A "free to good home" puppy situation

[Aerie]

I seem to attract drama. Really.

 

One of my neighbors came to tell me about a situation. Apparently someone he knows has a litter of border collie puppies. It was an "accidental" litter. The puppies are 3 or 4 weeks old now. I'm not sure how many there are, but the person who has them is giving them away "free to good homes" and if he doesn't "get rid" of them by the time they're weaned, he's going to drown them. My neighbors wife has called the humane society in his county, but they are unable to do anything since it's only a "threat" and so far the puppies and the dam are fed, dry, and in good health.

 

Now, I don't really know if there's anything that I can do. My neighbor seems to think that this man is most definitely capable of drowning the puppies. Apparently a litter of kittens suffered a similar fate. I know nothing about the situation other than what i've presented here.

 

What should I do? Is there anything I can do?

 

I was thinking that, possibly, once they are weaned...I could take the whole litter. But I live in an apartment building. My landlady isn't exactly the sweetest. It would have to be a very, very short period of time here.

 

The humane society in Gulfport is a no-kill facility now, I believe. But I'd hate to give them to a shelter. I just...don't know what my options are at this point. I need to find out some more information from my neighbor, but he's not really very informative. I might not have any options at all. This really sucks.

 

I'll try to find out some more information from the guy tomorrow. Hopefully he'll have talked to the people. Ugh. I dislike people, really. Those poor puppies.

[RaisingRiver]

If your shelter is no kill, while it may not be an ideal option, one of the best things about a shelter is high visibility for adoption. May not mean the person is 'qualified' to own a BC. I wouldn't consider it an unthinkable option if you need it.

[WyoBC]

I uselly say that shelters arn't good homes for dogs most of the time. But as for little puppies they never last very long before they find a new forver home. I really think you should take them to the shelter. It's way better than killing them anyway. At least they'll have a chance at finding a home where they're loved.

 

I can't believe that someone would do that! it make me so d**n mad. I hope the pups are ok. That's what I would do anyway. Keep me updated.

[TheStacks]

Aerie-

 

I PM'd you.

[Aerie]

Lauren - got your PM and replied. Thanks!

 

My neighbor was supposed to find out more information on the puppies today, so I'll have a better understanding of what's going on when I get home from class today.

 

From what I understand, the man is going to leave the puppies with Mom until they're old enough to wean (thank goodness), and then wants them gone immediately. Hopefully I'll be able to arrange something by then.

[MaggieDog]

Unfortunately weaning to this guy may mean 5 weeks since that's when many pups no longer HAVE to nurse for survival. Most shelters i know can't take pups under 8 weeks and adopt them out. Any way you could find someone willing to foster them for a few extra weeks so they are of adoptable age and then take them to the shelter?

[PSmitty]

Aerie-If you end up with these puppies, please post over in the Southeast section of the BC Rescue board. There will quite possibly be people willing to help. A couple come to mind right now.

 

Keep us posted.

[Kat's Dogs]

I don't know much about this kind of situation.....but couldn't the pups be turned over to a BC rescue? That would be great (someone that knows about BCs would be placing the pups into new homes). But maybe that isn't an option?

 

Let us know how this continues...

[Aerie]

Thanks guys. I'm waiting on the neighbor to get home now so I can see if he found out anything.

 

If I do end up with the puppies, I'll definitely post in the rescue section. I can keep them for a few weeks if need be, but beyond that is pushing it a bit far. Like I said, I'm in an apartment and it'd be pressing my luck with my landlord. If it comes down to it, my mom has agreed to keep them at the farm for a few weeks longer if it's necessary, but she's disabled, so that too would be entirely temporary.

 

Hopefully he'll let them stay with the mom for several more weeks.

 

I'll post an update later tonight.

[Beth G]

If it were me I would go to the man, offer to take all the pups, and then worry about where to send them later.

And I would keep them until I could get them somewhere safe.

 

 

I would first try to get them into rescue and if that wasn't possible then into the humane. Better then them suffering.

