Bluebonnet Animal Rescue Network

24/01/2025

It has been less than a week since we rescued this momma dog and 8 puppies, but the whole blended family is doing well. We're working on names for this family, but for now we'll just call her Momma dog. She is SUCH a wonderful momma. She arrived desperately thin but her puppies were well-fed and even a little plump, so she was clearly giving everything to her pups at the expense of her own health. Now she's getting plenty of good food topped with Dyne, which is a high calorie/high fat supplement. It will take some time for Momma to fill out, but that's OK -- she can take as much time as she needs. In addition to her own six pups, Momma has taken over as surrogate mom to two younger puppies from other litters. All the other puppies in those other litters are believed to have died, and we're not sure what happened to their moms. But thankfully, THIS mom is treating these puppies as if they are her own, and both pups seem to have no trouble squeezing in among the larger puppies to get their share of Momma's milk. Even though Momma dog and her pups have never been handled by humans, they are all accepting our care very well. I've been able to handle all the puppies, and Momma lets me pet her. She has even taken treats from my hand, which is something that many feral dogs won't ever do, even after they learn to trust us. It will be several more weeks before these pups are ready for adoption, but don't forget -- we have Belladonna's Holiday Feast puppies on our website. They all go in for their second vaccinations next week, so they will be able to start meeting prospective adopters very soon. Stay tuned!

23/01/2025

Today was Margarita’s turn for her annual checkup and vaccinations. She weighed in at 104.2 lbs so she’s a big beauty! Heartworm test was negative and f***l plus bloodwork are going to the lab but are expected to be OK. Margarita has good manners in the house, except she will counter-surf if you leave anything tasty within reach. She gets along well with other dogs but does think she should be the boss, so she expects to be the first one to get a treat. Her leash manners are OK though she will pull if she gets excited. Overall Margarita is an easy dog to love and have in your life. Visit our website to check out her profile and apply to adopt — link in our bio and LinkTree.

23/01/2025

Belladonna came from the Central Texas ranch that we've been working on for the past year. She was heavily pregnant when she was captured, and delivered the Holiday Feast puppies just a few days after being taken to a foster home in the Austin area. On Monday, her puppies were moved to Bluebonnet's home base in Whitewright TX (north of Dallas) so Belladonna could have her . She is recovering in her foster home but is very lonely without her puppies. We're working on a plan to give her a companion to help ease the transition for her. She has always had other adult dogs for company, and has probably ALSO had a litter of puppies every time she went into heat. So she's probably not used to being a solo dog. There are other dogs in her foster home, but they are not sharing quarters with Belladonna because while she had her puppies, she was super protective of them and not welcoming to other dogs. We'll work something out to ease her heart, but in the meantime, Belladonna is getting plenty of good food, painkillers plus a mild sedative, and as much human affection as she will tolerate.

22/01/2025

Simon has enjoyed this cold weather more than we humans have, but smart boy that he is, after coming inside for supper, he retired to the crate closest to the pellet stove, which has a nice fire plus a fan to spread the heat.

21/01/2025

Another run to pick up dog food -- $410.98 for 8 bags with a total weight of 320 lbs. This will last less than a week. Anyone who thinks adoption fees are too high surely must not be taking proper care of their dogs. Veterinary care is the single largest line item in the budget, followed by dog food and monthly preventives for fleas/ticks/heartworms. Expenses are certainly not going down, though for many rescue groups, donations ARE going down as folks are feeling the pinch in their own budgets and simply can't afford to be as generous as they once were. Rest assured— Bluebonnet dogs will always get the care they need. Tim and I will make sure of that.

21/01/2025

Today two of our Nutcracker Suite puppies had their annual check-up. In case you didn't hear their story when we first rescued this family, their mom is an Anatolian Shepherd and dad is a Komondor. SugarPlum weighed in at just over 74 lbs and is a sweet, easy dog, though a little shy with new people. She has been spayed, vaccinated, and heartworm-tested (negative), and she walks pretty well on a leash. She would love to find her forever family. SugarPlum gets along well with other dogs and hasn't bothered our barn cats. She has good manners in the house, though she's used to a dog door, so without one, she might need some special attention to house/potty-training. She came from a small homestead with backyard chickens, so with proper introductions, she should be able to live in peace with your backyard flock.

Mouse King weighed in at just over 85 lbs and like his sister, is shy meeting new people. But he behaved very nicely, barely even flinching during his blood draw, vaccinations, and taking of a f***l sample. He has an ear infection so his ears were cleaned and packed, and we’ll continue to treat at home. Mouse King was kicked in the head by a goat when he was just a tiny puppy in his original home, and that traumatic brain injury may have left him with some intellectual deficits. But he is a happy boy who gets along well with other dogs. Like SugarPlum, Mouse King was raised with chickens, so should be able to live in peace with a backyard flock.

Both pups are about 16 months old, fully vetted including microchip, and are ready to find their forever home. Bio for each is on our website -- link in our profile and LinkTree.

20/01/2025

Belladonna’s puppies are loaded up, ready to head to Windsong Ranch for the next phase of their lives. They all have appointments lined up with our vet and by early February they will be ready to start interviewing prospective adopters. Stay tuned for more photos after they get settled in to their new quarters.

20/01/2025

19/01/2025

This week-end, in addition to the usual chores related to the frigid weather, we've also been preparing for PUPPY PALOOZA!

On Saturday, we welcomed a momma dog with her 6 puppies PLUS 2 singleton puppies from other litters. Sadly, all the other puppies from these other two litters have died -- possibly due to lack of shelter during extreme winter conditions, possibly due to lack of adequate food for momma dogs to be able to produce enough milk, possibly due to predation of puppies while momma goes out hunting, trying to find enough food to keep herself going. There's just no telling -- the bottom line is that the breeding situation is completely out of control on this ranch in Central Texas. We're doing as much as we can, as quickly as we can, but it's hard work, especially since the rancher has health issues and isn't able to do as much to help us capture these dogs, all of whom are feral, unsocialized.

