Poor Spot had a rough start in life. He was found as a puppy by a couple who decided to make him their dog. Unfortunately, the couple didn’t have a permanent residence and were moving from friend’s homes to other friend’s homes, none of which were exactly “dog friendly.” He was made to live outside on a chain in each home he lived in. What a lonely life!

Spot was lonely!

The couple who found Spot ended up moving in with one of their parents. This house was another that he was not allowed inside, and once again Spot was left outside by himself, on a chain. Lucky for Spot, he has a guardian angel. And her name is Sherry Brown.

Sherry was driving to work the first time she caught sight of poor Spot. She would drive by on her way to work after that, always wondering about this dog, hoping he’s being cared for. Unfortunately, chaining dogs in Barrow county is legal (BOO HISS, BARROW COUNTY), and she wasn’t sure how to proceed. Well, as the weather started to decline into the colder early winter, Sherry decided to knock on the door and see what she could do.

The folks who answered the door were nice enough, but made it clear that they did not want the dog. Sherry realized then, being on the actual property, that Spot had no dog house or shelter. His water was dirty and his food bowl was empty. She talked the owners into putting a crate outside for him, which they did. The crate had no blanket or bed. It kept flipping over, and poor Spot was sleeping on the cold ground when it was 21 degrees. He also kept getting so wrapped up around things with his chain, that Sherry feared he may choke himself to death before she could find help. Sherry went home, got a dog bed, blankets, dog food, etc. and started stopping by two times per day to feed him, love on him, and unwrap his chain while sending out pleas for help for this guy everywhere she could. She has a houseful of pets, including 6 dogs, 3 cats and one potbellied pig.

Sherry and five of her fur children

Thanks for bringing me food, Sherry!

Please get me out of here, I'm a good boy!

To help motivate a potential adopter, Tom Wargo from Daffy’s Pet Soup Kitchen in Lawrenceville, GA offered to give whomever adopted Spot  300 pounds of dog food for him. The word was spread about this dog, far and wide. The power of networking is pretty incredible.

Sherry found a few out of state folks who said they could take Spot, but arranging transport proved to be nearly impossible. Then, she heard from Stacy. Stacy and her husband Ben had recently lost their beloved Min Pin and were thinking about adopting a dog. When they heard Spot’s story, they fell in love with him and decided to contact Sherry and start the adoption process. They coordinated a time, Sherry spoke with Spot’s owners who had him chained and they said she could take him. Sherry picked up Spot and went to Stacy and Ben’s house, a pretty long drive, just to make sure it was a proper home for him and that he didn’t end up in the same situation. Well, it was not only proper, it was PERFECT! Lots of room to roam, and an active and loving family to cater to his every need!

Spot, who is now called Ruger, is in hog heaven these days! He has a family to love him and play with him, no chain to hold him back and furniture to wallow on! Life is a doggy dream.

Stacy and Ruger

Ruger and his "sister," Mckinsey

Fellow Daffy's Pet Soup Kitchen volunteers, Lindy and Patricia, helped me load up my car to meet with Ruger's new owners to give them their promised 300 pounds of dog food from Daffy's!

300 pounds is a lot of dog food!

Here are Ruger's parents, Ben and Stacy! They live near Macon, but we met in Conyers so I could give them the dog food that Daffy's offered them for adopting Ruger. They love Ruger so much and are the nicest people! Yay, Ruger, you got yourself a great home!

Happy to be UN-chained!! Freedom!

From chain to chair

The question is not, “Can they reason?” nor, “Can they talk?” but rather, “Can they suffer?”
~Jeremy Bentham

This is a list I compiled of all of the veterinarians I could find in Lawrenceville, which is in Gwinnett County, GA. Let me know if I’ve missed any by leaving a comment, or if you have anything to add about any of these vets! We’d love to hear from you.

Lawrenceville Animal Care Center

1720 Lawrenceville Highway
Lawrenceville, GA 30044
(770) 682-0682

Lawrenceville Suwanee Animal Hospital

900 Lawrenceville Suwanee Road
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
(770) 963-0184

Value Vet *low cost*

3645 Lawrenceville Highway
Lawrenceville, GA 30044,
(770) 686-3010

Sugarloaf Animal Hospital

3010 Sugarloaf Parkway
Lawrenceville, GA 30045
(770) 962-5112

Gwinnett Animal Clinic

190 Buford Dr
Lawrenceville, GA 30045
(770) 963-6903

Russell Ridge Animal Hospital

738 Ridge Rd
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
(678) 407-0700

Riverside Animal Hospital

1110 Duluth Hwy 120
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
(770) 339-9080

Banfield Pet Hospital (located in Petsmart)

875 Lawrenceville Suwanee Rd
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
(770) 822-2199

Morningside Animal Care Center

929 Buford Dr # 200
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
(770) 995-5700

Dogwood Animal Hospital

2050 Sugarloaf Parkway
Lawrenceville, GA 30045
(678) 377-0070

VCA Animal Emergency Center of Gwinnett

1956 Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road
Lawrenceville, GA 30043
(770) 277-3220

Animal Medical Center of Lawrenceville

552 Buford Drive
Lawrenceville, GA 30046
(770) 963-7363

Animal Care Hospital

3411 Lawrenceville Highway
Lawrenceville, GA 30044
(770) 381-6544

Society Of Humane Friends *low cost

150 Honest Alley

Lawrenceville, GA 30046

(770) 962-4301

The best doctor in the world is a veterinarian.  He can’t ask his patients what is the matter — he’s got to just know.   ~ Will Rogers

I admit it, I’m a StumbleUpon addict. And an animal junkie. Not to mention, laughing is one of my favorite past times. So, I’ve decided to put together some of the many pictures of pets and animals that have made me laugh for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.

