Our group, Maltese Rescue California, has a good reputation for finding homes for Maltese and other small dogs. In fact our reputation is spreading from Coast to Coast. We have helped some local reputable breeders find homes for their retired show dogs and word has spread among the show dog community.
We received a phone call from a top Shih Tsu breeder on the East Coast that due to ill health, she was forced to stop breeding and wanted to find good homes for her present dogs. We told her that we certainly would help her and she arrived in our group president's home in Los Angeles after a three day drive from the East Coast with 13 show quality Shih Tsus needing homes.
We were really organized this time. We learned from the debacle when 20 dogs arrived from Korea. We had rescue folders ready for each dog, and had several of our fosters waiting their to bring dogs to their homes. We also had a Canine Dental Technician on board to clean the dogs teeth and to insert micro chips.
I draped a blue fabric over a patio chair and shot I.D. pictures of each of the 13 dogs. All in all, it was a pretty successful and organized evolution. Judy and I brought five of the dogs home to foster them and to get better photographs. We are taking them to the vet this morning...
Here are a couple of the Shih Tsus
We were able to keep track of the dogs because we had I.D. collars ready with the dogs names. I was able to keep track of which dog was in each image by shooting a combination WhiBal Card and name board. That really made things simple...
I was considering using a pair of flashes but, I am glad that I decided on a single bounced flash because things were so hectic at the house that a second flash would have just been in the way. After-all, thirteen dogs arriving along with about ten people scurrying hither and yon makes a busy situation - especially since the dogs had just arrived from a long road trip and were antsy with energy and needed to go potty,