Ferrari - Sometimes, treasures are found in the most unlikely places. Salvage yards are a retirement ground for wrecked cars and used animals. No one knows where junkyard dogs come from, but apparently they come from the same nameless places cars come from.

While walking in a junkyard in East Austin, I noticed an emaciated purebred German Shepherd momma lying under a rusty car. There were 3 tiny puppies who looked like walking skeletons, milling about, desperate for food. I also noticed 2 red male Shepherd mixes, with ribs protruding, too shy to approach. Since it appeared the dogs were improperly cared for, I asked the yard owner if I could have the dogs. He agreed, since he apparently didn't have the money to feed or fix them.

I took the mom and pups to the shelter. I contacted the German Shepherd rescuers, who take purebreds into their "breed rescue" program. The four dogs were placed with people who didn't want to buy from breeders (since purebreds are available at every shelter in America).

I rushed back to the salvage yard to catch the remaining 2 dogs. Both dogs crowded into the trap to eat and the cage door snapped shut. The dogs sat down in the trap and patiently waited for their next meal. 

Once at the shelter, the Red Shepherd mixes were easy to socialize. One brother couldn't put weight on his rear leg - apparently he'd been hit by a car. The other brother was healthy. They were mixes, so there was no rescue from the purebred group. We had only one foster space, so the healthy brother got out. The other brother didn't.  Fortunately, humane euthanasia is a more acceptable option than dying in a roadway ditch.

We named the handsome red dog, Ferarri. He went places fast, especially when he was playfully being chased by other dogs. He was a gentle, calm dog that enjoyed sunbaths and butterflies. He found a great home in Austin and now has a rescued brother to chase.

Mac (Tom T) and Cass

Tom Thayer –  One day a little girl spotted a puppy wandering along an isolated stretch of highway near Thrall, Texas. The girl asked her grandma to stop the car to pick up the pup, since temperatures would be freezing that night. The girl’s mother sent an email plea to the universe, requesting rescue since she didn’t want to take the pup to a shelter.

I read and forwarded the email plea to friends. No one offered to take the pup. Curious, I emailed the woman, asking details about the pup. The woman couldn’t give me breed information, just that it was male, the size of a cat and spotted grey. I asked if she could transport the unidentified puppy to me. 

That night, a woman arrived at my gate and unloaded a tiny cat carrier. Inside the carrier was a gorgeous, carsick 10-week old Blue Heeler puppy. He exited the crate drunkenly and wagged his tail as he promptly ran to me. The pup had striking coloration—a soft light grey coat and tall dark grey socks on all of his legs. He was healthy and in good shape. I had fears of the pup being a sick, grey pitbull (always difficult to adopt).

We named him Tom Thayer, a name reminiscent of Thrall, where the pup was found. The puppy was delightful, attractive and good-natured. He liked to cuddle with my big malamute mix, Dasher, on their favorite cedar bed. 

 

Heelers aren't a dog for everyone. The breed is extremely smart, athletic and persistent. But people who like the the breed really like it, and we had a prospect in mind. A friend named "Spring" adopted a red heeler from us two years ago. We thought Thayer might be a good addition to Spring's family and she agreed. We packed Thayer's overnight bag and traveled to Spring's home, where Cass, our former heeler, greeted us excitedly at the door. Spring adopted Thayer and renamed him “Mac.”

Bodie playing tug with 2 foster pups

Bodie -  Walking through the Austin shelter, we noticed a brindle pup tightly curled up, trying to stay warm. His hairless legs bowed at odd angles. He was skinny, mangy and smelled bad due to his skin condition. He had an adorable, sweet expression on his worn face. He was found one morning in a church parking lot, curled up in a cardboard box, after a hard freeze. The pup's legs were bent, due to poor nutrition and lack of exercise. He may have grown up in the cardboard box, since neglect and abuse assume many original forms. 


