Seven months ago Mason and I left Mellie at her new home; it was February, a cold, cloudless day with unfiltered sunshine glaring off car hoods, roofs, and windows. I’d like to blame the blaring sun on my bad choice that day, but I know better. It was an old wives’ tale, a long-held but untrue belief that got in the way of clarity.
Read MoreI Could Have Been Adopted (ICHBA) has two events planned that I wanted to share with everybody. Next weekend, Donna, Meadow, Sara, Floyd, The Magic 8, and I are going to Camp T.A.G. (Teaching About Grief), which is a 4-day, 3-night grief camp for children between the ages of seven and sixteen who have lost a loved one. During their time at camp, grief counselors teach children how to deal with their feelings during the grieving process. And word on the street is that dogs can play a miraculous role in this process, so we are very excited to participate.
Read MoreOn Saturday, May 3rd my friend Nancy and I took Meadow, Sara, and Floyd for a 5K walk, benefiting the Nashville Sexual Assault Center. I’m a Penn State graduate and as ashamed of my alma mater’s sports program as anyone who has read the Freeh Report would be. It’s important for me to give back however I can, and when my local PSU alumni association invited me to join them on the walk, I jumped at the opportunity.
Read MoreWhen we visited Buddy yesterday, he was sleeping on Beth’s floor wearing one of those medical collars that looks like a lampshade. After Buddy’s second surgery to fix his nonexistent tail, José told Beth he didn’t want the dog to be “sad” so the animal could stay in the house for two weeks to heal. My heart did a few cartwheels when I heard that happy news.
Read MoreSometimes I get letters that break my heart. Like this one:
“Melissa: Be forewarned: This email will make you angry. I know that I’m angry. My son, Timothy, had a pup that was attacked by a littermate. The dog was separated from the pack in order to heal. After it was better, the dog was allowed to run free, and it was hit by a car. Since then, the dog’s leg has improved. A week or so ago, something attacked the dog. He now has only about 4 inches of tail. What tail he does have looks horrible. I nearly vomited when I saw it. The stub is bare and is various shades of red and black. My son has called animal control to pick up the dog.
Read MoreIf you are as interested in pack behavior as I am, then you will LOVE Farley Mowat’s Never Cry Wolf. I had never heard about it before Doug Glover, my professor at VCFA, recommended it, but since I found it, I’ve read it twice in two weeks.
Read MoreWhen The Farnival launched this fundraiser, we had no had no idea what to expect. I warned Donna, ICHBA’s administrator, that we might not even get a penny, but less than forty-eight hours after it started, Reed Trickett of Trickett Honda in Nashville, Tennessee offered to donate the money we were trying to raise for Courtney, Benny, Spot, and Foxy.
Read MoreDear Mr. Barker,
One of my foster families saw a feature about you on a CBS morning show. They heard you mention that you planned to die broke because you’re giving all your money to animal welfare agencies and causes. I would love this opportunity to plead ICHBA’S case in hopes that maybe you’ll direct some of your hard earned and plentiful cash towards the rural south. Because of leash and fence laws that aren’t enforced, animal overpopulation is an epidemic in Robertson County, Tennessee. We desperately need your help down here.
Read MoreWho would have thought that cleaning Hal Aldridge’s teeth 35 years ago would have anything to do with becoming the founder of the animal rescue, I Could Have Been Adopted?
Read More“Arms fall off and walk off on their own. The animal loses its ability to hold on to rocks or pilings. Its body falls apart in pieces, and finally dissolves. Within weeks, only a ghostly white print will remain, and then nothing at all.” – From the Seattle Times
Read MoreAlthough I found two of my dogs at shelters, I never considered looking for one through a welfare agency that fosters their homeless animals because I never really understood what it meant. But after fostering ten dogs and one kitten in seven months for ICHBA (I Could Have Been Adopted,) if I ever have to look for a dog again a “fostering-agency” is the only method I’ll use; it’s a great way to find a dog that matches a family’s lifestyle.
Read MoreDear Mayor Billy Paul Carneal,
I’m writing to complain about the unenforced dog leash and fence laws in Springfield, Tennessee. It’s bad enough that when I drive to town from Cedar Hill I almost wreck my Honda daily because loose dogs chase after me on narrow country roads. Or that these unleashed and unfenced animals breed unrestricted, creating an animal overpopulation problem that costs taxpayers thousands of dollars.
Read More1. A man driving a pick-up truck threw seven puppies into a field on Kinney’s Road. Six were rehomed. One was never found.
Read MoreI’ve lived in Cedar Hill, TN for ten years, but I’d never seen a ghetto in the countryside before Saturday, Oct. 5th, 2013. Sandwiched between Charlotte and Nora in the backseat of Pidge’s Jeep Cherokee, passing one run-down, mean-looking trailer after another, I realized that slums were everywhere.
Read More
