Second Chance

With so much going on in my life between working on new music, acting and being a dog mom and cat mom to multiple beings, there has not been much time to tend to this blog. Like so many people life has been moving so fast, and we all have become accustomed to cramming way too many things into a day. That is until a few weeks ago. When all of us came to a sudden and screeching halt.

Suddenly instead of having no time, we all have too much time on our hands. What to do, what to do? Well, with so much uncertainty in the world today I think we could all use a little hope right about now.

So I thought it would be nice to share a story about second chances. (WARNING: LONG BLOG POST) Hey, but it's a true story and aren't all true stories long? Anyone that has followed this blog over the years knows lots of things about me, one of the most important is that I love animals. I can't say what I think should happen to stupid humans who hurt them because if I do someone will surely show up at my door to lock me up.

My social media has been flooded with pics and videos of my furkids both K9 and feline over the years, especially of my beloved Pepe. I have blogged about his story before when we first saved him from the NYCACC.

The short version is, he was on the euthanasia list because he was slapped with the label "New Hope Only". This is a title given to dogs who do not pass their shelter behavior evaluation for whatever reason. They must be pulled by a "New Hope" approved rescue in order to make it out of the shelter alive. In Pepe's case a rescue we have adopted from asked us to foster him. Not knowing his actual situation we agreed. We drove to the NYCACC and busted him out of the clink on October 3rd, 2012.  

 Had I known what would follow, I cannot honestly say that I would have agreed originally. He had so many problems. He had been abused and was a fear biter, he hid, he attacked our other dogs, didn't allow grooming, the list was long. However I made a decision early in that this dog, this little creature had clearly been failed by humans for his entire life (he was at least ten when we rescued him) that I was not going to be that person who let him down again. So after convincing the Mr. we made it official and adopted him.  

It was an eventful first few years to say the least, but finally he realized he was safe, that we were his people, and that he was finally safe. We showered him with everything he should have had all of his life. We took him on trips, hiking, carried him around in a bag, and as much as he didn't like it, even dressed him up for holidays like Halloween and Christmas. He went on car rides which he loved, he took selfies, had girlfriends at the vets office, he even learned to be friends with his new cat siblings. He was popular for sure, everywhere we went people would almost squeal with happiness asking "What is that, what kind of dog is that, OMG that face!", heck chewy.com even had his mug painted, not once but three times.


                   

Yes we loved that little dog to the moon and back. So much so that as his little body began to fail him at the ripe old age of what must have been at least eighteen I was not able to bear the thought of losing him. So I did everything humanly possible to keep him around a little longer.

I cooked him meals, gave him every supplement known to man, and took him for weekly shots of adaquan for his arthritis. There were steroid shots, Vitamin B12 shots, and even rimadyl. In the end it was dementia that finally caused me to make the decision to set him free to fly with the angels. I've lost dogs to rainbow bridge before but this one really gutted me. I was in a depression funk especially with all of the corona homebound lockdown going on.

                  

Here is where a little magic happened. An ending that turned into a second, second chance. Courtesy I believe of my little Pepe monkey and the man upstairs.

The following is a post I made to Facebook in a Tibetan Spaniel group I belong to. It's a space where we "Tibbie" lovers share pics, videos, love and support for the ancient breed of dog we all love so much. (See Post below)
____________________

Tibbie friends. 💜Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement about setting my beloved Pepe monkey 🌈free to fly with the Angels this week. Your words really helped. I read every comment and they all touched my heart.

I apologize for this long post. I hope you all don’t judge me for this as I’m still judging myself. However Thursday when I woke up something happened and I couldn’t help but feel it was a gift 🎁 from my boy.

Most of you know Pepe had a very hard life before we rescued him from the euth. list at NYCACC. He was unadoptable, a terrible biter and had lots of issues. After years of love he finally realized he was safe and turned into a mush. With the occasional Hannibal 😉if you tried to do something he didn’t want you to like clean his ears or trim his Tibbie feet 🦶🙈🤣

Anyway I always said I wonder how he could have been had he not been abused and we could have had him from a baby. Well the universe, God, and my boy I feel heard me.

