Riding out Irene with the Pups

Well, Hurricane Irene barreled through last night, leaving down branches and extensive flooding in her wake, but not much else. Even though there was a tornado headed straight towards us last night- expected to hit Hightstown, NJ at 11:25, we never lost power- or even cable. We grabbed Winnie and Bruno and huddled in the tub in the bathroom- the only room in our house without windows.

Winnie and Bruno were well behaved and slept through the high winds and pounding rain.
Bruno even began cheerily helping with the clean-up of the yard this morning. :)

Unfortunately, our town of Hightstown did not fare so well- and due to flooding of the water treatment center, we can not use the water for an undefined amount of time.

Check out Main Street- once a road, now an extension of Peddie Lake.

Luckily, the canine residents don't seem to mind, watch as this adorable pooch enjoys the new-found swimming pool that once was main street...

(Video courtesy of resident uploads on Patch.com,
check out all the other photos videos of the huge flood here.)

Miami-Dade Shelter Crisis

A deadly outbreak of distemper in a Miami-Dade Animal Shelter has led to a mad rush to adopt or rescue dogs before they will be put down. Due to the severity of the disease, the shelter officials face the tough reality of needing to basically "cleanse" the facility by removing or killing all of the dogs.

View more videos at: http://www.nbcmiami.com/?__source=embedCode.

Thankfully this has led to overwhelming response from the rescue community- but the dogs will not have homes- rescuers are taking home many more animals than they can possible handle to bide their time and hopefully save them from being exposed to the virus or being killed for having it.

Officials have waived the adoption fee for dogs, but as of Friday night, 100 dogs were adopted, but 180 still need rescue and "one way or another- all the dogs need to do" before the shelter is set to be "sterilized".

Read more here and here
Donate here

The Miami-Dade shelter website provides a list of adoptable dogs, but it is unclear if these dogs are actually still available and why there are only 16 listed.

This golden retriever, known only as "this dog"  is apparently among the dogs that are available and need rescue:

Saving Man's Best Friends in Japan

Since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, I have been wondering and hoping about the animals there--with so many humans dead and displaced- you can only imagine what has happened to their family pets left behind. In addition, thousands are fleeing the country with rising fears of nuclear radiation- leaving many of thier pets in shelters or locked homes. Read more here.

Thank goodness for this heroic group Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support - check out their facebook page where you can find stories of their rescues and follow the efforts to save more animals from the badly beaten coastal towns.

The video above is of the now-famous story of the dog that wouldn't leave his injured friend behind--thankfully both dogs have been rescued.