[Aerie]

believe me, if I could just go get the puppies and take them away I would. but...I don't know anything about the person who has them. not where he lives, what his name is, nothing. All I know is what my neighbors have told me.

 

I will do everything I can to help the puppies, but I have to be able to get to the puppies first. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get my neighbor to tell me anything other than "the puppies are a few weeks old and he's going to let them stay until they are weaned". My neighbor won't give me contact information, but he has said that when the puppies are able to be weaned he'll let me know, and he told me he told the owner of the puppies that I would take the litter when the time came.

 

In fact, I offered to take the mother and the father and the whole litter.

 

As I said, I could only keep them for a few days, or a week or two at most. I would -have- to relinquish them to a shelter or a rescue pretty quickly. I can't adequately provide care for that many animals, my mother cant, and I have the landlord issues. I rent. It's hard. I'm doing everything I can to make it happen.

 

Hopefully I will hear something soon.

 

And I did tell my neighbor that if the owner decides to wean early to please tell me and i'll go pick them all up. No matter what time, night or day. I'll get them safe with me, then I'll take the next step. -Hopefully- I'll have something in place I can fall back on by then.

[Katelynn & Gang]

I was just going to ask if you'd offered to take the Dam and Sire too.

 

Good girl.

 

Katelynn

[WyoBC]

I sure hope everything goes ok and you get the pups safe and sound. Keep us updated. If I can help PM me.

[Beth G]

Good for you!

 

It is probably possible to set something up ahead with a rescue group also. But others that work in rescue in your area might be more able to say for sure. Good luck!

[iluvlucy]

aerie

if you can get the pups i will foster them until the shelter can take them.

 

ithink we are only about 150 miles apart so maybe we can meet in the middle and yransfer the babies.

 

i'm 65-70 miles from nawlins how far are you?

 

if i remember from when my bother lived over there (popp's ferry rd it took us about 3hrs to get to gulfport

let me know how things turn out

[Aerie]

Hey Gwen,

 

Right now i'm living in Hattiesburg...but the puppies would likely be in Gulfport. So that's only about an hour from NOLA, give or take 15 or so, depending on traffic. Especially with the bridge being out - but it's not that big of a drive, we do it all the time.

 

I could actually go a little farther than NOLA if need be.

 

I'm looking into a rescue right now, so hopefully that'll work out. We might have to split the litter depending on how big it is. I wish like heck that the neighbor would give me more information. Right now I don't know if it's a litter of two or a litter of 8. It's making me crazy.

 

I do know, though, that there's reds and blacks. All are "like those dogs on Babe" so they're the traditionally marked. And both sire and dam are said to be border collies. No idea how true that is, but i'll see when I see the puppies.

 

Will update more later. The neighbor is supposedly going to find out some stuff for me tomorrow. Supposedly.

[iluvlucy]

Just let me know if i can help. we go to nola a lot also. no biggie. but i would prefer to meet away from there. but we can decide on that if and when the time comes. please keep me informed.

[iluvlucy]

i didn't mean to mislead you. i am not offering a forever home, just to foster until the pups are old enough to go back to the shelter. the 2 dogs i have are about all i can handle. i live in a subdivision and my lot is only 100X140 and only part is fenced. but i can handle the pups until they are a little older.

 

maybe someone on the boards will need a new pup and we can arrange transport.

[Kitch]

I would definitely contact rescue now and give them a heads up on the situation.

 

They will need time to find foster homes or come up with a plan to moved current foster dogs into an "emergency" foster homes to make room for a litter of puppies and possibly the dam and sire as well. This will take a few days to a week to get a plan organized and the more time they have the better.

 

We get situations like this fairly often where we know of a situation and the dogs/pups may or may not end up coming into rescue, but we put a plan in place just in case.

[Aerie]

Gwen,

No no...I knew you meant fostering. No worries there.

 

Kerry,

As soon as I know how many puppies we're talking about all that, I'll know what to tell the rescue. My neighbor has clammed up for some reason, I don't know what's going on at this point.

 

Just trying to figure things out.