a disturbing phone call

The last few days have been an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. One minute, furious. One minute, sad.

We are so blessed and spent out entire weekend with great friends. It was wonderful to laugh and just feel "normal." Reality quickly slaps us in the face when we're home in a completely silent house though. No barking coming from our basement. No whimpers. No growls. No puppy kisses. Instead, we stare at the closed white door that quarantines Buck from our basement.

I honestly cannot bring myself to go down there quite yet. I've even resorted to ironing my clothes instead of throwing them in the dryer to fluff them. We decided that we were just going to rip out the linoleum down there since we intend to renovate eventually. Unfortunately, even with a heat gun, we cannot get the 'tiles' to come up. My solution - atleast tear out the porous base boards & ugly wall paper and bleach the walls & floor again. And perhaps even again & again after that.

I've sort of felt like I'm wearing a scarlet letter. Caution - lady whose has a basement full of Parvo coming through. My dad laughed when I told him that but seriously. I've [luckily] never had to deal with something like this before. I know...could I be more dramatic?

Anyway, I wanted to write to update you on something so incredibly disturbing..

On Sunday evening, we had just gotten home for our niece's first birthday party and Brock called me upstairs. He had a concerned tone as he pointed to an accident Buck had in the office while we were gone. This freaked me our for two reasons. One - he NEVER has accidents in the house. Two - his stool looked a little strange...a little "loose."

I immediately called the emergency vet hospital because I needed to be sure that he was going to be okay and that his stool wasn't indicating the worst. Ironically while I was on the phone with them, the rescue was beeping in on the other line. I finished up my call with the vet [Buck is fine, halleluia!] & returned the call.

I was hoping that she was calling to update me on Heidi, Big Girl, Rotty & JJ like she said she was going to. Nope. Instead the conversation went like this...perhaps not verbatim but pretty close.

H: Hello?
M: Hi Heidi, it's Nicole. I just saw that you called.
H: Hi Nicole. How is everything going?
M: Alright, just trying to clean everything up and move onward & upward.
H: That's good. Well, I'm actually calling because I'm in a bit of a bind. I have 2 dogs coming in from transport that I didn't know were coming & I already have 4 dogs on subcutaneous fluids at my house. Can you overnight the dogs just for one night?
M: [Picking up my jaw.] Umm...we're still under quarantine from the Parvo we were all just subjected to 3 days again and so no. Sorry.
H: Ok, thanks for considering. Bye.

I seriously could not believe it! After telling [ok, yelling] the story to Brock I called my best friend.

Ashley was the one who seriously got me through last Thursday. She calmed me down, reassured my feelings & just listened as I went from mad to sad in 2.2 seconds. She too is the epitome of a dog lover. She's also my 'go to girl' for advice on just about anything. We talked for over an hour about the situation and finally I decided I would write Heidi an e-mail.

Dear Heidi,

I wanted to write to you to address some things that happened during

Brock and my experience as first time fosters. I also wanted to

express some concern for some of the current procedures Paws For A

Cause follows. My desire is that you take this letter into

consideration.

When Brock and I responded to the advertisement asking for an

emergency foster for Heidi (the dog) and her ten puppies, it was

evident that the organization needed more volunteers/fosters. Our love

for dogs combined with the promise of support and guidance allowed us

to be confident in taking eleven strange dogs into our home.

Before leaving with the litter, we were assured that we’d receive a

call within the next week and calls thereafter reminding us of

upcoming things we needed to do (example: begin weaning)  to make sure

everything was going well with all of them. We never received this.

Instead, communication occurred when we took the initiative. As first

time fosters, it was incredibly frustrating because it was that way

through the entire process. We felt like we were on our own little

island relying on Google to answer our questions and care for the

puppies.

Over the course of the eight to nine weeks that we had the pups, we

would contact you whenever we had a question or noticed any changes in

the pups. The response seemed very relaxed and it seemed like our

concern wasn’t totally being addressed. For example, when we contacted

you in regards to the worms we found in the pups feces, you told us

that the dewormer they received will unlikely kill all of the worms

but to bring a fecal sample to you so it could be tested to be sure.

We did this not once, but twice. You also told us you’d inform us of

the results. This never happened.

When the pups were euthanized on January 5, 2012, the vet told me that

she found a large amount of worms in the pups. This was three weeks

after we brought this up and it still wasn’t addressed. The thing that

concerned me and even infuriated me as a dog owner opening our home up

is that our dog was subjected to worms and when I asked you for the

dewormer for our dog just to be sure he wouldn’t get them, you said

not to worry about it. However, I didn’t even ask and the vet gave me

dewormer to assure our dog is fine after being subjected to Roundworm.

I could offer a number of additional instances where the response for

our concerns were either lacks or unaddressed. As well, I could offer

numerous instances where you did not do what you said you were going

to do.

I believe the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’ for me was the phone

call I received on January 8, 2012 asking me to “overnight two dogs”

just three days after the litter of puppies were euthanized for

contracting Parvo. Taking these two dogs, who were likely not up to

date on vaccinations, into our home would have been incredibly

irresponsible and perhaps even lethal to them. I was told by both you

and the vet that we should not have another dog in our home for at

least four months because of the Parvo so I did not understand why we

would have even been asked to foster them.

When Brock and I decided to open up our home as fosters, we had no

idea that this would be the outcome. We cannot have any of our friend

or family’s dogs to our home for at least four months, we cannot get a

puppy for over a year, we have to quarantine our basement from our dog

for six months to a year, we have had to bleach our entire home, we

have to keep our dog out of our backyard for the next four months and

we have to watch him for the next two weeks in hopes that he does not

contract the Parvo that he was subjected to. Worst of all, seven

innocent puppies lost their lives.

I am not placing blame on you or Paws For A Cause because the puppies

contracted Roundworms or Parvo, however, I do believe that if the

concerns we brought up were addressed, perhaps the outcome would not

have been as tragic.

I am more than willing to offer you a number of suggestions so that

future fosters do not have the same experience. Please contact me if

you desire to hear them. In the meantime, please remove Brock and me

from your ‘Foster List.’

Thank you,

Nicole Greenhagen

I could have said A LOT more but I felt like it would have gone unheard & ignored...given the track record. I just knew that for me to sleep at night, I had to send it. We'll see if she ever reads, let alone responds.

Anyway, I took Buck for a long walk today since we can't play ball in the backyard. I cannot believe how warm it is in January! We had fun & [HOORAY!] he had a normal poop -- lol, the crap I get excited for [pun intended]!

Counting my blessings that I can still laugh, play & care for Bucky Woo-Woo. He's such a happy good boy!

1 dog & counting,
Nicole