 Sandy's Story
The day was warm and the dog was lost.
She was darting in and out of traffic on a bridge in
Brooklyn. It seemed she
had been abandoned there and was frightened, confused and very
hungry.
Suzanne, who is the real hero of this story, stopped in the midst of
all this and picked up the terrified dog.
She took her home to her apartment in defiance of the rules
and set on a course to find an owner.
After a week of searching Suzanne realized that there was no
one to claim the sweet Sammy, as she had been named.
The local pound was a kill shelter and Suzanne refused to
place her new friend in such a place.
After many calls she was able to contact Gwen Arthur, the
head of Wheatens in Need.
Gwen got the wheels of rescue into motion immediately.
 That day Gwen sent us an email asking us to
contact Suzanne and save Sammy from certain death in the Brooklyn
shelter. We spoke to
Suzanne and arranged transport from Brooklyn to New Jersey.
None of us had ever been to Brooklyn, but armed with maps and
cell phones we made the trip and found Suzanne’s apartment with not
much trouble. When we
took Sammy’s leash from her hands we could see the sadness in her
eyes. As Suzanne walked
away, Sammy stared and stared after her begging with her own eyes
not to be left in the hands of these strangers.
Two hearts were broken that day.
We loaded our new foster into the car and took
her home to safety. She
was in poor health and in need of grooming.
Her nails and coat had been neglected for so long that even
the bath Suzanne had given her did only a little good.
We drove her straight to the vet.
We are thankful forever to the good Dr. Sarle who sacrificed
a fair part of his weekend to care for our little waif.
He cleaned her ears, cut her badly overgrown nails and gave
her all the basic injections and medications to clear up her
infected ears. She came
home that day feeling a lot better and she and Zoe circled each
other for awhile before deciding to coexist peacefully.
That night we introduced her to her new bed inside a crate by
our own bed. She was
not too happy to be there but as time went on it became her favorite
place to sleep.
We decided to call her Sandy because it seemed to us to suit her and
Sammy was a boy’s name.
Sunday dawned warm and sunny and Sandy got her
very first serious bath from us.
She was scrubbed and shampooed and seemed to enjoy the entire
experience. That was
good because there were many more baths to come.
The next week we were back to see Dr. Sarle and get more
shots and more medicines to clear up an itchy skin rash.
We made an appointment to have Sandy spayed and her teeth
cleaned.
 After she had her final series of inoculations
we took her to a professional groomer who gave her a true wheatie
haircut. She was
becoming more beautiful every day.
With short nails she began to run and trot and get the
exercise she needed.
Sandy was learning to play with us and with Zoe and life was good.
We fitted her with a Gentle Leader to teach her how to walk
properly on a leash and not pull our arms out of the socket.
It seemed she was never on a leash before and had no idea
what to do except pull as hard as she could.
She adjusted almost immediately to the Gentle Leader and
became the darling of the neighborhood walking and greeting everyone
with great friendliness and enthusiasm.
Lots of People wanted to adopt her.
She is now home in Maryland with two People who
love her very much.
When we said goodbye the day she went home we were all crying but
mostly tears of happiness that our sweet
Sandy had finally found a permanent loving home.
It was a great Christmas present for us all.
Finally we offer thanks and praise to Suzanne,
who had the courage to pick up a strange dog in the midst of a
dangerous situation and who protected Sandy from certain death.
She also loved her enough to give her up and give her a
chance at a life where she is loved and cared for permanently.
Thank you Suzanne!!!!
<Written by Jean Kuhn, Sandy's foster mom>
FOSTERING IS FUN !
|
