Charity Isn't Free

 Where do I begin?  Twelve years ago, the most incredible, crazy, sweet, loving, stubborn, brilliant dog came into our lives.  He had a hard start.  I don't want to go into the details, because he almost had no beginning.  He was small, the runt of the litter, undernourished, sickly.  But I knew the second I saw him, we had to save him and give him the best life a dog could ever want.  Because he was so small and skinny, he was always cold, so he would hug the baseboard radiators, standing with his little front paws on top and warming his belly.  He was too small to even fit into the smallest of dog sweaters, so I made him one out of a cozy sock.  He wore it all the time.  We wrapped him in a baby blue blanket that had pictures of bull terriers on it and carried him around all the time.  He loved blankets, being covered in them, laying his head on them, surrounding himself with them.  Something that he never outgrew.  In t...

                                                              What A Month  October has been...well, how can I say it?  A mixture of everything.  The good?  Rex celebrated his 12th birthday.  People donated in his honor and we raised much needed funds as well as enjoyed his birthday celebration and seeing him wolf down a giant hamburger patty "cake".  Our online fundraising auction was also a great success, and our volunteer @anxietycucumbr did a great job running all the donations and listings, communicating with donors and navigating the fulfillment process, which we are in the process of completing.  These online auctions are quite a bit of work, and with everything else going on, it was so wonderful to have someone step up, volunteer and do the he...

                                                   Empathy (and why it's so important) Hello friends.  Every now and then I like to vent in a blog post and I thank you for allowing me to do so.  One thing that everyone who runs any kind of non-profit charity, no matter whether it's animal oriented or human oriented,  have in common is a large amount of empathy.  You have to put yourself in the shoes (or paws) of those you are helping, understand their perspective and feel the need to help them through their problems.  Often this comes at a personal expense, time, energy, emotional upset, frustration, sadness, but it also provides satisfaction.  When you have helped someone and they tell you how much your help has meant to them, it fills you back up.  All of the thin...

                                                             Volunteers Needed! Do you love helping animals in need?  Do you want to make a difference in the life of a hungry pet? Rex The TV Terrier, Inc. provides food, supplies, prescription medicine and food and limited veterinary assistance to people suffering from financial hardship.  By supporting people in their time of need, we are keeping pets in their loving homes and out of shelters and rescues.  Now, more than ever, our help is desperately needed.                                                            Fundraising Assistant We are seeking someone who...

It's National Dog Day, so why are people giving up their dogs in record numbers?     There is a crisis.  An undeniable, heartbreaking crisis.  Owner surrenders of dogs to rescue and shelters are at record highs.  Contributions and donations to animal charities are at a record low. Being that we are extremely fond of the bull terrier breed, we have partnered with and collaborated with bull terrier rescues across the nation.  I was heartbroken to see that one of our friends, and an incredible organization, Blue Ridge Bull Terrier Rescue had to close to intake because they simply did not have the funds to continue to operate.  I am hoping that their call to action will generate enough donations for them to open up again to saving bull terriers very soon.  But they are one of many. We have also been experiencing a huge surge in requests for assistance from people who are doing everything to try to keep their pets.  Some are feeding them food mean...

                                        Nancy Drew, Animal Welfare Sleuth I've written about this before, so it may be getting old to some of you.  But the last two weeks have been rife with people with no conscience, no sense of responsibility and OMG such entitlement issues. Part of this blog post is just me venting, because I have to spend hours investigating so many sketchy requests and part of this is so that the people who donate to us know that I am as thorough as I can possibly be when spending the charity's money on pet food and supplies. The month of January was quite busy, as we had a ton of requests from people who were seasonally employed and lost their employment, people who had expenses related to the holidays and needed some help (which required me to give some lectures about pet food comes before presents) and people who h...