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First of all, let me apologize for making my first post on this forum about fund-raising. As helpfull memmbers have pointed out to me on other forums, it's not exactly a trust-inducing way to introduce oneself. Desperate times, call for desperate measures, so I am willing to take the risk and beg you to at least read this and/or check out the links yourself if you wish to verify the information.
Basically, I have had in my care, as of Thursday evening, a very large, very abused and extremely injured GSD Female. She was found with several cig. burns on her back, bruising under arm-pits suggesting she was thrown or swung at something with extreme force, and an inability to put weight on her back hind leg. She was also starved to an auswitz figure and her waist was roughly 4-5 inches wide; this on a very large mostly GSD mix who we estimate would top out around 60-65 lbs in good health but currently weights 40-45. Thursday night, I had no idea what I could do to help her, other than take her home with me and pray very, very hard. My money is tight due to owning two very hungry horses in the middle of Georgia's severe drought and some past vet bills I am still paying off on my rescue pony. I posted that evening on the yahoo group, Billyboard, of which I am a member. They are a network of rescues, rescue personell, shelter volunteers, and concerned citizens dedicated to rescuing and providing transport for animals adopted out of state from Georgia's high kill shelters. A member in CA contacted me and together, we raised the funds to bring this dear dog to the vet the next morning. It turns out she has a fractured pelvis in several places requiring a very expensive, 3,000 dollar surgery by a specialist. We had the vet put her on painkillers and she is currently in my laundry-room, as comfortable as I can make her, while I and many other group members try to raise funds to pay for her surgery. Right now, we are asking for pledges only, as we wish to have donaters send their money straight into the vet's office performing the surgery and as we do not know if we will be successfull, are waiting to see if we can get enough pledges by Monday to warrant allowing her to suffer a little longer while we get the rest, before setting up the account. Therefore, all we ask now is for a name, contact info, and pledge amount, with the understanding that you will be contacted later when the surgery is scheduled and given information and how/where to send the money straight to the vet. As a graphic designer/illustrator, I am offering a free 8x11 hand-drawn pet portrait for any pledge over 10 dollars. Portraits will be securely mailed, free of charge, within the continental USA. Past artwork examples and pictures of the dog can be found at my photobucket account,
http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa316/theturboexpress/
For those who question the wisdom of spending 3,000 dollars on one dog (a question I have been asked ALOT this weekend), I have the following reply I wrote this morning which I may use as a letter to the editor.
___________________
Alot of people have asked me, is she worth 3,000 dollars? What about the starving children in Africa? The homeless pets dying in Georgia's high kill shelters. The hundreds of animals that amount of money could save? I've thought about it, and this is my reply:
What about the clothes we buy, the upgrades we purchase, the shoes we never wear, the cable we bought for the channels then end up only watching the networks that we could have gotten by rabbit-ear? What about the fact that many of us spend 50 dollars or more for a single meal at Applebees? Or that we own movies we've never watched, books we've never read, cd's we've never listened to, and whole drawer full of gadgets, gizmos, and odds and ends we don't even remember purchasing? Was it worth 30.00 dollars for that bargain pair of shoes we couldn't live without, then discovered we had nothing to wear them with when we got home? Was it worth 20.00 for that top that didn't shrink enough in the wash to fit better than it did in the store? Did we really need to spend 50.00 a month for 120 channells of Home Shopping Network? Was the salesman right at the cellphone store, that adding 9.99 month for the text messaging package was a great buy, even though we have never nor will we ever understand how to, send a text message?
We conscientious, thrifty, "stewards" of our money are sometimes very good at being very silly! Just last month, I spent 11.00 to complete a sponsor offer for a free Ipod Shuffle which I never needed or wanted in the first place. I've now sent it back to Amazon for store credit, which, ironically, there is nothing on Amazon I need or want at the moment.
Yes, this dog is not a human. Some even argue that we over identify, transfer our human emotions to her, and that in the end, she will not grasp or understand the signifigance of being put to sleep without a fighting chance. I beg to differ. If anything, not having the reasoning capacities of a human being should make us pity her even more. Imagine being trapped in a world where no explanations were given for the things that happenned to you. They just happenned, coldly, inpersonally, for no other reason than that you and it were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Worst of all, you do not even have the comforting assurance of being able to look within for that still, small voice that says, "hey, it will be ok, we will make it through this...keep trying, keep hoping, help will come." You can't tell yourself that "it's better this way", "they really tried to save you" or "soon the pain will be over forever." All you know is immediate reality, without explanation or context, without reason or rationale, without hope or even the ability to resign oneself to your impending fate. You cannot hold immediate joy back to protect your heart when a kind human offers you food and warmth for a weekend with no promise of anything after. You cannot be practical, keep your hopes at a realistic level, or gaurd your feelings from being hurt once again. You are a dog, after all, without a soul or human brain...to expect you to understand would be "over identifying", "emotional transference" etc. You are a prisoner in a world defined by the humans who interact with you.
If not for the "humanity" I see in her eyes, than for the humanity she inspires in me and other's who have rallied to her cause. Surely a creature who can stir hearts as far away as Canada, deserves a fighting chance. A creature who has brought together perfect strangers to donate money for a dog they have never met, for expenses they will never altruistically benefit from. A dog who has caused naturally selfish human beings to unite and organize across 4 timezones, 2,000 miles, multiple internet forums ranging from GPT sites to horse grooming forums, and caused this very selfish, extremely money-oriented Dutch girl to give up her Christmas presents this year in hopes that her relatives will donate to save this dog's life.
To me and to others, she is worth every penny. She may be one dog, but she has the heart and fighting spirit of a thousand. The potential lives she can touch, the message she can bring to those who hear her story, has the potential to impact how humans view and respond to countless other animal crisis's in their communities. For these reasons, and more, I believe she is worth 3,000 dollars and more.
