because had *I* answered the phone to hear that... she'd have felt my wrath through the phone.

[RealPitBull]

Well good luck, I'll be thinking good thoughts for poor Mike, and hoping this all turns out ok. Keep us posted.

[lpyrbby]

Here is the email I just sent to her:

Hi M! Hopefully things have cooled off enough now where maybe we can talk about this situation as I truly feel there may have been a huge misunderstanding.

L contacted us about Mr. Mike. Here is the email she sent:

Today I picked up an almost dead pitt bull at my place of employment. M at the M Feed and Seed has begun treating him for mange and will keep him until he recovers.
Could he join your group or be listed through your organization in order to hopefully find a home? I will also try to find a home other ways too. He won't be ready to be adopted for some time. Michelle thinks he's about 4 years old. He is very sweet. he just came to me and was glad to be assisted into my car. I think he is a brindle color. He needs to be nutered. And he has an old injury on his lower right leg. He does not limp. And I am willing to help fincance his recovery and rescue. I already have 4 rescue dogs or I'd be glad to help him. I think this is probably a bad time for a dog to be without a home because of the economy. But I'll try.
Thank you,
L

We were under the impression that we were working on bringing Mr. Mike into our program. We asked for pictures and L got them to us. We made the decision to work on getting him into our group. It was our understanding that you and T were aware of our plans and intentions to bring Mr. Mike into our program. We solicited for donations to help make Mr. Mike's time in the kennel as warm as possible. When we brought the donations and dropped them off, Tom made no indication that anything was wrong. He thanked us for the donations and asked if there was anything that you guys could do for us. We asked him about finding a vet nearby so that we could orchestrate getting Mike in for a check up so we could plan on getting him better. We were in NO way trying to insinuate that you guys weren't doing enough for him because what you did do was 100 times more than what he had. But PLEASE realize that all of our actions and intentions have been with us planning on bringing him into our group. Had we known that you intended on keeping him with your group, we wouldn't have stepped in as boldly as we did.

I sincerely apologize for the post on Craigslist and can only say in so many different ways that it was not made with ill intentions or to have others judge you or your organization. As I tried to let you know on the phone, some people do take issue with dogs being housed outdoors. Your organization was not mentioned because God forbid that sway someone's opinion of you. We are not here to malign other groups. We are here for the dogs. Since our organization does happen to be foster home based and we require indoor only homes for our dogs, it's only reasonable that we ask for indoor foster homes. It is also reasonable in our opinion to make light that Mr. Mike has very little hair (through no fault of yours or anyone else's except whoever dumped him off or cared so little about him to not find him) and an indoor home would be beneficial to his recovery.

It seems to us that the only reason this happened is because perhaps you didn't realize we were trying to bring him into our group? If I'm wrong, please do correct me. But if it's true, certainly you can see how this was such a huge misunderstanding. If it isn't though, and you are still angry with us, then so be it. We were doing this for Mr. Mike and liked to hope that we were all on the same page about this being about helping him and not about negatively affecting the organizations involved. I would like a reply as I genuinely do not understand where we went wrong and don't feel that this should be left on negative terms. Holding grudges against other organizations is only going to do one thing: hinder the dogs in our care. We have had several people show interest in wanting to help Mr. Mike and one actual foster application was submitted. Four separate people donated a substantial amount of items for his care as well. We were working on helping him and easing the workload for you. We were asked to help with Mr. Mike and that's what we set out to do and had accomplished so far. We have removed the Craigslist posting as you requested. The only thing we have not "followed through with" thus far is your request for us to not contact you further about helping him or any dogs in your care.We can't do that right now because we feel there was a misunderstanding. If anyone comes in or emails you having a negative view on your organization because of the post we made on Craigslist, please send them to me so that I have an opportunity to explain our intentions and that they were in no way meant to be derogatory or negative.

Thank you for your time and I hope we can come to an amicable solution.

[tombaughapbts]

OMG the poor baby! let me know if there's anyway I can help!!

