I rescued a human today

My Human got the following story "I rescued a human today" from a fellow animal rescue friend. She read it to me this morning with tears in her eyes. She said it made her think of Missy who rescued her a little over two years ago. Missy (she's my 4 year old black lab/pit mix sister ... and yes, I love her!) had spent 8 months in a shelter in rural Iowa. Nobody wanted her. Then on September 23, 2006 her chance to rescue a human arrived .... a Pet Haven volunteer transported her to Minneapolis and into the arms of my Human. Missy wrote about it too :) yeah, she can write too :) check out what she wrote on my Human's blog (she's not as cool as me and she doesn' t have her own blog yet ... i'll let her be a guest writer on my blog if she shares her carrots with me though!).

She told me it also made her think of the day she first laid eyes on me when I was at Red Lake Rosie's in my outside kennel ... I do think my Human understands that I rescued her .... but you know what, truth be told ... we rescued each other :)

Here's the piece she read to me:

Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor, peering apprehensively into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her. I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so she wouldn't be afraid.

As she stopped at my kennel, I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage. I didn't want her to know that I hadn't been walked today. Sometimes, the shelter keepers get too busy and I didn't want her to think poorly of them.

As she read my kennel card, I hoped that she wouldn't feel sad about my past. I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone's life. She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds at me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her. Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship. A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well. Soon, my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms. I would promise to keep her safe. I would promise to always be by her side. I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes. I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor. So many more are out there who haven't walked the corridors. So many more to be saved. At least I could save one.

Introducing Ahnung the model!

Okay friends ... so earlier this week I got to spend half an hour at this place somewhere close to home .... i heard my Human call it Photographers Guild. My Human tells me, she gives them $40 and i get to pose to my heart's content :) Well .... there's going to be a lot more photos I'm going to share with you soon, but for now I couldn't resist sharing with you my favorite pose! Photographers Guild is even putting together a slide show of all my beautiful poses ... Stay tuned to my blog, and I'll be sharing more ... i'm thinking i may have found my second calling in life (or is it my third calling ... my first is to sleep, my second is outreach work with kids, and my third is now modeling!)

To my fellow furry friends: be sure to have your Human call Photographers Guild at 651.646.3239 to make an appointment. Tell them to hurry, they have to have all this fun before April 30th so that the $40 goes to my homeless pals at Pet Haven .... my friends, I know there's a model inside of you that is just dying to emerge ... I had no idea I had the potential to be such a model :) ... and if that's not enough to convince your Human about taking you in for a photo shoot, then let them know that you will get lots of cookies and treats, and that your tummy will be so full that you will fall asleep and be the best dog (or cat) for the rest of the day :)

Okay .... i have to sneak another great shot they took... this is my second favorite shot. I decided to open my eyes .... i think at that moment they were taunting me with some cookies!! :)

Celebrating with my friends!

I don't know if i've shared with you that I get to hang out with some really cool kids at a program called The Lab (editor's note: it's a creative, youth-based program of the St. Paul Public Schools). I've been going there just about every week now for a couple months. Sometimes my Human comes with me and we give presentations to a class and she tells my story while I get lots of loving and petting. [You can read about a fun art project a group of kids got to work on to send a thank you note to my rescuer Karen Good of Red Lake Rosie's. The story is on the Pet Haven dog blog]. Other times, I get to hang out with his one really cool kid and my Human plays scrabble while I nap and get hugs ... some times "R" gives me these delicious cookies but I have to do some tricks to get them. I've figured him out though ... as soon as I smell those cookies I sit, laydown and rollover! Yes, I'm a pretty smart dude! I remember the first time I met "R" ... I think we made each other nervous because he kept trying to get me to do things and I was being my usual stubborn self. Well, we worked through all that and I consider "R" one of my best friends now. I wish I could share this one really cool photo I have with him, but my Human tells me I can't post it on my blog ... something crazy thing about privacy ... crazy Humans is what I say!!

Anyway, yesterday was a party to celebrate something! I was just told to come. I don't ask questions. My Human tells me it's to celebrate what has happened over the past 2 months. She tells me these kids have been misunderstood and my hanging out with them has really helped them. I don't get it ... it's no biggy to me. I think they're cool and I love them. I always gets lots of cookies, hugs and kisses. They think i'm a "cool dog!" And you know what ... I think they're "cool kids"!

Later,
Ahnung

The fine art of resting

I know it's hard for many of you to do this, but I have got the fine art of resting and napping down. I'm not sure why my Human and her friends have such a hard time grasping the concept of sleep, napping, snoring, and simply taking it easy. I hope you all got to the enjoy the beautiful springlike weather we had here in Minnesota this weekend. I have to tell you you though... i'm dreading summer. I like the cold much better. This hot weather .... man, it's not for me. I hear my Human talk about her home town... some place pretty far away ... I think it's Thailand (I had to look at a map to figure out where it is .... I thought my home town of Red Lake reservation was pretty far but it's nothing compared to Thailand!). I hear her talk about how it takes almost a day on an airplane just to get there. Well... i don't get these things that can fly in the air anyway --- i just walk (okay, I saunter) to wherever I need to go and if I'm lucky my Human gives me a ride in her car. Airplanes ... heck No! You won't catch me in one of those unless they let me fly first class!

So anyway ... you would think my Human would like hot weather coming from a place where the only temperature they have is hot, hotter and hottest! She's like me ... she hates the hot weather. We both get very lazy in the heat and all we want to do is sleep. We're going to make a great pair this summer.

This weekend I got lots of nice, long naps in. We spent a lot of time out in the backyard. My sister Missy doesn't know how to relax either. You can see from the photo how she's standing guard while i'm busy napping in the background. I'm tired of telling my family to nap. One of these days they'll understand how sleep is a really good thing.

