Last night, Molly and I took Haley and her new best friend Jeffrey for a hike in Angel Canyon. Jeffrey is a big, lovable mutt who doesn’t get in Haley’s face, and she loves that. They were a match made in heaven. She loves her kitty friends here at home, but you can tell she prefers quality dog time with laid-back dogs, especially if it’s during a hike. In fact, when Jeffrey had to go home, Haley whined from the car! But she will have plenty more doggy dates in the future, so she need not worry.

Molly brought along her camera, so all the following photos are by her (except the one of her, which I obviously took). And no, I don’t usually hike in dresses and flip-flops (though it has happened before), but we just came from an artist’s reception.

I met Haley at work last week. I have never fallen for a dog, or even a cat here (at least not in the sense that I must bring them home), but something was different with Haley, from the moment I met her. When I left, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Her caregiver, Mileen, told me I should come back and walk her whenever I want. Even if I couldn’t adopt her, all the socializing would be good for her. I knew I would take her up on this offer.

I didn’t think I could consider taking her home though, because well, I have so many cats now and they’d never get along. While talking to one of our trainers today about my love of Haley, she told me Haley is great with cats. We wandered over to Haley’s area for a little visit, which turned into a little walk, which turned into a trip to my house. I had to pick up the bloody puke cat and bring it home at lunch, so I did… and Haley came with. We walked in, and as stated, she is great with cats. She knows her boundaries and won’t bother them. She looks away if she knows they’re uncomfortable. She’s met all of them and already made friends with a few. We went back up to work, and a few hours later, I picked her up again to come spend the night. It’s just a sleepover, but it’s a sleepover that may turn into me fostering her, which could possibly turn into adoption. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

When Mileen found out today that Haley visited my house over lunch and was coming back tonight, she said she wasn’t surprised at all. She told me she knew the minute she introduced us last week that I’d be taking her home. I guess deep down, I kind of knew too. I had all sorts of reasons why I shouldn’t get a dog, but it’s funny how they become non-issues when the right dog comes along.

Haley is perfect. She’s the perfect size, not too big, not too small. She’s great with cats… and other dogs, and horses, and everything except maybe squirrels. She’s great off-lead (a necessity for a hiker such as myself). When on-lead, she doesn’t tug. She’s very mellow, except when under the influence of hyperactive dogs, and even then it’s not over the top. She sits before any door is opened. Her kisses aren’t sloppy. She’s perfect! So she is sleeping over. And we will see how it goes.

It’s incredible how wonderful and well-adjusted she is, considering her background. Haley has a heart-breaking story that will shock you just as much as it shocked me. Haley is from Ethiopia. I knew the situation must have been bad to warrant such a long-distance rescue, but I had no idea it was as bad as it was. Haley, and her buddy Hana (also at Best Friends, and also great), were two of four surviving dogs found in a pit in Addis Ababa - a pit containing an estimated 6,000 dead dogs. This pit is where people threw unwanted dogs… a pit they couldn’t get out of. No one knows how long she was in there, but what we do know is that she is out now, and sleeping comfortably on my arm as I type this.

So while I can’t tell you the outcome of her story yet, whether I will adopt her or not, or even foster her, I will tell you that for now at least, there is another roommate in this animal house. Her name is Haley, and she’s perfect.

The past few weeks, a large chunk of my work-load has been strictly dog headshots. We need headshots of every dog in the joint (that’s several hundred), and eventually all the other kinds of animals too, for a new adoption module on the website. Luckily, I shot the very last dog on the list this afternoon (though it’s guaranteed new dogs will arrive within the week and need their photos taken as well).

95% of the time, the dogs pose nice and pretty for us. It usually takes some coaxing with treats or a squeaky toy, but even the tougher ones manage to get done pretty quickly. The other 5% are not so easy. They are either too aggressive (with photos needing to be shot through a fence) or they are feral and won’t come within 200mm range of you. And of course, if the feral ones ever stop moving and actually sit for a moment, they sit with half their face in the sun and half in the shade or some other ridiculously impossible scenario to shoot. I tend to hate the situation even more than the dog does.

Since posting a billion doggie headshots would get really old, really quick, here is but one, my favorite from this week. Meet Spanky. You should adopt him.

My favorite dog photos from this week… starring Shorty, Hera, Olivia, and Kenickie.

Okay, seriously, is there any better way to spend Valentine’s Day than by playing with puppies? I highly doubt it.

(more puppies…)

When I first met the Vick dogs a few weeks ago, I’ll admit that I was expecting to have to be a little cautious. These were, after all, vicious fighting dogs, I thought. Georgia was the first I was introduced to. Perhaps a little apprehensive to enter her run at first, I did anyway when her smiling face stared up at me through the fence. And as she sat there happily wagging her crooked tail and licking my face, all my preconceptions were tossed out the window.

All the Vick dogs have heart-breaking stories, but perhaps Georgia’s is the worst. Her’s leads the New York Times article that ran on the front page of Saturday’s paper. And as it is so well-written, I’ll leave Georgia’s introduction in the words of NYT writer Juliet Macur:

A quick survey of Georgia, a caramel-colored pit bull mix with cropped ears and soulful brown eyes, offers a road map to a difficult life. Her tongue juts from the left side of her mouth because her jaw, once broken, healed at an awkward angle. Her tail zigzags. Scars from puncture wounds on her face, legs and torso reveal that she was a fighter. Her misshapen, dangling teats show that she might have been such a successful, vicious competitor that she was forcibly bred, her new handlers suspect, again and again.

But there is one haunting sign that Georgia might have endured the most abuse of any of the 47 surviving pit bulls seized last April from the property of the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick in connection with an illegal dogfighting ring.

Georgia has no teeth. All 42 of them were pried from her mouth, most likely to make certain she could not harm male dogs during forced breeding.

Her caregivers here at the Best Friends Animal Society sanctuary, the new home for 22 of Mr. Vick’s former dogs, are less concerned with her physical wounds than her emotional ones. They wonder why she barks incessantly at her doghouse and what makes her roll her toys so obsessively that her nose is rubbed raw.

“I’m worried most about Georgia,” said the Best Friends veterinarian Dr. Frank McMillan, an expert on the emotional health of animals, who edited the textbook “Mental Health and Well-Being in Animals.” “You don’t have the luxury of asking her, or any of these animals: ‘What happened to you in your past life? How can we stop you from hurting?’

Happy Mardi Gras from Ellen Belly.

Lassie here has some rusty joints and needed hydrotherapy. But the thing is, she flat out refused to walk on the underwater treadmill… flat out refused three times a week for three months. But now she does it with no complaints. How so, you ask? Chicken strips. Not dog food, dog treats, or even a tennis ball, but chicken strips… and chicken strips only. Smart dog.

Community outreach this weekend. Fire station. Rabies shots for $5.

Does this look like a vicious fighting dog to you? No, it doesn’t. Because it isn’t. Not anymore at least.

Lucas was one of Michael Vick’s champion dogs, but his fighting days are over. Now his days are full of love, not war. It’s hard to believe, but the 22 Vick dogs we got are some of the sweetest, most loving dogs I’ve ever met. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to take photos of them because they are too busy laying across your lap while licking your face. Some of the dogs are shyer than others, but lovable nonetheless. Others, like Lucas, are complete hams. He will carry his scars the rest of his life, but fortunately, that’s all that’s left of his former life.

More photos of Lucas and other Vick dogs here.