[RealPitBull]

Ya know what, I missed somehow that a RESCUE was caring for this dog. I'm sorry, but how/why would a rescue keep a dog in this condition outdoors? It is an all breed rescue, I assume? I really hope you all can work through this and the organization will realize your intentions were good and in no way unprofessional or unethical.

[lpyrbby]

It is an all breed anything that shows up sort of rescue. Here, let me share with you the offending posting on CL so I can get opinions on if it might have been construed as offensive.

_________

Meet Mr. Mike!

(pic of Mike)

Mr. Mike was found by a good samaritan and is temporarily being housed as comfortably as possible in an outdoor kennel. He needs an indoor foster home!

Mr. Mike was found emaciated, wormy, afflicted with significant hair loss and wanting affection. Mr. Mike has been dewormed, is on antibiotics, and is getting food regularly now. He's gaining weight quickly but he's still too weak in our opinion to be kept outdoors.

Can you provide a long term (possibly a minimum of a 6 month commitment), indoor home for Mr. Mike? We will insure he is parasite free prior to bringing him into your home as your health and the health of your pets is very important to us. If you can provide this home for him, please fill out our Foster Application.

If you'd like to learn more about New Hope Pit Bull Rescue, please visit our website at www.nhpbr.org Thank you!

(another pic of Mike)

_____

Okay the only thing that I can see from that post that may have been offensive is saying he was still too weak in our opinion to be kept outdoors.

And the shitty thing about this is that last Friday, we posted another ad up on CL about him. Here, we "forgot" to remove this one: charleston.craigslist.org/pet/892585215.html

Really, was I THAT offensive?

[RealPitBull]

No not offensive AT ALL, but I'd assume they got p*ssed about the outdoors comments (which is ridiculous). I just find it SO incredibly petty that they'd let their stupid egos get in the way of what is best for this dog.

[DiamondTiger]

Oct 29, 2008 16:47:30 GMT -5 RealPitBull said:

I just find it SO incredibly petty that they'd let their stupid egos get in the way of what is best for this dog.

Exactly! And that's why I'm still so burned up about this. We have only the best interest of Mr. Mike in mind... it's not at all about WHO helped him as far as we're concerned. We're not asking for them to return donations that she made clear they did not need (in her call to Alicia today but NOT when we were delivering them)... we're not asking for ANYTHING at all. I'm seriously tempted to call AC about this, because I did a little research for the county they're in and according to what I read, there IS cause for concern and cause for AC to order them to comply or else. I swear if we don't hear back from her... that WILL be my next move because that poor dog shouldn't suffer just because some woman who does not know the breed, much less have the ability to care for a dog in Mikes condition has to let her ego over rule good judgment.

(i) Failure or denial to provide shelter for domestic animals, to provide a doghouse or other enclosed structure sufficient to protect the animal from wind, rain, snow, or sun and which has adequate bedding to protect against cold and dampness. In the case of livestock, to provide protection from adverse environmental elements detrimental to the health and well-being of the animal.

I say if we don't hear back from her because I'm hoping she'll read Alicia's email and come to her senses and talk to us about this... let us get Mike indoors where he NEEDS to be.

[valliesong]

Don't your AC laws require proper vet care? Even in PA, where the laws aren't very strong, the dog would need to see a vet or could be confiscated.

[lpyrbby]

Oct 30, 2008 19:24:20 GMT -5 valliesong said:

Don't your AC laws require proper vet care? Even in PA, where the laws aren't very strong, the dog would need to see a vet or could be confiscated.

It's so easy to bullsh*t people down here. She runs a feed store and can get all the meds at cost. He's being treated, just being self-diagnosed. People do that stuff pretty often.

I finally got a reply from her tonight and it was pretty scathing. I can see where we made mistakes and we obviously know not to make them again buy my God she is being a TERD!

If anyone wants to read her email and my reply, I'll post it...off to shower now though and cool my blood off...

[lpyrbby]

If for no other reason than to amuse you all, here are the emails, hers first, mine second.
____
Alicia,

I want you to know that I am not upset, I normally do not take things personally, but I was appalled when I was contacted by 4 different community members whom has already flagged your ad on craiges list as they viewed it very "derogatory". The community is involved in our efforts so not only I took offense but they did also. Our community is considered part of our organization so it was a slap in the face for all of us.

