Back in November 2018, our family was called to serve in the Santan Branch in our stake. This branch is for the Native American Indians on the Pima reservation. It has only 1 Native Priesthood holder and so many families from our stake are asked to serve for 2-3 years to help this branch to continue to grow and function. We are excited for the opportunity to serve and grow here as a family.
Chris and I are primary teachers--we teach the 9 & 10 year olds. My kids attend the young men/women's in our branch and boy have our eyes been opened. The first week into our new branch family, my boys had an opportunity to go on a camp out. I asked my son, Ethan, if any of the Native boys came. He said, "No, 2 of them weren't home and the other one had to help dig a grave." He said it so nonchalantly that I nearly missed it. Wait...WHAT?! Dig a grave??? Yes, they do have to bury their own on the reservation and yes, digging graves is part of that--some people are buried in front yards!!! Our branch building is 10 minutes south from our home and about 100 years back in time. We never know what to expect each week at church--dogs running through sacrament meeting, a drunken native entering the building to sit up on the stand (and take his shoes off), just to name a few things. We have also had the opportunity to help with rides to church and delivering food orders from the cannery. But we absolutely LOVE it! It has been quite the adventure. The best hands-on mission prep my boys can have for sure.
I immediately noticed the many puppies on the reservation--they are everywhere and have even joined in our sacrament meetings and they run around from place to place. So I finally decided to do something and see if I could help get a few of these puppies into safer/healthier environments through my connections at Lost Our Home Pet Rescue.
This has definitely been a labor of love and HUGE learning experience. I took in 10 puppies on Feb. 15th and to this date (March 24th) I still have 3. It has been a long process getting these pups healthy enough to be adopted out. Like I said, it's been LONG and it's definitely been HARD. The toughest fostering job I have done to date. 10 puppies from 3 different litters/properties. I've battled parasites, Giardia, Parvo, and ringworm. The first week with the 10 puppies, it took me about 2 hours every morning to clean up their cages and get medicines into all 10 pups. I'm hoping to be on the tail end of the ringworm and will hopefully have these guys into new homes by early April. My family has been a huge help and support through this--especially Chris who has built several new contraptions and pins to help me through all this. But as I look back over all my pics, I can't help but fall in love with these cute faces over and over again. (I let my boys name all these pups which is why they all have Nintendo names:)
Penny (Litter #1): Female German Shepard. This pup was GORGEOUS! I was tempted to keep her myself and she was super sweet and snuggly! I loved to bury my face in her fur:) . She was adopted within a week.
Daisy (Litter #2): Female mixed breed. This gorgeous pup was in perfect health and was adopted within a week and is now living in a pretty plush home in Scottsdale--so I'm told. A real "rags to riches" story here:)
Sonic (Litter #2): Male mixed breed--brother of Daisy. This little guy STOLE MY HEART for sure. He was EXTREMELY ill when I took him. He definitely would not have survived another week on the reservation. He had Giardia--a parasite from drinking tainted water--and was extremely emaciated. He required 3 different medicines twice a day and I had to help him regain an appetite and desire to eat again. Within a week, I had this guy back into good shape again. It was an immediate reward that definitely motivated me to keep going. Once I got this guy back into the shelter, he was adopted within 2 days--which was a really good thing because I really wanted to keep him too!!!
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| My piano teaching companion:) |
Litter #3: 7 puppies--6 boys and 1 girl. This litter of 7 were all from one property. They were definitely unwanted and uncared for. They lived outside in an old shed. Their mother had stopped feeding them, one pup died before I could get to them. These pups were cold & starving and I would later find out that they had the ringworm fungus--which is why I still have a few of them. Just waiting for the lesions to clear up. When we first brought them home, my kids and I were astonished at how hungry these pups were. They were only 4 weeks old so I had to start them on milk replacement and canned food. We had to monitor their eating as they were in survival mode and would eat themselves sick.
Link: Male
Ridley: Male (with half-tail)
Yoshi: Male
Simon: Male (with 1/2 tail)
Bowser: Male (with no tail)
**It's unclear why 3 of these pups were missing parts of their tails. It seems to have been a natural occurrence.
Luma: Female
I now consider myself an expert on detecting and treating ringworm. We spent our family time on a Sunday afternoon having to "sulfur-dip" these poor pups:) . It was kinda like dying Easter Eggs. "A family that sulfur-dips puppies together stays together" right?!
Dipping the pups was just part of their treatments. I also had to bathe all 7 pups every other night. Quite a chore for sure. "Po" was definitely the most vocal pup opposed to bath time:)
As half of my pups went back into the shelter to be fixed and then adopted, through several unfortunate events, they were exposed to Parvo in the shelter. This was a devastating blow for sure as they were soooo close to adoption. Luma (the little girl) was affected the most as she had to be hospitalized for 3 days. But I'm happy to report that she is back at the shelter again. The 4 pups now at the shelter are on a 2 week medical hold due to the Parvo. So fingers crossed that all 7 pups will be ringworm and Parvo free here in by April.
So like I said, the HARDEST foster job I've undertaken by far and it's still not over. There was a day this past week (in the middle of the Parvo scare) that I thought I would never do this again. I was tired. I was exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally. I was DONE. But I had a good cry and got all those feelings out. I'm once again ready to roll up my sleeves, see these 7 pups through to adoption, and YES! Take in some more pups from the Rez.
