The Collie Advocate - Tri

Tri-State Collie Rescue
Jan/Feb
The Collie Advocate
Mmmm…… Chocolate for you that helps Collies too!
Inside this issue:
Cookbook
2
TV Raffle results
2
Featured Dog
3
Missing Collie—Rocky
4
Rocky’s story con’t
5
Somewhere Out There
6
Map of Rocky’s Journey 7
Collie Trivia/Facts
 The Rough Collie originated
in Scotland
 Since the original 1943 film
star Lassie, there have been
eight official Lassies.
 Martin Riggs from Lethal
Weapon (played by Mel
Gibson) has a Collie named
Sam that has appeared in all
the Lethal Weapon movies.
 The original Rough Collie
color was all black
Tri-State Collie Rescue is conducting a fundraising activity with Malley's
Chocolates of Cleveland, Ohio again this year. Clicking on the link below to
order Chocolate treats will help us to save Collies since a percentage of the
proceeds comes directly back to us! Simply order through the Tri-State Collie
Rescue web page for Malley's chocolates, and they will ship your order
directly to your door!
Treat yourself to delicious chocolate and feel good about your donation to us at
the same time! There's nothing like guilt-free chocolate! Our fundraiser will go
to April 13 only, so please keep that in mind when you are
planning your purchase.
(Please remember, however, that chocolate is not for our canine
companions since it is toxic for them and all chocolate products should be
kept out of their reach!)
A website has been set up specifically for the Tri-State Collie Rescue
fundraising campaign, and all purchases made through that site will directly
benefit Tri-State Collie Rescue since after a certain amount, we get a
percentage of the sales--and the percentage that we can receive gets
incrementally higher.
To connect to this site just go to www.tristatecollierescue.net and click on the
link at the bottom of the home page OR copy this link into your browser:
http://www.malleys.com/?id=3e1ab794-9d3e-4880-b8c4-f6d15c3a4fd0
Thank You!
Page 2
Fundraising Idea - How you can help
We are working on a fundraising idea
and need your help. We will be
collecting and collating recipes for
the first ever Tri-State Collie Rescue
“Cookbook”.
Anyone can submit recipes and it can
be of any kind (as many as you would
like too!). So get out those old
cookbooks grandma handed down and
send those recipes in!
We are looking for submissions in
the following categories: Appetizers
and Snacks, Bread, Breakfast, Main
Dishes, Side Dishes, Salads, Soups/
Stews/Chili, Pasta, Seafood, Meat
and Poultry, Veggies, Drinks,
Desserts and of course — Pet treats!!
Recipes can be submitted to Laurie
Schmidt by email at:
[email protected]
(please include TSCR Cookbook in
subject line)
Thank You!
Tri-State would like to express
our sincere gratitude to Elisabeth
Fitzhugh for her very generous
donation of a 42” flat screen TV
to be auctioned of with proceeds
benefiting our collies.
The TV was auctioned off on Dec 24 just in time for
Christmas. The lucky winner was Ashley Humphreys
of Memphis, IN.
Page 3
FEATURED COLLIE
MAX
Please meet Max. He is an 8 year old sable and white male who is up-to-date on
his shots, neutered, and housebroken. He is a very sweet, reserved gentleman
who quietly slides his head onto your leg when you are sitting and looks up at
you with his big, beautiful eyes asking for attention, and then quietly stands
beside you while you stroke his head and scratch behind his ears.
Luck of the IRISH?
Maybe … can you
give me a forever
home?
He is fond of children (his foster Mom has a 6 year old and a 13 year old),
ignores cats, and gets along well with other dogs. In fact, he would probably do
best with another dog in the home as he has some anxiety over storms and loud
noises. Which seems to be better when there are other dogs to show him that
there is nothing to be afraid of.
Max is an adorable,
gentle boy who is
looking for the right
people to take care of
him and love him
forever!
Max has a heart of
GOLD and happy spirit
of the rainbow!
Help us grant his wish
of a FOREVER
HOME!
Page 4
A Lost Collie Named - Rocky
Rocky had been raised in Kentucky as an outside dog. His only usefulness was to breed. Unsocialized,
he was never in a house; just raised in a barn with other breeding Collies. He had the run of a horse
field which he would often escape from either climbing over or jumping through the fence. When he
returned he was beaten by the male owner and son for leaving the property. The owner was finished
with him now and he was going to be shot. Tri-State Collie Rescue stepped in and he, his sister and a
puppy were surrendered, with a cost to Tri-State.
It was the worst
kind of phone call
you can get when
you love animals.
“Lost dog, shy,
fence climber,
unsocialized, and
fearful.”