I will attempt to let you know the story of how this dog found us and maybe you will better understand how your organzation is seen as such a negative organzation in my eyes presently.

I was contacted on Monday concerning "Mr. Mike (as you have deemed his name)" My husband took the initial phone call and I heard him on the phone letting the caller know that our kennels were full and we couldnt accept any strays presently. I asked my husband to let me speak with the caller and I realized it was L. I have known L for quite some time as I was her mothers hospice nurse. The story she told me was terrible. She explained that the dog had been seen where she works since the previous friday. She stated other employees contacted animal control on that friday, but when they arrived back at work 3 days later he was still there. It was against "policy" to feed strays so I knew the dog had went for days without food and water as the place where she works is very rural. I ask her to bring him to immediately. I postponed seeing my patients and when he arrived at the store it was terrible. I ask NO questions and within five minutes he had treatment for intestinal worms, the first dose of abx, been offered food, water and flea treatments. Within 15 minutes he had been bathed and treated for mange. Within 30 minutes he had received warmed IV fluids. I supplied Lani with disinfectant which kills parvo, mange mites etc, so that she could disinfect her automobile and she asked what she could do. A customer in the store told her about your organization and I told her if she made contact with you that you could contact me and that we would need assistance to locate him a home when he had recovered. (She stated this in the email you so kindly forwarded with the one you sent me recently).

L came in a few days later and wanted to make a donation to the help with his recovery and my husband declined her offer. She did state you would be coming out to assess him, and she was informed to have you contact me. Now although you made contact with my husband, as I was busy with yet another emergency requiring me to administer IV fluids to a dying animal, you did not inquire what our wishes were, did not acknowledge or ask what had been done for him, you dropped supplies off which my husband inquired if any other of your rescues might have needed, in which you answered no. I phoned you on sunday morning and you totally disregarded anything I said. I tried to explain to you that he was on a special vet diet, Intestinal HE, which he would be fed for sometime. We do not consider "Alpo" a good food for any dog, much less one in the shape "mr Mike" was in. However, I did not judge in what you felt that maybe you were contributing to the cause, but continued his $10 a day diet.
I also at that time asked that you keep me informed and I acknowledged to you that I would continue to make the decisions in his care.

As for your ad on craiges list. How would you have felt had I posted that certain rescues do not accept same day rescues. Or that certain rescues didnt have kennels outdoor or otherwise. I realize you have different policies and procedures, but if I followed the same that you do the dog would have been DEAD. It would have been professional had you collaborated with me concerning an ad on craiges list. I could have given you my input and suggestions. You could have given us credit for what we do, not what we dont do. However when I called you, your statement was "I didnt want to embarrass your organization". Why I should be embarrassed I do not know. You state some people would not like my organization as we have outdoor kennels. I say some does not like your organization as you dont have any shelter what so ever for anything, you also do not take animals on an emergency basis, and you are very selective with everything you do.

HHARRT is a non profit, no kill organzation. We have more than 100 animals, large and small, that we foot the bill for personally. We feed more than 1600 lbs of quality food each week. We have a very small amount of volunteers so myself and my husband does everything. Including having full time jobs to help pay the bills. We give special needs animals a very good home, (ie animals that are blind or whom have cancer). We have received less than $3000 this year of donations and the kennels which you find inappropriate cost $3800.

Finally, you will find trying to form a collaboration means that you make decisions together, not separate and not to make it a "pissing" contest between organziations, as only the animals loose. I have been rescuing the sick and lame animals for more than 10 years and do not expect someone else to take care of anything that comes to me. However, if you wish to contact me and accept that I will be part of this decision process and acknowledge what my organization does, then you may contact me, otherwise I will find a suitable permanant home for Mr. Mike, whom is now very active and almost at full weight!

