When Santa isn't looking...

Merry Christmas to Everyone!

Sad faces.

Every holiday season, between the joy of spending time with family and friends, are the same television scenes: slickly produced commercials from national humane organizations featuring pitiful, sad faces of animals needing help. Dozens of these commercial flash across the screen each day.

Hundreds of those sad faces are right here in Walton County. Dogs abandoned on dirt roads. Boxes of kittens dumped at the shelter. Skinny, mange-infested puppies. None of these needy animals will appear on television, but all need our help. 

Walton Animal Guild has worked behind the scenes for years to make a difference in our community. Our small budget doesn't allow for flashy commercials, but our financial needs are just as important.

WAG is an all-volunteer organization with no paid staff. One hundred percent (100%) of our donations go toward our programs.

We've never taken a shortcut on medical care for our fosters, or euthanized an animal for expense-related reasons. But veterinary costs can add up quickly.

Maggie needed orthopedic surgery. Pepper required several days of intensive care after coming out of the shelter, plus a later surgery for bladder stones and treatment for gastroenteritis. Jake and Banjo needed treatment for heartworms. Holly needed emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage. They are all healthy and happy now, but total costs for vet care of these five animals was in excess of $5,000.00.

They're not the only rescue animals who needed additional medical treatment this year. Mange is common in rescue animals and many of our dogs required weeks of treatment. An orphaned litter of six pups were bottle fed formula from the age of two weeks. Another litter of seven pups dealt with skin issues for several month, requiring regular skin scrapings, antibiotics, and other treatments. Our commitment to their health is absolute, but the financial challenges are plenty. When the funding runs out, we have no choice but to ignore other shelter animals in need.  

Banjo

Jake

Pepper

Holly

Maggie

Holly

WAG is totally supported by animal loving individuals and businesses who care about making a difference in our community. We need your donations to continue helping deserving pets like these! Consider making a holiday gift to WAG and help us change the world for more dogs and cats. Here's how your donation helps:

$25 vaccinates a dog. 

$50 neuters an animal

$100 spays a female dog or cat

$200 rescues an animal and provides the veterinary care needed to start their journey toward a new home. 

 You have the power to save a life. Please make your donation today!

Paypal links are also on our website homepage at www.wagwalton.com

Mom's retired!

Here are a few of the mother dogs that we've "retired" from the breeding game in 2014. As moms of the puppies enrolled in our puppy prevention program, WAG provided each with a free spay surgery. These furry ladies are now enjoying a puppy-free life with their owners, while their babies are happy and loved in their new homes. We call that a win-win!

Puppy Prevention success

Here are a few of the latest puppies enrolled in our Puppy Prevention program. There is a total of 9 puppies in this litter. Although a few may already have homes, all will be spayed/neutered before going to their new families. Puppies were given their first vaccines/deworming today at Paradox Clinic and will be available for adoption after January 1. We'll be spaying mom later. Thanks to owner Alicia for letting us help her with this mom and babies - this will be the last litter for mom dog Scully!

The Puppy Prevention program enrolled twelve mom dogs and litters during 2014, with a total of 63 puppies. That's a LOT of dogs! And thankfully, there are 75 less breeding dogs in our community.

Giving shelter.

Cold weather is coming. When temperatures drop, there are plenty of animals who need the warmth of a doghouse to escape the elements.

We recently took several bales of hay, shavings and a plywood doghouse to Walton Co. Animal Control to be distributed to families in need. Each bale of hay provides bedding for approximately 5 doghouses. The colorful doghouse was built as a student project by Madison D and will keep some grateful dog very cozy.

WAG will provide additional donated/purchased doghouses to families by referral from Walton Animal Control officers through the Huts for Mutts program. If you'd like to build a doghouse or can donate a new/used doghouse to keep an animal warm, contact us at wagwalton@yahoo.com.

Here's our #100 - Clarabelle!

Meet Clarabelle - the 100th dog to come into the WAG rescue/adoption program in 2014! Clarabelle and her four littermates came to us through the Puppy Prevention program, as did 53 other puppies before her. The goal of the program is to spay/neuter puppies and mother dogs of "Oops" litters to make sure they don't continue the cycle of breeding and pet overpopulation. Two of Clarabelle's siblings have already been adopted and mom Dixie is now spayed and retired from litter duty forever! Clarabelle is a hound mix, about 12 weeks old, and available for adoption to a loving family!

Zoe, Companion Dog Extraordinaire

Congratulations to one of our WAG alumni dogs, Zoe (in the green costume). This brindle Plotthound mix recently received her certification as a licensed Emotional Support Animal! Zoe was adopted by the Lincoln family and has made herself a valuable companion to their daughter Thia. This certification will allow Zoe to accompany Thia lots of different places and help enrich both of their lives in the years to come.

