Weekly Pupdate 12-31-23

News & Pupcoming Events

The 2024 MAESSR calendars are here! This year, we’ve added two extra pages of volunteer photos and a message from Debbie about our 25th anniversary. These make great gifts for your favorite Springer lover! Desk calendars are almost sold out. Wall calendars are also selling quickly. Also, don’t forget to check out the other wonderful goodies in the shop. The calendars are in SHOP under “New” and also “For the Home” for your convenience.

IT’S A FUNDRAISER! To mark 25 years of MAESSR, we’ve launched a t-shirt fundraiser.  You can choose from two t-shirts, a long-sleeve t-shirt, or a crewneck sweatshirt in a variety of colors. All proceeds help MAESSR continue to find homes for Springers in need.

Check out our senior/special needs dogs!  Our program, SENIORS FOR SENIORS, charges a $75 adoption fee for adopters aged 60 and over who adopt dogs nine years old and older or special needs dogs.  If interested in one of our senior/special needs dogs, contact Candi Lynn here.

The Marketplace also has 30-Ounce Beverage Tumblers.  Check ‘em out – we have tons of them and add more every day!

BLAZE 5, a beagle springer mix full of fun and energy, came to MAESSR in 2014 when his former family was moving from New York and knew they would have less time for him now with a new baby in the house. MAESSR gladly took him in, and he was fostered by GREG SMILES and adopted by KATHY and HANK POMERANTZ when he was six years old. He crossed the Rainbow Bridge in November at the age of 15!  Blaze was a much loved boy and had a good life.  He was a champion counter-surfer right to the end.

RUFOUS aka BOGEY (class of 2011) was adopted by M-L & TED WOLFF. The day their 15 YO ESS went to the bridge, M-L saw an email for a transport & thought what a wonderful way to honor Morgan. Then there was an opportunity to help with a puppy transport – 9 puppies! The day they received the offer of Rufous, M-L drove to MD (fostered by ELISABETH ROTTACH) to pick up their bundle of joy. Bogey & Stella, their ESS, became fast friends. Their antics prompted Tails from Two Springers. Bogey grew to be their 80-pound Big Bad Bodacious Brown Boy Bogey. He was the king of drool, surfer dude (counter), dumpster diving (trash can), mischievous boy that stole their hearts. At 1YO, he passed his Therapy dog test & for 9 years, they visited schools, nursing homes & hospitals, sharing the love.  M-L has loved all of their dogs, but Bogey was different. He was her soul & her heart; they had a special connection. Bogey was born an old soul. He was the best at welcoming all the fosters that passed through their home. He loved children & allowed the special needs children they visited at school to love on him which sometimes meant laying on him. Because of this special boy that they had the honor of bringing into their lives many friendships. The friendships, picnics, fostering, transports & being a MAESSR volunteer is an honor. This special BBBBBB is responsible for so much more than being a family pet. He brought people together, laughter, sunshine & unconditional love. M-L will be forever thankful for having the opportunity to be with him all of his life because he made her life richer in so many ways.

TIP. After losing their beautiful MAESSR girl, Molly Marie, in October 2013, LINDA and JERRY SHOPE knew they wanted another springer family member. Two-year-old Tip had come into ESRA’s care in the spring of 2013, heartworm and ehrlichia positive.  In foster care for seven months while he recovered from HW treatment, no one had shown interest in this beautiful boy, so ESRA reached out to Debbie Lipscey at MAESSR to see if she could help. She reached out to Linda and Jerry, who fell in love with his video and adopted him in December 2013. It was a rough beginning, because Tip wasn’t used to other dogs, but he and Daisy Beagle eventually became good friends and developed a strong bond.  Tip went on several family vacations to various shores, loved his sniffari walks, completed three obedience courses, loved to be outdoors and especially loved to be with his Mom and Dad. With his Southern Gentleman ways and charm, he stole the hearts of everyone he met.   A few weeks ago, Tip was diagnosed with a very aggressive nasal cancer, which grew rapidly in one week’s time.  Linda and Jerry felt the kindest thing to do for their boy was to set him free from his pain, even though it broke their hearts. Their house is too quiet, but they are so thankful for the wonderful ten years they were blessed with Tip as part of their family.

Foster HENRY 12 was being fostered by M-L WOLFF. As a pup Henry was sold to his original family in Maryland, who due to health and work issues, kept him in a crate most of the time. After a year and a half, he was returned to the breeder who still had Henry’s parents.  Henry’s mother was intolerant of Henry’s active puppy behavior so Henry was adopted again.  This family friend had him for only 3 months when a death in the household overwhelmed his new owner and Henry was rehomed with an elderly woman. The woman adored Henry but an untrained 2-year-old Springer was too much for her to handle. Counting the foster home, he has moved six times in his two years. Henry was now a MAESSR boy and dreaming of a family of his own. As promising as he first seemed, Henry proved to be a biter, so he was humanely sent to the Bridge.  Run free at peace, Henry.

