One of the many times my mom was listening to my cry into the phone over how much I missed my Tubbie bear, she suggested I think of all the good things he did for me and Taylor--and how he inspired me to always look out for older dogs in shelters.... And the next day, out of the blue, I got an email from a family who had adopted an older dog from me almost 2 years ago! And I have to credit Tubbie with this rescue :) I know he's up there, running around, loving life, and whispering in God's ear when he thinks I need a little reminder that everything's going to be ok. Sometimes timing is just too perfect to be coincidental...
Our rescue gets hundreds of emails a week with dogs to rescue, and as awful as it it to admit, we can't take them all. I have had to stop looking at pictures and deleting emails before reading them if I know we can't help. BUT, my rescue buddy Courtney P and I have a thing for the seniors-- and we always do what we can to pull the older guys from shelters... A couple years ago, someone called us about an 11 year old purebred black lab named Boomer who was a retired police dog that was no longer needed :( ! The shelter said he was virtually unadoptable at his age...We got him out of the shelter, and long story short.... he won the hearts of a wonderful family up in the Northeast. They took him as a foster the same way I took in Tubbs---just until he found his new home--and decided they could never let him go :) I got an email a couple days ago from his mom, and she was saying he was slowing down a bit but was still the love of their lives. How cool is this too-- in addition to letting the little girls dress him up with bows, he uses his police training to open doors AND unzip the kids' backpacks with his teeth to get what he wants out of them. :) In honor of all the senior dogs bringing love and all kinds of trouble into homes out there, here's Boomer! I love this boy!
As I was writing this, I realized my mom may have been referring to herself too--haha...my parents have had to take in soooo many dogs because of Megan and me ;) ... Last spring, we rescued two purebred 10 year old labs from TN who were dropped at a shelter after their owner (a lab breeder) could no longer use them as breeding dogs... Their names were Tucker and Chesney, and both were heartworm positive and severely underweight... Tucker became very sick with a fungal infection, and the vet called me, saying that he had done everything possible and needed permission to euthanize. I had to fax a signed letter saying I would allow this to happen (UGH- not the fun part of dog rescue). It was recommended that I euthanize Chesney too becuase he didn't have much of a chance with heartworms at 10 years old and in his condition. I called the vet back before sending the fax, and his technician answered. I told her I understood both dogs were sick... and I knew Tucker was suffering--but I asked her to walk over to Chesney and tell me what his eyes looked like and if his tail wagged... She laughed and said, "Typical lab... wagging his tail and wiggling for attention." That was it... I called my parents (in tears, of course), and told them what was going on.... And he became a Curb on the spot :) They treated him for heartworms, and against all odds, he made it! He now lives in Nashville on 20 acres of fenced in grassy hills-- and he is actually considerably overweight...and LOVING life! I wish I had a picture of him... he is in doggy heaven! Old dogs are the BEST-- even if they do break our hearts when they leave...After writing all this, I'm smiling... so I guess my mom knew what she was talking about ;)
Yikes-- this blog is becoming more of a journal...sorry for all the rambling! ;)
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