Did You Notice the Homeless Guy?

My Mom was the first one to comment about the extra guy in my Thanksgiving pictures. She didn’t know at the time that he was homeless. She just wondered where he came from.

Did you notice the homeless guy in yesterday’s post?

You know, this cute little guy…

Monty

Every now and then, I have to remind folks that our beautiful Brittanys are all rescued dogs. CeCe (now deceased), Meg, and Belle were adopted through American Brittany Rescue (ABR). K was adopted through the National Brittany Rescue and Adoption Network (NBRAN).

The way breed rescues like ABR and NBRAN work, volunteers all across the US work together to do all the tasks/provide all the services necessary to rescue and care for dogs that have been abandoned for a wide variety of reasons. There are dogs whose owner has become sick or died, dogs whose family has gotten divorced or moved and couldn’t keep the dog, dogs that just show up in shelters, and dogs, like Monty, whose family either no longer wants them or feels they would be better off living with someone else. Of course, some of the females that end up in rescue for one of the aforementioned reasoned are pregnant when rescued, so then ABR and NBRAN end up with multiple dogs needing homes.

When a dog is rescued, it needs a place to stay. Ideally that place is someone’s home. There are many, many volunteers all over the country who open their homes to homeless dogs like Monty. These folks not only make sure the dog has a place to live, food to eat, etc., they also make sure the animal is fully vetted, meaning they get a physical, vaccines are brought up-to-date, they’re spayed/neutered, if necessary, and any health issues are addressed. This vetting is usually at the rescue organization’s expense, but there are quite a few fosters who pay for the vetting themselves as another way to help the rescue group. The dogs are also observed closely to determine overall temperament, whether they’re okay with strangers or not, if kids thrill them or terrify them, if they want to eat cats, etc.

It’s a labor of love, that’s for sure. Some dogs, like Monty, are super-easy. Others are more difficult. You typically get to pick what dogs you will/will not foster. And if you end up with one that you don’t like or that just doesn’t “fit” in your home, the dog can be placed in a different foster home.

Monty was actually adopted through ABR by a family in March 2007. This family’s situation changed and they thought Monty would be better off living elsewhere. So they contacted ABR, which they are required to do as part of the adoption contract. Kelly, the angel who fostered CeCe, our very first Brittany, also happened to be Monty’s foster Mom. She lives and works near Winchester, Virginia. Monty was living in Maryland, not too far from us. Knowing that we come through Winchester regularly on our way to and from the WV place, Kelly asked if we’d help.

So, Shannon and I went a picked Monty up on Wednesday evening.

K, Belle and Monty

At first, none of the girls wanted anything to do with Monty. Girl dogs are weird like that. As the days went on, they began warming up to him slowly. Meg became more tolerant and Belle was actually playing with the little guy a bit. But K wanted NOTHING to do with him. For whatever reason, she acted almost insulted that we even let him into our house.

He points!

In case you haven’t already guessed, Monty is not a pure-bred Brittany. What he’s mixed with is anyone’s guess. But he’s a cute little guy.

He looks sort of pudgy, but he’s really just barrel-chested. There’s not an ounce of fat on him.

Monty

Look at the cute face on him. He’s got an under-bite, which I should have made sure to photograph. Sometimes, if his lips are pulled back even a little bit, it would look like he was smiling.

Monty wants a new family for Christmas.

Ho LOVES playing ball. In the house, he’d always bring the ball right back to us. When he was outside, he’d bring it back sometimes.

Hubby and I delivered Monty to Kelly yesterday. She currently has five dogs of her own AND one, now two, foster dogs. Yes, she’s got a big yard and is perfectly capable of caring for that many dogs. But that’s a lot of dogs. Hopefully, Monty will find a home pretty quickly.

He’s really a nice little guy. He’s about six or seven and is completely house-trained. He didn’t even show the slightest inclination to do any scent-marking inside of our house. The yard was a different story, but that’s normal.

Monty isn’t the only dog in need of a home. NBRAN currently has over 150 dogs in foster homes, waiting for adoption, and almost 50 in need of a foster home. I’m not sure how many dogs ABR has at the moment, but it’s a lot.

If you’ve ever remotely considering fostering a dog, now would be a great time to do it. Not sure about long-term fostering? Become a holiday foster home. A lot of foster families travel for the holidays and sometimes need a place to house their foster dog for awhile. Since we have three dogs already, we don’t want to take on a full-time foster, but we will often foster dogs over the holidays for other foster parents who are traveling.

If you are interested, you can learn more about both fostering and adoption through these Web sites: American Brittany Rescue (ABR) and National Brittany Rescue and Adoption Network (NBRAN).

Don’t care for Brittanys? They have great personalities, but do tend to be pretty high-energy dogs. All breeds have rescue groups. Local animal shelters can always use foster homes, too. For dogs AND cats.

5 Replies to “Did You Notice the Homeless Guy?”

  1. Monty is so cute and I bet anyone who decides to foster him would be great company for them.Let’s hope someone comes forward and adopts him. Kathy, this Blog today is very heart warming and very interesting. You did a great job.

  2. Great info. Thanks for posting it.

    It’s so sad how many dogs and cats are out there, abandoned and unloved. All of my companions came from animal-rescue shelters.

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