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A Special Happy Tail
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All of my animals are rescued animals, actually. Two of them had a hard time being placed.

Sampson is my oldest dog, whom I've had for five years. I found him on Petfinder.com, where he was marked as urgent. If he wasn't adopted soon, he would be put down. It was love at first site (on the Internet.) A month later, I finally met this one year old Lab when he got off the trip from Kansas to Milwaukee (there is an organization in Milwaukee that takes dogs from rural Kansas shelters and brings them up for adoption.) He actually was the first off because he annoyed the heck out of the drivers the entire trip! He hated car rides at first, but now loves them. In fact, when I moved him and my two cats 400 miles, he slept through the entire thing.

Helen is my youngest animal and is quite a story. She was rescued from a puppy mill in Missouri. Because of over breeding, she is deaf /and/ blind from birth. The shelter had her returned so many times because of this that they were thinking of taking her out of the adoption pool. I went shopping in St. Louis (live 100 miles away) and saw her. I didn't really want a third dog, but she needed a home with someone who knew animals, and other dogs to help her out. I couldn't help it; she came home with me when she was six months old. She is still a little terror, and has torn up lots of stuff, but is one of the most loving dogs you would ever meet. I make rounds at two nursing homes, and she accompanies me. It is wonderful to see the smile she brings to the elderly residents' faces. To think that she was almost going to be classified as 'unadoptable.' We are even working on some training right now. Yes, I'm learning how to train a deaf and blind dog. Basically, we work with touch. I want to get it to the point that she sits and stays put when I stop -- hard to do with an inquisitive pup. She responds well to treats, and is about half way there.

I'm finding that special needs animals, like humans, have extra special qualities of their own.

Comments

By Kenny @ Monday, March 03, 2008 5:32 PM

Congratulations for the enormous heart you have, It must be really hard for you to train a deaf and blind dog but i hope u do well and your dogs, too.

By smilingirl @ Tuesday, April 01, 2008 7:19 PM

Your animals are so blessed to have been found by you. I live in Missouri & am all to aware of the tragedy of puppy mills. 1 of my girls is a rescue (but not puppy mill), she was kept in a wire cage for an unknown amount of time. So many things she'd never experienced -pond & frogs to name a few. It has been such a pleasure to show her these & many other things.

By armywife29 @ Thursday, April 03, 2008 11:39 AM

we need more people like you in this world you have given those dogs a second chance at life. I am a dog lover too I have a beagle he's also a rescue dogs are great and bring lots of joy to my life.

By Marilyn Ray @ Thursday, April 03, 2008 4:49 PM

Bless You! I adopted a Chihuahua/Pom mix last year who was deemed a "biter" and was about to be put down. I
adopted this guy and have lovingly worked with him to
mellow him out.

Please...everyone seeking a pet....rescue, rescue, rescue!!!
Thanks.

By ranaes @ Sunday, April 20, 2008 7:36 PM

Thank you to all who have commented. I have to say, I've benefited as much from these adoptions as the animals. Helen is my constant companion at home, and is always with me. Everyone who meets her is surprised how happy she always is, no matter the circumstances.
All animals need is love and attention, and they will show how great they can be, no matter the deficits.

