Posted on March 20, 2009 by: WayCoolDogs

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The thought of having nine dogs under foot has perplexed many people over the years, and to be truly honest  with everyone, the thought of this many dogs in the house and outside has caused our closest family members, friends, and grandchildren (not the great-granddaughter as she is only one-year-old!) to develop the shakes over the years, even the most dedicated of them who prided themselves on being true dog lovers.

The “Way Cool Dogs” dog blog is about unwanted and ill dogs of our shelter and our lives, having a voice to speak to those who care. It is about the good side of dogs–observed by people and for both dogs and people. We do no negative bashing here toward dogs, breeders, owners, only focusing on what is good out there for both sides – using “Way Cool Dogs” as a tool for their voice.

As we look back over the years when we first “went to the dogs,” it seems as if it were only yesterday it happened. And truth be known, if we had realized taking in three unwanted buff cocker spaniels of questionable ages eleven-years-ago would have brought us to this very day, I would honestly say we probably would have done it all over again. Mom always said I could never say no to anyone or anything, but to me to say no to an abandoned, old or ill dogs would be not only cruel but totally inhumane. Most of them had already faced a life of rejection, and had their little bellies full of it. We were not going to be another one for them.

We live on a quarter-of-an-acre and had the room, along with a house that looked as if it had already seen dog days. The two-story farm house we found empty and ram-shacked had  looked  like it was ran through a buzz-saw ass backwards, so in 1999 we thought at first we would breed dogs once we cleaned it up and made it somewhat livable. The thing I found hard to believe was that hardly anybody would rent to you if you smoked, had pets, or in some cases–had children. What would they think if I told them I had 32 dogs and a definately non-profit rescue group?

“Sure, come on over…we have PLENTY of room!” Yeah……

But sometimes life has another path for a person, and we quickly found we would end up bringing home the most shy dog or timid dog sitting back in the corner, the one with the worst behavior, the one who hated everyone, the one which looked ill or very sad, or looked as if did not belong anywhere–we always found out they had a story to tell and not all had quiet voices.

We never considered purchasing high quality breeding stock so this should have told us something right from the start. I mean, we knew this—but just couldn’t stop our self. So we always would end up with a dog which would require one to three years of socialization, lots of medical care, behavior training, lots of TLC, and training to properly place them in a home with adequate manners.

The other problem we had with becoming a good breeder was constantly worrying about what type of home our dogs would go to when they left our home. As breeders, we would pray that they would go to someone kind, making our self very  ill worrying over them before they ever left the front door. This made us quickly realize that we were not meant to be professional breeders,  as we loved our dogs to much to let them go to just anyone or anybody. So we went to the field of dog rescue and are still here with most of them today over the years. I guess you could say we run an “old dog retirement center” for dogs that nobody wants. Many of our dogs go to Hearts United—a no-kill national dog shelter which provides homes with good owners.

As word got out we were “softies who could not say no”, we quickly filled up with unwanted dogs who needed a home. Many of these dogs have been with us for a long time, as homes for the young and cute dogs were always quickly found. Dogs who were old usually had some form of behaviors, were considered unattractive, or were considered’hard-headed and were not wanted. So…over the past eleven years this household has acquired “favorite pets” from the long list of rescue dogs we took in and nobody wanted. They will always remain here until they pass over due to old age, ill health, or be lucky enough to find a home.

We have developed working relationships with even the worst behavior, as almost all dogs respond to love and kindness. Those who do not, have had serious things happen to them and we just learn to care for them accordingly with as much kindness as we can.

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