Thursday, December 31, 2009

Some financial info about CPCRN Part 2

Contributed by Col. Potter's Secretary



Some of you may not realize that we have to move the dogs from their intake area to foster care. Generally, we look for something close - but not only is that not possible, but also there are areas of the country that get fewer intakes - but have a higher chance of adoption. Moving a dog from the midwest to the northwest can lessen time in foster care by months. If we only air ship 10 dogs that would be $2000/ month. (and ground transports aren't free - we pay for some, and for others we reimburse part of the transports)

As a rough total - that's well over $500 / dog - JUST to get them into foster care and vetted. For a 30 dog month, its $18,450 - many of our months we take in more than 30. And we all know it doesn't end there.....

We make sure each dog in care gets Heartworm and Flea protections - we have currently about 100 dogs in care - we have been up to 150 in some months this year - at say $20 per dog (for both together) that's $2000 per month.

There are always the dogs that need MORE vet care after getting into the foster home...

We provide stuff for Public Ed events - its not a lot (and much of the paper etc is donated), but there are costs. We have to pay a CPA to audit us - we have gotten so large we get an automatic IRS Audit, and we can't go in cold. We do pay for some items on our NLOL fundraisers, and we do BUY most of what we sell on the Grooming Mall (which we sell for more, but there are still costs). And Shipping is a killer in everything we do....

Our 2007 tax return for example showed that CPCRN Program services costs totaled $282,907 - that's an average of $23,575 a month needed to cover our services. The best news is that we have ZERO PAYROLL... and that will remain unchanged into the future. This IS a labor of love from everyone here.

This letter is to help you understand why we insist the adoptive family pay all those extra fees - for transport, meds or crates. (Adoption donations are our largest single income). Why we ask for multiple vet estimates for fosters- we can reduce a vet bill by hundreds sometimes - and why we insist on pre approval before a non emergency vet visit. Also why we insist on pre-approvals for so many things - so we are sure to have the money available to pay for it.

This letter most assuredly is NOT to discourage reimbursements (pre approved or 'standard' please), nor to push donations. We think its important for everyone to understand our venture here. We are blessed with our volunteers - all of us, all of you - are the ones doing all this work. If we PAID for everyone's work, we would need millions. We also are very concerned about the economy and how we can continue to meet these costs if more dogs need our help. Our entry into Facebook, YouTube etc has helped bring new donations and new volunteers - it is a true blessing. We diversified our banking so that if our bank has problems, we still have backup cash to pay for all of this.

The truth in life is that if you don't have the money, you can't get the services. And for 350+ dogs a year, our being able to provide services is a lifeline.

Everyone here has a right to be proud of what we do - without you all, Col. Potter could never have helped as many dogs as we do. Thank you.

Some financial info about CPCRN Part 1

Contributed by Col. Potter's Secretary




As this year draws to a close, we look back on the successful fundraisers held which were instrumental in reaching our milestone of 2500 cairns saved since CP was founded. This details many of our monthly costs for those of you who have recently joined the CP family and for those of you who would like to know how your donations, large and small are spent.

One thing I learned since this was sent - which impressed me even more - is that most of our donations are not the huge $10k that many bigger charities get - we get the money we do in lots of smaller donations.... which of course can get overwhelming on paperwork (all those $15 nlol donations etc) - but it truly made my heart warm to think of everyone doing what they can - and how together we all make such a difference in so many lives. That means so much to me

Sometimes the Board seems to be nit-picking money - or pushing very hard for fundrasiers. The answer behind why is easy, and is something to be proud of, but we thought we'd share it with you. For those of us not specifically IN the money side , the actual monthly totals were shocking when we first saw them. We've decided to share this information so you all can understand what it takes financially to be Col Potter Cairn Rescue Network.

CPCRN is an established non profit. We run fun and effective fundraisers. However the downturn in the economy is impacting us - as it does with everyone - in so many ways. We get some grants (although the running for them is getting more and more heated as the economy falters), and we get donations directly from many people. While we can push and beg, we have limited control over our incoming money. To be quite frank, many areas of our donations are down - which is to be expected considering the financial state of the nation and world. What we can control - or try to - is our outgoing costs. We would like to give you all a glimpse at what CPCRN covers on a monthly basis so you understand why we on the Board sometimes squeeze the nickel so hard the buffalo screams.

Intake Fees - many of our dogs come from a mill environment - some months up to half or two thirds of them. Some shelters require a fee as well. If you consider an 'average' month to be 30 intakes, and use $100 as the 'fee' (which varies) - Lets call it a monthly total of around $1500 - since some are less, and some owner surrenders come in with no fee at all.

