“Casey” Seabrook

To make a one time donation, or a monthly donation to Small Paws Rescue, you may use your major credit card securely, at this site. Enjoy our user friendly, secure site to make your credit card donations. 

If you’ve made a past donation by credit card, you may e-mail Louie Bertolino at louieb@smallpawsrescue.org to let him know the amount of your donation. If we already have your credit card on file, please e-mail Louie and let him know the amount of your donation. Or give him a call at 337-324-2466 to make a donation. Louie is in MA. on Eastern Time.

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“Beno” Scheuneman

“Sydney” Irvin

Wednesday Morning, September 4, 2024

Dear Small Pawsers,

We have 11 new dogs that will cost around $16,000 for vetting and my throat is closing just thinking about that. Gulp.

First, I need to let you know that one of our volunteers and adopters, was found deceased in his home, just outside of Austin, Texas.

This is the obituary of Rene Villegas.

Rene was a wonderful man, an adopter of two Bichons from Small Paws®. He was only 53.

I was contacted by a friend of Rene’s, shortly after his body was discovered in his home, and his three dogs were all taken to Animal Welfare.

This is 5 year old “Zar”. He is precious and he knows it, too.

This is 3 year old “Qua-Qua”, short for “Quasar”. (I think these may be names from Star Trek that Rene chose.)

And this is 4 year old Kamby. A Bichon Terrier mix from Small Paws®. He is a darling boy.

There is always a backstory to every dog that we rescue.

These three had lived as pampered babies in Rene’s home. They slept in the bed with him. They are mentioned in his obituary above.

When I first spoke to the detective involved in Rene’s case, (and no, we still don’t know what happened to Rene) she told me of a relative who was interested in the dogs.

Normally, when this happens, I’m elated, thinking the dogs would go to someone they knew.

So when I called him, I was shocked to hear him say that he had FOUR dogs who were CONFISCATED, so he might take 1 or 2 of these.

RED FLAG. CRIMSON RED FLAG. HUGE CRIMSON RED FLAG. HELLO SOMEBODY LISTEN TO MEEEEEEE.

He also said he had never met the dogs, and asked what breed they were.

When I told him they were Bichons, he asked what that was and how much they weighed.

I began to seriously investigate.

One of our Board Members, Lauren Throm, is a Police Officer near Chicago. She also has a Master’s degree in Police Psychology.

Together, we investigated.

I began to file FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT to see what we could learn.

Then we found this Facebook page.

Now it’s entirely possible that the owner of this Facebook page and Rene’s relative, are not even the same person.

Maybe they just had the same name and town.

But after he said he had four dogs that were confiscated, if there was even a CHANCE that this was the situation, I had to protect these dogs with every resource we have.

Legally, he had 72 hours to reclaim these three trusting babies.

We were doing everything in our power to prevent it.

Then, at the final hour, I got a very polite text from him saying that he was sorry, but that he couldn’t take any of the dogs.

Hallelujah and thank you, Jesus.

First, our Volunteers, Pat and Aimee Sheehan were at the shelter an hour before the dogs were to be released to us. Thank you Pat and Aimee!

They took them to Westlake Animal Hospital for a few days since they had been exposed to shelter diseases.

I thought they might be in a depressed state while getting used to the Boarding facility, but O’contaire!

They were having a ball!

Patrick an Aimee went to visit them and got this video!!

Soon after, our New Austin Volunteer Extraordinaire, Tivra Marks, picked them up to foster ALL THREE!

Sadly, Tivra’s last baby passed lased March, and she has fostered several Bichons for us.

When she said that she would foster all three to keep them together, I thought I was going to cry.

Many thanks to Tivra Marks!

Next, I need to tell you about eight others, yes, eleven in all, who have come into rescue.

I’m going to try to be brief so that your eyes don’t gloss over.

These are their names, pictures, ages, and locations.

BonBon is 2 years old and from a shelter near Chicago.

Petey is from a shelter near Chicago. He is appr. 7 years old.

Simon was an owner surrender near Kansas City, Mo. He is a year old. (Yes, he’s real!)

Sailor came from a shelter near Chicago. He is around 3 years old.

Tiki is 4 years old. She was an owner surrender due to health issues of the owner. Tiki is located near Atlanta GA.

This is 12 week old “Lizzy.” She came in as an owner surrender, a lady who couldn’t care for a puppy. She has a lot of energy. (Lizzy, not the lady.) We believe she is a Bichon Havanese. Lizzy is located near Dallas, Texas.

Billy is 4 years old and belonged to an 85 year old woman who loved him dearly. He is grieving hard. Billy is located in MA. We are looking for a foster home for him, now. He is not yet neutered, and hasn’t been on HW preventative. Yikes. Vetting in MA.!

Combined, their vet bills are going to be right around $16,000.

Vet bills are going up, just like everything else.

Each of the shelter dogs is running nearly $2000.00 each.

Many of the owner surrenders that we get, belonged to people who couldn’t afford to care for them.

But we don’t accept them to rescue, only if they are already vetted.

That hardly ever happens.

We take them because they need us.

They are depending on us to care for them.

We need help. It’s been a while since we’ve have 11 new dogs, yet here we are.

I will issue all matching donation challenges.

What is a Matching Donation Challenge?

We have one Matching Donation Legacy Challenge to start with.

Diane Barker and Dawn Mead have fostered over 40 Small Paws Rescues, over the years. They are beloved volunteers.

Diane and Dawn, Ernie was a beautiful boy! Thank you for loving him so much, for so long. Bless your hearts.

“Just wanted to send a note to let you know what is going on in the Barker/Mead household. Once again sadness has filled the household. We have had to say goodbye to our precious Ernie. We would like to again issue a $50 challenge on his behalf. 

—– Forwarded Message —–

From: Dawn Mead <mead.dawnl@yahoo.com>

To: Diane Barker <barker@msu.edu>

Sent: Friday, August 23, 2024 at 01:02:38 PM EDT

Subject: challenge what pics

$50 Donation to Small Paws in honor of ERNIE Mead (Dawn Mead’s and Diane Barker beloved 15 yr old Small Paws Bichon Ernie crossed the rainbow bridge on Sat. 8/10/24. Again, we are heartbroken as Sadie left us not more than 4 months ago. Ernie was the first contact I, Dawn, had with Small Paws. He entered my life at a time of great despair and quickly became my joy and constant companion.  Dawn, and Diane moms now have the 2 remaining siblings of Ernie and Small Paws pups, Dawson and Ellie and our foster bichon- Toby are feeling pretty lost. We thought a donation in honor of Ernie (the heart and soul of the pack) would be appropriate.

Ernie has helped foster over 40 plus Small Paws Bichons at our residence in Lansing Michigan. Ernie’s fun spirit and joyfulness helped these pups socialize and make their way to a successful adoption. ( By the way, Dawn had a handle on this as well:)

I put a challenge out to others to consider donating to Small Paws and save a dog in Ernie’s honor.”

Ernie 2009-2024

Bless his little heart.

So, that’s where we are. I’m here and will issue all Matching Donation Challenges.

All My Love, Robin

 Florida Charity Registration # CH37698