By: Lillabeth B.
Driving
into Little Nuggets Rescue is a lot like driving into a farm. The driveway is a
dirt road surrounded by overgrown foliage. My car drove up to the steel gate. I
could see that the right side opened into a field. Several dogs rushed up to
the fence separating us and jumped onto the fence, barking. Dogs yapped out of
sight. The house itself was nothing special; a simple brick one story home,
with a nicely maintained exterior and a basement. As the gate was opened and
the car was able to drive into the space and park, I was able to see the
massive backyard, filled with roofed pens that held the barking animals.
The
woman herself, Lynne Shriber, is the founder and owner of Little Nuggets
Rescue, and she's always lived around animals. This is a woman who loves to
laugh and loves to tell stories.
With a smile and a laugh or two, Lynne welcomes us to Little Nuggets Rescue and suggests that she show us around. The property has two pastures and a lake, she tells us, and belonged to her mother-in-law, who died in 2007. Lynne herself grew up in a home on a dirt road, where puppies and kittens were regularly dropped on their doorstep, so the rescue feels like home to her. She leads us toward the pens, which house her 82 dogs, and the first one she brings us to is that of her own dog, Rocky, who jumps onto the fencing and shows his teeth, barking. My dad, lover of all dogs, walks up to him and offers his hand, before Lynne hastily yells, "He's a biter!" Dad retracts his hand just in time.
She
scolds the dog and walks over to give him water, but at the sound of her voice
he perks up, his teeth disappearing to show a wide smile.
As
she introduces us to other dogs, I notice that this change of mood seems to be
true for all her animals. She shouts their name, calls them 'sweetie' or
'honey' or 'precious', and their mood lightens considerably, their eyes wide
with joy.
During
the tour she tells us about the dogs. "He jumped over the fence," she
says of
another with a smile. One dog can jump so high he has to bend down his
head so he doesn't hit the roof of the pen. Two large, fluffy dogs jump at
their fencing, their impossibly cute wide eyes staring. Another dog shuffles
around his pen before seeing us and smiling wide.
Another
one, a large, dark-colored dog, lays down in the middle of his pen. Lynne tells
us he and two Chihuahuas were abandoned in a house. One of the Chihuahuas
passed on. Another nearly didn't make it. Lynne tells us about one dog who
needed surgery because he had five kidney stones. Another was bitten by a dog
and had a hole in her neck.
She
says that to adopt a dog, people must contact her, then set up an appointment
at the rescue to meet the dog, and then she brings the dog to their house and
does what she calls a Home Check, to make sure the dog will feel at home.
As
we come near the other side of the backyard, another steel gate comes into
sight. She walks up to and yells, "Donkey! Donkey!" in a way that
reminds me of Shrek. Sure enough, a dark gray donkey comes lumbering
towards us. Lynne smiles and tickles its nose, which he allows only for a
moment before he tried to nip at her nose. "Don't bite my nose!" she
teases. She got the donkey from her dad. A good friend of his had passed away,
leaving five donkeys behind. "He wanted me to take two, but I said, 'No,
just one,' you know, because I had never had a donkey," she tells me. Now,
she wishes she had taken two. "I am looking for a female!" she says
with a smile. "...For him to have as a friend."
Lynne
invites me to come inside, and leads me into a room where the air is full of
barks. In pens and crates around the room are smaller dogs, Chihuahuas, and Shi
Tzus, and Pomeranians. They jump at us, eager to see us. The cuteness in this
room is overwhelming. Two Chihuahuas are so adorable I have to let one lick my
hand.
We
walk back outside, and Lynne and I settle down for a one-on-one talk in the
quietest place on the property - the back of her truck. No, really! She pushes
down its gate, and I ask her some questions about getting Little Nuggets Rescue
started, keeping it going, and the products that helped along the way.
LGG: How did you come up with the idea for
Little Nuggets Rescue?
Well,
I always really have helped dogs in need. I had a gift shop at one time in
Stone Mountain Village, and a rescue [group] would always come in there and ask
if I would sell their cards, their Christmas cards, to help with their group.
So I would sell them, and they would get the profit off the cards. I've always
done it on the side; I never did it hands on. But I've always helped dogs all
my life, that I can think of. When I realized that my boys were older and I
didn't have a job anymore, I thought, 'You know what? I've got my time, I've
got a place to do it; I think I'll start my own rescue.' So I just studied into
it to see what all was involved. When I do things, I go full force, and that's
what I did.
LGG: How did you come up with the name?
Okay,
Nugget was one of the first dogs I pulled out of Henry County Animal Control,
and she was very sick. She had heartworms, and for three weeks my vet and I
worked on trying to get her better, and she was just so far gone with
heartworms that she passed on. And she is buried out here, under one of the
pear trees. And at the time, I really didn't have my own rescue, but I was
thinking about starting it... She [the vet] and I were talking, and I just
said, 'You know, I think I'm gonna dedicate the rescue to her.' So that's how I
came up with little nugget. I didn't want to just do Nugget Rescue, so I came
up with it. She was a little girl... So Little Nuggets Rescue come from my
Nugget.