I woke up Thursday checked the notifications of facebook of my post from Wednesday about him. Still half asleep I saw a new post with a black Tibbie. Didn’t think anything of it just another person sharing their furbaby.

When I focused my eyes I saw he was being rehomed. I thought, huh... black Tibbie being rehomed. Odd. Then one of you tagged me, I looked at the post again and saw it was mentioned he was in NY. I thought hmmm that’s odd, two year old black Tibbie being rehomed in NY... so I texted the number. Called. Turns out he was like forty five minutes from me. Not in NYC, rather the Hudson Valley where we live.

I mentioned to my husband who was like “sure let’s go see him”. I almost fell over because he never wants to rescue dogs or cats, it’s always me. Lol

The woman was in hurry to rehome him. So we went Thursday night. Still in shock really as the loss of Pepe very numbing. ESP since he was pretty much hospice (blind/mobility) for more than a year.
I wanted to wait and think about it as we do have three other dogs, are watching my moms shitzu and three cats. As well as I’m grieving my Pepe. However if I didn’t decide right there she was going to give him to the next person who paid her the next day. Really.

Sparing you the details of what we discovered as it wasn’t quite as tidy a situation as her post laid out. My husband decided for me this time, he scooped him up and said "pay her let’s go".

He is decompressing in our finished basement as he is not neutered yet and with corona I can’t get it done til April 13th. 🙏🏻 Praying our governor reopens things soon!

He’s been a complete angel. Other than being starved for attention - having bunch of matts that I’m still cutting out - we all walked together and I think my Japanese Chin Yuki and him will be play buddies.

Here is where I need your help. He has no idea what his name is. They said it was Nimble. He does not answer to it.

So please don’t judge me for getting another Tibbie so soon. I never in a million years would I have guessed I’d have another this fast. He will never replace my Pepe. But his birthday is 2/3/18. My wedding anniversary is February third.

I can’t help but feel my boy knew of this boys plight and sent me to give him the life Pepe didn’t have (for the first part anyhow). Too many coincidences for it to just be chance.So I’ve taken the gift from my Pepe and will pass the love forward. My motto has always been - “rescue one until there is none.”
I need your help... he needs a name: he reminds me of a bear. Pepe had a monkey face. 🐵
This guy he reminds me of a bear. 🐻

           
Names.... now GO:
____________________

I'll wrap this happy ending in a message. Please #dontshopadopt! There are millions of Pepe's out there waiting for a second chance. Contact the local shelter, now more than ever animals need help to make it out alive.

In the end something good will almost always come from something bad. Whether it's a shelter dog who seems to be turning life upside down, or a pandemic that has stopped what seems like the entire world.

Even though we might not see it at the time. Light will always overtake dark, and in the end love will alway win. So even though it might look dark right now, hold onto hope because all of us will soon experience a second chance. The sun will indeed shine again in all of our lives.

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava xo
www.avaaston.com

No Excuse

I've blogged about animals on many occasions, and well what can I say? I love furkids, deal with it. Besides it's been said ones true character is revealed in how they treat animals. So you know what that means... yes that means Greek Girl is a Good Person ;o)

Seriously though besides having four furkids of my own (used to be five until our ten and a half year old Maltese "Itty Bitty" passed unexpecedly of congestive heart failure back in September of last year) I am involved with rescue. Sometimes fostering, and often do home visits for potential adopters for a few different rescue groups. A home visit is necessary to make sure the animal does not end up back in a dangerous situation. Because as you might have guessed not everyone out there is what they appear to be. Or for whatever reason their wires get crossed in their noggins and decide it would be OK to dump their pet in a shelter. So home visits are necessary and vital to make sure rescued furkids truly do go into forever homes.

