Me and My Shadow Dog Rescue

29/11/2024

I have to share a quick story about crossing the border back into the USA with Roxy, Princessa and Dark Chocolate last August. The temps at that time were in the 110-115 degrees range. When I picked up dogs in Mexico, I would hightail it out of there because of the heat. It is very hard to keep dogs cool in a large SUV even with excellent air conditioning. I was anxious to get up North to a cooler climate. I crossed the border on this trip where a border control agent asked me if the dogs had passports, I froze for a second but then he laughed. Whew! Anyway, the road from the Lukeville border to Tuscon is pretty desolate. I was flying down the road when a border patrol officer came up behind me with flashing lights. I pulled over in the 115 degree heat. He came up to my vehicle and asked me why i was in such a hurry. I explained that I was transporting dogs and we were all suffering from the heat. Then right on cue, Roxy who was in the front seat, started throwing up all over the seat and floor! She was car sick(which got remedied with Cerenia).....not sick from the heat but all the same, the officer handed me my documents and said "Have a good day!" After we got rolling again, she looked at me as if to say "You owe me.".

28/11/2024

Our sweet "Honduran" Holka, fka Princessa, has been adopted by a wonderful couple in Placitas. Holka, which means Girl in Czech, has a new sister, Sasha. They are doing great together.

14/11/2024

In mid-Sept, I did another run to Mexico to pick up some more of the "Hondurans" that are being kept at Barbs rescue temporarily. I brought the dogs here where they spent time going to the vet and stretching their legs before our next adventure. Several of the dogs and I set out at around 4:30AM to drive across country to Virginia, by way of Nashville. We drove straight for 17 hours to Nashville. A couple of dogs were dropped off there. The remaining dog, Winki, and I spent the night in a hotel in Nashville. Winki got a lot of one on one attention and enjoyed it thoroughly. Next morning, we packed up and continued on to Virginia. A wonderful rescue group there called Hope For Life Rescue has taken in many of the Honduran dogs. They were now taking in Winki who has Heartworm disease, a bad eye that may need to be removed and a bad leg that has an old fracture probably from being hit by a car. The good news is that WInki still has joy in her heart. Here she is during one of our pitstops. Nothing like rolling in the grass.

12/11/2024

In early September we took this sweet old boy, Bandit, out of the shelter. As you can see, he was an incredible mess when he arrived at the shelter. Based on his microchip info, he is 18 years old. He is in hospice with us. Martha Sherlin is taking wonderful care of him as you can see from his "after" photo.

08/11/2024

Look at these three cuties we just took in. Dipstick (left), R***r (center, brown), and Obsidian (right). They were born 8/25/2024 and are looking for furever homes. See their complete bios:
Dipstick: https://www.adoptapet.com/pet/43043048-edgewood-new-mexico-dachshund-mix
Obsidian: https://www.adoptapet.com/pet/43043148-edgewood-new-mexico-dachshund-mix
R***r: https://www.adoptapet.com/pet/43043223-edgewood-new-mexico-dachshund-mix

06/08/2024

It's all about transport these days. We are still actively involved with the large Honduran rescue effort that began in early 2024. The majority of the hundreds of dogs rescued after being abandoned at a shelter in Honduras, were flown into Miami. The rest, about 20 were driven to a temporary shelter in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. Those dogs have been there since April waiting to be taken in by rescues in the USA. Me and My Shadow Dog Rescue has done intake of 5 of those dogs. 2 were adopted immediately. The other 3 are going through medical treatment and socialization training.

There has been a big push to get the remaining dogs out of Mexico before August 1st, when the rules to bring dogs into the USA from Mexico are going to change and it will become more difficult to get the dogs out of Mexico.
As rescues in Michigan and Virginia have agreed to intakes, I have been part of the team that does one of the legs of the transport needed to get them to these rescues. I have driven to Flagstaff to pick up a car full of dogs, then they remain with me for a week or so while I get them to the vet for new vaccines, heartworm test, fecals, deworming, etc. Then I drive them to Amarillo, sometimes in the middle of the night, or Lubbock or wherever I need to meet the transport for the next leg of their journey. This process has been repeated several times...next trip was to Phoenix...next trip was across the Lukeville border into the Western part of Mexico to pick up dogs on July 31st- just under the wire. The trip to Mexico and back was a 19 hour journey arriving back at home at 3AM to unload dogs where they could roam freely and happily in a much cooler and more comfortable environment. This was my second trip to Mexico - my first was in April soon after the dogs arrived from Honduras. We have plans to pick up at least 2 more at the end of August - we will have more paperwork to do and more hoops to jump through, but it will get done. After that trip, we will have 3-4 remaining in Mexico. We will still be working hard to find them rescues or adopters. No dog will be left behind.