Hardware - CPCRN provides every foster dog with a collar, leash and harness, as well as tag. ALL products are mailed, and although this isn't monthly, it IS another huge financial factor at approximately $30.00 a dog [$30.00 X 350 dogs a year is $10,500 a YEAR for hardware (or an average of $850/Month

Crate fees - Every foster needs a crate. That's our mantra. In the past, we have not been good at TRACKING crates already in the system. That is changing with Karen M. doing a bang up job (when folks work WITH her), but we still don't always have the crate where the intake is. If we use our billing crate charge as $40 and 'assume' we need crates for half the dogs coming in - that's $600/month.

Now we have intake vet bills - We have some owner surrenders that come in fully vetted but this is rare - but on the other hand, we have some mill mama's (like Cotton) who need extensive surgery - we AVERAGE about $450 per dog - so for 30 dogs a month, that's $13,500 EACH MONTH... when you add in ongoing care it only goes up.

Check back with us later this afternoon for the "rest of the story..."

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Cairns ZOOM in Snow in Texas!

Submitted by the zooming cairns' mom

We that hope you are enjoying these videos of cairns playing in the snow as much as we are!



Wacky Wednesday!

Wednesday is the day to be WACKY! Each week we will showcase a terrierific cairn picture with an appropriate caption. If you have a terrierific cairn and would like us to consider YOUR picture and caption for an upcoming "Wacky Wednesday" send it to us at cpcrnblog@gmail.com! (All photo submissions become the property of CPCRN and may be used for fundraising, promotion and/or outreach purposes.)




Have you made YOUR New Year's Resolution? Share it with us!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Wiggles & Tigger playing in the snow

Submitted by Wiggles and Tigger's Mom

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Cairns enjoy romping in the white stuff! Here is Wiggles, an adopted CP kid, chasing "the big man" around the yard.



Marena's first Christmas!

Contributed by Marena's foster Mom

Merry First Christmas Marena! We just love how she opened her gift and then took the two treats in her mouth at one time. It was just too precious! And all this with a tail that is waggin' miles a minute!

Sorry the video got a little blurry, I was moving around too much.Pardon my husband's yelling at Daisy and Duke to get away.







We're happy to announce that Marena will be going to her forever home soon!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Catching up - Puppy Videos!!

Written by Joie and her puppies' foster mom

What with the holidays and all, I've gotten behind on posting about the puppies. Here are three videos; eating when they were brand new, the boys playing together, and their first eating out of a pie plate (plus playing with toys). They've grown TONS! Ihope you enjoy Joie and her 3 pups, Mirth, Glee and Jocularity.

Nursing




Playing:



Drinking:




Glee's the little girl crying for her mama during this video.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Sunday Sweets!

Sunday is full of SWEETS! Each week we will showcase the sweeter side of Cairns. If you have a sweet filled cairn and would like us to consider YOUR picture for an upcoming "Sunday Sweets" send it to us at cpcrnblog@gmail.com! (All photo submissions become the property of CPCRN and may be used for fundraising, promotion and/or outreach purposes.)


Lola


Ciera


BeeGees


Hershey


Scout and Rusty


Wookie


Scout, Sadie and Rusty


Sadie and Kayla


Sadie


Robby, Mickey and Friends


Piper and Abigail


Kipper and Keegan


Kayla


Jeffery, Vonnie, Sadie and Brook


Halle


Duffy, Tori and Meatloaf


Can't get enough of those Cairntastic Christmas pictures? Check out our previous posts by clicking HERE and HERE!

We hope that you have enjoyed our weekend of Christmas Cairns and thank you for spending part of your Christmas with us. From the Col. Potter Family to yours - have a safe, happy, healthy and blessed New Year!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Cuzak and Winfrey

Dere Aunties,Uncles & Matchmakers(UmHum),

Dis iz Cuzaks & Winfrey. We were wondering if u might hab a fambily looking for 1 or 2 great dispositioned Cairns who LOVE let me repeat LOVE SNOW! We got about 1 inch a couple of days ago & we went wild running in it,sliding the side of our face in it rolling around on our backs and eating it. What fun!! Dat mean ole foster Mom yesterday made us go in our apt cuz we I mean me(Cuzak) would not stay in & get warm. I would sit outside & cry asking my sisters & brother to come & play but they all stayed in after a bit to get warm. So I was forced to do the same thing. Did I mention Winfrey & I get along great most of the time if we don't it is when she is telling me to behave. I try to tell everyone to behave when Foster Mom yells at one of us but I just get in trouble she says she is the boss what a rip.

