KATIE

Katie was one big matted mess when she was first rescued. Since a visit to the groomer and sporting a nice new trim, she is hardly recognizable as the same dog. It was thought that Katie may have had a home before her Gabbs days, as she knew some commands, did well on a leash and was already spayed. To the surprise of everyone though, she still had her stitches from her surgery (estimated to have been done about two years prior). The sweet girl was very brave and tolerant during the discomfort of their long overdue removal.

Katie before the groomer

Katie after the groomer

She blossomed in her foster home and to no surprise found a great new forever home… here is what they had to say:

“Our ever loving, shy dog Katie is turning into an outgoing loving friend to our new adoptee, Archie. Archie was a rescue from High Sierra Animal Rescue in Portola, CA. He is about the same age as Katie and full of the Labrador enthusiasm and love. Katie did a nose-to-nose meeting/greeting and OK’d bringing him home as her buddy. The change in her is phenomenal—from computer room couch potato to “let’s go play” girl. She never learned to play but loves to bound and pretend.

Katie and family wanted to send a special thanks to Katie’s Foster Mom, Dorothy at Dog Town Canine Rescue. She did an awesome with her socialization.

Katie and Archie

Katie is a Joy!!

Angel (a.k.a. Wilma)

Angel from High Sierra Animal Rescue is home and happy at my house. I got her last year at the beginning of June. She had had massage therapy and was just returning from the Pets on Parole in Susanville. She was still very timid and wanted nothing to do with me. I have one other dog Ginger who wasn't sure about an invasion to her kingdom. We did lots of walks around the property to start with. Angel joined us for our daily morning walk when she showed signs of separation anxiety by dragging all the dog toys and my coats and socks into her crate.

She has relaxed a great deal but has a lot of energy. When I am at work or away she goes in her pen and dog house and is perfectly content. Evenings Ginger and Angel rotate around who has the best bone to chew on. She's very good on leash but still does not respond to commands unless she wants to. Ginger gives lots of kisses and Angel is mimicking tentatively. I can hold and hug her, smooch her ears, nose and head and she is tolerant.

Miss Angel

This spring I hope to work more intensely on obedience and maybe we will progress to agility. She would be great at that. She can run and dive around obstacles like nothing I've ever seen. We just need to connect with the language first. She's very smart and has figured out all of our routines and is quite tenacious when I don't follow the "norm".

Angel and Ginger

Way to go, Angel!!

The Ever Elusive EDDIE

Eddie was one of the free ranging dogs up by the ranch house. On the day of the big rescue, Eddie refused to be captured. No treat was good enough to lure him into the trap. So as the sun set, the big truck drove away leaving Eddie alone on the ranch. For the next few weeks the caretakers continued to feed Eddie, but couldn’t catch him in a run.

Eddie with Gabbs at the Gabbs Ranch

On February 17, 2008, Linda and Shane Bailey (Dama’s niece and nephew) and a B.A.R.K. volunteer, Kris Brown returned to the ranch. With no other dogs around to cause commotion, Eddie finally allowed himself to be captured. Eddie went to Camp Reno just a few days before it closed.

Eddie finally caught.

Eddie arrvies at Camp Reno

The Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe agreed to take this last minute addition to the Camp Reno population. Eddie arrived at Truckee-Tahoe a wild, terrified animal. In the intervening months he made huge progress. He learned to go on walks on a leash pretty much everywhere. He barked, played with other dogs and came running up to just about anyone in search of cookies and treats.

Eddie at the Tahoe-Truckee

On January 24th, Eddie moved into a foster home with Niko, and foster dad Joel. Joel spent many months working with Eddie at the humane society to establish a bond so the transition to home life went pretty smooth. Niko even writes a blog about his adventures with Eddie. Check it out!

Eddie with Niko and foster Dad Joel

If you are interested in adopting Eddie, please contact the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe, at 530.587.5948 or visit their website.

Keep up the good work Eddie!

In Memory of POLLY

For those of you who’ve seen NGO’s show Dog Town “Project Rescue”, Polly was the mother of Baxt and the other pups featured on the show. Polly was doing her best to care for the pups in the harsh environment, but another female dog kept stealing the pups and hiding them in a deep burrow. Polly’s face was scarred and swollen from the injuries she received trying to retrieve her puppies. The puppies were rescued and taken back to Best Friends in Utah. They all survived, thrived and were eventually adopted into loving homes.

Polly at the Gabbs Ranch

Polly’s fate was not quite so happy.

Polly remained at Gabbs for another month and a half until the day of the big rescue. Polly was crated and loaded on the big truck with 56 other dogs and road three hours to Camp Reno. After a month of rehab, Polly was released to the Tahoe Vista Animal Shelter along with Charles, Apple and Winnie. Connie Nowlin (Wylie Animal Rescue Foundation) kept a close eye on the Gabbs refugees. Polly had a difficult time adjusting to the shelter environment and Connie looked for an alternative placement.