I see so many people running around like crazy people. My motto: SLEEP! SLEEP! SLEEP!

A nap a day keeps the doctor away!!

Home is wherever you are

This morning I woke up missing my friends back home. Now don’t get me wrong … I love my home, I love my Humans, I love my kitty brother Henry even though his constant screaming for food drives me crazy, and I love my spastic brother Mister and my needy sister Missy. As Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz said though, “there’s no place like home.” I wonder how Hazel is doing? and Grandpa? [editor’s note: Hazel and Grandpa are both shepherds who have been at Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue for quite some time, and will probably get to spend the rest of their days out there … ahnung especially loved Hazel. Her photo is at the bottom of this blog posting].

I am thankful for Karen who rescued me and continues to help so many of my friends up at Red Lake reservation. She really is a saint. If you haven’t checked out their blog you should check it out. It’s on my favorites on the left ☺ I will never forget Karen and I will never forget the kindness she showed. I’m still working on my Human to say we can go back up to visit. She’s been a little neurotic lately running here and running there … personally, I think she needs to chill out a little, but that’s just my humble opinion.

Where’s home for you? For me, I guess a have a lot of homes. I kinda like to think of Red Lake as my roots … like the roots of a tree. Now that I’ve been given a second chance, I can become a tree and I can spread my branches in a million different directions. My Human says I’m more like a star …. heck, I don’t care …. tree, star, come up with whatever metaphor you want.

Bottom line: Home is wherever you are. One thing i've noticed is that Humans like to complicate things. Life really is pretty simple.

Ahnung ... my own blog, finally!

I've decided it's time for me to start my own blog. My Human has written about me soooo much. She's told my story a million times over and I even have a video of my story. Since this is my first posting i'll go ahead and share the movie with you. I'll share a few links with you where she's written about me .... then after you've had a chance to go through all of it, and of course the movie, i'll share my story from my perspective!

Here are a few of my Human's entries from her own personal blog:

She meets me for the first time in October, 2008 on her first trip up north to Red Lake reservation where I am from. All I can say is thank god for Karen Good, who helped me out and so many of my friends who have been abandoned, abused and neglected.

My Human reflecting on her trip in October 2008 where she meets me for the first time. I was kind of a wreck. I had these squirmy, squealing puppies (yes, 8 of them!) that kept latching onto my nipple. I had to share an igloo with them and to be honest, i needed a little break from them as much as i love them.... and Karen was kind enough to give me short breaks. At night though i'd escape from my kennel and wander around the land. What can i say, i'm a free spirit.

My Human returns to Red Lake in November. Yes!! She's come back for me. My puppies were taken in by another rescue .... here's her reflections from that trip (somehow she seems to think that she'll be able to just foster me ... i wiggled my way into her heart and home and you'll soon learn she eventually adopts me! :) She names me Ahnung (pronounced ah-NUNG) which means star in ojibway. I love my name... and yes, I love my Human. Check out her reflection and some photos of my first few weeks as I become a city dog!

By the end of November i've successfully continued to wiggle deeper into her heart and her soul. Since I have heartworm I was hanging out at Bloomington Vet and my Human came every day to pick me up so we could go hang out a dog-friendly coffee shop. I really looked forward to our trips every day. She still kept saying she was only "fostering" me ... yeah, right!!! She was also starting to mention something about going back up to Red Lake to visit Karen and pick up some of my friends who needed to be rescued. By the end of November I can sense she's really torn between keeping me and adopting me ... personally, i'm hoping she'll just keep me. I also don't think she's cut out for fostering ... just my humble opinion, not that you asked!

Well, we took a 6 hour road trip in December to my home town of Red Lake reservation... it was surreal to be back there. I loved seeing Hazel again (she's the shepherd mix at the very front ... i was part of the "big dog clan" hanging out with lots the shepherds .. all such cool dogs, but that Hazel ... she was extra special!). We were best buds and would hang out together all the time and saunter around the land. My Human wrote yet another reflection piece after our trip in December (we got caught in a blizzard while we were there). The best part of that trip is she decided to adopt me!

And now that I am a part of my Human's family (there's one other Human, and I have 2 big black dog siblings ... Missy and Mister, and a black and white kitty brother named Henry). We all get along so well. I've also started to volunteer at this really cool program called The Lab. You can read more about it on the Pet Haven dog blog.

Well .... I could go on and on and on ... but since this is my first blog posting, i'll try not to bore you too much. I'm really excited about all this outreach work i'm doing and getting to hang out with these cool kids. I'm going to check with the program coordinator of The Lab to see if I can chat with my friends at The Lab through email (can you believe it .. I finally have my own email account!). You can email me directly at ahnung.star@gmail.com. Not bad, eh, ..... from surviving heartworm and lymes disease, a gun shot wound and starvation (in case you don't know I have have no front teeth ... i was desperately searching for food when I was wandering around up north and would eat dirt ... how did I know my teeth would be ground down to my gum (no one told me, and a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!!) ... from all that to sleeping on LL Bean doggie beds and couches and spending my days either sleeping or hanging out with kids. Life sure doesn't get any better.

Lastly, I just have to give a special thanks to Karen Good of Red Lake Rosie's Rescue for rescuing me and giving me a second chance. Karen ... you are the best! I want to come back and visit you and my pals up there ... i'm working on my Human to commit to a date, but don't worry ... i'll be back!!

Well .. i'm pretty psyched about having my own blog. I have so much on my mind that I want to share and I don't want to have to fight my Human for time on the computer ....

I hope you'll check back often ...

Later,
ahnung