It has been an absolute honor to be involved in this rescue effort that was started by some incredible women that dropped everything to save these dogs. They literally raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to get this done and were determined to do whatever it took to get them to a safe place where excellent forever homes would be found. They will also be returning to Honduras to do a large scale spay/neuter event for the island dogs on Roatan island.
Below are pictures of Roxy, Princessa and Dark Chocolate.

-Jeanette

10/07/2024

We wanted to update you on some of our recent activity. We have been busy helping people rehome dogs; we are also continuing to provide spay/neuter services for low income families; and we are providing medical care for dogs in need. We are also working with our "Honduran girls" to get them ready for adoption. Blankie is going through heartworm treatment and Petunia is getting socialized. A recent story with a happy ending: Mary Muhlberger, a dog trainer and owner of Wonder Woof training, found a couple of dogs in a park in Albuquerque. After spending a lot of time and energy looking for their owners, no owner could be found. The dogs were clearly a bonded pair and needed a new home. She contacted us and we offered to do a courtesy listing on our various adoption sites. It worked! A wonderful couple from Los Alamos adopted both dogs! Attached is a picture of the beautiful boys going to their new home. Mary was referred to us by Kate Olsberg. Kate has fostered for us in the past. Mary adopted a Pitbull mix(serves as mascot of her company!) from Kate many years ago. If you have any training needs, Mary is an excellent resource. We were recently contacted by a family that tragically lost their son in an accident. The son left a dog behind. We are providing support services such as neuter and vaccinations in an effort to help the family keep the dog. Mary has generously offered her training services to the family.

Thank you for your continued support.

07/06/2024

So happy to report that sweet Baby Girl, now Lily, has found her forever home. She traveled 3500 miles to get here and now she is living her best life. Here is a picture of her smiling.

31/05/2024

We've gotten several of our small dogs adopted recently but I think Tilly has ended up with the most unique sibling. Note the pretty "shell" in the upper left hand corner of the picture. Tilly's new buddy is a beautiful turtle. They get along famously.

28/04/2024

Pequena - brown and white dog, Baby Girl - multi-colored shepherd mix, Blankie - sleek one with long ears, have all weathered the trip from Honduras to New Mexico well. Blankie is a bit thin but we will get some weight on her. We first went to Agua Prieta to meet up with the transport from Honduras but they were stuck at the Guatemalan/Mexican border. We returned home without dogs. A few days later we headed to Mexico again but this time to Puerto Penasco, Mexico to a wonderful rescue called Barbs rescue - we have pulled dogs from there in the past thanks to our awesome foster mom Andrea. 18 of the dogs on the land transport were dropped off there. We picked up 3 but hope to return for more. A Colorado rescue that I reached out to is currently looking for fosters so they can do intakes from the dogs still at Barbs. Blankie is Heartworm positive, which we knew ahead of time, so we will start treatment soon. The treatment can be rough and it will take quite awhile to complete but she will have a long happy life once completed. They are all so happy and very adoptable. If you are interested in fostering or adopting any of them, call us at 505-228-7022.

21/04/2024

Backstory to this huge effort in Roatan.

20/04/2024

Hard to tell for sure, but I think this is one of my girls. I am heading to Mexico today to meet up with the transport. I can't wait to meet the dogs. They have been traveling since Thursday morning. Still have a couple days to go before they get to their final destinations.

19/04/2024

28 dogs were loaded on to a ferry yesterday in Roatan. They are headed to Mexico. I will meet up with the transport in Agua Prieta Mexico. I can't wait to meet these sweet souls. And I can't wait to get my sweeties home safe and sound where they can run at top speed on the acreage and sleep in a soft bed.

