saying good by to little miss olivia. we miss her so damn much.

olivia's first night with us.


pretty little olivia


lee, kelly & Lucy (this was a cute picture so i thought i'd throw it in here, even though it's not Olivia!)


little miss on her last day with us. she was adopted!

christmas is such an amazing time of year. everyone loves it for different reasons, and i was so pleased just to share it with my family for the last time in the house i grew up in. after all the festivities my mom and i were going through all my old stuff and came upon all these letters. letters from camp, from a difficult time in my life, from brithdays, graduations, valentines days, notes from girlfriends at school, notes from boys in high school, notes from dissapointed parents and teachers, and gloriously happy parents and teachers, i love you letters, i miss you cards, thank you's...it was truely amazing. i must have had 100's of letters from people who care about me. and i had to throw so many of them away. i mean where does one keep all this stuff?!?!?! it makes me sad even now, to think of all those beautiful letters in the trash, very sad for me to throw away all those beautiful words. but how and why should i keep them?

my mom and i discussed the prospect of keeping all these niceties and found it compeltely over whelming. i know she loves me and she knows i love her.

the only thing that made any sense to keep were letters that were hard to read. becuase you know that you didn't really read them, or take them to heart when you initally recevied them or maybe you were too distraught to even consider reading them when you first received them, so having them now seems like a blessing. now you can read them and really take it all in, recognize the weakness and strengths those letters outlined. see your progress or remission, see yourself in a new chapter of your life or how you haven't changed at all and perhaps only your circumstances have. regardless, the sad letters made sense to hold on to. maybe i'm my own worst demon and i need depressing letters to remind me of how good i've got it now, or maybe i just have the worst memory and need a little reminder on how i got to be who i am.

my grandmother saved these dresses...she too had trouble throwing things of beauty away.

It's hard to describe the last few weeks. Lee & I had two dogs for about a week and I thought I was going to have a nervous break-down. He was amazing. Tolerant, patient, kind & dilligent. It's so hard to live when you have 2 dogs within 500 sq ft. that do not get along. It was actually more that they LIKED each other SO much that you couldn't leave them together for more than 5 minutes or they would torment each other. Like a bad relationship. Lucy, a lab/pit mix, still awaiting a new foster or permananet home, is a delightful pooch inside. Very docile & sweet, but not really interested in Oilvia. Lucy wanted to be left alone, while Olivia was like a younger sister..."Lucy, Lucy, LUCY C'mon... play with me, play with me, PLAY WITH ME." Well, you can imagine how quickly that went south. Too bad, we would have loved to have kept Lucy, but she has been though alot & it isn't fair to stress her more because Olivia doesn't know when to quit.

Speaking of Olivia...she is amazing. She was returned from her adoptive parents because she was, "too much work." Frankly, i'm not sure what they were expecting, but she has come SO FAR since just a week ago. I've taught her how to heel & Lee taught her paw! She is so obedient...still with A LOT of puppy left in her, but wow...she's s great dog.

The foster situation with Lucy is stressing me to no end & just the bullshit & politics of the CACC make me crazy. Is is better to pull a dog off the euthanasia list and have it shipped around from home to home with no real end of the road in sight or & possibly have the dog end up in a less than "good" home, OR is it better to let them die a short, painless death. I don't know...it isn't my call. I just know that the time, effort & tears I've put into Lucy these past 2 weeks have been exhausting and VERY stressful. I've been sick with various stress-related health issues and had trouble sleeping. It's amazing how quickly things can become out of hand ... please foster, please donate to your local shelters, please think of all the homeless pets this christmas. your love and compassion is needed more than you know... please contact me to foster or adopt.

Locy Playing...


Lucy's beautiful face.


Little Miss Olivia

What a week it has been. I spent some of my Saturday going through the volunteer orientation at the AC&C (Animal Care & Control Center). That is a VERY difficult place to be. There are countless dogs & cats there that do not have homes and never will. It is a reality that is hard to swallow and worse to ignore. "With Knowledge Comes Responsibility". I cannot tell you the number of people who say to me, "Oh, I could never go there! It's too depressing." That is the attitude that forces federal agencies like the AC&C to euthanize everyday. The attitude of apathy and the idea that things are too hard, or too much to deal with. The volunteers and staff of the AC&C are brave people, who deserve more respect that they get.

When I told Lee about my time there, he decided that we needed to go get our foster dog from there...and FAST. We drove up to the AC&C at 110th street on Monday at 5pm and chose our new foster baby! We can pick her up on Thursday, and it cannot come fast enough.

I could talk forever about the AC&C, the dogs, the facilities, the lack of supplies, the smell, and the deafening noise. I could talk about the policies and the people, the laws they are desperately trying to enforce and the education they are trying to provide. I could go on and on, but why not go see for yourself...you will be rewared more than you know.
Go to http://www.nycacc.org/ or check out their myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/nycacc

As Monday comes to a close and the new week is upon us, Dusty Inc. is quickly taking shape. Our Myspace page, www.myspace.com/dustyincorporated is looking better then ever, and we are so encouraged by all of your comments and emails. Please take a minute to check out our fancy new slide show featuring some of the super cute adoptable dogs from Animal Haven. Feel free to contact them at www.animalhavenshelter.org or by phone at (718) 886-3683.

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

It's Sunday evening and I am beat. Lee & I had a lot of time to discuss our plans for Dusty Inc. this weekend and we are so excited! We are thrilled with the prospect of starting our own NPO and our ideas and plans seem (so far) to be manageable and clear. Lee & I decided that throughout this blog & now our new Dusty Incorporated myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/dustyincorporated ) we will be able to accomplish a lot more than we had originally anticipated. The goals of Dusty Inc. are to draw attention to and raise awareness about NYC animal shelters, animal welfare & rights, and even more specifically share stories, pics and plans for the dogs we foster. Because of our mutual love for animals and music we figured myspace wasn't a bad place to start. Eventually, we hope to do fundraising with Artists who share our commitment to shelter animals. Through compassion for music and love for these precious animals I hope we can make a little difference everyday.

There is a poem written by Charles Bukowski that speaks so strongly to following your heart. These words mean so much to me because I have never felt so strongly about anything as I do about animals. And I think we should all be brave and proud of the things we are passionate about...whatever they are.

"if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness...
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was."

george-alone-19.jpg

george-alone-19.jpg
Originally uploaded by danadurland.

"We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth."
-- Henry Beston, circa 1925

this is the second week dusty is in his new home & i couldn't be happier about it. although i miss him (more that i can express here) i've found fostering to be a service more than just adopting a shelter dog. if i can continue to do this for the next few years than i will feel quite good about that. i know i will need help, and as with most social services, i know i will burn out. that is why i am so grateful for lee (my wonderful man). he has jumped on board with this so easily & falls in love with these pups as easily as i do.

i'm currently reading, "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson. if you care about training & dogs & behavior, then go get it. read it & teach it.

i'm listening to Joshua Radin & his new album "We Were Here". its very much a simon & garfunkul kind of thing. so if you are into that kind of thing, this might be right up your alley. i like him.

this puppy is for adoption at www.animalhaven.com. how can you not just totally fall in love?!