Rocky had only been inside the foster parent’s home for 1 hour when, unaware he was a fence
climber or his history, the foster left him alone in the backyard for 10 minutes. Rocky climbed the
fence and was gone. To make matters worse it was freezing outside and January was set to be the
coldest we had seen in a long time in Ohio. Even with a fur coat it was going to be difficult finding
food and water that was not frozen.
All the right things were done but it wouldn’t be enough. Animal control was contacted, posters
immediately went up and sightings started coming in. But they would be in vain. Many good hearted
people saw him and tried to catch him (despite the posters saying he was shy) which made him run
further away. Animal control gave up after chasing him on the nearby highway and then he crossed
some major roads and headed north.
When a dog is lost and days or even weeks go by, many people give themselves a reason to stop
looking in part because they don’t want to think of the suffering. They rationalize that “a dog could
not survive such bitter weather, that maybe it got hit by a car and was laying off the road or in a ditch
where no one could see him, that Animal Control had caught him, or that maybe that someone found
him and wouldn’t give him up because he was a beautiful purebred.” BUT until there is a true ending
to the each lost dog story you CANNOT give up looking. We were the ONLY shot Rocky had.
A number of people started off helping by getting the posters put up, but like many, they expected
resolution quickly. Surely this would be wrapped up after a week or two at the most. Eventually it
came down to just a few people putting up signs and each time there was a sighting in a new place
more posters would follow in that area.
ROCKY
Three weeks went by and sightings were all over the map. There would be days and sometimes a
week in between sightings. He had traveled over 13 miles north, then miles and miles each day in all
directions. The hope, although it seemed futile, was that he would settle in to a certain area, maybe in
someone’s yard. Food could be put out for him, a trap could be brought in and we would catch him.
That wasn’t going to be the case with Rocky. Some days he would be seen traveling a 4 to 5 mile
square area. Often he would be seen standing in a huge field, in the middle of a frozen lake or near a
busy highway. Each time there was a sighting; traps were set in that area along with a food trail.
Unfortunately, he wouldn’t stay in one place long enough to find the food. He would be gone each
time he was seen and not return. It seemed that when posters were put up, as helpful as they were
getting a sighting, it would also mean that more, well intentioned people would chase him even
though the signs said DO NOT CHASE.
Rocky was becoming more fearful by the day. If a car traveled 5 mph slower than the normal traffic
speed, he would bolt. If a car stopped he would run. If someone saw him and whistled or called him
he would bolt. He was now fearful of EVERTHING; people, cars, other dogs. He was in survival mode,
in flight mode which can happen to almost any dog.
Days had passed since he was last seen in an extremely high traffic area. Almost one month after he
disappeared, a call came in from a police officer who had seen Rocky in a new area. Tri-State flew
over only to see Rocky in the middle of a dog park. But with a dog who wouldn’t come to his name
and who was now afraid of dogs, all they could do was watch as he bolted south from the park with
a friendly dog chasing him wanting to play.
More signs went up that night. More calls came in. One woman even got out of her car and ran after
him and watched as he fled towards railroads tracks which went under a freeway. The whole rescue
effort seemed doomed to fail. We had sightings but what good were they when he would run. We had
traps but he always left the area.
It turned out, snow and freeing temperatures would prove to be a life saver for Rocky. Because he was
a large dog he also had large footprints. It was easy to distinguish between his and those of coyotes
which roamed some of the areas he traveled.
Page 5
Rocky’s story—continued
On January 29th two volunteers tracked Rocky’s
prints in the snow for 7 hours, careful not to be
seen by him for fear he would leave this area too.
From the railroad track, under the freeway, down to
the bottom of a ravine and back, along side the
highway (down below eye sight of cars), over fences
he appeared to travel. Thank God. For the first time
we had a pattern. He was circling the area.
There were business offices in the area but they
were closed for the weekend. Come Monday this
could be a different story. He would easily be seen
along the ravine and if chased, called or whistled at
he would bolt. If he was going to be caught, it HAD
to be this weekend.
It was Saturday night; traps were put out and filled
with chicken and burgers. They were checked at
1 am and at 5 am. EMPTY..NOTHING IN THE TRAPS.
Rocky and one of the many volunteers
that helped catch him.
Sunday he was tracked again. According to the new fallen snow the prints showed he was staying in
the area but had missed or didn’t want to go in one of the 5 traps that were strategically placed
where we saw his tracks. Maybe he was gone. Maybe he was fearful of going in a trap even with the
food in them.
