Red Lake Rosie's Revisited

This past weekend my new friend Anne and I were fortunate enough to visit Karen Good founder of Red Lake Rosie's Rescue in northern Minnesota. The weather was glorious-sunny, no wind, and 35 ABOVE zero. Not a fan of the cold I prepared myself with many layers of clothing. To my surprise I was actually hot and spent most of the time without gloves or a hat. And it was lovely not to have to fight off mosquitoes and ticks.


We finished putting tarps around the kennels to protect the dogs from the bitter winds. We fed, watered, walked, and loved up the dogs and tended to the cats.

Anne fell for a boy named Elbert, a terrier mix puppy with no hair. He was lucky enough to spend his time up at Karen's house. I think Anne may even foster this boy when he is well enough to come to the cities in a couple of weeks.

There was one dog I was especially drawn to. Her name is Carly. She was a very sick little puppy that spent the weekend in the cat house. The first night she could not even drink water. Karen gave her a syringe full and we prayed through the night she would pull through. Much to our delight the next morning as I opened the cat house door I was thrilled to hear barking. And I was never as excited to see poop that was not red. Carly was able to drink a little rice water that Karen made for her. Later that day she gobbled down turkey from Karen's Thanksgiving meal. She continued to improve throughout the weekend. Carly will soon be ready for her a foster home if anyone is interested.

Then there was the German shorthaired pointer, Cheetah, that I would have taken home in a second but she already had a foster home waiting for her. Since she had short hair we put one of my mom's new dog sweaters on her. She wore it all weekend and was very proud of it. Karen asked if we could send it with her to her new life. I said of course. When I opened the kennel to let her out after our long transport ride I found that Cheetah had taken the sweater off and was laying her head on it. It was like a piece of her old life taken to her new life.

Three days are not enough to spend at Karen's. I would encourage everyone to make a trip to this magical place at least once. Karen's spirit transfers to the dogs she rescues. Below is a photo of the pack dogs that are residents at the shelter, Ginger-top, Mama, and Grandpa-front. The little girl in the left center snuggling up to Mama is Daisy now a Pet Haven dog. The rest of the pack accepted her right away.

If you can not travel then consider fostering for one of the rescues that supports Red Lake Rosie's Rescue. My experience is with Red Lake Rosie's foster group and Pet Haven. The more fosters we have the more dogs and cats we can save. Karen has yet to say 'no' to a dog or a cat but the rescues are filling up and adoptions are slowing down. Please help if you can.