[Dailydrool] A Long Overdue (Long) Tribute and Request for Drool (and Help)

[Pam Farris]

Greetings from sunny Florida,

Basset Rescue of Florida has been rescuing bassets in need since July 2007.  Last year we saved 107 bassets - 56 of those bassets came from one area of the state, the panhandle.  Number of BRF panhandle volunteers? One...her name is Linda Lartigue and we are so very blessed to have her with us.  

If you look on a map, you'll see that the panhandle of Florida (which is the top left part of the state) is larger than some of the Northeastern states.  Linda watches all those shelters, goes and pulls the bassets in need from the shelters, gets them vetted, fosters and many weekends spends 10 to 12 hours on the road transporting them down to the next available volunteer...you see her area is like a no man's land. The shelters up there are usually rural and nasty and the dogs don't have any vet care and lots of vet needs. Some of them are the kind that go in and euthanize all dogs in the shelter on a certain day to make room for the next batch so time is of the essence when there is a basset in a shelter. We have very few adopters and no active foster homes up there.  She also raises funds for BRF to help pay our vet bills and I know she is a supporter of many of the other rescues in the US, basset or otherwise.

She and her husband Michael also go out and do relief work when disasters strike - they went to Texas after parts of the coast were destroyed in a hurricane.  She did relief work for Katrina.  Linda also works a full time job, has her family and cares for her Mother who needs lots of attention at times.  And she never makes a big deal over what she is doing or expects any accolades or attention or ever complains or says anything bad about anyone.

There were times last year when we would get a dozen bassets in during a two week span and in the back of my mind I would think perhaps we were trying to do too much over too large an area - after all, we take bassets from Pensacola to Jacksonville to Key West - a daunting task at times. Our resources are spread too thin....money, time, energy, volunteers....why not just cut back, it would be easier on us as an organization and personally - we might actually get to have a life outside of rescue.  The reason we don't pull out of the panhandle is Linda Lartigue and her ceaseless work to save the bassets.  If she can do what she does, we can continue on being there for those bassets too. 

So I want to give a big THANK YOU to Linda Lartigue.  She is my hero - when I grow up I want to be just like her.

Linda is dealing with an exceptionally sad situation this week with a little basset girl named Haylee.  Haylee came from a shelter limping terribly on a back leg.  Linda has been having her cared for at the vets and amputation was recommended so Haylee can live a painfree life.  Since Linda was right there and I'm way down in the south part of the state, I needed Linda to make the call on whether to go along with the vet's recommendation.  It was a difficult and painful decision and really one Linda would rather someone else make but she was the most knowledgeable one of us about Haylee and her needs so she stepped up to the plate and made the call and for that I owe her a huge debt of gratitude.  Haylee's picture is here: http://photobucket.com/BassetRescueFlorida 

Little Haylee's surgery is scheduled for this Monday.  When the vets looked at her xrays, they found her hip to be 180 degrees sideways from the way it should be and a knee with a poorly healed break sometime in her brief life.  What pain she has been living with.  The vet whose passion is this type of work said he had never seen anything like it.

Also in the photo gallery, you will see pictures of a framed print called "Bar Hound"  that was donated by another of our volunteers, Jacky and Michael Pomponio and is 18" square.  So cute and whimsical and unusual.  We are having a virtual auction to raise funds for Haylee's surgery as well as the vet bills we have accumulated vetting those 56 bassets in the panhandle last year. 

Tickets can be purchased by PayPal.  1 for $1, 8 for $5, 20 for $10 and 50 for $20.00.  Just go to the donation page on our website and send us your PayPal donation and make note it is for the Bar Hound print.  We'll email you back with your virtual raffle numbers within 72 hours.  The drawing will take place at 8pm on the last day of the month.  

and where is Linda this weekend?  Gathering scrap metal to sell for Haylee's surgery bill....so typical Linda.

Thanks Linda (and Michael) and to all of you for your support and drool for little Haylee.  


 
Pam Farris
Basset Rescue of Florida, Inc.
www.BassetRescueFlorida.com