Foster GUNNER 11 lived a disjointed life since he was a young pup, having been in three homes.  Finally, Gunner was relinquished to a local shelter until MAESSR found a foster home with LAURA BECKENDORF.  He spent over six months with his foster mom who is an experienced dog person well-versed in positive training.  Despite all of her efforts and consultation with MAESSR trainers, Gunner was just not making progress and began displaying aggression.  After much discussion between MAESSR leaders and foster mom, it was sadly decided that Gunner was a danger to humans, and he was sent to the Rainbow Bridge. Although Gunner was deeply loved by his foster mom, love was not enough to chase away Gunner’s demons.  Run free, Gunner.  Be at peace.

If you need to contact MAESSR, please click on and read our CONTACT page to avoid your message going to the wrong place. (Find the CONTACT link immediately to the left of the MAESSR logo on our home page.)

Would you like to write content for our blog? We’d love to feature articles from MAESSR volunteers. If you’d like to contribute, click here and either send us your article or let us know your idea.

Look for more info on the new website in the coming weeks!  In the meantime, check out the tutorials here.  

We’re on Mastodon now!  Twitter throttles low-follower accounts, making it pointless for us to post there.  Come on over to Mastodon and discover lots of other wonderful animal rescue groups, dog owners, and shelters, and posts on any topic you can think of.  It works much like Twitter, so the format will be familiar.

MAESSR Museum: We’re creating a gallery of MAESSR stories and we want to hear from you!  In one paragraph, tell us about your favorite MAESSR memory.  That can be about a dog you adopted or fostered, how you first found MAESSR, a memorable event you attended, or anything else.  Please include a relevant picture, or just one of your MAESSR dog.  Send to maessrorders@gmail.com. Here is an example: Bucky’s story. 

ADOPTED DOGS PROJECT:  Please check to see if your dog is listed on our “Success Stories” page.  (Click on the photo above the adoption year and go through the pages to find your dog. Dogs are in alphabetical order – hover over pics to find names.) In migrating the dog profiles over to the new site, we found several dogs that were missing information or had their information confused with another dog.  If your dog is not listed or the information/pictures are incorrect, click here to let us know.  Please specify which dog, what year they were adopted, and include their proper write up and/or pictures so we can amend the errors. Thanks.   

VIDEOS – VIDEOS – VIDEOS!  We have a new YouTube channel called Mid-Atlantic English Springer Spaniel Rescue. FOSTER HOMES ARE ENCOURAGED TO SEND IN VIDEOS OF THEIR CURRENT CHARGES FOR BOTH YOUTUBE AND THE DOGS’ ADOPTION PAGES.  We need the dogs’ official MAESSR names and numbers as nicknames are too confusing.  When sharing videos of adopted dogs, please also include the adoption year along with their official MAESSR name.  Please send your videos here.

If you have a PET IN NEED OF PRAYERS, please contact Linda Shope or Linda Johnston.  They would be happy to add your pet’s name to the pet ministry prayer list.

IF YOU SEE A SPRINGER NEEDING RESCUE:  For a springer being rehomed in an ad on social media or in a newspaper, please email the relinquishment team.  For a springer in a shelter, please email the shelter dog team.  In your email include contact info such as links to the online post, shelter name, state, and phone number.    Did you move?

Did you move? Did you change your email address? ADDRESS CHANGES should be emailed here.  On the new website you can set up an account under the Shop tab so that MAESSR can keep track of your mailing address; your email can also be changed under Your Account in the top right-hand corner with Edit Profile.  

If you need advice regarding behavioral issues, certified and credentialed trainers that use positive methods only to help guide people to the correct resources can be found at CCPDT and IAABC.

Gentle Nudges

RAINBOW BRIDGE CROSSINGS are shared on a monthly basis.  If you want your MAESSR dog included, send your name, dog’s MAESSR name if different than the post-adoption name, year of adoption, and a PHOTO here.  Feel free to include who fostered and a little background info about your dog.  To have the information posted on our Facebook page, send it (including photos) to the social media team.

When you send your notes about events or requests for help, please cc: here to help ensure that all events are mentioned in the Weekly Pupdate.  

Mistakes happen!  Corrections or omissions to the Weekly Pupdate can be sent to Cathy.

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

To share pics, videos, and/or articles about your MAESSR dog to our social media team. Videos for adoption pages & YouTube channel get sent here.

Total dogs in our care: 16

Permanent fosters: 3

Dogs pending foster home: 0

Moving to foster homes:

Maggie 42 to Eva Van Stratum

Henry 12 to M-L Wolff

Ace 4 to Laura Beckendorf

Asher to Laura Beckendor

Archie to Cheri Saggers

Moving to furever homes:

Lucy 12 to Vann

PO Box 807 Goochland VA 23063