By Toby Frost
As we are prone to saying in the rescue world, never a dull moment, and these last few months were no exception. Yavapai Humane Trappers Animal Search and Rescue (YHT) has a search and capture side, and a foster/adopt side which gives us a lot of challenges to tackle.
There were a number of search projects recently, including tragic auto accidents with dogs ejected from cars. But one recent story has the heartwarming ending we all love and shows the level of persistence and endurance and “out-smarting a pup” that is part of a trapping project.
Ginger was adopted recently from Chino Valley Animal Shelter. Once home, Cyle, her new owner, opened the car door and she bolted out. The new owner looked for her all evening with no success. When CVAS workers heard his voice message, Supervisor Debby Randall Korell immediately went to work posting and contacted us.
Our team made plans to go along with Mary Lightfield from CVAC to help find Ginger. After driving around the area for a couple of hours, they spotted an off color in the field about 75 yards away. Their trusty binoculars confirmed, and behold, it was her.
Mary got out and called her. Ginger came, ran around Mary barking, but then ran off again, showing she was not hand catchable; we were going to have to trap her. Cyle went to the side and pushed Ginger toward us, but she ran into a field between Cyle’s house and a big canyon.
We set the trap and waited. The next day we rebaited it. Debby and Mary went field-walking and called. They heard one bark, and it was close.
We made a wide loop to come in at the back of the canyon and sited Ginger trotting straight for the trap. She found the trap, but would only go a quarter of the way in. Rather than reinforce her behavior, we closed the trap and left food and water – which she devoured.
Our new game plan was to bring out our XLarge trap made for a Great Dane or Mastiff. Ginger wasn’t around when YHT arrived but our team waited around looking for her. We decided to check the trap again when her lone bark went off at the bottom of the canyon. We called for her, and the barks were ongoing and coming closer. We then went silent and sure enough, just like before, she trotted by without seeing the searchers.
We set the Xlarge trap up with three bowls: the first one was halfway in, the second was three-quarters of the way in with only a bite of rotisserie chicken, and there was a mega bowl in the back behind the trip plate.
An hour later she made it to the trap site and went to the first and second bowl, then backed out. We rebaited and reset the trap with the first bowl closer in, the second bowl right before the trip plate and the mega bowl in the back.
Ginger visited her new dad at night and ran around the property. She stuck close, thank goodness, and Cyle was dedicated to bringing her to safety. He never gave up on her and was totally committed to building a bond.
We want to give a big shout-out to Chino Valley Animal Shelter, which is a great rescue partner. They’re passionate about all their dogs and always ready to bring them to safety when they run away. It was great to work with them, and it took a village of animal-loving people, but what a great conclusion for Clyde and Ginger who are now the best of buds.
On our foster-adopt side, we have a double story. One of our trapping team, who is also a foster, is Alyssa Upton. Her level of persistent care shows that success is built one step at a time for some dogs.
When Shannan Rundquist, a satellite YHT partner in Winslow, found an abandoned dog needing help last September, Alyssa assisted him.
Several weeks earlier a friend had discovered a sick dog in their front yard. The dog was housed at Animal Control for the 72-hour hold, and then Shannan picked him up. He was emaciated, covered in ticks and had terrible healing bite wounds all over his body. His left hip was dislocated, and a local vet determined that he had a very old injury and that the ball of his femur was completely decalcified.
Even with all his problems at only a year old, he fell right in with her four other dogs. He had no food aggression, and he loved her cats. After getting him neutered and vaccinated, Shannan reached out to YHT for further medical support, a foster and eventual adoption. That’s when Aylssa got involved.
One of our partner vets, Prescott Animal Hospital (PAH) scheduled major hip repair surgery, followed by water therapy This young dogblossomed after discovering walking no longer meant constant pain. Alyssa is training him so he’ll be a model of good behavior when he hits the adoption circuit.
YHT recently got a call about a hoarding situation in Ash Fork, where the owner passed away and a neighbor was reaching out for help. A middle-aged healthy poodle mix was among the dogs needing help. Aylssa recruited her parents to foster sweet and gentle Gracie (now Snowball), thinking she would be an easy keeper, which wasn’t precisely accurate.
Snowball had been living on tuna and potato chips for most of her life, and was unable to walk due to extremely matted fur. PAH’s vet placed her at over ten years old. She had ear infections, cataracts in both eyes, a lipoma on her leg, and a skin fungus causing hair loss. She also had two infected teeth that needed to come out, but because she was having seizures the vet wanted to do more lab work before removing her teeth.
She also had a strange tar over her body and in her ears. The vet cleaned it out, so Snowball could hear and bark occasionally with her cute little boof bark. Her toenails had grown around her toes, and she could not walk well due to a condition in her back paws called musculoskeletal plantigrade which caused her muscles to be severely atrophied.
None of this deterred Aylssa’s parents. They just rolled up their shirt sleeves, and YHT donors stepped up to help, too.
Snowball is now a Hospice Foster at YHT, and her new foster parents have been taking great care of her. Her ear infections are gone, and she now has special booties that allow her to walk better without pain.
Snowball loves going for little walks outside wearing her sweaters and booties, and she’s getting a balanced diet with special kibble. She is getting regular grooming and tons of love, and especially enjoys sleeping on her pillow-bed between her new mom and dad.
