Zora and I were going for a walk the night before last when this dog came up to us looking for love. He and Zora sniffed each other, played a little, and then coexisted nicely. The dog followed us. No collar, skinny as anything, not neutered.

I borrowed a collar and leash from someone who lived nearby, we fed him and gave him water, then put him in the back yard where hopefully he could spend the night. He hopped the fence twice though. The first time he came right back when my husband went outside, and the second time we looked for a while before we found some neighbors who had found him and fed him (again).

They had called security, and someone was going to come get him to put him in a kennel.

So he spent the night at the police station, and we picked him up in the morning to take him to the vet. The security officer said that if we hadn’t claimed him, he would’ve been sent into town to be euthanized the same day.

Here he is, in the back of my Jeep. I have two leashes on him so he wouldn’t climb into the front while I was driving. It mostly worked, but he did manage to lick my head a little bit. The bowl had 2 cups of food in it. It was gone in about 10 seconds.

The veterinarian cleaned him up and gave him a flea and tick treatment. For the next 24 hours, hundreds of tiny dead ticks fell off of this poor dog… he had obviously been wandering in the woods. We kept vacuuming up the ticks, and now he seems to be pretty tick-free. He was not micro-chipped (If you have a pet, please microchip it!).

We’ve put up “Found dog” signs around the base, at the pet store, at the vet’s office, and at Wal-Mart. We’re also contacting the base newspaper and town newspaper to run classifieds for him. I really get the feeling that his owner isn’t looking for him though. So many animals here get dumped if it’s not convenient to keep them, whether because the family is moving, money is tight, or whatever.

The rescue where we got Zora is full, … I’d rather keep him temporarily than send him somewhere where he’ll have an uncertain future (I think none of the other shelters in the area are no-kill shelters). So we bought him his own kennel, food bowl, leash, collar, and food. And a Kong toy, because every dog needs a Kong toy.

He is so sweet… calm and sweet. I wish I knew where he came from.

The night we found him, I had a dream that, to raise money for vet bills and food and kennel and all of that, I went through all of my craft stuff and picked out stuff to raffle.
It was a good idea, so I woke up at 6:30 yesterday and went through my craft things and books for an hour, picking out things to raise money for this sweet stray. If his owner claims him, I will donate the money to the East Mississippi Animal Rescue (EMAR), which is where we got Zora.

If his owner doesn’t claim him,we will take him to the vet again, make sure he is updated on shots, get him tested for heart worms (and treated if he has them), and get him neutered before adopting him out. If there is extra money, it will, of course, go to EMAR.

I know we can help this sweet thing.

Here are the raffles I’ve set up to raise money for him and EMAR. The drawings for each raffle will be held when the tickets sell out, or on September 12th, whichever happens first. Winners will be announced here and the packages will be mailed to them, free of charge.

Click each link or photo for more pictures of the raffle items, and to purchase tickets. You can, of course, purchase more than 1 ticket for each item.

I’ll type out a list of the ticket-buyers for each package (with someone’s name listed 3 times if they buy 3 tickets, and so forth), cut it up, and choose a name at random as the winner.

Fabric scraptastic: Over 4 pounds of fabric scraps, and 20 1-yard samples of handmade cotton bias tape. $3 a ticket.

Crochet explosion: A ton of great yarn, 3 fantastic crochet books, and a brand new project bag worth $59.99 from coco cesca (I JUST bought it and haven’t used it or even taken the tag off yet). $10 a ticket.

Creative Crafts: “Where Women Create” book, 2 embroidery hoops, lots of foam state shapes, bells, fabric yo yos, a tatting shuttle, craft wire, and artificial sinew. $4 a ticket.

Paper Crafts: Easter/Spring greeting cards and envelopes, feathers, rubber stamps, metal word embellishments, metal hinges, wire frames, and more. $5 a ticket.

Not crafty… but…

Military Wife Books: Army Wives, The Homefront Club, and Heroes at Home. $2 a ticket.

Please link to this post from your blogs, websites, etc, to spread the word and help raise money for this sweet rescue dog and for the East Mississippi Animal Rescue!

Edited to add: My sister put up a facebook event about this fundraiser. Thank you, Caroline! It’s an open event, so if you have facebook, you can join and invite all of your friends to let them know about it!

Edited again to add: Two people have asked to donate (without buying tickets) so far, so I figured it would make sense to add a “donate” option here if you’re interested in helping, but not interested in winning craft things and books! You can donate any amount you’d like to.