Muddy Paws March Newsletter

Written by: Julia Novak  

Dear Friend,

This months newsletter is especially close to my heart because I will be sharing with you the adoption stories behind my four dogs.  On St. Patrick's Day we celebrate luck, fortune and happy lives.  I hope you will bear these ideals in mind when reading of Emily, Frankie, Scarlett and Beau's Journey and consider sharing some of the fortune in your life, be it time or money, with a rescue organization or deserving shelter companion.  Also this month, we will be hosting a Great Dane meet up and offering special prices on select days in March for our grooming services.  We hope you enjoy this months newsletter and have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Sincerely,

Vote Muddy Paws for Best of Hampton Roads!    

Voting is March 4- March 20

Vote online at bestof/hamptonroads.com

or text your vote to 21333

You must put our code in the message box:

 Best of Grooming Code: PYF

Best of Training Code: PDR

Best of Boarding Code: PYC

Best of Day Care Code: PYD

Best of Pet Supplies: EUT

Lucky Emily

On Thanksgiving day in 2008, a Jack Russell Terrier mix was found wandering the streets of a run-down neighborhood in Suffolk, VA. She was scared to death of humans, and, only after talking extensively to locals were we able to discover her life story. While working in North Carolina a Suffolk resident found her near a kennel of pit bulls that were being raised for fighting. She was chained at the neck to a tree and, according to reports of residents there,  was often used as bait for the dog fight training sessions. Ethical or not, the shaking and cold little girl was cut loose and taken back to Suffolk in the back of an old pickup truck and then set loose again to find a new life for herself. For the next two years she found shelter under porches of different homes, hunted for scarce meals, had went through many treacherous pregnancy terms.

Luckily, on this Thanksgiving, it was PETA's Community Animal Project that came upon her while they were delivering straw and warm wooden doghouses to cold backyard/ chained dogs. The neighbor that saved her from her misery in Suffolk made another crucial decision in the little dog's life, and signed her over to PETA. I was asked if I would consider fostering the helpless and scared little girl. I adopted her a week later! Over the past couple years, she has turned from almost farel into the sweetest, most loving little baby doll. From rags to riches, I am most lucky to have her.

Fourleaf Frankie

Eight years ago this May, a litter of beagle puppies was born under the roof of a cold, filthy laboratory. Underweight, and fighting for their lives, they clung desperately to their mother who was suffering herself from the effects forced cigarette smoke inhalation throughout her pregnancy. Three weeks later, after countless injections and uncomfortable poking and prodding in conjunction with other testing (to glean the effects of cigarette smoke on fetuses), the baby beagles were simply put into a trash bag, dumped into a dumpster and left to suffocate or starve to death since they were no longer needed for the study.

An undercover rescue group was tipped off by one of the laboratory workers, and, in the darkness of night, the trash bag was whisked away and taken to safety.

unfortunately, it was too late for all but one little baby girl who grasped so dearly to the last thread of her life.

A few long days later, Frankie found her way to my loving arms, and has been with me ever since. Other than being very tiny and having extreme separation anxiety, she has had a happy, healthy life. Frankie, believe it or not, is one of the lucky ones...

I can't tell you of her mother's fate, or the endless number of animals still in laboratories today. What I can tell you is that it's not the life you picture when you hear of products being tested on animals in labs. It's no beauty salon where they wash the animals with fancy shampoo. Instead they rub it in their eyes, cut or abrade their skin and rub it over the affected area, or pump their stomachs with it all in the name of a good looking commercial. Seems a little extreme doesn't it? What happened to Frankie and her family is very small sampling of what goes on in these laboratories. Please check out this Link if you want to learn more.

Happy Hunters Scarlett & Beau

 After deciding to adopt another dog, I went to a local rescue organization to begin my search...and found two helpless little beagles with a very sad beginnings. Scarlett had been dropped off at a pound in Northern Virginia after living six years as a hunting mill mommy for an endless number of litters in cold, filthy conditions outside. Nameless, her "owner" brought her and her two pregnant sisters in, claiming he had no use for them anymore. Her two sisters were put down immediately due to severe neglect and deplorable body conditions. Scarlett was emaciated, almost all of her teeth had rotted and had to have 11 of them pulled out.  She was transferred to an outdoor "rescue" where she again lived in a cold, concrete pen with a metal "doghouse." When I finally found her five months later, she was still underweight having been housed with an overweight male who ate his share of food and hers. When I saw her she was sitting in her own feces, and  being used as a step-stool for the eager male. I snatched her up, named her Scarlett, and we never looked back!

 Beau escaped, along with his brother, out of a very similar hunting mill after having chewed their way through a chicken pen. Beaten, starving, and forced to live outside with no adequate shelter, they were picked up by animal control and taken to a local beagle rescue. Soon after adopting him last May I found that he was  afraid of any sudden movement, men in hats, people smoking and the pop top of cans being opened. It has taken a long time to get him socialized with people, but after a year of  consistent love and sleeping in my bed at night he has finally come around. He may never be 100% O.K. with people, but, after being born into that life, you have to ask yourself, would you?

Soap 'N' Suds Specials

Receive 40% off all baths or 10% off all grooms on these dates! 

Tuesday, 3/13/12

Monday, 3/19/12

Tuesday 3/27/12

*1 date per customer per month and there is limited space so book early!