Finally He Got His Freedom!

Thank you Dr. Gigi for your love and support to Morris. You still have your sensitivity, that makes you a wonderful veterinarian. Morris finally got his freedom. He had to get the injection directly into his heart, his veins had collapsed.

He was covered with these wounds. He couldn't lay down, he was in severe pain. When we tried to lift him he wailed like a puppy. His male part was so infected that it was black.

Click on the image to get it bigger. I asked Dr. Gigi, "On a scale 1- 10 is he a number 9?"

"I would rather say a 10."

Morris was around 8-10 years. His teeth were bad from eating rocks, he was a skeleton.

This was a bittersweet morning. Morris, I am proud over you. Rest finally in peace!

More later!

Freedom Better Part 2

Today I sat a long time and watched our Lupa sleeping in her IKEA igloo. Lupa that was in the terrible shelter is now having her mind resting.

(To understand this text better , read yesterdays blog first)

During the night I woke up having these nightmares about the German Shepard I had seen, the skeleton was just starring at me.

This morning I felt so sad and powerless. I tried to remember what I had read from the book before falling asleep last night,

"To become successful you have to focus on the future not the past."

How easy was that with horror pictures on my eyes.

My husband drove by the place before heading into work. No dog in sight!

By noon, I layed down and did what I haven't done in many years. I visualised, I saw everything in front off me like it was happening.

#1 The skeleton dog was standing free out side the gate on the street

#2 The skeleton dog was tied up by the gate but on the outside.

#3 The skeleton dog was handed over to me by the owner.

Yesterday I had told the 5 people that I would return the next day and I wanted to see the owner at 15.00!

I drove down to the beach area at 15.30 and I felt I wouldn't meet him, but the feeling told me to drive down. And so I did!

Freedom Better

His male part looks like it would fall off any day.

Look at his claws

If you blow this picture up you can count his vertebra's

You know that on a picture you gain weight.

All the fur on his back part is gone. Some parts of his ears are gone. His confused and still so kind.

Today's mission was horrible. Down by the beach locked behind big gates stood a skeleton. So sick that half his fur was gone. His claws so long he couldn't walk well.

Water and food he received through the bars from me. I saw there was a gate..open...I got him out. On his whole body was wounds, fresh.

Suddenly I was surrounded by 5 men who told me to put the dog back. I explained. That the dog needed care right away!

"No he is "just" old" they said

"But let me take him for treatments then I return him. AWL will pay. this is not a guard dog, let me make him healthy and he can be a great guard dog"

We argued! I lost, the dog lost....he was put back to his terrible place not long from death.

Picking Oscar Up

Still no bon-bons!
Picked up Oscar (his amazing story goes back to October blog) from the vet clinic this evening , and he is doing great. Licking his balls and looked the same, content with his big goofy "smile"
Dropped him off at Ylva's place were foster mother Gordana will pick him up.

Good Amore get better Oscar!

Oscar the It

Animals Without Limits is not laying on the sofa, eating Bon-Bons! This morning at 06.30 Oscar's foster mother Gordana dropped him off at Ylva's place, and his playmate Wilma.

At 09.00 I escorted him to the vet clinic for castration.

Our happy Amore goof is becoming "it", just like many of us.

Fox Our Big Goof

Today I worked with Fox a little, some education. He is like a giant kid, loving, but doesn't understand that he is big and loves to hump everything!

I stopped by at his former Master and told him that Fox is doing great. I had a friend translate a letter that I handed over. He was very happy.

I got an e mail from the lady that found him locked into a lot with nothing to shelter in. No one gave him food. But she had to return to Wales together with 5 dogs. I, on behalf of AWL, promised we would do our best to get him out and adopted. We did this mainly because kids were mean to him, throwing rocks and gravel at him.

"I heard what you and AWL have done for Fox, thank you so much for helping him, i owe you so much. I hope the little donation i gave helped a little. " Helene.

Helene, thank you so much for your donation, it helped getting him castrated and vaccinated together with a rabies shoot.

This is an Amore dog waiting to get a quality life.

My Bumble Bee

Today, in Italy it is Carnevale. This is my little Bumble Bee!

AMORE

We do not have to wait for Heaven,
To be surrounded by hope, love, and joyfulness.
It is here on earth and has four legs!
(My husband sent me this, its full of Amore)

Love is in the Air

Pictures (c) Sandra Jontz

These pictures are from "terrible shelter" when picking up our dog Nebbia (means fog in Italian)

It was (and is) Amore in the air

Dog Help Organization Sweden

(photo in Stockholm. Copyright (c) 2002, Todd A. Mercer. All Rights Reserved)

Animals Without Limits is getting great help from the Swedish organization CHANS; CHarity for ANimals Society.

