Last week when I was picking up a litter of puppies (Zoot, Dobbs, Kevin and Lyra that we’ve been posting about), I noticed a Golden Retriever mix about 1/2 way down the block. I asked the guy that I was getting the puppies from whose dog that was and he said it lived down there, but was out all the time. I needed to get the puppies back to Chain of Hope, but I made a note to come back and try and talk to the golden’s owner, especially about spaying or neutering it.
A few days later, we headed back over and noticed this Golden mix standing in someone’s front yard. She had a collar and a red tie-out. At first we thought that she was tied to the tree. Then we realized that the other end of her tie-out wasn’t attached to anything! Some guys were sitting out on the front porch. We pulled up and asked them if that was their dog. Their immediate response was, “Do you want to take her?” I said no-we were wondering if they needed help with her. He asked if we could take her and said that his room mate didn’t want her. One of the guys told us that the owner was just talking that morning about calling animal control to come and get her. She was a beautiful dog and it was so sad that she wasn’t wanted. I told him that we needed to get her spayed before she got pregnant and he replied that they thought she already was!
They called the guy on the phone and he gave them permission to sign our form and let us take her. He did not want her. This poor girl was covered in fleas. She was scratching and digging at herself all the time.
While we were there, getting our relinquishment form signed, a tiny scraggly-looking kitten came out of the bushes next door and it was crying and crying. It looked awful. It ran up on the porch and the golden mix liked her. The kitten wasn’t scared at all. We asked the guy if there were more kittens and he told us no-that he had never seen this little thing before. Well, we weren’t going to leave it here, so it got loaded in the van, too!
When we got in the van, Erica popped open a can of cat food. This little baby was starving! It’s fur looked like it had been really wet recently. Poor little thing! It got a full tummy, we put it in our bucket with a blanket for the ride back to Chain of Hope. Ultimately, though, he decided that he liked our lap better!
We got these two back to Chain of Hope. We got Florence in a few days later for her spay. She was not pregnant, thank goodness, but she sure would’ve been if we hadn’t gotten her off the streets.
Another rescue helped us out with the kitten, which was great because we are not really set up to have kitties at our facility. Judy kept Florence at her house for about a week or so because we did not have room for her at our facility. We brought her to Chain of Hope a few days ago and she was just a joy to have! She has a great personality-very playful and loving.
Paige and Mark graciously stepped forward to foster Florence for a bit. They already have two Chain of Hope dogs that they’ve adopted, Tucker and Gypsy. Here is what Paige wrote after having Florence for her first night:
Flo is a wonderful dog who enjoys company. She doesn’t like being in her kennel. And she loves to play with both Tucker and Gypsy. Tucker is kind of obsessed with her. He follows her everywhere. Last night Flo laid completely still with her head in my lap as I carefully cut huge matted knots of fur out from behind her ears. There must have been a dozen dead fleas just in the two clumps from behind her ears. Poor gal must be feeling so much better!!!
Florence was exhausted after playing and playing all evening in her new foster home!
Florence is in heaven! Instead of wandering the streets, dragging her red tie-out cable and having no one in this world that really cared about her, she is safe and happy at Mark and Paige’s house for now. She already has lots of people that love her and two new best dog buddies! Foster homes make all the difference in the world. Thank you, Paige and Mark, and all of our fosters!
Here is Florence, all tuckered out, dreaming about being a Chain of Hope dog. It’s not a dream, Florence-you will still be a Chain of Hope dog when you wake up in the morning! Those horrible days of yours are over! Thank you, supporters for keeping us on the streets, finding and saving great dogs like Florence!
