A Version of "Lost" We Really Don't Like: Dog Marooned on an Island in Santa Cruz for a Month

"This dog was literally starving to death on the island, and now he has a second chance at life."

When he was leaving for work earlier this month, Luis Castellanos noticed something odd when he looked out at the island in Northern California's Watsonville Slough. A dog, alone. He thought it was "peculiar," according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. 

Later, his wife and kids got a better look what was occupying the island, and they could tell the dog must be in trouble. Castellanos called the authorities, and Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter's field service manager Todd Stosuy showed up. He quickly realized he needed a boat. He called the Watsonville Fire Department for backup, and a few firefighters showed up -- without a boat. 

Castellanos got out his inflatable boat. 

Firefighter John Stone paddled and Stosuy navigated. They made their way to the island but couldn't find the dog. They searched for 30 minutes and then went home. A short time later, Castellanos saw the dog lying on the shore in the duckweed. 

And not a moment too soon. The dog was very confused and lethargic, and very, very skinny. Stosuy and Stone returned, then paddled to the island and quickly located and scooped up the dog. He was in bad shape -- "severely emaciated," according to the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter's Facebook page. 

"It looked like it had been there forever," said Fire Capt. Corey Schaefer. "It looked pathetic and skinny. It was withering away."

Stosuy estimates the dog had been surviving on the island for a full month. He said the dog is an Australian Shepherd mix, 12 or 13 years old -- and was down to just 30 pounds. A healthy Shepherd at that age might weigh twice as much. 

How does a dog survive a month on an unpopulated island? Stosuy found his source of food: bird eggs. Lots of them. He found the remains of more than 100. 

The dog isn't out of danger yet

"He's not a full spry guy at this point, but he's walking on his own," said Stosuy.

He predicts the dog will have ongoing health problems, but he should be able to have a fine life with the right person or family. 

"This dog was literally starving to death on the island, and now he has a second chance at life," he said.

Via Santa Cruz Sentinel; photos via Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter's Facebook page

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Celebrate Adopt a Shelter Dog Month with an ASPCA Prize Pack

Is there a shelter pup in your life? Tell the world with this shirt and other goodies from the ASPCA.

October, as you might already know, is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, and our frinds at the ASPCA want those of you who love sharing the adoption message to turn up the volume with the help of this shirt:

In fact, they want to give one Dogster reader a prize pack full of goodies to help you spread the word on adoption well beyond October. Included: an "I Love My Shelter Dog" tote in addition to the shirt, an ASPCA wristband and magnet, a Humane Law Enforcement handcuffs keycain, and some K9 cookie treats in pea-mutt butter flavor for the best accessory in your homemade adoption campaign: your shelter pup!

HOW TO WIN

If you'd like the prize pack, use your Disqus account to comment below, telling us your shelter pup's story. Creating a Disqus profile and avatar just takes a minute and is a great way to participate in Dogster's community of people who are passionate about dogs. (Please note that if your Disqus account doesn't contain a valid email address, you can't win because we can't contact you. Lame! So please check your account). 

We will pick a random winner on Wednesday, Oct. 31, at noon PST, and contact him/her by email. The winner will have two days to respond or we'll pick another -- that's just how it goes!

The ASPCA would also like to invite you to their virtual Adopt a Shelter Dog Month event, which will take place on their UStream Channel on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. EST. The live stream will feature behavior experts chatting about the dos and don'ts of bringing a new dog home and vets who will help prepare you for Halloween with some safety tips.

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Big News: We’re Launching Dogster Magazine This Month!

Hi, guys! If you’re a Dogster community member, you’ve likely already seen the site update posts we’ve made earlier in the year about the redesign that’s in the works. If you’re a Dog Blog reader who doesn’t frequent our community areas, here’s the skinny: Our redesign launch date is scheduled for Monday, March 12 (give or take a few days for final tweaks).

The community areas of the sites (Pet Pages, Groups, Forums, Diaries, Gifts, Messaging, Answers, Adoption, Local, and the Community homepage) will not be changing. But some exciting changes will be coming to our editorial areas.