They have posted about us on their website, for you who can read Swedish, enjoy the text. AWL is so grateful to them for helping us to make our work with the strays better in place in the country where the "problem" exists.

Thank you Amore Chans.

Small Mission & Ear Infection

Yesterday was a small mission. We went around the lake fed 2 strays and good was that, since one of the friendly ones had glass in her front right paw. Was able to get it out, thank God!

A cat been badly hit by a car was driven in to clinic for treatment that we couldn't do anything about.
Then the normally thing, feeding and checking six different strays. They seemed to do ok.
It was a good sunny day!

Lupa our German Shepard from the "terrible shelter" is having a terrible ear infection. I have never ever seen or smelled something like it. So she is on treatment again.
Tjojs, my former stray from Sweden 13 years ago (German Shepard/Border Collie/Rottweiler mix also have an ear infection.

And, today I had to bring in my son for ear infection and eye virus. (NO IT IS NOT FROM THE DOGS) It didn't surprise me since we the whole family have had the same. But was is amazing is that both the dogs and Max my son, is in an incredible good mood.
When dad came home with an eye virus he couldn't even feed the dogs or go out with the trash :-)
Still a lot of Amore even with virus.....

Don't Judge

(A friend of mine sent me this video today.)

Assumption or Fact? I would like to ask many people about that.

Amore mio.

Thank You Wonderful People

Julie Brockman with family (US), thank you so much for the check!

Himmelska Hundar and Chans (SE) for your donations, heavenly!

Ylva Mercer with family (SE+US) for giving Clara's mind a break. And to her sponsor foster family Erika Andersson with husband (SE)

Kristine Bertagnoli (US) for your wonderful care package with bowls, collars and bones that will make many happy dogs.

Bella Appleblom (SE) for following our work and still sending donations.

Pet store Cucciolandia (IT) for your generous discount for washing the dogs we have rescued.

Jessica Lingonstierna for helping us with updating our website.

And to you all people who wish us good luck in our work, that means a lot of Amore.

Rescued Clara

(photo by Ylva Mercer)
Clara, 1 - 1/2 year old, spayed, vaccinated, de-wormed rescued by AWL from the terrible shelter last Friday. Loving and shy, great with children and other dogs if she gets calm guidance. She is now in a wonderful foster home for another week, then....

Donation Help For New Projects

My friend and volunteer Ylva took this picture at the terrible shelter were we rescued the dogs.

Still we need donations to continuing helping them.

Fox ~ Stella ~ Murphy

Fox, whom I wrote about earlier, is doing fine. He is now castrated, microchip, vaccinated and acting like a big puppy. I didn't want to drive him back to his lot with nothing to sleep in, or being protected from the rain. So, I rented him a kennel were I can visit him and practise courage. Yes, he is not used to anything so of course he is afraid, insecure I would prefer to say.

I got the black female Labrador that has been chained up on a terrible lot together with other seven chained dogs. She is beautiful and so sweet (small but on diet!), good in the car and around other people. She is being sterilized, microchiped and vaccinated. Her name is Stella (star in Italian) and is around 2 years old, maybe younger. I have to write a best seller I want to keep them all.....

This sweet adorable puppy I can die for. She is a border collie mix and will be a medium size dog. Smart, friendly with children and other dogs (she has stayed her for a couple of days) great sleeping friend with my husband, nearly house broken. Around 3-4 months old.

Getting sterilized right now. Fantastic dog!

So my morning have been busy. A lot of Amore in my car today.

Ariel & Nebbia in Freedom

After emptying the "terrible shelter" we took "our" four dogs to get washed by Vivian at Cucciolandia. Ariel had so many dreadlocks with poop tangled in her fur. The smell was horrible even after one wash they smelled!

The next day me and my family went and picked Ariel and Nebbia out for a walk in a beautiful park. Ariel have been locked in in four different shelters. This was her first day in freedom, with grass around her and trees, alot of good smells.

She is around 10 years old, and her front leg is like Charlie Chaplin so she walks very slow. She would be great with an older person who cannot walk fast, or much.

Great with children and other dogs. I just love this dog so much.

Some people glared at her twisted front leg and on one woman you could see her disgusted crumbled face, "Doesn't that dog have a terrible problem?" she asked.

"No mam, I think you have more problem with it than her."

My Ariel deserves a dog bed, and a warm hand petting her, some Amore pay back.

I have been told that Nebbia means fog in Italian. I like that.

Nebbia is around 4-6 years old, sweet and great with kids. She have been by herself in a terrible cage because they claimed she was aggressive. When I met her I sensed right away that was so wrong. I took her out with another dog and she walked great. Yesterday we had her lose with other dogs in the park, it also went great.

I asked "them" why she was labeled as aggressive?

Once when she got her food in this terrible shelter, the cage door was open and another dog went in. She growled and defended her food in her own cage.

