Rescued, My Favorite Breed

by Christa Stout

More Success Stories to Share

This month’s visit took me back to where it all started at Faithful Friends Animal Advocates in Neosho, Mo. I recently did a transport to Rolla, where the next leg was covered by Meredith. Well, Meredith was also part of the transport of little Millie Grace (see March and May issues), the pup who had been caught in a trap and eventually had to have one leg amputated. However, she was doing one of the last legs while I had done the first leg, so we had never met. When I realized that I would finally meet Meredith, it was happy times. We hugged and cried, but neither one of us had heard any more about our favorite transport that we had worried over and prayed over and eventually celebrated her adoption. We both contacted the original foster mom and she brought us up to date. Millie Grace is doing wonderful at her new home, doesn’t let her missing leg interfere with her joy in life and having fun, and it is hard to get a picture of her because she is totally tuckered out after playing! We did receive a new picture of Millie Grace (the adopters kept the name because it was so appropriate), boy had she grown, and she still has the best smile in the world! Her left paw healed fine, no problems! So, in thinking about the December column, Millie Grace came to mind and I really wanted to share some of the joy we have when doing what we do, whether transport, foster, adopt or rescue. So I contacted some of the rescues and shelters and asked them to give me their rescue/adoption stories: Catherine at Granby said she had a dog in the pound that she was afraid would never get adopted. They called him Mr. T and he was so very afraid of meeting people and therefore came across as aggressive. Catherine finally found a rescue that would take him and he was scheduled to leave the following day. Then, shortly after arranging transport, came a phone call from a man who said “this is my dog”. No, it wasn’t his lost dog but he was convinced that he should adopt this dog no one else had given a second thought to. The gentleman had just gotten divorced, and was somewhat depressed until he saw this Mr. T on Facebook. He lived out of state and was willing to drive 5 hours to the pound to get “his” dog. Catherine, of course, was reluctant. What if it didn’t work out, what if the adopter doesn’t make it to the pound, what To learn more about Soup’s caretakers and more ups like him, vist the Faithful Friends Facebook page:

Soup

if, what if… To make a long story short, he and his children arrived at the pound a couple of days later, after the 5 hour drive, and it was love at first sight. The dog loved the adopter and his kids and they all loved him. He sent a current photo with him and his new lovely wife, his children and Oreo (formerly Mr. T) and his dog sibling, with whom he has lots of fun! And remember the kitten that was found along the lake, scared and hungry? Wes at Haven of the Ozarks tells me the kitten was adopted almost immediately and is now living the life of a spoiled cat. Cynthia at Faithful Friends tells of her favorite story: A 12-week old puppy named Soup had been at the shelter for quite a while until one day a family fostered him for a weekend. The foster then posted some pictures of Soup and gave him an excellent report card. Here is what she wrote about Soup: ‘Having to grow up in a shelter took a toll on Soup. He’d never been inside a home or known what it was like to have a family, he didn’t have much socialization other than from shelter staff and volunteers, and he had developed kennel stress, which made it even harder to place him in a home. Shelter life was all he had ever known.

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After spending almost a year at Faithful Friends, he was finally adopted. Six months later he was brought back due to him still having accidents in the house and them not having enough time for him. He is now going on 2 years old and once again back at the shelter. He is currently in search of a family who won’t give up on him and will show him what it’s like to be loved unconditionally. He does great with other dogs. It takes some time for him to learn to trust new people, but once he does he is such a love bug! He is ready for the next chapter of his life to begin.’ Shortly after the foster mom posted Soup on Facebook, he was adopted – it is so true, fostering saves lives! So true. My personal favorite is one of two of my dogs, Polly the lab and Rudi the German Shepherd. Polly had just been diagnosed diabetic and had gone blind. She knew her way around the house and had jumped up on the couch. When she was ready to get off the couch, she was very reluctant, no longer being able to see where she was jumping. I had a camera setup so I could check on Polly periodically and just happened to catch her hesitating and wanting to get down. Rudi, who has always been a protector, slowly walked over to her, let her know he was there, then touched her nose with his, and that was enough to give Polly the courage to jump down. Not an adoption story, but definitely a rescue story, Rudi rescued her from being stuck on the couch! So, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all pet owners, future pet owners and of course all the dogs and cats. Please remember to adopt, there are so many wonderful animals in the shelters waiting to get and to give love! n

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Merry Christmas And happy new year

Wishing you and your family a joyful holiday season!