FYI L came by concerned that she had gotten you involved, I assume you contacted her also!
M
___

My reply:

M, it is very obvious to me that there was a huge misunderstanding. It seemed from our point of view that L was just trying to help get the best for him and help orchestrate things. Our apologies for not calling you directly.

Here is another email from L:

He is with M and T S. who run M Feed and Seed and at the same place, HHAR. T said they close at 3:00 on Saturday, but you can go behind the store and see him. The cage is not locked. He welcomes your contacting them if you want to. They will meet you there if you need them. They live about 10 miles from the store. They are taking very good care of him. As you can see, she put a blanket on him. I was so glad beacuse I knew it was cool last night. M is an angel diguised as a human.
Phone:
Fax:
email:
Thank You,
L

Again, our apologies for not contacting you then but all seemed to be understood with what was going on. T also gave us no indication of anything different when we were there dropping off the donations.

And we're sorry you didn't find the donations from the public fitting. We don't feed Alpo either and certainly don't recommend it. Only one person asked what food would be best and we informed them that a high quality puppy formula would be best. That was the bag of the Nutro Puppy Food. Not the highest quality, but certainly not one on the scale of Purina. One of our personal volunteers purchased that bag. I'm sorry that you don't "need" the donations but every little bit helps right? At least that was our line of thinking. We did all this for him. All the donations we brought were brought to us by the public and wanted it to go to him. We certainly could have used the Nutro, or the collar and leash, the food bowls, but they weren't donated for our dogs; they were donated to Mr. Mike. Oh and "we" didn't dub him that, it was a name that L had told us when referencing him. Maybe that's the name she chose to give him to make conversations easier, I don't know.

"I phoned you on sunday morning and you totally disregarded anything I said." This is another part where miscommunication comes into play. When you called, I was holding Ms. Golda's foot while a salve and bandage was being applied for cuts on her pad. I was distracted, but still under the impression that we were planning on bringing him into our group. Your call to me seemed nothing but a friendly passing of information to let us know what all had been done for him. I had NO idea that it was to let me know that you guys had everything under control and didn't need our help.

M, in regards to our policies, we do have them for a reason. Just as you admitted in your email, you were going to deny Mr. Mike the opportunity in your rescue until you found out L was involved. Under special circumstances, is it hard to believe that we wouldn't do the same thing? With our breed of choice and the very danger it is in these days, it is vitally important that we be selective about the dogs we bring into our program. With breed bans popping up all over the place, it is very important to us that SOLID, good tempered dogs are made available to the public for adoption. Your rescue has a different goal than ours does as we focus specifically on a breed of dog. One with a VERY negative reputation through no fault of its own.

Please realize that because of the huge misunderstanding, I was COMPLETELY caught off guard by your phone call and the ONLY thing that I could think of as to why you would be upset was the reference to him being in an outdoor kennel. There are many people that view the outdoor kennel set ups as a negative thing and NOT referencing your rescue was an attempt to shield any negative comments. We were impressed with the kennel set up and felt comfortable leaving him there for the time being, again, believing that he would be coming into our rescue. It was also to keep any "would be thieves" from seizing an opportunity. There were no posts that said WHERE he was located and we did that for his safety, not because we were trying to make your organization look bad or because we were trying to "steal your thunder" and take credit for the things you were doing for him.

"I say some does not like your organization as you dont have any shelter what so ever for anything, you also do not take animals on an emergency basis, and you are very selective with everything you do. " Again, we have to be selective for a reason. And because we don't operate a shelter facility, we can better evaluate the dogs that are leaving our group as they are housed in private homes receiving one on one attention, something that is absolutely VITAL for this breed because of their love for people. They do not do well in kennel environments at all. Is this a knock at your group? No. If outdoor kennels helps save their lives, GREAT! We viewed Mike's situation as temporary and were FINE with that because we thought he was coming to us. Again, part of a big misunderstanding.

Look, we both know that rescue isn't about making money. We are a non-profit no-kill organization as well, we just operate differently, partially because we choose to, partially because we have to. We have put a significant amount of money into our dogs but maybe people don't think we've "done" as much because MORE haven't been saved. Our goal is quality, not quantity. Also, we must be realistic in that if we exhaust all of our resources helping as many as we can, we'll run ourselves into the ground and not be able to help any at all.

