RESCUE STORIES

[OneCrow]

Stories of Animal Rescue

Halloween with a Happy Ending

It was Halloween night in 1995, and a steady stream of ghouls was coming to our door. Then, one group came with a little beagle mix in their arms, asking, "Is
this your dog?" The dog was trembling, and her eyes were huge, sad and
scared. I said "No, but we'll take her in for the night." We were well
aware of what can happen to lost pets on Halloween. So she came in and
immediately became a loving lapdog. Our collie, also a rescue, had been
kind of sad since we'd found her earlier in the year, and suddenly, when
that little dog came along, the collie perked up as if to say, "Look!
They got me a puppy!" Needless to say, we fell for the little thing, and
our son named her "Pup." Not the most original, but it fit -- short and
to the point. She has been guarding our yard and air space ever since.
We've had her nearly 15 years, and she's a little cranky and in the
throes of some "dog-heimer's," but her loyalty and love are still
unequalled!

Patti Van Slyke
Topeka, KS

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From Golden, Oklahoma to Anchorage, Alaska

I found Red on a back road where someone had left him to fend for himself.

He had a beautiful black nose and mouth and the rest was red hound. He was just a pup and very small. I only caught a glimpse of him as I passed, but when I
slowed down and stopped his ears perked up above the weeds and he smiled
at me. I said well come on and he jumped up into my lap and kissed my
face. He had been bitten badly by other dogs but did not seem to mind.
He was near starvation and very wormy.

I took him home and he quickly became the love of my life. He ate and slept with me. Red was put up for adoption thru ARK and was found by a couple looking to
replace an old friend. He was so like the dog they had lost, it was
unreal. His new mom traveled from Alaska to take him home. Renamed Kobe
he has been thru several classes to help his houndog manners and now
competes in several local activities. Kobe has his own blog @ from
Alaska to Oklahoma and back and many facebook fans.

I so loved Red that I could not watch him go even tho I knew it was a wonderful place for him. I had to leave it up to others to transition him. The pictures of
him I get every week keep him in my home and heart. Not bad for a little
homeless hound from Golden, Oklahoma.

Tammie Davenport
Golden, OK

Our MINI LAB

Our Mr. Buddy passed to natural causes almost a year ago. It was devastating to my son and husband. After giving birth to my daughter; I knew our family was
missing someone. My son was down at our family farm and saw the puppies
and we discussed our beloved Mr. Buddy passing and how Kevin felt he
was ready to adopt a puppy.

We ended up rescuing a black lab mix of some sort that was to be dumped into the woods because the owner couldn't care for him. He is now half a year old and we are
told he won't get to be over 25 lbs, perfect for the flat we are
renting.

Denver Snugglesworth Chuck Norris Neuman is the perfect pup for our family, able to keep up with both kids..

Thank Goodness for the woman who held him for us so that we were able to have Denver. We are forever grateful for him and you!

gen
sugar creek, MO

Sole Survivor

Somebody dumped a loving, pregnant cat in our neighborhood, and I found her up a tree with my dogs desperately trying to get at her. I took her to a neighbor's
house, where she gave birth to seven kittens the next day. All but one
died or had to be euthanized due to birth deformities. This is Bengal,
the beautiful and healthy sole survivor, on the day she was born. She
and her mother were adopted by my neighbors, who will spay them both and
love them forever.

Susan K
Redding, CA

A Pit Bull Owns My Heart

I had a long-standing, burning desire to adopt a Pit Bull---one of the most amazing, and most often misunderstood, breeds out there. As I was
looking through the photos of the dogs available for adoption thru Pit
Stop Bully's Rescue (Tampa), I was stopped dead in my tracks by a photo
of one dog in particular who immediately stole my heart. His
personality jumped off the computer screen, and with one look into his
beautiful brown eyes, I just knew he belonged with me. I'm happy to say
that for 9 months now, Pancho has had the happy and loving home he so
very much deserves, and we have a wonderful new additon to our family
who brings an incredible amount of joy to our lives every day. Pancho
is the bomb - he's best described as a
hunk-of-burning-love-let's-get-this-party-started type of fella. Oh
yeah, and he thinks he's a lap dog...a very heavy lap dog. He also has a
cetain romantic fondness for female golden retrievers, which I think is
adorable. As a cherished family pet who is given all the love
attention, exercise, socialization, supervision etc. that helps any dog
(regardless of breed) be the best that they can be, he sets a wonderful
example for people who have unfortunately bought into the myth that Pit
Bulls are dangerous dogs and aren't fit to be family pets. In fact, the
exact opposit is true. And we need good, responsible owners to step up
and adopt these dogs and help dispell the myths and restore their image
to what it was before bad people took advantage of their loyalty and
eagerness to please, and exploited these qualities in the most inhumane
manner. My dog is a lover not a fighter...and I'm PROUD to say a Pit
Bull owns my heart!