All your favorite Dogster blogs — the Dog Blog, Vet Blog, and Living with Dogs — are going to be rolled into what we’re calling Dogster Magazine. So instead of visiting several URLs to see our daily content, you’ll just need to visit the Dogster.com homepage to see everything in one combined feed. No, there won’t be a print magazine (though that would be cool … aaand probably more work than our two-person in-house editorial team can handle).

Our news editor, Maria Goodavage, will still be bringing you the daily news; Dr. Eric Barchas will still be answering your questions; and Julia Szabo will still be interviewing interesting people for us. Most of our current blog contributors (Christine Martinez, Casey Lomonaco, Anna Zeman) will be writing for Dogster Magazine as well.

We’ve got some new contributing writers we think you’re going to dig, and Dogster will also be launching a new web video series featuring some HQ personalities. We won’t say too much about that here, but we really hope you’ll love it as much as we do!

We have slowly been migrating all of our blog archives from WordPress (which currently hosts all our blogs) to Orion, our parent company SAY Media’s brand-new home-built publishing platform. Next Thursday, March 8, and Friday, March 9, there will be no blogging or posting while we move the final bits of content to Orion before we flip the switch and set the new homepage live.

On the week beginning Monday, March 12, you will notice that when you try to get to any of our blogs you will be redirected to the homepage, where the freshest content from all our authors will appear. If you subscribe to the Dog Blog’s RSS feed, that will be updated so you will continue to get Maria’s news items.

On our site update blog, community manager Lori Malm just posted the latest screen grab of what the new homepage will likely look like. PLEASE NOTE that this isn’t final. We’re still deciding what the final background will be and are tweaking a lot of little design-related things, but we wanted to give you a sneak peek of the direction we’re going in:

As part of SAY Media’s Clean Campaign, our homepage will have just one big ad (seen on the right side) instead of our current homepage’s three ads.

That’s all for now. We’ll do another reminder post on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 7, so nobody wonders why we won’t be publishing fresh content on Thursday and Friday.

Best Woofs,
The Editors at Dogster HQ

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April is Adopt a Greyhound Month!

Cara Brockhoff's greyt family.

April is Adopt a Greyhound month, and what better way to celebrate than to invite one of the biggest Greyhound lovers we know to write about what makes her beloved breed so special? Cara Brockhoff and her husband Jerry have been caring for retired racing hounds since 1993 and raising awareness about Greyhound adoption for just as long. They regularly have between 6 and 9 senior Greys at home at any given time. –Janine Kahn

April is Adopt a Greyhound Month and I’m here to tell you why you should!

Greyhounds are: calm, affectionate, short-haired, velcro couch potatoes. Greyhounds aren’t: perfect. But then, who is?

Sleek and handsome, Greyhounds have a unique way of embedding themselves into the hearts of their admirers to the point where The Potato Chip Syndrome applies – “It’s hard to have just one.” It is rare that you’ll find a single greyhound home: new owners become so infatuated they’ve gotta have more. We have seven. Having been raised and trained with their whole litters and living among kennels full of other Greyhounds during their racing careers, the dogs do better with companionship and having more than one dog can avoid separation anxiety, especially if left alone during the day.

Greyhounds have been bred for 5,000 years to hunt, and in their racing lifetimes, to chase the lure- it’s in their blood and their brains so adoption groups require new owners to have fenced yards and to keep their new kids on lead if they’re not within it. It only makes sense: a sighthound can see something moving a mile away and hit a top speed of 45 mph while chasing it. Unfortunately, they’re focused upon the item and not upon freeways or trees in their path. It’s impossible for a human to keep up with a greyhound to protect it from danger a mile away. So if prospective owners want a dog who will follow them on a street or a beach, they’d be better advised to look at labs or goldens or foo- foos (who should all be leashed anyway – it’s a bonding experience!).

I’ve just finished reading the article by Kathleen Gilly in Celebrating Greyhounds- The Magazine. Kathleen and Gill were masters of training and behaviorism, introducing new Greyhounds to their dancing and entertainment team of six with the least possible stress and instilling trust and pack-order from the get-go. I was awed by their knowledge, their understanding of doggie mentality, and diligence.