The momma dog we just took in (name for mom and all pups coming soon!) is desperately thin, but her puppies seem really plump and well-fed, so it appears that she has done everything she can to protect them and feed them, to her own detriment. Now that she's settled in here, she's getting plenty of good food and she has a safe place to rest and try to rebuild her own health. Her puppies appear to be about 3-4 weeks old. The other two puppies are even younger and their eyes aren't even open yet. One pup appears to be about 7-8 days old and the other one probably 10-12 days old. Thankfully, momma dog has welcomed them into the fold and they are nursing and being kept warm by mom and their new littermates.

Tomorrow, we will welcome Belladonna's 6 puppies here as she heads in for spay surgery. We've made lots of posts about that litter and will make more posts in the coming days. For today, we've just been getting their quarters ready to welcome them. We've stocked up on puppy food and toys, so we're as ready as we can be! Stay tuned for more news about ALL of these little puppy chunks -- we're sure to fill your news feed with lots of puppy photos and videos!

18/01/2025

Training for the Iditarod maybe?

17/01/2025

Happy Birthday to the late great Betty White, a true animal lover. ❤

16/01/2025

Handsome Bruno had his annual checkup and vaccinations today, and he charmed the whole staff with his good behavior! He weighed in at 111.2 lbs which looks good on him. ❤️ Bruno gets along with other dogs, and had a brief stay in a foster home with a cat, and they got along just fine. We’re not sure about Bruno’s breed/mix, but he looks like maybe a Boerboel mix. There’s a Boerboel breeder in the Texoma area so while many people think this is not a common breed, they aren’t so uncommon in this area.

You can read more about Bruno and see more photos on his adoption bio on our website. Link in our profile and LinkTree.

15/01/2025

For a typical puppy, this scene would be nothing unusual. But this is huge progress for a feral puppy who was never touched by humans until he was captured and brought into rescue when he was about 5-6 months old. Brinlee is doing so well and we are so grateful to Katie and Bryan for their patient, gentle care.

14/01/2025

I downloaded this photo collage today from the page of a shelter in a small town in North Texas. These are just some of the big dogs currently in the shelter. The original post is begging people to adopt or offer to foster, because the shelter is out of space, which puts dogs at risk of being euthanized to make space for more incoming dogs.

We see the same situation in every shelter all over Texas. In shelters like this one, they kill animals to make space for more coming in. In "no kill" shelters, they run out of space, but instead of killing animals, they put people on a waiting list to be able to surrender their pet, or even to surrender a stray they found. While the "kill shelters" do the dirty work themselves, the "no kill" shelters basically push that job off on the public and on other shelters in their area. People who are determined to surrender their pets will simply go somewhere else, so neighboring shelters are overwhelmed with higher intake. Or people dump their animals in a rural area, or in an urban dumping ground, and then citizens and rescue groups have to deal with them.

Whatever choice the humans make, it's always the animals that pay the price.

As long as people BUY puppies, puppy mills, backyard breeders, and farm/ranch/homestead breeders will continue to produce them. If you're looking to add a pet to your family, don't go to a retail store whose puppies come from puppy mills. Don't buy from someone selling online and promising free or reasonably priced "shipping" -- those are likely to be puppy mill puppies, or they may be scammers who use photos stolen from others and are only out to get your money without delivering a puppy at all. Instead, go to your local shelter or rescue group to adopt. Or help the animal who shows up stray, in need, right in your neighborhood.

Please help us spread the message about the vital importance for every pet to be sterilized.

13/01/2025

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13/01/2025

$5 New Member Shopping Bonus! Join now, when you make your first purchase within 30 days, we'll give you an extra $5 bonus for Bluebonnet Animal Rescue Network. https://www.iGive.com/BluebonnetAnimalRescueNetwork/?p=19992&jltest=1

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13/01/2025

Bentley is one of the LGDs rescued from the ranch in Central Texas. He was trapped and brought here in November. Since then, he has been vaccinated, heartworm tested (negative, which was a pleasant surprise!), and neutered. He also had surgery to correct bilateral entropion in both eyes. He arrived REALLY thin and is putting on weight - he seems very grateful to have an ample supply of good food. Since he was never socialized with humans, he still keeps his distance from us. In order to get him to the vet, we basically had to herd him into a crate and then carry the crate to the van. Every procedure requires sedation. Hopefully he's done with visits to the vet until time for his annual vaccinations in November. With time, we hope to earn his trust. But for now, we just provide him with good shelter and food, and we talk nicely to him every time we see him. Working with feral/unsocialized dogs is slow going, but dogs like Bentley deserve our best efforts.

12/01/2025

Margarita is such a pretty girl. She delivered puppies in a Dallas area shelter in August 2023 and we pulled the whole family out when the puppies were just a few days old. She was an excellent mom! Her puppies were all adopted and have been in their forever homes for a year or more. But Margarita is still waiting for her turn to find a forever home.

She gets along with other dogs, but loves PEOPLE more than anything. She has good manners in the house, except she is a counter-surfer, so if you leave food on the counter, it will likely disappear. 👀 Margarita has behaved well in our chicken yard, so if you have a flock of backyard chickens, as long as you make appropriate introductions, you should be able to count on her not to view your flock as chicken nuggets.

Margarita loves swimming in our pool, so if you have a pool, she may not wait for an invitation to dive in, and will probably think you built it just for her!

Margarita is about 3 years old and lives at Windsong Ranch in Whitewright TX. If you would like to meet her, please complete the application on our website -- link in our bio and LinkTree.