Kim Chambers
Fort Myers, FL

Max the German Shorthaired Pointer

I saw a picture of Max on the local shelter's web site. He was 10 and they really didn't have much other information on him posted. I had gone there before
looking to save an older dog and they remembered me as "the old dog
guy".

Turns out Max had been kept in a heated barn/shed the last 3 years of his life and then the owners surrendered him. He wasn't housebroken, he had heartworm
(which the shelter treated him for after I fostered him) and as a bonus
he has been hit by a car and has a pin in his leg. That causes him
arthritis discomfort. He had been adopted once and returned because he
couldn't be housebroken.

I couldn't let him die in the shelter so I brought him home. I figured at least he'd die in a home with some love. The first heartworm treatment almost killed
him but he recovered and the second wasn't as bad. I crate trained him
for a couple months and he's been running around loose in the house for
the last 8 months or so with no problems.

He has the most docile, sweetest disposition of any dog I've had.

Russ Wood
Lansing, MI

Crimson - in loving memory

Crimson was a Milw Humane society rescue Feb 17, 2000. She didn't see very well but that didn't stop her from getting around the house and was such a sweet baby
girl. Crimson got diabeties about 2.5 years ago and needed shots twice a
day but never complained about having to have them. She would go up
North with us every weekend and sit peacefully in her carrier for the
ride up. Unfortunately Crimson had to cross the Rainbow Bridge on
Friday 6/25/10. It can never be explained how much she was loved and is
so completely missed

carjam
milw, WI

Emillia gets a home

I was coming out of a restaurant located at a very busy intersection in Des Plaines, IL when I heard the plaintiff cries of a young kitten. That was when I first
spotted my crazy little girl Emillia. She was about 12 weeks old,
frightened and hungry. Obviously she had been dumped by some uncaring
individual and the poor thing was traumatized. I chased down this little
gray tortie kitty and the moment I snatched her up into my arms she
began to purr and I felt the love. We both knew this was the beginning
of Emillia's new life with me. She was a spunky kitten who would open
cabinet doors to get at the food, fetch toys and get into all kinds of
mischief with my other cats. She has grown into a loving adult who loves
to cuddle with me on the couch... and still gets into mischief. Her
hobby is opening the bottom drawer of my breakfront and emptying all the
linens onto the floor - sometimes every day!

Marlene K. Goodman
Wheeling, IL

Rescued From the Woods

Po, named by my son after "The Kung Fu Panda" because of his size, has been rescued out of the woods with four of his siblings a few weeks ago. We have worked hard
on getting good homes for all of the puppies. Po has such a sweet
personality and gets along well with my three large dogs...two who are
from our local shelter and one, like Po, is a rescued feral as well. Po
and his much smaller littermate, Sophia, are the sweetest lab/pit bull
mix puppies I have seen. Even though they will go on to their "forever
homes" soon, I will still keep them in my heart.

Barbara Sambol-Curran
Summerfield, NC

When Tom Met Sara

Tom Mylar was a man in need of a senior dog. Some may wonder why anyone would “need” a senior dog, but for Tom, it was all about balance. He’d just lost
Dawson, the senior dog he’d adopted a few years ago from the St. Louis
Senior Dog Project. Now he was down to his two younger dogs, and things
just didn’t feel right.

“There was a void in my household with just the two younger dogs. I needed an older dog to provide some balance.” Tom explains what he means by “balance” in
this context. “Perhaps it’s a sense of maturity, of greater
contentment, of wisdom even – hard to say.”

Tom also has a soft spot for senior dogs and figures he always has room for at least one. He’d already loved and lost two senior dogs from the St. Louis
Senior Dog Project. Now he was back to look for another.

Sara was a plain black dog with a grey muzzle. She’d spent most of her nine years at the end of a chain with only a shed for shelter. Now she was safe in a
foster home, learning about a new way of life, a life of comfort and
love. Sara had survived her past; now she needed a future.

We brought Sara to her first adoption event not expecting much. We just hoped the situation wouldn’t be too stressful for her.

Then Tom met Sara.

As for the balance Tom wanted, he says, “Sara provides it. Having come from a situation where she was forced to find comfort sleeping within a
woodshed at night, Sara seems to really appreciate where she is now.
She wags her tail a LOT. She is quite content and happy. And thanks to
Sara, so am I.”

Ellen Ellick
St. Louis, MO

[OneCrow]

That is so sad! I would never speak to them again for sure. And I hope they pay for what they done to that poor baby! Thank you for the reply!

[Carolyn Bailey]

Thanks for these stories, OneCrow!

It's really heartwarming to hear of so many adoptions, but it's also a reminder of how unbelievably uncaring and stupid some people can be. I couldn't imagine taking a member of my family to the bush and leaving them there and walking away. I don't get that. How sad.

I knew someone who adopted a border collie into their family a few years ago, but weren't happy because he wanted to be exercised, he wasn't, so was always overexcited. So, they took him to the beach and drove away. They asked my opinion ... we haven't spoken since.

These were nice stories, thanks!