LGG: How exactly did you start Little
Nuggets Rescue?
I
started by helping another rescue. I fostered six dogs of hers. I would help
her, and I realized what all is involved; taking them out of the shelter, and
to the vet to get vetted, and following the protocol. A lot of things have
changed. I've had to tweak my program, because at one point, I didn't do a home
check. I didn't think there was a need to do a home check. People came out and
people were sincere, until I realized that you better watch out. There are some
deceiving people out there. So that's what I did. I looked up on the Internet.
There's a lot of resources where you realized what you need to do; you need to
be licensed. You need to be nonprofit with the IRS [Internal Revenue Service].
Where's your food gonna come from? Where's your money gonna come from? How are you
gonna get donations? So I just studied into all that and what I needed to do.
LGG: How did you get all your dogs?
For
a majority of these dogs, people either call me and they want to surrender
their dogs because they've lost their home, or they just can't afford to take
care of them, or maybe it's somebody's mom passed on. I would say 98% of the
dogs, though, the animal shelters are calling me and saying, 'We've got these
dogs. We need help. Can you take these dogs into your program?' I would say
only 2% are owner surrenders. The rest are coming from animal control when
they're gonna be put down. This is how it'll work; Gwinnett County will email
me or call me and say, 'We've got a Jack Russell [Terrier] here, highly
adoptable. No one's claimed him, and no rescues have put in to take the dog.
Would you be interested?' 'Be there in fifteen minutes.' These shelters will actually
contact me... They do have some dogs who are biters, and they're vicious.
They're not gonna try to get them out. They're probably gonna euthanize them
[put them down] first. But there are some dogs there that are really sweet! I
know the shelters have a hard time in what they do, but they do what they can
to get the dogs out.
LGG: How much does it cost to care for all
your dogs?
*laughs*
A lot! That's a good question. Probably at least, for the amount of dogs I
have, probably at least $2000 a month... Because I do have to buy the food. I
do get a discount, but I do have to buy the food. I have to pay the
veterinarian care... We go through 50 lb. of food a day. Sometimes more!
*laughs*
LGG: Is it ever hard for you to part with
dogs when they're adopted?
Okay,
I'm gonna tell you a story. When I first started, and a dog would be adopted,
and it would be one that I'd maybe had for two or three months, because I fall
in love with every single one, and the dog would be adopted and it would leave,
and I would sit out here, and just cry like a baby! *laughs* 'Oh god, she
gone!' you know. One day, I adopted a dog out, and I'm very spiritual, and God
came to me, and He said, 'Don't cry. The shelter's the worst place. You now
have them safe, and being fed, and they're being taken care of. You're the
middle person. Now they're in a home. So you're just the middle person. You've
gotta quit crying. You've gotta be happy for that dog to go into a home.' So
now my whole attitude has changed. Now, I did adopt out a dog about four weeks
ago that I had had, believe it or not, for four years. He was an old dog. And a
guy came out here and fell in love with this dog. When I went out and did the
home check, the guy was so in love with this dog. I cried when I left. But I
cried because I was gonna miss him, but I also cried because I know he's gonna
be happy now. And I've been getting pictures of him, and he's in love. And
instead of being in one of these kennel runs, now he's sleeping in [a] bed. So
I'm happy.
LGG: Have you ever had to put down a dog?
Yes.
Several. Yep, because a lot of these dogs will come in very sick, and you do
the best you can. I had a dog that I just put down last month. She just wasn't
eating, and I took her in to the vet, and we put her on medication, and I kept
her in a quiet place inside. She still wasn't eating. I took her back in next
week. He said, 'Let's check her out,' and we did some blood work, and we found
out she had liver disease, and he said, 'She's gonna get sicker and sicker,' so
I had to put her down. We have a cemetery out here where we've put dogs down...
It was hard. Every time it's hard. So, yes I have. But not because I want to.
It's because it was just the best thing for the dog.
LGG: What is your favorite dog breed?
Probably
Rat Terriers, but not really, I'm gonna say not really, because I love them
all.
Lynne's recommendations:
Flea Medicine
•
Conformis
•
Revolution
Shampoo
•
Dawn Ultra Original - it works!
•
Oatmeal Shampoo for sensitive skin
Donations
were made and hugs given, and then my car pulled out of Little Nuggets Rescue.
But the story doesn't end here! 82 dogs need your help. Even a little bit of
money buys food and care for a dog in need. Go to littlenuggetsrescue.com to learn about
making your donation, and in the words of Lynne Shriber, "Until there are
none, adopt one!" Happy adopting!
And
THANK YOU, Lynne! I had so much fun meeting you, and I hope this article brings
you lots of adoptions and donations!
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