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Update 07-13-09 Ophelia is finally in foster care in Illinois. She had a very rough time in Tennesee. The shelter insisted she be spayed prior to leaving the shelter and although every attempt was made to stop any surgery due to her health being in question--they went ahead anyways. On her way to Illinois--Ophelia made a pitstop with our friends at Kinard's Animal Hospital for some much needed follow up care. Her blood work showed she was fighting a terrible case of Ehrlichia and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever besides a nasty bladder infection. She was started on the proper dose of meds and is feeling better. Here is a video of
Ophelia at the shelter . Note how Ophelia barely moves at all- as she must have been in such horrible pain. I could see how she was lethargic and weak--not sure why the staff at the Chattanoga Humane Society could not.

We are hopeful that after a few months on antibiotics-Ophelia's health will continue to improve and we may show some video of her actually trotting or galloping around her foster home's back yard. She acts as if she is 10- but we guess her to be around 4-6. Please watch her blog for further updates.

07-01-09
Ophelia aka Auntie "O" is a lovely Tri-color American Field Bred English Setter. This is the email I received from the shelter in Chattanooga, TN, "Ladies, This lady came into the Humane Society as a stray sometime last week I included the first picture so you can see how she tries to hide in the back of the kennel. She was nasty dirty (wet from just having her kennel cleaned and very matted); she was covered in Lima bean sized ticks so we took her out and bathed her. She wasn’t so scared that she would not come out of the kennel – on the contrary, she gladly followed us out and around the parking lot. She most certainly loosened up once we took her out. She let us pull, poke and mess with her. She didn’t care much for the water part of the bath, but as we were soaping her up, she just leaned into us. She sat quietly in the dryer. Her back end was matted up and she let us cut those out. During all of this she never once tried to nip or bite at us at all. She was very tolerant.

Ophelia appears to be about 4 maybe. She looks like she’s had several litters. Like I said, we bathed her to get the ticks and we also applied flea/tick spray. We’ll follow up in a day with another f/t bath to ensure everything is dead. She is currently in with another dog now and completely ignores it. It is a pretty high energy dog and she just lies in the back without regard to the other dog or the dogs to either side of her kennel. When we took her out of the kennel she peed for a good length of time so perhaps she is housetrained."

We are doing blook work now and are assuming she probably has one or more tick borne illnesses considering the huge ticks that were pulled off of her. We are also awaiting her heartworm test. This poor dog has bee so neglected- but we are hopeful we will get her healthy and happy once she is in foster care. Watch her blog for further updates.

Due to the fact that these dogs have come from shelters or abuse or neglect situations, and unless we have tested these dogs on upland birds and feel they are confident and ready to work as a hunter with families where they will be trained with kindness and patience, we will only adopt to pet homes.

All adoptions include vaccinations, deworming, microchips, spaying or neutering, collar, leash and an information adoption packet. Most dogs are also tested for Lyme Disease, Ehrlichia and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever via a $100 blood test. On average nearly 83% of our incoming dogs and puppies from the Midwest are testing positive to one, two or all three tick borne illnesses. If caught early- these diseases are highly treatable. Infected Dog and Deer Ticks are all over the Midwest and United States and these diseases often go missed yet are epidemic. Left untreated- dogs may suffer horrible painful joints, brain damage, chronic allergies, and if the disease progresses- death.

All IBR dogs in foster care are learning to be crate trained, housebroken, socialized with other dogs and loved on by their human foster parents. Adoption fees are used to cover vetting expenses and special need dogs' vetting care. Our adoption guidelines also require non-smoking homes and safe fenced in yards.

If you are interested in adopting this pet through our rescue organization, please fill out an online adoption application.

Please help us reach our fundraising goal so we can continue our work helping save these homeless hunters and other abused and neglected dogs and puppies! We have a long way to go and any amount --big or small--will make a huge difference especially if the dog or puppy is in an area where they use gas chambers to euthanize.
We see the worst that humans can do to defenceless animals- but with your donation- we will be able to do more to end the suffering of many frightened dogs and puppies.

Others Ways You Can Make a Difference

Help offset the high cost of our vetting bills via the Petfinder.com Sponsor-A-Pet link. Illinois Birddog Rescue has always prided itself in not turning away any sick and injured dogs; animals that most shelters would have euthanized. We have saved many dogs with heartworm, tick borne illnesses, broken legs, missing legs, blind dogs, a new deaf puppy, dogs suffering from Parvo and especially senior dogs that may need expensive health care to help them get ready for adoption. In February of 2006, in one weekend, we brought in 20+ dogs from the Boat Mountain Tragedy, and that depleted our emergency funds.

Your donation will not go unnoticed. In addition to helping save lives, when you donate your name will be added to the Illinois Birddog Rescue Donations and Rescue Sponsor List.

Shop for custom calendars, mugs and T-shirts at our Café Press fundraising website and choose merchandise featuring Pointers, Setters, Hunting Dogs or Friendly Mutts. All of our calendar stars are rescued dogs that would have been euthanized in shelters across the Mid-West had IBR not stepped in to save them. Your support does make a difference!!

Become an IBR foster home and help give a rescued dog or puppy a second chance at a new happy life. The work and dedication of the current IBR foster families can be seen by clicking HERE! You are not just fostering a dog, you are joining a birddog family! If you would like to become a foster home and join our enthusiastic group of birddog lovers, please fill out an online foster home application.

Shop and search the Internet using iGive.com and iSearch.iGive.com - Two great ways to help us raise funds while using the Web. It's free and there is no limit or hidden fees. Give them a try here:

Special Offer: Order the 2009 Entertainment Book through iGive.com and get $10 off plus free shipping. For every copy purchased, a special donation of $2.40 will be sent to IBR. This is a great way to give back while saving hundreds on shopping and entertainment, whether at home or on vacation. Simply register or log in to iGive.com and search keywords Entertainment Books. Enter your zip code or select “view all books” for a complete list of editions. Order a copy today!

Up to 26% of every purchase through iGive.com is donated to Illinois Birddog Rescue. Membership is free and over 700 online stores are registered through the site, including eBay, JCPenney, Land’s End , Drs. Foster & Smith, PETCO and Petsmart.

iSearch.iGive.com is a fun and easy way to raise money while searching the internet. The donation is $0.01 per qualified search (no limits) and if you are logged in as an iGive.com member (membership to use iSearch is free and optional) you can keep track of your individual contributions through searching and shopping. $0.01 per search may not seem like much, but with our combined efforts it can add up very quickly and make a difference for our rescued dogs. iSearch.iGive.com is powered by Yahoo! search engine. Start searching the web and download the iSearchiGive toolbar to earn every time you search by clicking here:

Shop Helping Udders, a fun place for cool and unique dog stuff not found in stores. Select “Illinois Birddog Rescue, Inc” during the checkout process and 10-50% of every purchase you make will go to support our rescue. Click here to visit the home of the original Udder Tug and to find that unique gift you’ve been looking for:

Monetary donations can also be mailed directly to IBR, PO BOX 364, Wood Dale, IL 60191.

Illinois Birddog Rescue, Inc is a 501c3 not-for-profit charity licensed by the Illinois Department of Agriculture.