A story of 2 feral puppies and a grant for $1,050
The North Georgia Animal Alliance received notice in November that the organization had been approved for a $1,050 grant from the PEDIGREE Foundation, but, says NGAA secretary Sara Deberry, no one recalled applying for it. A message went out to members and the mystery was soon solved.
NGAA volunteer Dave Mayo had submitted a story to the PEDIGREE Foundation about some dogs he’d rescued. “It began last summer,” Mayo wrote to PEDIGREE, “when our rescue was contacted regarding a feral mama dog who had taken up residence under the porch of one of our Facebook followers. She brought with her a litter of very young puppies.”
Mayo went on the share how all but two of the puppies were caught. Mayo persisted and finally caught the brother and sister pups, whom he named Peyton and Parker. (Mayo says it took a few months to capture the mama.)
“Peyton and Parker were rather wild at first,” wrote Mayo, “trying to bite us. However, after two or three days they started to warm up to me, and Peyton was first to roll over on his back, begging for a belly rub.”
But the dogs were not out of the woods yet. Mayo says Parker contracted parvovirus and ended up at a vet clinic for three days. No sooner was she on mend than Peyton came down with a worse case of the virus and had a five-day stay at the clinic.
Both dogs fully recovered but, Mayo wrote, the vet bills ran into the hundreds of dollars. “Thanks to those who donate to us and award us grants,” he says, “we were able to pay the bills.”
Parker, says Mayo, was transferred to the local Humane Society, sent to a northern rescue and adopted in New Jersey. Peyton was transferred to the Atlanta Humane Society and adopted locally there.
“I keep a picture of Peyton and Parker in my favorites folder on my cellphone,” Mayo wrote to PEDIGREE. “Just looking at it makes me happy that I was able to help save these two from an almost certain death.”
“Congratulations,” PEDIGREE Foundation executive director Deb Fair wrote to NGAA. “We appreciate all of the work you do and we look forward to partnering with you in furtherance of our common mission — to help dogs in need find loving homes.”
The PEDIGREE Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was established in 2008 by Mars Petcare to support the work of shelters and dog rescue organizations in finding homes for dogs in need.