Dusty Trails

03/22/2026

Support Dusty Trails and doggos like Peaches by clicking on the link in the first comment.

Peaches was surrendered to a high kill shelter weighing over 100lbs, which severely impacted her mobility. Dusty Trails took her in and began a structured weight loss diet with quality food and exercise.

As she began to slim down, it became clear that Peaches needed something just as important as her diet-a person of her own. Dusty Trails found the perfect match: someone strong enough to (barely) resist her legendary case of RSF (Resting Sad Face), critical to maintaining her new healthy lifestyle.

Today, Peaches is thriving with her person and her animal siblings. She’s happier, more mobile, and full of life--though if you ask her, she’s still completely underfed.

01/01/2026

08/27/2025

Hi Guys - Our Chick Chick is not doing well this morning. We have an appointment with Dr Bo this morning. Please say a prayer for this old gal.
The vet bills just don't stop with these old guys and gals... Please consider a donation to Dusty Trails to help Chicken... https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/CJWRCU2NRFMBS

07/09/2025

OMG - Moose must be Sonny's brother

Moose spent an embarrassingly long time today following around a teeeeeeny, tiiiiiiny frog at the soccer fields. Let’s call him Fred.

To be fair, Moose was gentle and (in his mind) gave Fred plenty of space. Fred, however, did not share that sentiment. After several awkward minutes of being stalked by a living loaf of bread, Fred snapped—and jumped directly into Moose’s face.

Now, you may be laughing at the image of a speck-of-dirt sized frog attempting to attack a 90 pound German Shepherd, because just WHAT did he think that would accomplish?! It'd be equivalent to someone flicking a pea at you from 10 feet away.

Well, maybe if I didn't own the Temu version of a German Shepherd (as far as typical character traits go)- this would be the case.

Instead, it caused Moose to yelp (yes, he yelped) and jump 5 feet backwards. Not only that, he then also refused to go back onto the concrete area for the remainder of the time we were there.

And while I can’t technically confirm this, I’m convinced that Fred the frog didn’t just leap at him—he hurled deeply personal insults mid-air. The kind that cut.
The kind that make you reevaluate your life choices.

Now, some might say “Moose can’t possibly understand frog.”
To that I say: Clearly you don’t know Moose. Apparently, neither do I.

He sacrificed all potential brainpower to become fluent in Frog, which explains why he has zero grasp of practical knowledge like “don’t eat bees” or “doorways have dimensions.”

A tragic tale of misallocated resources.
A scholar in frog dialect, a disaster in literally every other category.

Please wish him healing.

Physically? He’s fine.
Emotionally? Ruined.

*I was lucky enough to capture the exact moment the assault occured, and we will be pressing charges*

06/29/2025

I just posted this in a c**n hound FB group looking for ideas but thought I would throw it out there to you guys too. I am out of ideas. I am pretty sure that if we don't get this under control one of us is going to have a heart attack.

"Hi Everyone - I am looking for some ideas, advice, suggestions, anything...

I run a rescue for senior Labradors - well it used to be Labs anyway... in 2018 we had a Cat 5 hurricane that left dogs of all breeds homeless so we lifted the "Labrador" part. We have taken in 4 senior hounds since then. Two rode Hurricane Michael out in the middle of the eye. One was terrified of everything to the point that until recently he was not adoptable. He is not the problem. The other one can feel a storm coming three days in advance, long before we even know about it, and he will hurt himself trying to get away. We have tried CBD and our vets have tried everything in their arsenal to keep him calm.

We can handle the anxiety and fear but he tries to escape when he knows a storm is coming. He climbs fences. He wears a tracker collar and it has allowed us to find him on a couple of occasions. We have tried electrifying the fence but all of our rescues live as a pack and we are afraid of what that will do to the other old dogs here if they come in contact with it. I have attached the black flexible drain pipe to the top of the entire fence but now he has learned to climb over that. I put saddle bags with dive weights on him which worked for a while until he built up enough muscle to climb the fence with those on. He has an extra strong kennel that will contain him but we can not leave him in there 24/7. We have a building that we have turned into a "doggie apartment". It has a doggie door that leads to an outside kennel area with a concrete floor. We plan to put a lid on the kennel so that would more than likely contain him. However, I have seen him attempt to climb a 6 foot kennel, he fell backwards and landed on the floor. I am not sure that putting him in a building separate from the house and the other dogs would be good during storms anyway???

This dog gets so scared that he hurts himself. He actually ripped a tooth out trying to climb a fence once. That was an emergency vet visit that required emergency surgery and he actually died on the table. They revived him, thankfully... I am totally out of ideas. He is the sweetest dog ever but gets absolutely crazy during the spring when the storms come more frequently. It's like he stacks and doesn't have time to release between storms.

We try to do the best we can for these old guys. They have things that most of them have never had before, they live inside, eat good food, get awesome medical care…. I am so afraid that he is going to go over the fence one day and just disappear and that is not what we are about… Does anyone have any ideas that we have not thought of?

This is Yankee, I have no idea how this sweet face could put us through so much..."

04/30/2025

INCREDIBLY HEARTBREAKING:

THIS is why I rescue seniors - they deserve to grow old!!!! We are not supposed to take lives - human or otherwise - living creatures... We have not figured out how to create that life in the beauty and fullness that God has, so we do not have the right to take it. Euthanasia of animals is a tool that humans created to desensitize us to death and it is working. I will never let an animal suffer in pain that can not be controlled - I have and will continue to make that horrible decision when I have to. Every time I do, I beg God to forgive me and pray that he knows what is in my heart. That being said - we have been conditioned to believe that it is our responsibility to take the life of an animal just because they are unwanted, old, or have some kind of an illness. Our only responsibility is to take care of them, just like God said. Somehow, it has gotten all twisted - the meaning of "mercy" has become killing instead of taking care of. If we killed every person based on what is allowed and accepted with animals, there would be no one left. God has put this in my heart and he has given me Dusty Trials to spread the word and I will continue to do so as long as He wants me to.