Sincerely,
Rachel Frieswick
Basically, I have had in my care, as of Thursday evening, a very large, very abused and extremely injured GSD Female. She was found with several cig. burns on her back, bruising under arm-pits suggesting she was thrown or swung at something with extreme force, and an inability to put weight on her back hind leg. She was also starved to an auswitz figure and her waist was roughly 4-5 inches wide; this on a very large mostly GSD mix who we estimate would top out around 60-65 lbs in good health but currently weights 40-45. Thursday night, I had no idea what I could do to help her, other than take her home with me and pray very, very hard. My money is tight due to owning two very hungry horses in the middle of Georgia's severe drought and some past vet bills I am still paying off on my rescue pony. I posted that evening on the yahoo group, Billyboard, of which I am a member. They are a network of rescues, rescue personell, shelter volunteers, and concerned citizens dedicated to rescuing and providing transport for animals adopted out of state from Georgia's high kill shelters. A member in CA contacted me and together, we raised the funds to bring this dear dog to the vet the next morning. It turns out she has a fractured pelvis in several places requiring a very expensive, 3,000 dollar surgery by a specialist. We had the vet put her on painkillers and she is currently in my laundry-room, as comfortable as I can make her, while I and many other group members try to raise funds to pay for her surgery. Right now, we are asking for pledges only, as we wish to have donaters send their money straight into the vet's office performing the surgery and as we do not know if we will be successfull, are waiting to see if we can get enough pledges by Monday to warrant allowing her to suffer a little longer while we get the rest, before setting up the account. Therefore, all we ask now is for a name, contact info, and pledge amount, with the understanding that you will be contacted later when the surgery is scheduled and given information and how/where to send the money straight to the vet. As a graphic designer/illustrator, I am offering a free 8x11 hand-drawn pet portrait for any pledge over 10 dollars. Portraits will be securely mailed, free of charge, within the continental USA. Past artwork examples and pictures of the dog can be found at my photobucket account,
http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa316/theturboexpress/
For those who question the wisdom of spending 3,000 dollars on one dog (a question I have been asked ALOT this weekend), I have the following reply I wrote this morning which I may use as a letter to the editor.
___________________
Alot of people have asked me, is she worth 3,000 dollars? What about the starving children in Africa? The homeless pets dying in Georgia's high kill shelters. The hundreds of animals that amount of money could save? I've thought about it, and this is my reply:
What about the clothes we buy, the upgrades we purchase, the shoes we never wear, the cable we bought for the channels then end up only watching the networks that we could have gotten by rabbit-ear? What about the fact that many of us spend 50 dollars or more for a single meal at Applebees? Or that we own movies we've never watched, books we've never read, cd's we've never listened to, and whole drawer full of gadgets, gizmos, and odds and ends we don't even remember purchasing? Was it worth 30.00 dollars for that bargain pair of shoes we couldn't live without, then discovered we had nothing to wear them with when we got home? Was it worth 20.00 for that top that didn't shrink enough in the wash to fit better than it did in the store? Did we really need to spend 50.00 a month for 120 channells of Home Shopping Network? Was the salesman right at the cellphone store, that adding 9.99 month for the text messaging package was a great buy, even though we have never nor will we ever understand how to, send a text message?
We conscientious, thrifty, "stewards" of our money are sometimes very good at being very silly! Just last month, I spent 11.00 to complete a sponsor offer for a free Ipod Shuffle which I never needed or wanted in the first place. I've now sent it back to Amazon for store credit, which, ironically, there is nothing on Amazon I need or want at the moment.
Yes, this dog is not a human. Some even argue that we over identify, transfer our human emotions to her, and that in the end, she will not grasp or understand the signifigance of being put to sleep without a fighting chance. I beg to differ. If anything, not having the reasoning capacities of a human being should make us pity her even more. Imagine being trapped in a world where no explanations were given for the things that happenned to you. They just happenned, coldly, inpersonally, for no other reason than that you and it were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Worst of all, you do not even have the comforting assurance of being able to look within for that still, small voice that says, "hey, it will be ok, we will make it through this...keep trying, keep hoping, help will come." You can't tell yourself that "it's better this way", "they really tried to save you" or "soon the pain will be over forever." All you know is immediate reality, without explanation or context, without reason or rationale, without hope or even the ability to resign oneself to your impending fate. You cannot hold immediate joy back to protect your heart when a kind human offers you food and warmth for a weekend with no promise of anything after. You cannot be practical, keep your hopes at a realistic level, or gaurd your feelings from being hurt once again. You are a dog, after all, without a soul or human brain...to expect you to understand would be "over identifying", "emotional transference" etc. You are a prisoner in a world defined by the humans who interact with you.
If not for the "humanity" I see in her eyes, than for the humanity she inspires in me and other's who have rallied to her cause. Surely a creature who can stir hearts as far away as Canada, deserves a fighting chance. A creature who has brought together perfect strangers to donate money for a dog they have never met, for expenses they will never altruistically benefit from. A dog who has caused naturally selfish human beings to unite and organize across 4 timezones, 2,000 miles, multiple internet forums ranging from GPT sites to horse grooming forums, and caused this very selfish, extremely money-oriented Dutch girl to give up her Christmas presents this year in hopes that her relatives will donate to save this dog's life.
To me and to others, she is worth every penny. She may be one dog, but she has the heart and fighting spirit of a thousand. The potential lives she can touch, the message she can bring to those who hear her story, has the potential to impact how humans view and respond to countless other animal crisis's in their communities. For these reasons, and more, I believe she is worth 3,000 dollars and more.
Sincerely,
Rachel Frieswick