Within an hour, Bodie was enroute to our foster home with a warm cedar bed and a hearty meal. Bodie was about 4 months old and weighed a mere 12 pounds, while he should have weighed 25. With a healthy regiment of exercise and good food, Bodie made a full recovery. His favorite game was hiding stuffed animals from the big dogs. Bodie was a grateful dog, who cherished small favors. His new owner made sure he had ample toys and love for the rest of his sweet life.

Axel

Axel - There is a mile-long series of junkyards east of Austin on Highway 71. The yards are homes to owned and abandoned animals. In 3 years, we removed about 60 abandoned dogs and cats from these junkyards. During that time we developed a rapport with several of the yard owners.

One day, Amado, a junkyard owner, called to ask if I could help his dog. I knew the dog was in dire circumstances for Amado to call. I picked up my 7-year-old niece Madison (she wants to be an animal cop when she grows up.) Together, we rushed to the junkyard. Upon arrival, Amado walked us to a sweltering tin building, where a black German Shepherd puppy was curled on the gravel. The dog's rear leg was bleeding and swollen 3 times its normal size. The leg looked like a black balloon with toes. A heavy metal chain lay in a heap next to the puppy. Amado explained that he'd chained the dog for the weekend and returned to find the dog tangled. The chain kinked around the dog's right rear leg. I asked Amado if he had the money to fix the dog. “No,” he said regrettably. I told him I would take the dog, but unless he could pay the medical bills, the puppy was mine. Amado agreed and I took the pup to a vet. We expected that tissue and nerve damage would force the vet to amputate the leg. But the sweet-natured pup kept his leg and we named him Axel.

Axel was about 5 months old—a pensive, smart boy with radar-like ears, a silky black coat and long legs. He quickly learned to run, jump and play. Exercise was part of his therapy and he loved it, especially when it involved fetching his favorite raccoon toy! Axel soon found a permanent home with a family who owned another rescued black German Shepherd.

Bullet - Stopping for coffee one day off a busy highway, I noticed something curled on the sizzling pavement near the freeway. Suddenly, the tiny bundle moved. It was a little kitten, fearfully trying to escape its circumstances by digging into the asphalt. Suddenly, a car approached. The bundle froze, peeked around, then darted abruptly into a grassy median off the highway. 

I crossed the road and approached the kitten slowly. As I came from behind, I noticed the kitten wore a purple harness. I picked her up firmly by the harness and she relaxed. She purred quietly while we drove home.

The kitten is a classic tabby, with beautiful markings resembling a bulls-eye, hence the name Bullet. We looked for lost signs but couldn't locate an owner. Bullet is playful with dogs, loving with people and respectful of the resident cat, Archie. Although Archie hates her, he bravely tolerates her. Bullet was vetted, fixed and found a lovely indoor home with an "Austin Aussie Rescue" volunteer.

Cricket and Marla

Little Walter, Cricket and Mia - We were trapping puppies behind a convenience store on Pearce Lane when we heard barking at the top of a hill behind a trashed-out trailer, where toys and toilets littered the hillside. There was a dog pen filled with tall, parched grass and 3 dogs. That’s where we first saw Walter the pug. He looked like a giant bug peering through spectacles.  All the dogs were shamelessly friendly and pleading for attention.

The owner had returned to Thailand and left the 3 dogs behind. The pen contained a rickety storage shed which provided little more than shelter from the rain. There was no bedding and the winter nights were freezing. Once a month, a caretaker refilled water buckets and threw a large bag of cheap dog food into the shed. He gave us the dogs just to be rid of them.

Walter was the perfect dog, polite and loving. He chugged around his foster home, soaking in the comforts of indoor living and naps on the couch. Walter was treated for heartworms and adopted by an older woman who appreciated his perfection.


The lab and pit were both females, so we rushed them to the vet to be spayed since they were probably pregnant. Cricket, the sleek lab mix, was athletic and sweet. She found a lovely foster named Marla, a triathlete, who treated Cricket for heartworms and mange. Recently losing her aged Aussie to cancer, Marla had an empty spot in her heart. She adopted Cricket and they are often seen running in Austin.