Way to go, Zoe - we're very proud of you!

Kudos to Monroe Animal Care Hospital!

A big THANK YOU to our friends at Monroe Animal Care Hospital, P.C. , Dr. Asha Wise and staff, for donating to WAG a portion of the raffle ticket sales from their open house celebration - $290 dollars! It's not the first time MACH has donated, supported, or otherwise helped us rescue many wonderful animals over the years. We're very grateful and lucky to have them as part of our animal-loving community. Y'all rock!

Shop Amazon and support WAG!

Do you shop online using Amazon? We have great news - now you can shop with Amazon and support WAG at the same time!

Amazon's Smile program allows you to designate a non-profit organization and each time you shop they'll donate a portion of your purchase price to the charity of your choice. No extra cost to you, no fuss, no muss. Walton Animal Guild is listed as one of the eligible organizations. Simply search for our name, click to make us your preferred charity, and that's it. Simple and supportive - just the way it should be!

For more info, visit the link below.

http://smile.amazon.com/about

A second chance for Jake

Wow, take a look at this handsome blue-eyed hunk of doggy love! We rescued Jake (fka Ranger) from the Walton Co. shelter this week when no one else stepped up for him. He's a good looking boy, but unfortunately tested positive for heartworms. So after he's neutered and vaccinated he'll spend the next 60 days with us undergoing heartworm treatment.

The treatment starts with thirty days of daily prescription medication. At the end of the thirty days he'll get a intramuscular injection in his back to kill the heartworms. After another thirty days pass he'll get two more injections within a 24 hour period. It's painful for Jake- no doubt about it - but also the quickest way to kill the dangerous heartworms and get him on the road to health again. No running or jumping allowed during the treatment period for Jake - that should be an interesting challenge for us!

Heartworm treatment for a big dog like Jake normally costs around $500, so we have to think carefully before committing to rescue heartworm positive dogs. But it was Jake's former owner who didn't bother to protect him from heartworm infestation in the first place. Dying in the shelter shouldn't be the penalty for this sweet boy.

Banjo

This handsome boy is Banjo,a 34 lbs. Sheltie/something mix. Banjo recently completed heartworm treatment and is ready for his new home. He's an awesome dog - cratetrained and housetrained, gets along with other animals. But Banjo is a people dog - he'll choose humans over canines any day! When all my other foster dogs are off playing with each other, Banjo always sticks near us. He makes a great companion while working in the yard or around the house. Banjo is a sensitive boy, not sure he'd be comfortable in a home with very small children. But he's a wonderful dog and someone will be very lucky to have him! For more info on Banjo email wagwalton@yahoo.com.

Fall Festival fun

Time to dress up the pets!

Join us at the Monroe Fall Festival on Saturday, October 11 in downtown Monroe. It's going to be a busy and fun day! Paws in the Park 5K run and 2K Dog Walk starts at 8:30 a.m. in nearby Childers Park. WAG will host a PET COSTUME CONTEST at 11 am. at the historic courthouse on the square. Don't have a pet costume? No problem - we'll have discounted costumes available for purchase at the event. All funds go toward helping homeless pets! We'll also have some of our adoptable pets on site. More info athttp://www.monroedowntown.com/events/fall-fest

Pepper

Meet Pepper. This cute little schnauzer mix had a sad painful journey we don’t know anything about. She was brought into the Walton shelter early this week with obvious injuries; scared, trembling, eyes extremely bloodshot, facial lacerations and jaw injuries. She can't close her mouth or eat/drink normally and spent the last few days mostly huddled in the kennel corner with drool pooling at her feet. A sweet and otherwise healthy looking dog, it was assumed she had a broken jaw or similar injury so she was put in medical quarantine and scheduled for euthanasia on Wednesday if no owner came along.

The director mentioned her plight to a few rescues anxious to pull the healthier cute, adoptable dogs, but nobody was interested in helping her. Not surprising, I suppose, because money is always tight for rescues. Donations are hard to come by and it's hard to step into a medical situation with no clue of potential costs.

But something bothered me and wouldn't let me ignore photos of this girl, so we emailed the shelter on Tuesday night and offered to pay for a medical evaluation. Dr. Durrence at Monroe Animal Care Hospital, P.C. checked her out on Wednesday and gave us mixed news.

Good news is the jaw isn't broken and there are no orthopedic injuries. She was very dehydrated, had some trauma-related injuries, including a nasty infection under her tongue and minor eye injuries. But she also appears to have some sort of nerve related damage causing the problems closing her jaw. At this point Dr. Durrence feels it's trauma related and hopes she'll eventually regain normal use of her jaw.