Polly with her sister Pinny at Gabbs

Polly, Pinny and Shy Girl preparing to leave Gabbs

Polly was eventually released to a rescue that had experience with the Gabbs dog. It was assumed all was well with Polly. No news is good news, right? Eight months later we learned that Polly only survived a week after she left Tahoe Vista. The rescue reported Polly had “shut down”, refusing food and water. They had made the decision to euthanize her.

Those who had worked so long to save the Gabbs dogs were hit hard by news of Polly’s death. But she’s with Dama now, and somewhere her puppies are living the happy ever after life that eluded her…

Polly at Camp Reno

We will remember her always!

BUFFY - Part 2 From Foster Home to Forever Home

Before going to her foster home, Buffy was checked out by the Vet it was discovered that she had Lupus (hence the beat up looking nose). So, it was off to her foster home on May 12, 2008 and six weeks of herbal remedies and antibiotics. Buffy finally got a clean bill of health.

Upon arrival at her new foster home, Buffy immediately decided that her foster Dad, Jerry, was bad news. To this day, she still holds her imaginary grudge against him. We're hoping that someday soon she'll get over her problem with Jerry, who faithfully walks her every day and bought her $45 a pound dog treats. His only reward (for now) is Buffy barking at him and skittering away as soon as they get home from their walk.

Buffy refused to make eye contact with us for a long time. Instead, she'd isolate herself from the rest of the family and just stare at a wall. She's getting over that since we introduced "steak night" (the occasional evening when all the dogs get a tidbit from the dinner table) and now she's always close by waiting for her share. She is still a shy, quiet dog. She likes to nestle under tables, in corners, and her bedroom crate has become her special refuge. She's not openly affectionate but, once in awhile, when the other dogs aren't looking, she'll come up for pets. She still startles easily and will cringe at any unusual movement or noise, but not quite as often now and without as much drama as when she first arrived.

Buffy's best trick now is how incredibly well she does on a leash. We didn't teach her that - credit Kris Brown and Lorayn Walser. Once the leash goes on, she's very attentive and obedient. She even went through 6 weeks of fun conformation classes (on the leash) this summer and received a lot of compliments on her behavior from the other participants - many of them show dogs with their owners.

She now attends doggy daycare once a week with her brothers, Reno and Shadow. She pretty much ignores other animals and people. Which is good since our home also has had half a dozen other fosters dogs and weekly traffic of dog and human day-visitors, plus the birds and bunnies in our yard. Buffy seems content in her own world and just doesn't care about any of them.

Buffy got the best Christmas Present of all when her foster home became her forever home in December 2008. Her new Mom, Mary Ann had this to say about why they adopted her “we didn't know what else to do with her. Just kidding - it's because we love her!”

Buffy with new brothers Shadow and Reno

Buffy's Million Dollar Shot

Congrats to Buffy!

BUFFY - Part 1 From Gabbs to Yerington and Repeat

First a little history... Dama cared for 100+ dogs in Gabbs, Nevada and she passed away in 2007. Action began to rescue all the dogs. For more on this background click here.

Buffy was one of the dogs running loose up by the ranch house. In November, 2007, she was brought to the Safe Haven Kennel in Yerington, Nevada with 12 other Gabbs dogs. (The thirteen dogs were split between Safe Haven and the Yerington Shelter). Buffy was the last dog to be captured that day. She was picked… well because we had a small crate left and were looking for an easily accessible dog that would fit into it.

A few days later, we got a call from Linda Bailey (Dama’s niece). The ranch manager was furious that Buffy had been kidnapped. He had planned to keep her as his own dog. We were going to take her back, but a woman from Silver Springs was going out to look at the dogs and offered to give Buffy a ride. So Buffy went back to Gabbs.

Over the next few months, Buffy remained at the ranch running loose up by the house. She would occasionally hitch rides on pickups or tractors, but always kept people at a distance. The ranch manager was always in the process of fencing his yard so he could take her home.

On January 4^th, the rains came and the hay house district was flooded. Paul Bruce of the Humane Society of the United States made a trip out to Gabbs and declared the dogs “in crisis”. Plans were made to remove the remaining dogs from the ranch. Paul told the ranch manager that ALL the dogs on the ranch were leaving and that if Buffy was still there on the day of the rescue, she would be loaded in the truck with all the others.

The night before the rescue, we got a call from Linda. The ranch manager was not keeping Buffy, but didn’t want her to go in the big truck. He wanted to know if we could bring her back to Yerington. So at the end of the day, Buffy was finally caught in the live trap and made her second trip to Yerington.

Buffy stayed at the Yerington Animal shelter for several months, then things started getting hinky at the shelter, so the Gabbs dogs moved out to Dog Town. While at Dog Town, Buffy found a great foster home and...

Miss Buffy at Gabbs

Welcome to Our Blog!

Welcome to the Gabbs Dogs Blog... where everything is devoted to those wonderful pups rescued from the Nevada Desert.

If you have a question, story, picture, etc. of one (or more) of the Gabbs Dogs, e-mail GabbsDogs@yahoo.com and we will share your story here.

Keep checking for updates! We have a lot to say and learn!