Blogma

Peyton and Eli are ready to make their debut! We will have them at the South Tampa Petsmart today from noon-3:00! Come get your puppy-breath fix!!

If you think we're cute here, you should see us in person!

Thanks everybody: The interest and outrage over Angelina Ballerina has been overwhelming. We just want to assure everyone that Ballerina is fine and is very loved in her foster home. She is doing extremely well and is loved by her foster mom, foster dad and foster (doggie) brother, Meyer (adopted when he was just a pittie-baby a couple of years ago). Ballerina is sweet and loving, and so glad to be loved on. Like all rescue dogs, Ballerina exudes gratitude. This is the magic of dog rescue … these beautiful spirits which can’t be broken and which say “thank you” with every wet, sloppy, pittie-kiss.

We tried to get a New Year’s Newsletter out, but it just didn’t happen. Maybe next year! We did want to thank everybody who contributed to our success and happiness in 2011 and say how much we are looking forward to a fantastic 2012!

Thanks to the Gray Family and the Kornfeld Family for sharing New Years pictures of two of our favorite dogs – Bandit and Brooks (formerly Pip!)!

While we at Dogma take the care of our dogs and the placement of our dogs very seriously, everything else we approach tongue-in-cheek.


This is especially true when it comes to the names we give our dogs. Some notables have been:

Ricky Bobby
The Professor
Princess Buttercup
Polly Prissypants (an homage to South Park)
The Chug
Beaglemania
Little Jerry Seinfeld
and my personal favorite, [The Dog Formerly Known as] Prince.


And now, courtesy of Ann-Marie, Dogma is pleased to introduce you to LaFonda for all of you Napoleon Dynamite fans! We hope you all are as amused with us as we are!

People always say to us, “How do you foster? How do you give them up? Don’t you get attached to them?”

The answer is YES!!! YES YES YES, WE GET VERY, VERY ATTACHED TO OUR FOSTER DOGS!!!

But the magic of fostering, as I touched on in my last blog, is the adoption … seeing a dog who went from nothing, who had nowhere else to go, who may have even been a day away from death, adopted to a wonderful family where that dog will be the Center of their Universe!

Today, we had our first Santa Pictures Day at Petsmart, and we saw Scout (n/k/a Wrigley), Cubbie Bear (n/k/a Axel), Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Moppet all looking completely transformed. (Well, Jumpin’ Jack Flash still pretty much looked and acted the same, but what can you expect from a dog who was so aptly named Jumpin’ Jack Flash that his new owners, although they tried, could not rename him??? ;D )) The other dogs, Wrigley, Axel and Moppet were so well-behaved, well-adjusted and so well trained that it brought tears to our eyes. I could have hugged Moppet all day today, honestly, and I don’t think she remembered me at all. Which is also good, that she is so in love with her mum and dad and content with them that she may not even remember her time in foster care when she was my favorite dog. That she sees the sun rise and set with Rich and Nicole is all that matters. I remember her, and I know exactly how lucky Moppet is.

And that is the reason we can give them up … because our dogs are not going to just anybody … our dogs go to the people we dream every good, deserving dog should have as a Forever Home. And often, we are very jealous of the lives our dogs get to have. This is the best feeling in the world.

With gas prices being so high and our time becoming more limited, we at Dogma are pretty much only doing home visits when there are little kids in the house or other dogs or other circumstances that warrant a home visit. Otherwise, we’re trying to do more adoptions at our South Tampa Petsmart adoption days or meet people at convenient locations for everyone.

Yesterday, I took Bettina on a home visit in Spring Hill. The family’s dog, Dell, is a home-dog and happy in his own house and neighborhood, and the family wanted to do everything they could to ensure a successful meet-and-greet with Bettina. Their application and vet reference were terrific, and Bettina would love a dog to play with, so I agreed to meet at their home.

As I was making the hour-long drive from my house in Seminole Heights to Spring Hill, I kept thinking about how I was spending my gorgeous Saturday, with chores needing to be done, gardening to do and after the long work week, a nap was not out of the question. Then I thought, “Man, it’ll be another hour-long drive back and that’s AFTER I spend time with the people, and then after all of this, Bettina may not even get adopted! Especially if their dog tries to eat her!”

I wasn’t even parked in their driveway when Jaclyn ran out to meet me. My heart melted. Jaclyn is lovely, in the 4th grade (but carries herself and speaks so well I thought she was in the 6th grade) and is a huge dog lover! Jaclyn had been waiting patiently all week for me to bring Bettina to meet her. Seeing Jaclyn’s smile at the window of my car was worth the drive and it was certainly worth every minute of my time with this wonderful family. I regretted all of the grousing I had done and instead feel honored to have met such nice people and such a delightful kid.