After all the things I have seen in rescue nothing really surprises me. However, I was particularly upset this past week when I saw a story in the news about an outrageously horrific situation involving craigslist. I would hope that most people understand why it's never OK to put an ad on craigslist for an animal, especially for Free. It's sad but stories like the one I'm about to share happen often these days. The following link is about a story of a man who was recently arrested for having been found in a motel room with multiple animals he had dismembered. Animals he had obtained from craigslist.
Don't believe me... here ya go:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/16/jason-brown-adopted-dogs-dismember-motel_n_5592267.html

I know life can be chaotic, especially in the times we are living. The economy is rough and people have life changes, I get it. However I'm not sure why when some people start to cut back they jump to something as severe as dumping a family pet in a kill shelter. There are always options, there is always a way, it's just a matter of if someone is willing to make the effort to make adjustments that will allow them to keep their pet. Some people just don't want to be bothered.

We have an epidemic of puppy mills producing millions of puppies that are shipped to pet stores. Backyard or kitchen breeding dogs to make an extra few bucks. Then add to that the ones who refuse to spay and neuter either for financial reasons, or even worse they don't want to make their pet an "it", are just a few of the absurd justifications I have heard. When you add it all up it equates to five to seven million animals and growing being euthanized in shelters across the country every single year. The only way this is ever going to change is to change the law. Make Puppy Mills illegal, and not allow backyard breeding. Have mandatory spay/neuter and for anyone who is interested in betterment of the breed and who wants to breed, make them have to be licensed. The license would be a very hard test like a Dr. and include a high yearly fee which would keep the backyard breeders out. Believe me I'm for LESS Government control not more. The government wants to control almost every aspect of our lives i.e.: health care, cap and trade to regulate how much energy we consume, food, medicine, etc. Yet they allow the rampant torture of Gods creatures in Puppy Mills. It boggles my mind, that however is a blog for another day.

My point here more than anything is why is it that at the first sign of trouble or inconvenience, people's first instinct is to throw up their hands and "dump" the family pet? They wouldn't ever do it to you, you wouldn't do it to a child, so why on earth do it to a helpless creature who only wants your love? I'm really beginning to think that God must be rethinking the whole part where he gave man charge over the animals. I can just imagine with all the evil things that go on every day, he must be sitting up there thinking maybe it should have been the other way around. It'd probably be a lot less cruel of a world.

As you can imagine there is no circumstance where I would ever give up an animal, period. Trust me and it's not like I'm rolling in the dough either... I'm an Independent Recording Artist. That means there's no label or big machine pushing my music all over TV, radio & social media. I do the best I can with what I have and work my pants off. I built my following brick by brick, fan by fan, and work social media like mad. Like everyone else out there working for their dreams I do what I have to do and try to live my life according to my moral compass. That for me means even if I were homeless on the street, I'd be in my cardboard box with my four furkids. That's just how I roll. Animals are family, there is never a reason to "get rid" of them, period. That may sound extreme to some people, but a living creature that can not survive without you that you made a commitment to is not something to be taken lightly, or to be forgotten when life changes. It's called making adjustments. I thought it would be interesting to post a few meme's that quite bluntly demonstrate some of the illogical thinking regarding dumping pets. Some also that dispel some of the misconceptions about what happens to your pet after you dump it at a the "shelter".

The Truth

How do these people sleep at night?

There is No Excuse.

Can you imagine?

Every day they die waiting...

More ridiculous excuses.

You can make a difference.

Pets Do not Belong on Craigslist - Ever!

Trust, Love. Unconditional that never ends... Don't fail them.

You can make a difference. Not only be being vigilant to furkids in need around you, but also with social media. Sharing helps place dogs. Giving even the smallest amount, even $1.00 to a rescue who has just taken in an animal with obscene medical bills makes a difference. There is strength in numbers... if everyone who cares and has liked a page gives even the small amounts when a rescue asks instead of scrolling past, just think of the number of animals that would be saved.

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava xo
www.avaaston.com

Second Chances

Unconditional love... requires so little yet gives so much.

