www.TheNewBarker.com Spring 2018 THE NEW BARKER 39 g This is a commodity business, and money exchanges hands. Laurie was forthcoming when we spoke. She estimates the aver- age cost she paid for the dogs was around $200 a piece. Remember, the auctioneer, at this point, has already been paid by the breeder to destroy the dogs. After the phone call, Laurie secured her team and alerted the veterinarian of an ETA for their return. In just a matter of hours, the transport was in place and Laurie and her volunteers were on the road. Once at their destination to pick up the dogs, Laurie observed how terribly unsociable they all were.They were six months old and weighed around 35 pounds.Understandably,the dogs were a little aggressive as they were being loaded into their respective crates. But that aggression was mainly as a result of their fear, Laurie surmised. These are puppies who have been taken from their mothers too soon.They have never been social- ized and, most likely, have never felt a human’s kind touch or heard the sound of a soothing voice. “Each time we reached for one of them, they cowered. They were almost shut down by the time we arrived,” said Laurie. “Within about five to ten minutes in our care, they began to calm down,” she added. Back in Florida, a few days after completing their quaran- tine at the veterinarian’s office, the dogs seemed more relaxed, even displaying the infamous Wheaten Greeting.The Wheaten puppies were given names: Merlin,Arthur,Tobin, Muppett and Waldorf. The two Doodles were named Duncan and Dudley. They would all be going to foster families who were experi- enced working with dogs that required gentle introductions into socialization skills, housetraining and walking on a leash. That was back in January of this year. Florida Little Dog Rescue expertly uses social media for fundraising and keeping their followers up to date. They have promotions, like this recent one: “Bypass your Starbucks this week; donate just $5 to help the new pups and we’ll toss your name in a treat jar. Tomorrow morning we’ll draw out some names for cool prizes, including a $50 Starbucks gift card.” Over the last five years, Florida Little Dog Rescue puppies have been in the Super Bowl Sunday Puppy Bowl event on the Animal Planet. Seven of their puppies participated during this year’s Puppy Bowl XIV, including Clyde, a Corgi, Ben, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Violet, a Frenchie. Of the auction rescue, all of the dogs, except Tobin the Wheaten, had been adopted by early March. “We expect his adoption to be completed very soon,” said Laurie. Each of the dogs will continue to require additional work to build their confidence, so the potential adopters were screened and well-aware of what to expect. There were about 100 applications for adoption for each of the dogs, so it was easier to be selective to make sure the dogs were carefully matched. Before adoptions, all Florida Little Dog Rescue adoptees are spayed or neutered, treated medically and brought up to date on all vaccinations. Continued on following page. VER RE FO . CAPTURED VE. O L . VER RE FO . s el he w n udio o t d s e n io t di n -co ir a , d e p p ui qu y-e l l u ur f fu h o t i w ts en v r e o le f fo b a l i va o a ava s l e a r ’ e W We gs. in t et r s o do d in n r a o do t u O ts. i ra t r o y p l mi d fa n en a ldr hi c ets, lize in p a ci e p e s W We s . l l e t t o nn a s c d r o w t a h y t r o t s a s t i i ra t r o a p , d e h p ra og t o h y p l l a n sio es f fes o r P all 727.584.5040 C s? n io t ues Q tudios.com aAllenS Laur t si i v t s i ra t r o et p f p t o s e li let p m r a co o F all 727.584.5040 tudios.com les, u d e h c t s . s el he w