Paws crossed for Pepper that this is a temporary problem that will gradually improve in a few weeks. Right now she’s still at Monroe Animal Care receiving fluids and antibiotics. Her jaw is wrapped loosely with gauze to keep it from hanging open. I’ll pick her up tomorrow and she'll be hand-fed until she's able to eat normally on her own. We're glad this little girl's life didn't end in the shelter and will do our best to eventually help her find a new home.

Anyone interested in contributing toward Pepper’s care can visit our website at www.wagwalton.com and use the Paypal link to donate – Pepper thanks you in advance!

Cuteness overload

These four sweet Chi-weenie pups were rescued last week from Walton County Animal Control, along with their mom Cricket. Cuteness overload! They'll be ready for adoption in a few weeks.

A healthier Holly

Thanking Dr. Asha Wise for saving her life - our lucky girl Holly had her staples removed on Friday and is back in full form! Dr. Wise told us that Holly gave her some worries on the surgery table because of the extent of damage to her intestines, but spunky Holly surprised everyone. We can't thank Dr. Wise and the folks at Monroe Animal Care Hospital, P.C. enough for taking such great care of her. Now all we need to do is find this sweetheart a home!

New beginnings

A great day at the Conyers Petsmart - three of our rescues found wonderful homes! Harley and Rocky both came to us through the Puppy Prevention program. Their search took awhile, but they finally went to wonderful homes. And sweet, laid-back Truman will be watching over some happy little girls in his new family. Three more WAG happy endings!

Holly's Health Challenge

Holly needs our help! This normally spunky senior cattledog has been in foster care for almost a year. She's an amazingly fun girl and one of our favorites, but her age (7+) has so far kept her from being adopted. Trust me - people don't know what they're missing in this wonderful companion dog!

But yesterday our active girl was in obvious pain, so we whisked her off to Monroe Animal Care Hospital. Dr. Wise immediately put her on fluids, pain medication and started diagnostic tests. Holly wasn't getting better. Exploratory surgery done today revealed a small piece of towel or fabric in her small intestine, something she must have ingested recently. Unfortunately damage was extensive - Holly needed 21 inches of her small intestine removed.

The  estimate for Holly's treatment, surgery and follow-up care is $1,200. Your donations and support are appreciated. We promise to provide the love, hugs, and everything else Holly needs to get better.

This awesome girl has much love left to give someone. Please help us put the smile back on Holly's face again!

Donations can be made through Paypal link on our website at www.wagwalton.com.

Blossom's New Life

Here's a picture of Blossom with her new family. She's been in our adoption program since March and we're thrilled she finally found a wonderful home! Thanks also to Melanie for traveling to Petsmart for a late evening adoption so this girl could meet up with her new family before the weekend. We love WAG happy endings!

Another CT adoption

Time to wrap up the story of another WAG adventure to a Dog Days adoption event in Connecticut. Although many of our dogs found wonderful loving homes, half of them returned to GA with us, so we still have some very important work ahead to create happily-ever-after stories for these very deserving pets.

This was our last visit to Dog Days for adoptions, but it's been a rewarding experience. The most amazing part of the adventure was the partnerships we enjoyed along the way. Some generous fosters stepped up in GA to keep dogs for us prior to our journey. As always, our friends at Pound Puppies 'n Kittens worked with us getting rescue dogs ready for the trip. WAG's CT friends and Dog Days volunteers welcomed us again with open arms, worked diligently during the event promoting our dogs and celebrated our successes each day. Jim and Terry Rodgers did their usual flawless job of transporting us safely to and from CT. Hard working WAG volunteers busted their tails before and during the event caring for the dogs. And lots of support from our fans along the way. So I'd call that an unqualified success story!

A little more work to do wrapping up loose ends, then on to the next project. But first, a huge THANK YOU to everyone for your encouragement and interest in helping us save lives!

June Dog Days adoption event in CT

Another long trip to CT for a Dog Days Adoption event and some happy homecomings!

Puppy Partnerships

The goal of WAG's Puppy Prevention program is to help owners with unexpected litters, keep the puppies healthy, get them spayed/neutered and into wonderful homes. Then, of course, we spay mom.

But sometimes we need a little help. When several litters of puppies were ready at the same time, we reached out to Atlanta Humane Society (AHS) for assistance. While WAG holds adoptions only on Saturdays, AHS has two shelter facilities open to the public seven days a week. Because their shelter in Midtown Atlanta and a new multi-million dollar facility in Alpharetta adopt out so many puppies each week, they reach out to groups like us and offer to help place puppies. So we transported 3 puppies to AHS last week - they already found homes! Another 3 puppies went today and will no doubt find great homes by this weekend.