That's why she was labeled as a bad dog, she defended her food that normally came once or twice a week.

What would you have done?

Happy Doggy Valentines

HAPPY VALENTINES

AWL in the news

Freedome, Bella and Ariel waiting in the car to go with AWL.

Yesterday's activity to close the "terrible shelter" was reported on in the Stars & Stripes newspaper. Read it here.

The reporter told me that her editor cut about half the story she had written because of space limitations. I can only assume he cut the best parts that talked about our wonderful Veterinarian, Dr. Inga (also a friend) and great volunteer/friend Ylva. Our many, many thanks to them.

Also, so many thank-you's to Ms Sandra Jonz, the Stars & Stripes reporter who spent the morning with us at the "terrible shelter" and not only wrote a great article, but will perhaps one day go on a mission with us as a volunteer herself.

People coming together to help those without a voice of their own. That's amore.

BitterSweet Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th!
Animals Without Limits is going out to the "terrible shelter" the ASL (dogcatchers with their own veterinarian, guess I can explain it like that?) police and LEDA (an Italian organization) are going to close down the shelter.

AWL is bringing out four final dogs (I have already three in my house) I have been told that LEDA is taking twenty dogs (not sure --- I get different information all the time, about everything Italian!) The rest will go with the dogcatchers, and that breaks my heart!

Why? I have never heard anything positive about their shelters.

Tomorrow we will have a wonderful journalist with us that will cover the situation.
Tomorrow, it will be a new chapter.

Writer's Block

Still in pain, and it has effected a lot but not my work for the animals. The day after the horrible discovery of the dead puppies (read Saturday blog) we visited another shelter. Not as bad as the horrible shelter but this one asked for help.

They want AWL to come and clean, they had seen what a great job we did at the horrible shelter. And why not?

Many volunteers have contacted AWL and want to help to clean, both the shelter and the dogs. And a great day to socialise with wonderful souls.

So more about this later.

Monday I delivered food to the horrible shelter, the dogs had no food again.

Tuesday, it was time for Fox to go to the clinic and become "it." He is such a good boy, 35 kg and never been inside a car or a house. He was ...how should I put it....heavy!

He laid flat down and even when a lady came in to the waiting room, dropped her cage with three cats that flew around the chairs, Fox laid in swimming position on the floor.

Since discovering the puppies were dead I have been in a haze, and have a kind of writing block I don't even feel for taking pictures, just numb.

I am soon back.....hold on then you will see an even stronger AWL.

A Cold Hello from Girlfriend in Sweden

picture is girlfriend Tequila in Sweden
to her Amore Adonis Oscar that is waiting to come home to her. (I love this pictures, thanks Leena)

For newcomers read more about Oscar on the blog 2008 October and forward

Afghan Dogs Reunited With U.S. Soldiers Returning From Deployment

We need a good story, and an ending. Not to forget, there is another side of life too.
FoxNews.com
Warm applause to dogpile.com
Thank you all for your heartwarming Amore thoughts to me!

Heartbreak in a cold Italian drizzle

I've written often over the past several months about the family of puppies we found in a "skeleton" house nearby, and have been feeding. We've gone over --- in the dark, in the rain, on holidays --- to feed these little guys and gals, with the hope they would survive and thrive.


Several days ago, when I went, they were nowhere to be found. I returned several times more, but nothing.


Today on the way back from food shopping, the kids were sleeping in the car, so we (my husband and I) stopped by to see. It was deathly silent.


I went off through some tall weeds and brush to see if they were near. Todd went to the three skeleton houses to investigate.


Sadly, he found the answer in the weeds between and behind the houses.





Five little carcasses. Near where they lived, and where we had been feeding them. No obvious wounds, so we suspect they were poisoned. They went too quickly for it to be natural causes (disease, etc.)


One can only imagine the pain they suffered in the end. The common poison here is rat poison, that takes some time to work, and is very painful.


Who did it? Who knows? Maybe the neighbors got tired of hearing their hungry yapping at night when they wanted to sleep. Maybe the property owner got tired of trespassers (us) going to feed them. Maybe kids who thought it would be "fun" to kill some innocent creatures. The only crime these guys committed was being born "unwanted" by anyone specifically. Surely, they didn't deserve such an end.


We found five little bodies. Perhaps the other two got away, were taken away by their mother and father. More likely, their little bodies are hidden from view somewhere, crawled off in the throws of their agonizing death to somewhere we wouldn't find them.


The other day, I told Todd that I sensed the darkness welling up around me. We were making some progress against the terrible conditions for a handful of animals here. The light was winning, and the darkness was raising to fight back. Today, we found some of the result of that struggle between good and evil. These little souls paid the price.


And we are left heartbroken in a cold Italian drizzle.