15/04/2024

We will be getting some dogs from Honduras later this month! I can't wait for them to get here so they can start living their best lives. We will post pics of them as soon as we can. In the meanwhile, here is a pic of one of the many many dogs that was rescued there. My hat is off to the teams of people and rescue groups that got involved a year ago and have made this such a success.
Their fb page is https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094870524226

07/04/2024

Happy Saturday. We received an email from someone that is involved in a large rescue effort taking place in Roatan, Honduras. Apparently, a woman from Michigan started a rescue shelter in Roatan in 2019. She amassed hundreds of dogs but then about a year ago abandoned the shelter with hundreds of animals there. The conditions were terrible. Since then lots of people/rescuers have gotten involved and have gotten almost all of the animals placed. They are now down to their last 50 dogs that still need placement. The shelter will close its doors on April 23rd. 100 dogs will be flown into Miami. 70 of those are spoken for. The other 30 still need placement. Plus 20 dogs will be driven from Honduras to Mexico and then brought into the US as soon as they have a place to go in the US. You can go to the page that has been put together for this rescue effort https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094870524226
We are committed to helping with this cause and will do intakes. I will most likely be flying down to Roatan next week to meet the dogs in person. If anyone in the rescue community is interested in helping, I can provide additional info including bios and pics of the dogs still available.
I will update as we go along.

Non-profit organisation

25/03/2024

Meet Luna, our newest foster. She's 7 years old, 7 pounds, and full of JOY. She came from a situation where she received inadequate care so the city took her in, and we pulled her from the city. See all her details on Adopt-a-Pet: https://www.adoptapet.com/pet/41082814-edgewood-new-mexico-pomeranian-mix.

08/03/2024

Great News! Molly's mass was benign. Her new parents couldn't be happier....yep, she was adopted this week. Here she is taking a nap next to her new mom. She has a new furry sibling also. She landed well and we couldn't be happier.

05/03/2024

The Story of a Rescue Dog

My foster dog stinks to high heaven. I don’t know for sure what breed he is. His eyes are blank and hard. He won’t let me pet him and growls when I reach for him. He has ragged scars and crusty sores on his skin. His nails are long and his teeth which he showed me are stained. I sigh.

I drove two hours for this. I carefully maneuver him so that I can stuff him in the crate. Then I heft the crate and put it in the car. I am going home with my new foster dog.

At home I leave him in the crate till all the other dogs are in the yard. I get him out of the crate and ask him if he wants ‘outside.’ As I lead him to the door he hikes his leg on the wall and shows me his stained teeth again.

When we come in he goes to the crate because that’s the only safe place he sees. I offer him food but he won’t eat it if I look at him, so I turn my back. When I come back the food is gone. I ask again about ‘outside.’ When we come back I pat him before I let him in the crate, he jerks away and runs into the crate to show me his teeth.

The next day I decide I can’t stand the stink any longer. I lead him into the bath with cheese in my hand. His fear of me is not quite overcome by his wish for the cheese. And well he should fear me, for I will give him a bath.

After an attempt or two to bail out he is defeated and stands there. I have bathed four legged bath squirters for more dog years than he has been alive. His only defense was a show of his stained teeth that did not hold up to a face full of water.

As I wash him, it is almost as if I wash not only the stink and dirt away but also some of his hardness. His eyes look full of sadness now. And he looks completely pitiful as only a soap covered dog can. I tell him that he will feel better when he is cleaned. After the soap the towels are not too bad so he lets me rub him dry. I take him outside. He runs for joy. The joy of not being in the tub and the joy of being clean. I, the bath giver, am allowed to share the joy. He comes to me and lets me pet him.

His skin is healing. He likes for me to pet him. I think I know what color he will be when his hair grows in. I have found out he is terrified of other dogs. So I carefully introduce him to my mildest four legged brat. It doesn’t go well.

Two weeks later a new vet bill for an infection that was missed on the first visit. He plays with the other dogs.

Three weeks later he asks to be petted. He chewed up part of the rug.

Eight weeks later his coat shines, he has gained weight. He shows his clean teeth when his tongue lolls out after he plays chase in the yard with the gang. His eyes are soft and filled with life. He loves hugs and likes to show off his tricks, if you have the cheese.

Someone adopted him today... When they saw him the first time they said he was the most beautiful dog they had ever seen.

Six months later I got a call from his new family. He is wonderful, smart, well behaved and very loving. How could someone not want him? I told them I didn’t know. He is beautiful. They all are".

Fosters change the world, so please consider opening your home to a dog in need 🙏🐾

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- EVERY RESCUER ACROSS OUR COUNTRY -