I'm an animal nut, I admit it. This has already been throughly established in my over two years of blogging. Currently we have four fur kids in the Aston abode (it was five until our ten and a half year old Maltese "Itty Bitty" died of congestive heart failure back in September). I do not hesitate to rescue, rehome and have been angrily referred to as a "Doggie Rescue Ambulance" by "Punkin" our talking fur kid, the one with her own channel on my your tube page. (see Punkin videos here)  She can be a jealous little Pekingese and does not like to share her momma with other fur kids.

She gets especially mad when she sees her momma cheating on her looking at homless doggies on the internet. I try to explain to her that sharing these little faces helps to get them jail broke from the kill shelter where they may end up being put to sleep, but she doesn't care. Like I said she is jealous. She has her warm bed, toys, organic food, and has her momma trained so well that she gets brocccli mixed into her little food mash every day. That along with plain kefir, glucosamine & chondroitin, and even a little wet food. I tell her she has no idea how good she has it, or what kind of horrors happen to doggies in the world every day. She super especially does not like her brother "Pepe" who was pulled from a kill shelter whom she thinks steals all of momma's attention.

So over the weekend I was enjoying a hot cup of happiness a la Dunkin's looking at one of the pages of the amazing rescue's that I subscribe to and I learned about a fundraiser were doing to raise emergency medical funds. When the shelter calls with an emergency case that they are unable to care for, this rescue steps up (as much as it can afford to and even beyond that many times) and gets that animal to an emergency vet to make sure they get the advanced care they need. Otherwise they would be euthanized at the shelter. I know, sad but true. It amazes me what human beings do to animals on a daily basis. Honestly I don't know how some people sleep at night.

Having just had our four furkids at the vet on Saturday and having spent a pretty penny for their yearly shots. It got me to thinking... I know vets have to make money and don't get me wrong, but I think they have gotten just a bit out of control. In the long run it ends up leading to animal neglect. The funny thing is this year we even did their rabies shots at the county clinic which was only a $5.00 donation per dog... total of $20 bucks. At the vet that would have added another $80 to our already near $500 total.

It's great that places like Petco do shot clinics, however to get advanced vaccines like Lyme if you live in an area where you need it like we do, the shot clinic vets charge $40 each just for that vaccine. So no matter how you slice it, it ends up being about $120 per dog to do the shots. Which if you have more than one dog, starts adding up very fast. I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong. I have four fur kids and pay for what they need no matter what. It just makes you think when a vet charges anywhere from $50-100 and up just for the office visit. Then anywhere from $20-40 for a vaccine that costs less than $3.00. I'm all for capitalism and profit, but doesn't a vet get into medicine because they love animals? Or did I miss something along the way?

Shelters all over the country are full of dogs and cats that are dumped because people can no longer afford to care for them. Or even worse people keep them and just let them go with no shots, and leaving medical conditions untreated for years on end. Then for one reason or another the animal ends up at the shelter with an advanced condition that in many cases ends up taking their little lives. This is so stupid and so preventable. I understand that a vet goes to medical school, they are a Dr. and just like Dr.'s they should be rewarded for their hard work. However there should be a line somewhere. A line between making a profit and being obscene to the point where people can not afford to care for their pets. A vet I love and used to go to in this area for example used to charge $40 for an office visit. It is now over $100 for a regular office call, and an emergency visit is $150.

I don't know it just seems to me that if you care for animals and love them so much that you go to school to be able to care for them for a living... when you get out and open a practice, that you will not become so greedy that you forget that the animals are the ones who suffer when you decide to start raising prices, and raising, and raising, and raising. Making it harder and harder for people with multiple dogs to have multiple dogs. Which leads to less dogs being adopted from shelters. Just my two cents.

I want to see more dogs who are sitting in shelters get a second chance at life, and vets continuing to charge into the stratosphere for care is not helping the situation at all. So when you see a rescue posting on Facebook or somewhere asking for donations, know they are the only chance for these creatures. Your taking a minute to share and give $1, $5, $10 or whatever you can afford to do can and will make a difference. If everyone who sees these posts takes the time to do it, the rescues can save more innocent animals.

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava :D xo
www.avaaston.com

Here We Go Again

"Pepe" Day one, just after I shaved him down... he was a matted mess.