Now that the misunderstanding has been brought out into the open, perhaps we can come together and work on a plan for Mr. Mike. However, there may be too much tension between us at this point to successfully do so. What our intentions were was to find Mike a foster home and bring him into our program. This means he would become "our" dog. If that is not a possibility, so be it. We are willing to help reimburse some of his expenses to a reasonable extent, just as the shelter would require in their pull fees. If this is unreasonable, then we will discontinue any contact about bringing Mike into our group as our org's won't be seeing eye to eye. Since Mike has very little hair and it will take some time to grow back, we feel an indoor foster home is best for him and will speed his recovery. Also, Mike seems to be a typical pit bull and would thrive with that human attention in a home setting. Just our .02 cents.

"FYI L came by concerned that she had gotten you involved, I assume you contacted her also! " I actually copied L on the email that I sent to you so she would be aware of what was going on since she did initiate contact with us.

Here is another email that L sent to us after we had asked her for pictures to confirm he was a pit bull (we've had people contact us before about dogs that weren't pit bulls so it's to ease our minds, especially since you are an hour away from my home.):
Alicia,
Thanks! I will go to the feed store tomorrow and photgraph "Mr. MIke" and e-mail them to you. I will not be here this weekend, but I'm sure M will welcome you. I'll have to find out their closing time or see if they can be there anyhow. I hope so.( I have a wedding to attend out of town.) M will keep him until he is well unless someone else shows up to foster him. I'll help financially. I hope something will work out for him. I admit, I'm not very attracted to pitt bulls, but I was impressed with his willingness to just come to me and get in my car. I think he wants to live. And M is a dog's dream come true. She began his nursing care as soon as I walked in. Mike was very cooperative to having two pills to swallow, ear mite treatment, eye ointment, and a mange treatment sponge bath. He's a good dog. L

That was another email that we felt was signifying that we would be working to bring him into our group. Again, a big misunderstanding.

Our two groups operate differently and there's nothing wrong with that. Again, our apologies for getting people up in arms with that craigslist posting but I really hope you can understand how things happen as they did and see things for what they are.

I look forward to your response.
_____________

So, yes, I will admit that we made a mistake dealing with a "middle man" as opposed to initiating contact with the source. I could give all the reasons in the world why we didn't but they'd still be excuses lol. We should have contacted her. Regardless, this IS affecting Mike whether she thinks it is or not. He needs to be indoors. It's not even November yet and we're feeling very odd 30 degree nights.

I don't foresee us being able to help Mr. Mike now. Not with the negative opinion she's formed of us. *sigh* What can ya do though?

[RealPitBull]

Yeah, all sounds like a lot of misunderstanding, and definitely bruised egos on the part of the rescue that currently has him. I just find it cruel, really, to deny this dog an indoor foster home when one could easily be available through your group.

[lpyrbby]

Just wanted to update She called me today since she just didn't have time to banter back and forth through email about this and that and the other. We're putting differences aside and we're going to work on getting the foster application approved for Mr. Mike to get him into our group.

She told me that an "animal health expert" came by and looked at him today and said that its possible his hair loss wasn't from mange at all but by being burned. Its SO weird she mentioned that because Kat and I talked about that very possibility after we had visited him. Obviously, we know nothing and can't get any confirmation but, we do still have the opportunity to bring him in so we're going to try VERY hard for him.

Wish us all luck!

[RealPitBull]

I'm keepin my fingers crossed!!!

[DiamondTiger]

You all have no idea how happy this makes me. Well... no, you probably do. One of our dogs was adopted by a vet tech at our clinic so I'm gonna go ahead and shoot her an email with these pictures and ask her if anyone at the clinic or anyone she knows would be willing/able to foster him. He's going to need someone with vet experience to care for him if we can find someone. If none of our vet staff can foster him, we at least want to let them know the gist of what shape he's in and what we'll be bringing in if we do get him. Lord I hope we get him and this woman isn't gonna try to do a 180.