In our own home, our method is a contrast – we try to figure out what a newcomer wants and we give it to them. I know, I know – not wise, but then, we’re not adopting 2- or 3-year-olds fresh out of the kennels. Jerry and I are addicted to the seniors and returns – dogs who have been in family situations for years where previous owners gave them up either out of necessity or lack of compassion (would they relinquish their human children?). We’re seniors ourselves, so we appreciate the slower pace and we know they need us as much as we need them. We’ve got lots of couches. Actually, with seven hounds, we have eight beds or couches in my office, and the same number in the kitchen/library, greyt room, and bedroom, surrounding our own bed like an audience. We’re a tight family – the whole gang follows us from room to room and we like to give them choices.

If yours is not already a Greyhound family, you probably haven’t experienced a Greyhound gathering. Media folks and other observers are always blown away by seeing hundreds of Greyhounds mingling with their owners and the silence of it all – there is no snapping, no bickering, no angry “this is my space” warnings- they just appear to revel at being among their own kind. This is how it is in our own home when dogs have come from places where they were less loved or, by necessity, received less attention – they’re just so darned greytful to have a family of their own and trust that it’s finally their Forever Home.

Yes, we suffer more losses than those who adopt two-year-olds and get to adore them for 10-12 years, but for us, the Greyhounds who we are fortunate enough to have even for a year or two, feel as though they’ve been here for a lifetime. Their individual quirks and personalities leave such a mark upon our hearts that we wouldn’t have missed the opportunity for anything in the world. And we know that the love they knew with us is what they’ll carry with them into eternity. Just LOOK at these memorable faces (and read some of their stories!)

If your family is considering a new canine companion, don’t pass up an opportunity to meet some Greyhounds up close and personal at a local Meet and Greet or adoption kennel. It’s Springtime, so many groups are planning summer picnics where you can have a hands-on experience with lots of Greyhounds and visit with owners who relish the opportunity to brag about their babies! You’ll notice in the process that if you decide to adopt, you’re not only adding to your own family, but joining a family of devoted Greyhound adopters if you choose to do so. These are social folks who love social dogs – help is always nearby. We should let Cal speak for himself!

The Greyhound Project keeps an up-to-date list of adoption organizations all over the country to assist you in finding greyhound events locally. These organizations are adept at matching the right greyhounds to the right families, so applications always ask if you have cats or small dogs, small children, birds, etc. Because most retired racers have been in foster homes, foster parents are intimately familiar with each Greyhound’s personality and want to place them in perfectly suited homes.

Now if you ask ME, they’re all perfect. Especially the older ones.

Cara Brockhoff
Northcoast Greyhound Support, a FUN-Draising Enterprise
(100% of earnings to greyt causes)

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Dog Found in House a Month After Fire – Could Your Dog Survive?

Lola getting care at the vet's after her harrowing ordeal

After a major fire badly damaged a home in Boston, the family dog, Lola, could not be found. Her owners assumed she had either run away or been killed in the fire.

But when one of her owners went back to the home yesterday, she made an amazing find: “…she actually heard this scratching from behind the door and she related to us that she had to break down the door, and she discovered Lola there. So Lola had been living in this locked property for about a month, ” Brian Adams, of the MSPCA, said in a report on WHDH.

She rushed the long-haired dachshund to the vet, where she’s getting hydration and other care for her woes. Amazingly, Lola may be going to her new home as early as today. There was no word from Lola’s owner, but we can only imagine she was overjoyed — and maybe kicking herself a little for not going back to the house sooner.

How did Lola survive? Would your dog be able to survive if something happened and he were left alone in your house for a week or two or a month? I guess that’s why I’ve heard people say to always leave the toilet lid up, since it’s a ready source of water. (And many a dog’s dream of the best tasting water in the house.) I wish Lola could divulge her survival secrets. Please share your contingency plans, or your ideas for how your dog could get by in a similar situation.

Here’s to a speedy recovery — both physical and mental — from Lola’s terrible ordeal!

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