Most people who have read my blog for any length of time at all, or who follow me on facebook know I am an animal nut.  I swear there is some secret code in animal language that goes something like this... "If you are lost, lonely or hurt, go find that Ava lady.  She'll take you in."

It's funny, I was talking to my doctor the other day and I mentioned that I sometimes do animal rescue.  He replied "Oh, so does that mean you wrangle them?"  I had to laugh... my reply: "Oh yeah I wrangle them all right."  Flashback about eight years ago in Los Angeles with my then boyfriend now husband got caught up in that very thing.  Now, picture this, we're driving down Laurel Canyon Blvd. in Hollywood and a little dog darts out in front of us.  He's not wearing a collar and this proceeds to go on for a bit.  Of course I pull over and do what else? Proceed to wrangle him.  Turns out, another couple had pulled over as well and had been trying to save the little guy for about an hour.  In comes Greek Girl (I'm like the dog whisperer Cezar Milan, only I do it in Greek.)

Long story short, after two hours and a lot of coaxing, we got him.  Wrapped him up in a blanket and took him to the vet.  He was a very cute little Chihuahua Mix.  I would have kept him, however he was twice the size of my #1 Pekingese Princess "Pookie" & my Maltese "Itty Bitty" who only weighs 4lbs soaking wet.  So I found the little guy a sanctuary in the valley, where they try to place the dogs.  However if they are not able, they can stay forever.

There have been a good number of dog wrangling episodes since then, most recently "Rufus" the Pug on a trip to Florida.  The fur-babies had just gotten over their torture of another dog coming into their home when their momma Ava aka "Dog Wrangler" hears about a little Pekingese in the kill shelter in NYC.  The lady who runs the local Pekingese Rescue where my fur-baby "BoBo" came from contacted me.  See she has an agreement with shelters, if they get a Pekingese in, they contact her.  Well she was all full, and wondered if I could go get him and foster him.  What could I say?  Well it's 3 hours before the first Presidential debate (ov vey) I say "Sure no problem".  So off to Harlem I go to Animal Care and Control to rescue "Prince", which has been changed to "Pepe".

Not really sure what his story is... because people are crazy.  You never really know if anything they say on the intake forms is true in a surrender case.  Supposedly they had him eight years...  moved someplace that didn't allow pets and had to give him away.  Greek Girl isn't buying it.  First off, that is just not an excuse.  I would live in a box on the street homeless if I had to in order to keep my dogs.  If I had to move, I would never move where they do not allow animals.

What most people don't realize is that when you make a comittment to an animal, it is for life.  Not for fun until you get bored.  Because then people like me have to come in and clean up the mess.  Dogs and cats give unconditional love.  All they want is a safe, quiet place to lay down and to love us.  They need us.

So this dog "Pepe" he is like a puppy... and not neutered.  Nothing makes me madder.  When he went to the vet the next day to be neutered, the vet said he is about 6 at most.  Anyway he was neutered, all checked over and back at the Aston house for just about a week now.  He has recovered from his trip to the vet.  Not sure how long it's going to take to get him to chill out.  If he starts to fit in with my little pack, he is welcome to stay.  However if he keeps acting like Kujo out of nowhere, he will have to be adopted out by the Rescue.  Plus my 4 fur-babies are really not cooperating.  It's like they have not decided yet if they are going to let him into the club.  They all keep giving me the "When is he leaving mom?" glare.

See... the other Pekingese will not even let him on the bed with them. Meanies.

It sure has been a fun filled week, although I have spent most of my time seeing what it's like to be a vet tech.  He is on antibiotics from getting Kennel Cough from the shelter, all my four are on different medicine from getting Kennel cough from him.  I have to give them all different medicine.  Pepe 2 times, and my other four fur-babies get their medicine 3 times a day, and they all get cough medicine 2 x's a day. Add that to the trips to potty, and special meals I whip up for them all, it is a wonder I have any time to do any music, or workout for that matter.  It's a good thing I like coffee...

After 10 Days in the Aston House...

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava :D xox
www.avaaston.com