We can go separate but we really get along & complement each other. i do not like to snuggle all day like Winfrey. We really like Christmas cookies too. Winfrey has better manners than me but I can sit on command sort of & she can't. But she waits for foster Mom before going through a door, me I have no time to waste I might miss something. Snuggling on a couch not for me but Winfrey will snuggle all night there or on Moms lap at the puter me 5 minutes tops. I found a favorite ball & that is the first thing I look for in the morning sometimes before I can even go potty. Once I find it everyone else wants it go figure you would think foster Mom could afford more than one toy. She always tells us the are at least 100 laying around but I don't fink anyone else can see them but her. Maybe her brain is slipping..CUCKOO CUCKOO. So anyway talk to you all soon. I forgot I do most of the talking Blackhawks is a LITTLE Quieter than I am or so Foster Mom tells everyone. We both go to our crates & sometime I even tell foster Mom I am ready for bed.

You can find out more about us by clicking here. We're in Missouri. Maybe you'll even decide to adopt us (hint! hint!)

Friday, December 25, 2009

Willet's Christmas Tail

Written by a CP adoptive home

I wanted to let you know about my first Santa Delivery job with the big man himself – Santa Claus or as I like to call him Santa Paws.

I have been waiting for the big day and it has finally arrived. I woke up and had to get a bath – which I love! You know I had to look good for the kiddies and to impress Santa Paws.

I had to get my red sweater on (just like Santa Paws) and my bell collar so the kids would know when we arrived.

We went to the North Pole and to my amazement there was a lot of hustle and bustle going on.

I didn’t know so many elves worked there. They were filling up the sleighs, helping Santa get dressed, passing out hot chocolate and candy canes to everyone. They even had special Christmas dog cookies for me. Yummy!



I had to meet Santa Paws. Well this is very difficult because there was so much work that there were multiple Santa Paws. Who knew?

hmmm


is it him?



nice lap!




I sat on every Santa Paws lap and picked the best one to team up with.

I got to meet a bunch of guys that a lot of people tell me they are scary but, I had fun with them and I wasn’t scared at all. They all had cookies in their pockets. Imagine that! My mom and dad told me that they are named policemen and they are there to help Santa Paws, myself and everyone to be safe.



At 2:00 pm we started driving from house to house and I ran up to each door and announced that “Santa Paws will be here in 5 minutes”. The people were so excited they would start screaming and jumping up and down (at first that scared me) but my mom and dad told me it was to be expected. Santa would then show up and the kids would come out and sit on Santa’s lap (just like I did earlier) and they would talk to Santa and get gifts from him. What a nice man.



I had to check on Santa sometimes through my window to make sure he was not eating all the cookies. He tends to do that!



Around 6:00 pm my job finally finished after our 32nd stop and I can tell you I was exhausted!!!!



I gave Santa a big lick to thank him for letting me help and he said:

HO! HO! HO!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL and TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

12 Days of Christmas - CP Style!



On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

12 months of rescue

11 busy matchmakers

10 more cairns in waiting

9 pleas for foster homes

8 rescued fabrics

7 guardian angels

6 intake team members

5 more freedom fliers

4 New Leashes On Life

3 new litters of pups

2500 cairns saved

and a CRAP in West Virginny




Friday's Funnies







Thursday, December 24, 2009

I haves a new bestist friend

Written by Kringle, Dressing's new foster brother



Dressing and Kringle


R Mom & Dad bringed home a nu fosser sister. Her is berry berry little nberry berry scared. So ob course, being da man ob da house after Dad eye has to take care ob her. Most ob da sisters is a big pain in da wagger. Specially dat sister Tia who finks dat her needs to keep my under arms clean and mi ears chewed on.

But dis little fosser sister is a cutie pie. Her is no pwoblem at all, so eye lets her be wif me and I takes care ob her.

Ifin any ob U cuzins needs a nu sister 4 Christmas, axe Santi Paws if dare is room on his flyin dog bed 4 Dressing, cuz her is a real sweetheart nher needs her berry own forever home.

Her tail is not up yet.. but she is working on it.


Is it OK if I is wif U Kringle?

Why sure it is little Dressing, it is berry safe in the desk cave.

U is safe wif me, eye is da Man dawg



Please click here if you would like to see all of our available cairns who are looking for forever homes.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Won't you give a cairn a home?

Written by a CP Volunteer

Won't you give a Cairn a home?
Be it forever or just on loan.

Won't you give them a start at joy?
A warm bed, a clean bowl and
maybe a toy.

You don't have to have a castle,
Fostering isn't really a hassle.

It fills you up from the inside out
And helps a mill pup abate their doubt.

Doubt about life, about love, about scritches.
Helping them with training and maybe some britches.

Giving them what they NEVER knew they'd have.
A gentle touch, a loving embrace, and their FIRST
Mom or Dad.

Foster a Cairn, and give them their very first taste of what a happy forever after is like.

Wacky Wednesday!

