Shelter Life from Shorty's Point of View


Hi!
Mud, mud, mud, with 40 days and 40 nights of rain, we thought we might have to turn the walkathon into a canoeing event!
"Shorty, the weather had been bad but not bad enough to stop the walkathon, and you know rain, sleet, hail, nothing is going to stop Annie Coleman, when it comes to helping the shelter. But I will admit after a few weeks straight of rain and some very severe storms, I too was beginning to wonder how the walkathon was going to be held. But Annie must have an in with the weatherman, because the day was absolutely wonderful!"
We can't forget to mention that Mr. Haring, the executive Director of the Lockport Township Park District, had his crew check the paths we were going to use, to make sure they were clear and free from any fallen branches due to the storms, that was really great!
Annie told all the volunteers to be there bright and early to set up. George Mikota must have been up at the crack of dawn, he was there an hour before anyone else. I had plans on doing that too, since I had volunteered to help Ina Jacobs, and Cathy Melton with the hot dogs, and perhaps wrangle an extra bag of chips out of Sandi O'Brien who was supplying them. I was going to cook the hot dogs (and perhaps sample one or two just to make sure they were good), while Ina and Cathy cut up the onions and tomatoes, but as it turned out Ina and Cathy sliced and diced and cooked, they did it all, all on account of someone sabotaging my alarm clock, causing me to oversleep. Humph!
Well all in all I wasn't too upset, because the thought of twenty five dogs with muddy paws, giving me doggy kisses, was a little overwhelming. I would have turned into a giant slurpee, dog lips yuck! anyway Annie had a wonderful group of volunteers, including Ina, Cathy, George, Sandi, Phyllis Klingensmith, Wendy Coveli, P.J. Fitzgerald, and Donna Holous, who really got the job done.
I would have liked to have seen the miniature pony who attended the walk with his people friends. The pony had his own special shirt that said "I walked my hooves off for the animals"! We are sorry we did not get the names of the pony and his people friends, but Phyllis took this picture to share with you. All in all everyone had a great time and we want to thank all of our two legged friends and their four footed companions for participating in the walk and raising over $4000.00 for T.L.C.! Thanks one and all.
Well gotta run, talking about hot dogs is making me hungry, gonna check out my food bowl, or the top of the desk to see if someone left a sandwich for me.

Love, Shorty

P.S.
Annie is holding a garage sale again for the shelter. Please call for further information at 708.301.1594. By the way Annie, will there be food there?
"Shorty"!
Uhoh, gotta run!


Raffle Winners!
The following people were the winners of Rafflemania:
1st Prize: Carol Vance won the gorgeous $1000.00 stained glass window donated by Sherick Inc. of Lockport
2nd Prize: Catherine Herman won the 36" color T.V. (the donor wishes to remain anonymous)
3rd Prize: J. Misiukiewicz won the great combination prize - a DVD player donated by Dr. James Gianfrancisco of Orland Park & 5 DVD disks donated by Brian and Barb Chwierut of Palos Park
4th Prize: Gary Kanyuh won the overnight stay at the Empress Hotel which includes a $100 dinner for 2 at the Alexandria Steakhouse
5th Prize: Ms. Lasky won the Singer Serger donated by Dorthea Majerczyk of Berwyn
6th Prize: Susan Owen won the Herald News Gift Basket which includes 26 weeks of the Herald News donated by the Herald News in Joliet and the 10 cup Krups Coffeemaker donated by Mae Sala of Lemont
7th Prize: Venetian Products won the Lucille Ball porcelain Collectors Doll donated by Donna Ross of lockport
8th Prize: Mr. Anderson won the $100.00 gift certificate to Best Buy donated by International importers of Chicago
9th Prize: Chopper won the certificate for a dog or cat spay or neuter donated by All Pets Hospital in Lockport. (We assume Chopper is someone's pet and hope that Chopper will be pleasantly surprised)
10th Prize: Don Molitor won $100.00 in dining pleasure at the Tallgrass Restaurant donated by tallgrass Restaurant in Lockport
11th Prize: Marge Paine won the 4 golf passes to the City of Palos Hills Golf Club donated by Janice Augle of Oak Lawn
12th Prize: Yusof Joe Unger won the $60.00 gift certificate for the Amish Furniture Gallery donated by the Ermler Family of Lockport
13th Prize: Karen Devine won the $50.00 gift certificate donated by Yvonne harris of Cape Coral, Florida
14th Prize: Lawrence Olson won the $50.00 gift certificate to Adam's Pub donated by Adam's Pub in Lockport