Because AHS is a no-kill facility, does pre-adoption spay/neuter on site, requires adoption applications and counsels potential adopters, much like our adoption program, we're confident our goals for these puppies are met and they'll have great lives. Our thanks to AHS for their help in this rewarding process!

Attention Kroger Shoppers!

Here's a Kroger daily special worth noting.

Walton Animal Guild has been accepted into the Kroger Commnity Rewards Program! For shoppers with a Kroger Plus card, this means you can donate to Walton Animal Guild every time you shop WITHOUT SPENDING ANOTHER PENNY!

After registering your Kroger Plus card online, Kroger will pay rebates to the charity of your choice, based on your quarterly spending. To sign up, visit www.kroger.com/communityrewards and click on "Create an account." Fill in your name and address info and your Kroger Plus Card . Type in Walton Animal Guild for the designated organization, and click Save.

If you don't have a Kroger Plus card, ask for one next time you're in the store.

At last - a quick and simple way to help save homeless pets in your community every time you shop!

Puppy Prevention Success

There's no simple solution to the pet overpopulation problem. WAG's Puppy Prevention program was created to start at the source - spay female dogs that have already had at least one litter, hoping to prevent any further births. Spaying and neutering the puppies before adoption also prevents any accidental litters that might occur if new owners wait too long to sterilize their new pups.

In the three months since beginning, WAG has welcomed 36 puppies and 6 mother dogs into the PP program. Most puppies leave mom at 6-8 weeks for adoption and the mother dog is typically ready to be spayed 4-6 weeks later. To-date, 22 puppies have been adopted and 3 female dogs spayed. 

When owners sign their animals up for the program, puppies and mother dog are immediately dewormed and vaccinated (depending on age). Subsequent dewormings and vaccinations follow. After their second set of vaccinations, the puppies are typically ready to leave mom. All dewormings and vaccines are paid for by WAG.

When puppies leave mom, they're spayed/neutered and go to a WAG foster home, ready to start their journey toward a new home. WAG volunteers later schedule the mother dog's sterilization surgery through Paradox Spay Neuter Clinic and contact the owner, paying for the cost of spay-related surgery and rabies vaccine.

Our thanks to the community for supporting this program - both pet owners and donors who've made this initiative possible. We're making a difference - one dog at a time!

A new Lady

WAG welcomes a new enrollee in our Puppy Prevention program - Lady, a happy hound mix. Her circumstances are a little different than some of our other PP mom dogs - she was a stray found during the icy cold month of February by an animal- loving good samaritan. A vet exam revealed Lady was pregnant, so the GS decided rather than take Lady to the shelter, she'd foster her until her puppies were born. So five weeks ago Lady had 7 puppies! After contacting lots of rescues with no luck, Lady's benefactor called WAG. We're going to squeeze the puppies into our program and hope to also have space for Lady soon because she's SUCH a loving, kind girl and deserves a wonderful life.

Her puppies are adorable, but we have to be honest - they didn't get any of mom's flashier looks. Four black puppies with some white markings and three brindle babies. But hey, everybody can't have dazzling movie star dog looks - and just take a peek at these sweet faces! Everyone had their first set of vaccines/deworming and puppies will be available for adoption in a few weeks. We're glad WAG could help this deserving furry family!

A Brotherly Reunion

In 2010 we rescued two little terrier mix puppies from Walton County Animal Control. We named them Oscar and Felix.

One of our WAG supporters, Kim, brought them to the attention of two of her friends living in California, Kay and Eileen. Kay lives in San Francisco and Eileen in San Mateo. The three former college classmates stay in touch and Kim visits California often. Kay and Eileen fell in love with Felix and Oscar's photos and filled out adoption applications for them.

Obviously Monroe is nowhere near California, so it was decided that Felix and Oscar would fly to California with Kim on her next trip. So at five months of age, the boys boarded a jet flying toward their new home. First class, no less! Well, "technically" they were in a crate, but even the stewardesses fell in love with the flying cuties while they were passed around the plane. Eileen and Kay were thrilled to meet their new babies and both boys went home.

Fast forward four years later. Here's a picture of the first reunion between Oscar and Felix since going to their new families. Don't they look great? Obviously it's to hard to know for sure if they remembered each other, but Kay and Eileen report that they seemed real comfortable together and had a wonderful time playing.

It's wonderful to see some of our rescues after so many years and to hear about the joy they bring to their families.

Rescue rocks!

More food to feed pets!

More food to help somebody's pets - unloading donations at FISH!

 www.fishofwalton.org