Wednesday is the day to be WACKY! Each week we will showcase a terrierific cairn picture with an appropriate caption. If you have a terrierific cairn and would like us to consider YOUR picture and caption for an upcoming "Wacky Wednesday" send it to us at cpcrnblog@gmail.com! (All photo submissions become the property of CPCRN and may be used for fundraising, promotion and/or outreach purposes.)




A big shout out to Bling for being the Wacky Wednesday model this week! I'm sure Santa will have lots of goodies for your stocking, who could resist that cute little face?!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Walkin' in a Doggie Wonderland

(to the tune of Winter Wonderland!)


Dog tags ring, are you listenin'?
In the lane, snow is glistenin'
It's yellow, NOT white, I've been there tonight
Markin' up my winter wonderland.

Smell that tree? that's my fragrance
It's a sign for wandering vagrants
"Avoid where I pee, it's MY pro-per-ty!
Marked up as my winter wonderland"

In the meadow Dad will build a snowman,
Following the classical design.
Then I'll lift my leg and let it go, Man!
So all the world will know that it's
Mine - mine - mine!

Straight from me to the fence post,
Flows my natural incense boast -
"Stay off my TURF, this small piece of earth,
I marked it as my winter wonderland."


(author unknown)

"There's No Place like Home"

Written by a CP Volunteer


As, Dorothy, in the Wizard of Oz kept saying "There is no place like home",
"There is no place like home".

Well, cairns cannot wear ruby red slippers and they are not able to
'click' their heels to make this wish come true. But we humans can.

For some of these kids, they have been living a life of a very bad dream,
they have been caught up in that nasty old twister that took Dorothy and
Toto away and they are wishing to find that wonderful forever home that just
lies over the rainbow.

And others have been pulled from a loving home that they have always known, for their past family could not continue to give them love and housing due to their current economic situation. These cairns, too, are looking for that new forever home which waits at the end of the rainbow.

Where is this place called home? It could be at your house, your
neighbor's house, a friend's house. We just need you to pass the word.

And what is a home to these kids? A home of love, food and shelter, a
loving hand, a gentle touch. Just like when Dorothy awoke from her dream –
her family was there to welcome her with a gentle touch and love. That's
the place called "No place like home".

If you cannot adopt one of these loving kids, then possibly you could
foster one, or become a guardian angel to one. Thank goodness Dorothy and
Toto had their guardian angel (Glenda, the good witch) watching over them.

Everyone wants a home for the holidays...and forever.


Please visit our available cairns page to offer one of our cairns in need of a forever home a home for the holidays and forever.

Monday, December 21, 2009

CAIRNTASTIC PHOTOS OF CAIRNS PLAYING IN THE SNOW!

The weather outside has been frightful, but our cairns are so delightful. Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow...

Maggie

Daisy, Duke, Marena and Kody

Marena

Eva

Hunter

CAIRNTASTIC VIDEOS OF CAIRNS PLAYING IN SNOW!

Contributed by the cairns mom and Marena's foster mom

There's nothing like snow to bring out the the playful side of our cairns and their canine companions. Please enjoy these videos of Daisy, Duke and CP foster cairn Marena playing with their "brother" Kody.









Please click here if you would like to learn more about Marena in Pennsylvania who is available for adoption!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Poem: I am a Mill Dog

Written by a CP Volunteer

Today I was thinking about all the emails recently from foster homes with all the little ones that have been rescued. There are times I can not get thoughts out of my mind. This was one of them. So I wrote this poem.


I Am a Mill Dog


Do my eyes tell you what I have seen?
Does my body tremble when I sometimes have those dreams?

Has my cowering in the corner brought a tear to your eye?
When you feel my frail body do I see even grown men cry?

Are you here to hurt me or have you heard my cries in the night?
Can you hear my heart beating when you hold me so tight?

I have never known kindness I have never felt love.
Will you be my angel that was sent from above.

I have been so alone and have felt loss all around.
I have learned that it’s best if I do not make a sound.

I think I can learn that kindness will bring me a new feeling called love.
And I see in your eyes you have been sent from heaven above.

@2009 Col. Potter Cairn Rescue Network



Before and After stories and pictures from the Col. Potter Faces of Rescue Calendar 2010


Please click here to order your copy of the calendar but don't delay because we've opened the last box!

Sunday Sweets

Sunday is full of SWEETS! Each week we will showcase the sweeter side of Cairns. If you have a sweet filled cairn and would like us to consider YOUR picture for an upcoming "Sunday Sweets" send it to us at cpcrnblog@gmail.com! (All photo submissions become the property of CPCRN and may be used for fundraising, promotion and/or outreach purposes.)


Skywalker


Eva


Keegan and Kipper


Betsy


Thunder and Annie


Spanky, Hunter and Darla


Angel and Scotty


Newtsand, Piper and Danny