By cnawaz @ Thursday, May 01, 2008 12:25 AM

I love to hear stories of people like you, that adopt their animals, rather than buy them from some fancy pet store. I also have adopted or rescued in some way all of my animals.I have three cats,who all came from bad home situations, and all of the many small animals we have are all adopted from two locations of the same pet store that are near our house. We had twin male rats, that both have recently passed away, the first one passed away about six months before the other brother, and the surviving twin needed extra attention from us, since he seemed to take his twin's passing really hard. We did not have a cage for them, until we bought one the day that we saw them for adoption. The stores know me very well, and any small animals that are up for adoption at the time, even if it's more than one, always end up coming home with us that day. The employees just know that I cannot stand to hear stories about how long they have been there for adoption, with nobody giving them a single glance. We adopted a black gerbil, named him Link(my 11 year old son is really into video games, and many of our small animals have video-game related names). We have three hamsters, two goldens named Chewbacca(my 11 year old also loves Star Wars), Chewie for short, that on the way home, happened to chew his way out of the box he was being transported home in. I was driving, and my 11 year old was the only other person with me at the time. He seemed to really get a kick out of the situation. We adopted the other golden some time later, and he also happened to chew his way out of the box. His name is Chomper. I have grown up with hamsters all my life, since I am severely allergic to all animals with feathers or fur, and my father doesn't like cats (I wanted a cat so bad at the time)ever since I was 7 years old, now I am 34, and my two sons, ages 13 and 11 love all animals as much as me, and my hubby does as well. We cannot have dogs where we live at the present time, since it is an apartment that doesn't allow them, but we are looking for a house that we all like to buy, then we probably will get a dog or two. I am on vety good allergy meds,since my allergist realized that I refused to not live with animals, and he finally agreed that I could get as many as I want, as long as I quit smoking cigarettes(I have bad asthma as well). I have always had a hamster the whole time I grew up, butr only one at a time, but when I moved out on my own, I adopted a cat that had saved my life, she jumped onto a counter, which she never did before or ever after that, and pushed my glucgon kit(I could not see it since my blood sugar was so low, I was starting to have a seizure, and the kits at the time were not bright red, they were plain white)right in front of my face, allowing me to finally see it, and end up taking my glucagon, saving my life, since nobody else was home at the time, and would not be home for hours. The oldest cat I have now, she also saved my life, by managing to get the plug out of the drain of the bathtub,, draining the water. If she had not done that, I would have ended up drowning, since I had passed out from a low blood sugar, and ended up sliding down into the tub so far that I would have drowned, had she not managed to get the plug out of the drain. She has always loved taking her baths with me, jumping onto my lap, but every time she took a bath with me, I only filled the water high enough so that her paws barely got wet. That day, I ended up waking up to her on my chest, licking my face to attempt to wake me, and my other two cats were on the side of the tub, watching to make sure I was O.K. as well. Midnight has always followed me into the bathroom when she hears the bathwater running, as if she needs to be there to make sure I am safe. The other two cats end up in the bathroom as well, after she runs in the bathroom first. Midnight is in the bathroom whenever my hubby and my boys are not home, and even when they are, she still has a habit of following me everywhere I go. I know that some may think that I am strange for saying that two cats have saved my life, but I know that if it weren't for them, I would have died long ago, when I had just gotten out of high school, or at least a year ago. Cats are very intelligent, as all animals are, and they truly should be cherished for there everloving ways. I know that no matter how bad I end up having allergic symptoms, I still would rather deal with them than not have my "furry kids". My 11 year old's dream is to become a vet, or some other animal-related carrer. All animals that he even just meets for the first time, seem drawn to him, they seem to know that he would never hurt them, and that he would help them if need be. My 13 year old loves all animals as well, and he never listens to his peers teasing of his love for animals. He usually does everything that is considered "cool" by other kids his age, but with animals, he never lets the kids pick on him, without standing up for his pets. When I met my hubby the first time, and he came out to our apartment the first time, he spent much time petting the cat that we had at the time, Midnight, and he has always loved cats. Whenever we got more animals as part of the family, he never told us "no", he encouraged us. The only thing is though, that he is a little scared of the small animals, but he still talks to them from just outside of their cages, he is trying to become not scared of them. I love our family so much, even our "furry children" and so does the rest of my family. My mom always spends much tome with all our little ones, and tells them how sweet they all are. My maternal grandparents had much to do with my love for animals, since they had a house in the country, far away from any neighbors, and mean people always dumped off unwanted cats there, by the road, and my grandma always cooked every meal as if all of her 12 kids were at home, and as if they still lived on the farm, with many helpers to feed as well, even if it's just my grandparents at home. All the leftovers, she scrapes into bowls to put out for these unfortunate cats. There were always easily an average of 30 cats at one time, all the years they lived there, which was since I was maybe 4 years old. They had a cat that they adopted that was truly theirs, and a dog, but they also stayed outside with the wild cats(they were pretty tame when they were first dumped off, but they learned to live in the wild pretty good). My grandparents were always trying to catch the cats to go get them fixed to try to help control the population, but with not much of a result. Some of the cats came right up to my grandparents, and me as well, but stayed away from everybody else that would visit their house. Some cats even went home with relatives, and lived a comfortable, happy long life. I was deeply affected by my grandparents, and so was my mother, but my dad never really wanted to have any pets of our own at our house. Even now, my dad held one of the hamsters that I had when I was a mother myself, when we used to live with them, and he said that he was really saddened by the loss of a hamster that he had when he was really young, that ended up getting really sick, and dying of the sickness. That is why he never really wanted a pet at our house, he still remembers his sorrow about his hamster.

By ranaes @ Friday, May 30, 2008 9:35 PM

An update on my babies!!!
Both are thriving and doing well. Helen is with me, or her buddies all day long -- the way she likes it. In fact, If I have to kennel my dogs when I'm gone, I have a couple of places that will put all three of them together -- talk about family bliss!
Helen is so much calmer than when I first got her. She's been out on a 100 ft lead several times in my back yard, to her utter delight! She runs around like a little devil. But, she knows that she will always end up in her family's embrace at the end of the day.

By ranaes @ Wednesday, July 16, 2008 9:53 PM

Doggie Update!!
Helen is SOOO much calmer than when I got her. She is still a puppy - something that came out at our last vet visit this week. Helen wouldn't let a new vet examine her ears or teeth without being on my shoulder. She still needs her momma with all new situations, since I am familiar, and he wasn't
With her lack of hearing, and sight, her sense of vibration and smell is MUCH better than other dogs (believe it or not!) So, you can't get much by her, Despite her limitations.
Sampson remains my calm buddy in the storm of the menagerie. He is always there for me, not matter what. I have never regretted my decision to adopt him sight unseen from Petfinder.com. Their description fitted him to the tee.

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