One night, we met a potential foster person at a local rest stop. Annette, the foster, was willing to foster a “project dog.” While we sat with Annette and Mia, the pit mix, we sensed the temporary relationship might be permanent. The mangy dog needed lots of love and medical care. Mia got both and a great home for life!

Walter

Guilda - This sweet dog was the product of an unwanted litter. Her story, like so many others in America, began with a kind man who saw a starving, stray dog and integrated her into a pack of unaltered dogs. Not surprisingly, the female dog soon had puppies. All but one were given away.

The man died unexpectedly, leaving a wife who didn't know how to care for their dogs. She occasionally filled their food bowls and let the dogs run freely in the pastures and cornfields of Eastern Travis County. The dogs became a nuisance, and neighbors complained. The frustrated woman called our rescue hotline to seek advice.

We agreed to visit her, with the intention of sterilizing her dogs, since she had no fenced yard and she didn't plan to build one. Since the dogs’ living circumstances weren't ideal, the woman gave us the remaining pup. We called the pretty blonde Retriever/Shepherd mix Guilda.

We vetted the remaining 2 dogs at no cost to the owner and provided the owner with free food and advice. We hoped that now the adult dogs were fixed, they would stay closer to home. It was the best we could do, but every effort counts in this business.

Guilda, six months old and totally soft and submissive, soon found a perfect home.  Her foster parent, a singer/songwriter (Susan wrote "Wide Open Spaces") was given the opportunity to 'adopt out' Guilda, but she couldn't let her go. Guilda went from sleeping on dirt to sleeping with her new mom and sharing a house with 2 other rescued dogs. Guilda and Susan travel the country writing songs, playing guitar and meeting new people. 

Pester

Pester - While driving on a rural Bastrop highway, we noticed a tiny black object moving in the median between four busy lanes of traffic. Driving closer, we realized it was a black dog happily investigating an old Pizza Hut box. He crossed two lanes of traffic to pursue the litter and we doubted he'd cross back safely. We pulled to the median and called the dog.

Holding our breath in fear that he’d run into traffic rather than away from it, the little guy surprised us. He came running happily to us, while cars blazed by at 70 mph. No one slowed down. We grabbed the dog and hauled him into the car. Once safely inside, we noticed the dog was a delightful Chihuahua/Rat terrier/Dachshund mix. He was young, outgoing and friendly. 

When we couldn’t find the owner, we named the dog Pester, after his enthusiastic love for people. After being neutered, Pester quickly found a home with a professional woman who appreciated his daring, affectionate behaviors. Pester now enjoys the city life in downtown Austin.

Andie

Andie, Ansel, Sonrisa – People dedicated to serving feral cats pursue cat colonies to the ends of the earth — and that's where these dogs were found. One day a woman called to say that while searching for cats, she'd found "a bunch of skinny, sick dogs way out in the country." I was certain she was making it up, but wanted to be sure.

I eventually found an abandoned house deep in eastern Travis County, off Pearce Lane. (Little did we know how infamous Pearce Lane would be.) I noticed a big Collie lying near a tiny pond among the pasture weeds. As I walked through the tall grass, the dog lay still, wagging her tail shyly. She was an older dog in terrible condition and probably the mother of many litters of puppies. I loaded her into the backseat of my car. In time, we would name her Andie.

I resumed my search. It was dusk when I stepped over a dead grey cat in the driveway of the eerie abandoned structure. I hesitated when I noticed a black dog lying on an old blue mattress and a red and white dog lying next to her. As I approached, the black dog wagged her tail and stood up timidly, revealing a multitude of tiny sleeping puppies. The other dog uncurled from its nap and walked off into the pasture. At that moment, I promised to pay closer attention to crazy cat people.

The momma dog was a small, shy black Lab mix. I called my friend Jen and pleaded for help. With Jen's truck, we could take them all. I felt overwhelmed but determined, since all the dogs could vanish before we returned tomorrow. I made more phone calls and found a friend who would foster the mom and pups. We named the momma Sonrisa. She was a gentle, petite black dog, often overlooked by adopters, due to her color. A lovely teacher in Austin adopted her. 

