"Each morning, I'd return online, avid for more of Ollie's adventures. Ollie went for walks by the beach, posed for photos wearing a handmade "Adopt Me" sign, bootie strapped over his injured foot. Once Ollie got fitted for a brace, he began racing about with greater abandon. Ollie's foster human regularly posted what he dubbed "Ollie's Song of the Day," including that oldie, Glen Campbell's "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," with its lyrics about a long and winding road leading who knows where,"
"I read about a backyard breeder who wanted to offload two pups, white fluffballs, large and small. The large one had lost all the toes on a front paw to an infection, so that, painfully, he put all his weight on his knuckles when he walked. The small one had a strong heart murmur. The rescue dubbed them Stan and Ollie, as in Laurel and Hardy, after conducting a fundraising competition to choose their names."
Pandemic demand for puppies surged, then owner fatigue and life changes caused widespread surrenders. Puppy mills, backyard breeders, and doodle producers faced excess litters and surplus breeding dogs. A backyard breeder sought to offload two white pups; one had lost toes to infection and the other had a strong heart murmur. A rescue renamed them Stan and Ollie after a fundraising contest and provided medical care including a padded sock and later a brace. Foster posts chronicled Ollie's walks and daily song features, aiding his recovery. Complex medical cases, such as a puppy with a cleft palate needing four operations, required intensive resources while rescues struggled to place over a hundred dogs annually.
#pandemic-puppy-demand #pet-surrender-and-rescue #puppy-millsbackyard-breeders #poodledoodle-overbreeding
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