Something quite peculiar happened at our house.. We had company, and as he is wont to do when that occurs, the hub went to walk them out to their car as they were leaving. He had barely stepped on the front porch when he turned back around and re-entered the house with something in his arms. As he was saying 'Look what I just found', he handed me something warm and furry. It was this little guy! The hub said he was just sitting on the porch, looking in through the screen door at us. He, the dog not the hub, wasn't scared or skittish of any of us. He was just dirty and ill-groomed with no collar or tags. With no way of identifying him, nor his owners, we did the only thing we could do and took him in, for now at least. A real sweetie, we would have loved to have kept him, but our Fiona, a Decker Rat Terrier we rescued a few years back, was territorial whenever either I, the hub or any chew toys were close at hand. We actively looked for his family, but nothing has worked so far. I've spent hours looking at ads for missing pets, yes hours, as there are far more many places to look than you might think. We've walked him around our tract of homes, asking everyone we see if they recognized him or have heard of a missing dog. And do the same in the car when we come and go from the shops. All to no avail. Turning him over to a shelter was not an option we considered. I'd contacted a few Yorkie Rescues but they wanted pure breeds. Finally, in my online search I found Rescue Me and shortly thereafter had completed the process of placing our story here. Less than 12 hours later, I had a call from a family who had just recently lost their Yorkie and his sister a short while prior to that. After talking to the wife, I felt we may have found a good fit. I then called Jeff at Rescue Me. We'd talked when I first tried to post and had problems uploading a photo. He was so nice I felt comfortable calling him back to ask him a few questions. The main one was about the best way to vet a possible family. I had mentioned to him that part of the information I'd gotten from the woman wanting the dog was the name, address and phone number of the veterinarian they had been using for 22+ years. He told me that was an excellent place to start and sometimes the only reference people relied on in regards to approving a family. However, by this time it was after 6pm and their clinic was closed for the night. Wanting to meet 'Scooter', the entire family of mom, dad and college aged son drove 45 miles and back to look at a dog whose photo they fell in love with. Knowing that our plan was to have them all meet, then leave the dog with us until I could talk to their vet, and if he okayed them, drive the same total of 90+ miles to pick him up the next day. When they got to our house, it was obviously love at first sight. They brought photos of their last two Yorkies. We were able to see how well groomed and well taken care of they had been. As I had mentioned on the phone, 'Scooter' loved running around our backyard so they even brought photos of theirs to show us. They must have visited for over an hour, telling stories about the beloved pets they had passed away. And I could see by how they were all interacting with the dog that they would be a great family for him. We didn't feel right making them make the long drive again in less than 24 hours. If you would have seen them together, I know you'd have felt the same way. So 'Scooter' is now with his new family and we have made new friends! I just want to add one more thing, even though this is probably much longer a story than you wanted, we have never fostered a dog before although both the hub and myself are long time pet parents. And while we knew the best thing, because of Fiona's reactions, to get this adorable Yorkie a new home, he still made a mark in both of our lives. So my hat's off to all of you that are involved with animal rescues, especially those that open their homes and hearts for a knowingly limited time span. I don't know how you do it, but thanks! | | |
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