My first foster dog’s name was Cookie, and she was a 30-lb corgi/chow mix and I loved her with my whole heart. I had told myself at the time that if the home visit for Cookie didn’t go well, that I was going to keep her and not foster anymore. I remember pulling up to the house like it was yesterday, and the family’s 12-year old little girl rushing up to my car window just like Jaclyn did today.

Dell (a ridgeback mix) and Bettina fell in love at first sight. It was definitely a match, and Bettina is blessed to have found such a good home where she will be so loved.

Anybody who knows me knows that I don’t foster sick dogs. I greatly admire those that do, but I can’t handle the emotional aspect, the care required is often very taxing on top of all my other responsibilities, and I don’t want to be faced with illness everyday.

Those who know me well understand why. And cancer is not something I ever want to watch another being suffer from again.

Iggy Pop’s diagnosis was devastating. The endless worry, preparing all of his meals, running him from vet to vet, the horror of dropping him off for his surgery … all took its toll on me.

When Iggy’s surgeon, Dr. Oakes, called me last night to give me the good news that amputating Iggy’s tail successfully removed all of the cancer, it felt like a dream. I’m still in disbelief. I’m exhausted and grateful and feel like I’m still dreaming. I’m so very glad this extraordinary little loving dog isn’t checking out anytime soon.

Few people realize how lucky we are to have what is probably the best county animal control facility in the country right here in Hillsborough County.  Anybody who has ever tried to keep up with Rescue Coordinator Debbie Taylor as she speed-walks through the kennels knows how much she hustles to help rescues like ours save fabulous dogs. Christina was awarded with a national shelter award.  Dr. Roese is a fantastic vet (and I credit her for saving my Bettina – one of the best dogs I’ve ever fostered!).  HCAS’ volunteers are dedicated and the transition home program is saving dogs that would otherwise have nowhere to go.  The front staff (William, Alex, Patrick and Wally) always go out of their way to help me (which is especially nice since I am always late, never know what dog(s) I’m picking up and I always seem to create more work for them!) and everybody is always a joy to work with!

Some of us at Dogma spent a few hours with HCAS’ Pit Crew and Duane Bryant in July, and they are doing truly remarkable work creating a new image for pit bulls while saving dogs that never would have had a chance.

Few people also realize how hard HCAS staff and volunteers work to get as many good dogs out as possible.  Most of the time, HCAS only gets the negative press which comes from cleaning up other peoples’ messes. Some of these messes are truly heartbreaking and, unfortunately, the staff at HCAS has to make some very difficult decisions because of the actions of idiotic or cruel people.

We at Dogma are extremely proud to be adoption partners with HCAS.

NewsChannel 8 ran a story this morning which highlights just one of the many good things they are doing!

HCAS Helping Neglected Dogs with a Canned Food Drive

A trip to the emergency vet, of course!

Without fail, one of us, either Ann-Marie or me or one of our volunteers, has to spend a major holiday at the emergency vet.  Last year, Ann-Marie spent Christmas Eve at the emergency vet with her twins, Robbie and Clair.

On this Thanksgiving Day, I am not going to be lounging in my pj’s pigging out and drinking Irish coffee watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Instead, I am showered and dressed and hungry, not at all buzzed, so I can take Iggy Pop to the emergency vet.  He is ok, he just has a cold that he can’t shake and he coughed most of the night.

We are extremely thankful to Tampa Bay Veterinary Emergency Services for being kind enough to work with Dogma and help us with pricing.  They are the best kept secret in town.  They are a reasonably priced emergency vet only open on weekends, nights and holidays.  You know, the times when your dog gets into stuff!  Unlike other emergency vets, they are willing to work out payment arrangements with their clients and the quality of care is excellent!  The vets are awesome and very, very caring!

Tampa Bay Veterinary Emergency Services is located at:

238 E. Bearss Ave., Tampa in between I-275 and Florida Ave., behind the Bank of America.

Iggy and I are headed there now and we hope that everyone enjoys this gorgeous Thanksgiving Day!!!

… to run a dog rescue! 

There is a very long list of people who will tell you that Ann-Marie and I are the least technically inclined people on the planet (friends, family, and Amy’s entire IT department)!  We are so grateful to Dogma’s Tech Team for helping us get our website fully functional!  And look! I’m blogging! I may even be coding…. !!!

We are thrilled to have such a gifted group of tech-heads – Art Fyvolent (web creator!), Alison Walter, Martina Bryan and Jessica Chong - dedicated to working on our website and explaining to us (using the smallest possible words) how to use it!  

They can talk about their widgets and their front ends and their back-back ends and Skyping … we are  just going to sit back and open another bottle of wine while they laugh at us! 

Cheers to Dogma’s Tech Team!!