P.O. Box 72 - Lycosky Drive
West Milford, New Jersey 07480 973-728-2859
Email: thewmass@hotmail.com
Shelter Hours
* Monday - Friday: 10 am to 1 pm
* Wednesday Evenings: 7:30 pm to 9 pm
* Saturdays and Sundays: 10 am to 3 pm
Directions are Here.
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Success Story - Fancie and Lil' Al
I adopted Fancie aka St. Francis from the shelter on April 30, 2009. She was one of the several Pit Bulls and other dogs taken away from a hoarder in West Milford. I had met Fancie several years earlier when I volunteered at the 'rescue' she came from. It didn't take long to see that the person running the 'rescue' was a hoarder and when I confronted her about it, I was thrown off her property and never got to say goodbye to Fancie.
I never stopped thinking about her or fighting for her and the other dogs. When the SPCA finally took the dogs away and brought them all to the shelter, I was reunited with her. It was a very tearful reunion. I vowed I wouldn't let her down again and promised I would adopt her as soon as the court case was over. I am a volunteer at the shelter so I was able to spend time with her while the court case was pending. It seemed like forever until the shelter was granted custody of nine of the twenty eight dogs, Fancie being one of them.
Fancie lived most of her life in a crate so I wasn't sure how house training was going to go since she was about 8 years old when I adopted her. I was surprised that she only had a few accidents in the house and then understood that she was supposed to do that stuff outside. Fancie is great with my grandson and gets along with all dogs. She is one of the best Pit Bulls I have ever owned. Fancie is a heavy breather and she sounds like she is snoring even when she is awake. She follows me everywhere and loves to sit on top of me or lay her head on my lap whenever I sit on the couch. She is a little snuggle bug.
In September of 2009, my fiancee and I went on a motorcycle trip with friends to Arizona. Driving through an Indian reservation, we came upon a little dog that was abandoned at a gas station. He came over and nestled right up to us. He was blind in one eye and had a tumor on his belly the size of a softball. We fed him and gave him water and went on our way. The next day on our way back from the four corners, we went to the same gas station (there's only about one gas station every 50 miles) and we saw him again.
He was so friendly, unlike the other strays that were hanging around. We asked the woman inside the trading post what his story was. She told us he had been dumped there about 4 months before and he was one of the lucky ones because 95% of the other dogs don't survive the 65 MPH road out front..
We wanted to take him home with us but we were all on bikes and it was impossible. We made up a sign saying "My name is Lil Al and I'm free. Please adopt me before I get hit by a car". We bought him more food and water and left. Two days later, driving back home in our RV, we still couldn't get this little guy out of our heads.
I called my friend who lives in Flagstaff and offered her money if she would drive out to Mexican Water and pick up this dog for us. Being a vet tech, she didn't hesitate saying yes. She drove 500 miles round trip and brought him back to Flagstaff and then to her vet to get a Health Certificate so he could get on an airplane. A week later, she drove another 3 hours to the Phoenix airport and put him on a plane to NJ.
I took him to the vet the next day and he told us he had a testicular tumor and it had to come off. He guessed him to be around 8 years old. There was nothing he could do for his blind eye. He went for surgery, including neutering, the following week. The tumor was cancer but they got it all. The vet told us if he hadn't had the tumor removed, he would've died.
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