Albert Einstein

I needed a smile today, so I thought I’d share what I found….10 Lol Dogs for your Lol-ing pleasure. Enjoy!

 

“If there is no heaven for dogs, then I want to go where they go when I die.”

-Anonymous

Everything tastes better with pet hair in it!

Denny and I have been volunteering with Daffy’s Pet Soup Kitchen for a few years now, but Tom Wargo has been running this charity since 1997, assisting people with pet food and supplies when they need them most. This keeps so many pets out of the high kill shelters here in Gwinnett. Here’s a great news story that Gwinnett Daily Post recently did on Daffy’s: Click Here

Daffy’s Pet Soup Kitchen has moved from Lilburn to Lawrenceville, and are opening a new and used pet supplies (and much more) shop on Wednesday, 1/25/2012. Their location is 134 S. Clayton St. Suite 104, Lawrenceville, GA (on the lower level of the Lawrenceville Square shopping center, pretty much right underneath Metro Thrift Store. Turn onto Nash St. between Long John Silvers and Lawrenceville City Hall and look for the roll up garage doors and green awnings).

Here is some history to give you an idea of how far Daffy’s Pet Soup Kitchen has come.

History of Daffy’s Pet Soup Kitchen/The S.O.S Club of GA

The kind man feeds his beast before sitting down to dinner. – Hebrew Proverb

Some quotes and wise words spoken by Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”

 

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction … The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”

 

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity.”

 

“Man is man because he is free to operate within the framework of his destiny. He is free to deliberate, to make decisions, and to choose between alternatives. He is distinguished from animals by his freedom to do evil or to do good and to walk the high road of beauty or tread the low road of ugly degeneracy.”

 

“Don’t let anybody make you think God chose America as his divine messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with justice and it seems I can hear God saying to America “you are too arrogant, and if you don’t change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I will place it in the hands of a nation that doesn’t even know my name. Be still and know that I’m God. Men will beat their swords into plowshafts and their spears into pruning hooks, and nations shall not rise up against nations, neither shall they study war anymore.” I don’t know about you, I ain’t going to study war anymore.”

“Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness”

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

“Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.”

“Segregation is the adultery of an illicit intercourse between injustice and immorality.”

“When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.”

I saw this story the other day on Fox 5 News and just know all of these dogs will be adopted into wonderful homes in due time. It’s great to hear (and pretty surprising) that these dogs are all in good health, even though this sounds like a hoarding situation. The story below comes from Online Athens

Adoptions begin Tuesday for four dozen homeless dogs

By Merritt Melancon – merritt.melancon@onlineathens.com

Published Tuesday, January 10, 2012 Updated: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 – 12:07am

The collection of small dogs confiscated from a Barnett Shoals Road home Monday won’t be available for adoption until Tuesday, but Animal Control officials have already seen a lot of interest from people who want to adopt them.

“We’ve gotten a number of calls from people who are interested in these dogs,” said Athens-Clarke Animal Control Superintendent Patrick Rives.

The 48 dogs, mostly shih tzus and small terrier mixes, were impounded Monday after their 47-year-old owner died of natural causes in her home.

About half of the dogs, mostly the nursing puppies and pregnant dogs, were turned over to local rescue groups, including Athens Canine Rescue, Helping Paws Rescue and Circle of Friends Animal Society, Rives said.

The two dozen or so that are held at the Athens-Clarke County Animal Control Shelter are getting bathed and groomed by volunteers to make them more comfortable and ready for adoption.

“They are in surprisingly good shape, considering,” Rives said.

By law, Animal Control has to hold the dogs through Sunday evening to make sure that none of the former owner’s relatives claim ownership, Rives said. The department is closed Monday and will start offering the dogs for adoption Tuesday, he said.

“We won’t start scheduling adoptions until Tuesday,” Rives said. “But we are accepting the applications now on a first-come, first-serve basis, so anyone who is interested should submit an application.”

People interested in adopting a dog can call (706) 613-3540 or visit the animal control department’s website at www.athensclarkecounty.com or follow the link at www.athenspets.net and download an application. Fax the application to (706) 613-3545 or drop it off in person on Thursday or Friday at 125 Buddy Christian Way.

The Animal Control Department is closed to the public on Wednesdays.

Photos of the dogs have not been posted on athenspets.net, but a list of some of the impounded dogs is available at www.athensclarkecounty.com.

“It’s no coincidence that man’s best friend cannot talk.”
Anonymous

These LOL cats made me LOL, so I thought I would share!

The naming of cats is a difficult matter. It isn’t just one of your holiday games. You may think at first I’m mad as a hatter. When I tell you a cat must have three different names… – T.S. Eliot

I love Twitter. I have met so many new contacts, gotten tons of great tips, recipes, and learned of places and things I never knew existed! Here is part two of Pet and Animal People that I like to follow on Twitter. I suggest you follow them, too!

@puppysites

@Eindy

@petsitusa

@GNPP

@petsittingcoach

@training_dogs

@CatBlogs

@dogsforautism

@HearingDogs

@shelterdogs

@DOGliving

@DogTipper

@TheDogDaily

@winjen2

@mollymutt

@PetRescueNews

@petfoodindustry

@PepperTheDog

@FIDOFriendly

@PoopAnonymous

@Petplan

@TheDogWalkerCA

@BullyStickGuy

@petMD

@petbizhelper

I could not have slept tonight if I had left that helpless little creature to perish on the ground. (Reply to friends who chided him for delaying them by stopping to return a fledgling to its nest.) -Abraham Lincoln