A call came in Sunday that he was seen in the same place and miraculously the person didn’t chase
him or call him. Finally someone who did what the poster said DO NOT CHASE. Traps were reloaded/
refreshed and some moved closer to the area he had seen. We left quickly. Monday morning was
only 12 hours away and parking lots would be full. Office windows could be a good vantage point for
sightings and well intentioned people would try to rescue him, no doubt scaring him away. Rocky was
not going to stay there if we didn’t catch him Sunday, we are sure.
Sunday morning passed, afternoon passed, and evening was upon us. Traps would be checked at
5 am on Monday. As luck or fate would have it, the volunteer who had set the traps talked to a
trapper in Michigan who had helped rescue a Sheltie once. She got some more tips and decided to
make some minor changes to the traps that evening.
She visited the first trap and then the second. It was dark and she heard a faint bark. Would it be
coming from someone traveling down the highway with a window open and their dog barking? Could
it be from someone’s car coming from a 24 hour vet clinic down the road or could it possibly be Rocky
in one of the traps?
Not wanting to get her hopes up, she left the one parking area and made her way to the main road in
order to get to the third trap which was accessible only through the second parking lot. As she turned
in the barking grew louder. It had to be him. Flipping on her bright lights there was the most beautiful
sight…a Collie barking away in the freezing night inside the trap. It was Rocky! At 7:30 pm on Sunday
night, January 30th the long journey was over. Rocky was safe at last.
Our volunteer sat down next to him in the snow and talked gently to this boy who had been on the
road, in the fields, in the middle of frozen lakes and crossing highways for so long.
The trap was loaded in to her SUV, with him still inside and he was taken to her home where he
remains today. He is slowly coming along and learning to trust people one at a time. He enjoys being
part of a pack of 5 dogs and 5 cats and learns things better from the dogs than from people. They
have taught him it is okay to climb stairs, to go through doorways, that the kitchen always has yummy
cookies in there and he has even learned to sit (from our volunteers husband). While he is still a huge
flight risk he is safe, very loved and he has a new name, Luna which means moon in Spanish.
Looking back at this rescue it was uncomfortable for all of us. We were frozen putting up signs and
setting traps. Trying to sleep at night we felt guilty under our blankets knowing Rocky was out there.
We could have rationalized over and over again why we should have called the rescue effort off but
we didn’t. We had to know the ending. We had to rescue Rocky.
Page 6
Rocky’s Story continued
There is a song called “Somewhere out there.” Each time a dog or cat is lost this
song comes to our rescuers mind…....that somewhere out there we will eventually
find one another.
Somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight
Someone's thinking of me and loving me tonight
Somewhere out there someone's saying a prayer
That we'll find one another in that big somewhere out there
And even though I know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky
Somewhere out there if love can see us through
Then we'll be together somewhere out there
Out where dreams come true
And even though I know how very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star
And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky
Somewhere out there if love can see us through
Then we'll be together somewhere out there
Out where dreams come true
~~~~~~~~~
A note from the author, our rescuer, to those of us who take in dogs from many walks of life:
When you take in a dog from a shelter or an individual, please gather as much information as you can
about him and make sure that is given to the foster person. If the dog is a fence climber let them
know. If you don’t know, test him. A dog that can climb a 3 foot fence can also scale a 6 foot fence
or even a privacy fence. Test him to see if he is a digger as well.
If he is unsocialzed tell the foster. Better yet, never place a “flight risk” dog with anyone who is not
knowledgeable about what could happen.
Have traps on hand—visit Heart of the Earth to buy one at www.animal-traps.com Rocky was caught
in a 60” Tru-Catch trap.
Have Lost Dog posters made up big enough that people can read when they travel the roads going 40
mph or faster. Visit www.Docucopies.com where you can buy 500 full color
11” X 17” signs for
$200. They can even be generic and say, Lost Dog, Do NOT Chase & Very Shy with a phone number.
Buy clear tape you can wrap around steel light poles. Buy staple guns. Put up hundreds of posters
and be prepared to put them up in new places each time you get a new sighting.
Remember a stray dog is a lost dog. Do what one of our rescuers did for Rocky. She is not a part of
Tri-State. She just got involved. Pay it forward. Help another person trying to rescue a dog. When you
see a sign for a lost pet call the number. Share information. Give them encouragement & even jump
in to help.
Page 7
This is Rocky with his new
mommy Gail who adopted him
after she helped to search for him
daily. He now has a loving home,
a 6’ privacy fence and k9 brothers
and sisters. He is learning to trust
people and to play. Gail is giving
Rocky a reassuring hug after a
much needed grooming from
his month long ordeal.
Here is a look at
the map charting
Rocky’s journey