Inside the Gates

Today I had a wonderful day inside my gates, with my two wonderful children and nine dogs. We baked cakes, and when they coloured I got some time to read through an up-coming article about my work and Animals Without Limits efforts. Wonderful journalist Erika Andersson and I had a wonderful long phone conversation. The article will be smashing! (Later I will tell you what magazine) This is AWL's YEAR!

Two years ago I donated some cartons of my books to my Animal lover friend Milla who together with Kate have a fantastic dog cafe in Stockholm. I told them to use the money for something with animals in need. AWL didn't have any project at that time --- we just started AWL up again.
I never would have dreamt that Milla contacted me a couple of weeks ago and said they had decided to send down the collected money from MY books.
The universe has the most incredible journeys for you, if you only open yourself up to them.
Then I have been answering some e mails from warm, friendly people. Ah, it is nice to take a break once in a while.
Thank you to you all who want to help us helping the strays.

AWL in the Newspaper- II

Panorama apparently doesn't keep the link up for long, (see February 1st post, below)

But not to worry, here is the article, scanned for your reading pleasure.

Today's Mission Possible

A starving cat has a huge scar over her neck. We gave her food and de-wormed her.

Stopped and checked if this Mister needed our help. He assured us he did not!

Saw some old friends, Mr. Ear and Mr. Rope, haven't seen them in a while. Still with an ear infection and a rope hanging tight(!?) around neck. This time they were locked in. We found a phone number and Dr. Inga called. The man promised to call back tomorrow so Dr. Inga could get in and treat Mr. Ear and cut the rope off Mr. Rope.


Remember the chained dogs where their dog houses nearly got drowned by the heavy rain?

We visited the place again, one dog has gotten puppies and the mother was, thank God, released from the chain. (AWL is against chaining dogs)

We told the lady that we would take care of the dogs; spay and neuter and try to find homes for the them (we are not an adoption foundation but what do you do when you see a friend chained up?). If she wanted our help she had to let them free to us.

This is Labrador Amore. We tried to get a great picture but this loving female was so happy for affection that it was like holding jelly. This is the best picture we came up with! She is wonderful this girl.

Found roaming around in the dark five months ago. She is up for adoption. Super friendly and good looking.

Some phone calls when we returned home for some dogs to soon become "it".

This was our morning Amore mission possible!

A Puppy IS for Christmas

photo, our dog Shiloh 2004

An interesting article,

"Every year, five million cats and dogs are gassed to death or lethally injected with sodium pentobarbital in American animal shelters. The word 'euthanasia' is a grotesque euphemism. There is no mercy in these deaths. Most of the animals are healthy, rambunctious, and young. They die terrified, and they die pointlessly: very few are vicious; most are capable of forming deep affectionate bonds with humans.
Some are sick or injured, but could be saved with little effort. Some are feral cats who before their detention were enjoying or enduring lives no better, perhaps, but certainly no worse than that of any other wild animal.
Until recently, the public was generally unaware of the extent of the slaughter; those who knew were told by shelter authorities that there was no choice: America was suffering from a "pet overpopulation" crisis, the consequence of the public's irresponsibility in permitting their animals to reproduce without restraint and their propensity to abandon puppies and kittens that had outgrown their initial fey charm." continue the reading

Oscar Got a New Foster Mother

Oscar on his way

This dog is lucky, or like a cat, nine lives (lucks)!

Remember when I wrote about him the first time on the blog? Let me help ...

Last Sunday, I linked up with foster mother "one" Stephanie, and Oscar jumped into my car with joy--easier than we thought since it was time to say good bye. But he understood, they had gone through the bye bye thing at home.

He love car rides! Olivia, my daughter was sleeping, woke suddenly up and shouted "Pongo!"

Well off we drove to meet foster mother "two" Gordana, and Oscar liked her right away.-- I like her too--

She had a nice yard he thought, and he love adventures. He is sweet and loving goof.

Since a couple of weeks ago I found him a wonderful family--or they found us--, that are waiting for his return to Sweden. The family got a beautiful Pongo lady longing to see "the Pongo Adonis" from Italy. Soon molto Amore. Do I dare to tell that it will be a castrated Amore?

I am waiting Amore

Don't Forget

How lucky we are.....don't forget those who serve, and the children whom are waiting.

It is a big Amore price.

AWL in the Newspaper

Our clean up days at the "terrible shelter" are getting acknowledged in Panorama. (page 6 and 11)

• I will also thank Erika Sundman who was the one who made AWL aware of the "terrible shelter".
• Ylva Mercer who cleaned like a man, and made lunch like a woman.
• Kath for 10 big Clorox cans.
• Zina for your dog care package.
• All the wonderfull workers who toiled over the 2 days of effort.
  

And to all you who donated so that we could buy all the medicine, a big amore THANK YOU!