The next morning, we drove by the abandoned house. I walked toward the mattress and noticed a tiny bundle curled in the grass. I held my breath when I realized it was a tiny puppy and still alive. We had missed it in last night’s darkness. We quickly reunited the pup with momma. 

I returned the next day to check on the reclusive red and white dog. Surprisingly, he was lying near the mattress waiting for his friends to return. He was shy, but eventually let me slip a lead around his neck. We had no foster space, so this pit mix went to the shelter. He was so quiet that he was originally described as being "sick." Housing him at the shelter gave us time to do a temperament evaluation, which he passed easily. We found him a foster space and he was named Ansel. He was adopted by a great family in San Antonio.

As we worked Pearce Lane, we learned Andie's background. The old dog was a stray and lived on scraps from a convenience store. Each time she had a litter, Animal Control officers came and took the pups to the shelter, where most were euthanized. Finally, someone from the convenience store took Andie to be spayed and tied her in the back of a truck. On the way, the dog jumped out and hung herself, but the rope split. She found her way back to the pasture and continued to have more pups. Andie's age made it difficult to find a home, but we found her a good one in Austin.

Grizzly

Grizzly- It's rare when an older dog finds a home from a shelter, so we looked twice when we noticed a gorgeous chocolate lab in the stray kennel. He was a big brown dog, with a sculpted roman head, a white muzzle and a waggy, happy tail. His coat was bleached from the sun and he resembled a grizzly bear with a smile. He stood up, but refused to walk. We checked the pads of his feet, only to find them raw and torn from walking a very long way or perhaps, being thrown from a car. Strong, silent types don't complain.

After spending a few minutes with this gentle giant, we found him irrisistable. We simply couldn't leave him behind, so in no time, he was happily homebound. Once there, we named him Grizzly. He patiently wore canvas booties on his torn feet and quietly tolerated puppies pouncing on his floppy ears. Grizzly dunked his chunky head into the water bucket, knocked over lamps with his helicopter tail and loved food. He was a typical Lab. 

After a few weeks, we took Grizzly to visit a potential home. The elegant house had a pool, a wrought iron fence and bordered a wildlife preserve. Wild deer frequented the woods behind the  large yard. It was Lab heaven. Grizzly was adopted into a family with 2 other rescued dogs and fondly renamed Gentle Ben.

Tiny Iris- first week

Canterbury

Iris 

Canterbury and Tiny Iris - These two unusual dogs came from a dirt poor, run-down trailer park in Bastrop, Texas. Bonny, a conscientious, but penniless resident of the park, found a brindle Boxer and a 3 week old puppy. The puppy's mom had been hit by a car. The skinny Boxer was dumped because she was 'in heat' and the owner didn't want her anymore. Bonny asked me to take the 2 dogs, since she didn't want to take them to the Animal Shelter. I had no foster space, but agreed to take them just to get them out of the park where they'd have multitudes of unwanted puppies.

I was shocked when I saw the tiny, dehydrated, mangy puppy wrapped in a towel, slung over Bonny's shoulder. I barely noticed the large brown dog stuffed into a crate in the front yard. 

After a few hours of caring for the shrunken puppy, we heard the silent brown dog whimper in the hot plastic crate. I peered into the shadowed entrance and a stoic dog stared quietly back at me. I promised myself that both dogs would go to the Austin shelter, but this young dog was being so patient that I considered fostering her. She had the face of a gargoyle, inset eyes, sculpted features and a muscular body. We named her after the British Gothic cathedral, Canterbury. After a short time on the rescue website, Canter found a family that treasured her heritage.

The mystery puppy began a long recovery (and didn't go to the shelter). She gained weight, her patchy fur grew in and she morphed into a black pitbull! Like most terriers, she was charming and funny. Black pitbulls take longer to find good homes, so she needed an old fashioned name, for an old fashioned breed. We named her Iris, (a popular name in the roaring 20's) and Tiny Iris found a perfect adopter in no time!