November 19, 2008

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  I checked in on this boy this morning and he
  was ADOPTED on 18 NOVEMBER!!!!!!

  
  
  I was searching Petfinder for a specific dog that a friend of mine adopted and, not looking at my keyboard, I mistyped the zip code and what should appear on my screen but this guy:

  

  The Petfinder entry for him can be found here.

  This dog, a LARGE Lab-Mastiff mix, is referred to as #38 on Petfinder and he is at the Columbus County Animal Shelter in Whiteville, North Carolina. The website stated that #38 was a stray but in my experience, dogs like this don't just appear out of nowhere and people who have big dogs like this guy don't just release them into the wild. Besides, how does someone lose something this big? My guess is that he got loose and wandered, the owners looked for him but eventually gave him up for lost or dead. My co-worker's dogs escaped last week and got over 5 miles in a day and a half. She's certain that they had no idea where they were going, they were just going. Dogs do that sometimes.

  He was scheduled to be euthanized last Friday but was held over for some reason.

  Earlier last week, I did send an email to the shelter inquiring as to whether they'd attempted to contact anyone about getting him to a different region of the country or if they'd contacted any Mastiff rescue organizations. However, I don't believe that my email had any influence over his stay of execution because this shelter has been completely unresponsive to any of my subsequent emails about this dog.

  I want to know if he is dog and cat friendly, his approximate age, and if his gait indicated any problems with his hips but, for some reason, they won't tell me. If he is healthy, this dog is highly adoptable and I can't believe no one has grabbed him up - unless there is something wrong with him.

  I've phoned the shelter twice and no one can seem to help me. I've also sent emails to several different rescue groups in the area trying to get someone to get off their ass to at least make contact with these people  --  nothing.

  I am willing to take this dog, I just can't get to North Carolina at the moment so I began thinking of how a network of people might be able to get him part way -- it is 1,200 miles one-way. I'd like to get him to Kansas or even to Nashville, that is half-way, then I would only have to drive 600 miles. Nashville is a 2-day trip and NC would take almost a week round-trip.

  I've never searched the internet for dogs that are in trouble or on death row, that would be too depressing. I feel like my finding this dog was more like fate.

  I haven't made any progress with the people at this shelter but if anyone out there has a better idea, or knows people strategically spaced between North Carolina and Tennessee or who is driving to or through Lawrence, Kansas who could relay this dog west, I'd love to hear from them.

  • 10:38 am
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