The 6 people who sold the most raffle tickets are:
1st Prize: Rob Azzolin who sold $623.00 in chances! (Rob pictured right) Rob more than deserved the $100.00 reward (which was anonymously donated) for selling the most tickets, but as you can see in the photo Rob ripped the check up, he said it was his pleasure, he did it for the animals, and said to use the money for them! But Rob did appreciate the pair of AMC theater tickets which each of the top 6 high sellers received. Thanks again Rob!
2nd Prize: Judy Kurey sold $400.00 in chances which earned her the $50.00 gift certificate to Fuji Japanese Steak House donated by the Endebak Family of Lockport
3rd Prize: Jim Fennessey was again one of our high sellers in this year's raffle! Jim won the Zebco rod and reel whose donor wishes to remain anonymous
4th Prize: Ina Jacobs earned the Oil and filter change and chassis lube donated by W.T. Hayes & Sons Auto & Truck Repair, Lemont
5th Prize: Shirley Adams earned the grooming certificate for a dog or cat by Jennifer Frayne professional groomer, donated by Jennifer Frayne of Joliet
6th Prize: Diane Carroll earned the $25.00 gift certificate at the Fresh Market Square Buffet donated by Harrah's Casino in Joliet
We want to thank one and all who participated in the raffle. The big winners are the animals at T.L.C. who benefitted the most from your generosity!


Bertha Fund...Saving Lives
Bertha was just a plain brown dog with a heart of gold. She came to T.L.C. a stray, her past we would never find out about, but we had hoped we could give her a good future. We named her, we gave her lots of love, and we provided her with excellent medical care, but none of that could save her. Bertha died from a severe case of Heartworm. Perhaps that was the reason she was abandoned, we will never know. But Bertha's death was not in vain - in memory of this sweet dog, we established the "Bertha Fund", so other animals could be saved...and your donations to the fund are helping to do just that. The following case is just one of many that you have helped.
As a small child might say, "the dog fell apart". We were expecting a stray dog to be brought in that we had been informed might be pregnant, but we certainly weren't expecting a dog that had just delivered a litter of eleven puppies the night before! In a situation like this, normally we would have placed the mama and pups in a foster home, but in the beginning Mama Dog, as we called her, would not hear of it! She trusted no one, and was extremely guarded with her pups. We are certain from her overall condition and her disposition, that she had been abused. She was afraid of people, yet being a good mother, she felt like she had to defend her little brood from anyone that came near her pups.
We set up a nursery in the isolation room for Mama Dog, and the pups, letting her take things at her own speed. In the beginning, even feeding and cleaning Mama Dog was a little tricky! But with each passing day, as we watched the pups grow, we also watched Mama Dog's trust grow. It took about three weeks to win her confidence, but it was well worth the wait.
Three weeks had gone by and everything seemed to be going very well, until we noticed Mama Dog snapping at the pups. The reason for her acting this way, was that one of her breasts had a small puncture, and it had become inflamed, due to the puppies nursing. Dr. Caffarini took a look at her and said she required immediate sugery if she were to survive. He stated that she was suffering from toxic necrotic mastitis, where infection was literally eating away at her flesh from the inside out. He had never seen a case this bad, but from outward appearances no one would have known just how severe the condition was. Dr. caffarini stated that he would have to remove not one but two breasts, and that Mama Dog could not be with her puppies under any circumstance. This seemed a double blow to the faithful little mother. To keep her from licking her stitches and perhaps opening up the incision or causing the wound to become infected, Mama dog had to wear an Elizabethan collar, which she disliked. The drainage tube had to be checked and cleaned several times a day, and medication administered to keep infection away.
We were concerened about how Mama dog would fare being kept from her puppies, and we were equally worried how the pups would fare without her. Three weeks is a very delicate age to have to separate pups from the mother. In the beginning it was not easy with the pups, but eventually the pups improved and began to thrive, thanks to Dennis Carter Jr.'s extra time and efforts. Soon they were ready for adoption, and it did not take that long before good homes were found for all of them.
The pups have been adopted out and now we are seeking a home for Mama Dog. We are pleased to say she is doing fine. Now all she needs is a good home (and a nice name) to complete the story. If you think you can give Mama Dog a home and would like more information about her please give us a cal at the shelter at 708.301.1594.
Thanks to Dr. Caffarini and your contributions to the "Bertha Fund" one more could be saved!

It was only Puppy Love...
...and their love for the animals that played an important part in Gayle Ashe and Dennis Carter Jr. meeting one another. Dennis as many of you know has been working at T.L.C. for several years now, and he really enjoys working with the animals. Dennis met Gayle at the shelter a few years ago, when she became a volunteer. Gayle would spend nearly every Saturday at the shelter working with the animals, cats especially. Now you might be thinking it was love at first sight, but that was not the case, in the beginning they got along more like cats and dogs.
As time went on and they began to grow on each other, they realized they had many things in common. Love blossomed, and on June 17th this year they were wed. Our best wishes go out to the happy couple, and their combined family, which includes on chihuahua, a borzoi, 3 cats, 2 guinea pigs and 2 birds!

Going for the Gold!
We wish to thank Sara Trotta of Lockport for the food drive she held for the shelter. Sara is a Senior Girl Scout in troop #398 and needed a charitable project to help her attain her gold medal award, when she thought what better way to do it than to help the animals she so dearly loves.
Sara not only went door to door, she got other troops involved in the project and also set up a collection station at the Lockport Animal Hospital where she is employed. Her hard work really paid off! Thanks again Sara for a great job!



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