Today is Remember the Rescue on Remember Me Thursday, a day to remember the animals that have been rescued from shelters, pounds and various other places AND to remember shelters are still overflowing with animals waiting for their ‘furever’ homes.
If you are considering adding an animal to your family please consider adopting a Shelter Mutt.
We’ve told our story of our adopted Shelter Mutt, Marley (can read more about her in our Black Dog Syndrome blog post) and I’m forever grateful that we had so many loving years with her.
Today, we are telling the first part of Lucy (and Savannah’s) story…
When Lucy was brought into a pound in Tennessee it triggered the start of a four day wait period before her time was up. Little did the pound know that Lucy was pregnant. They didn’t notice this fact because Lucy was malnourished – all skin and bones.
On her second day, she gave birth to three puppies.
However, Lucy wasn’t going to have her time extended – there would be no celebrating the three little lives she had been blessed with – it meant that all three puppies would be euthanized with her.
I received a call (and pictures) from my friend Chandra in Tennessee. I looked at the pictures of Lucy – in each of them, her face was turned away from the camera. It seemed like she was trying to hide – no – disappear. I desperately made calls to people in Southern IL that I volunteered with in the past (for an animal sheltering organization) but they were all fostering dogs from a disaster area in flooded MO.
I tried to put the pictures out of my mind. Tried not to look at them. Lucy kept drawing me back.
I was a single mom of three little kids – desperately trying to keep my head above water and protect my kids at the same time. Wasn’t she trying to do the same? Felt like we were both working against overwhelming odds. And wasn’t I trying to hide from the world myself? Because I needed time and …maybe a little of something…to heal. I felt alone, scared about my future and overwhelmed. I felt a pull towards her and wanted to give her comfort…maybe give her something of what I so desperately needed myself.
It was the Thursday before Easter and I couldn’t accept this small family of dogs weren’t going to survive until Sunday. Wasn’t Easter a weekend that started out with a tragedy – a horrific and heartbreaking day – and then a couple of days later turns into the most amazing day to be celebrated and cherished?
That was the kind of ending I wanted for this pound dog and her puppies on death row. I wanted them to finish the weekend with LIFE.
I called my cousin Amy and explained the situation and knew she would think I was crazy – thinking about driving down to TN to pick up dogs. She knew better than to try and talk me out of it (although did think I was crazy!) and surprised me with an offer to join me for the ride. I arranged child care and off we went.
Fortunately, Chandra was able to pull the dogs out of the pound immediately and also found a few very kind people to start a transport chain heading north while we drove south – making our long journey shortened to a mere 15-hour car ride.
We arrived at a road side eatery and met a nice couple with kind faces and kind hearts. They opened the door but I was not prepared for how emaciated this poor dog was … the moment I looked into Lucy’s eyes – I knew that the process of finding homes for the dogs did not pertain to her. She was already etched into my heart…she was home.
Our two dogs, Marley and Taz, accepted the little TN family with open paws and hearts. We worked on giving Lucy love and slowly increased her food intake. She started to put on weight and build confidence. The puppies were adorable and we had no problem finding two great homes for the Shelter Mutt males of the litter.
However, Savannah, the female puppy…well, if you have seen our About Us page, you’ve already met her! We didn’t invite her into our family – she made that decision for us. She’s kind of like that ? No, no! We fell in love and couldn’t let her go! Although, I do think it was her idea.
I didn’t rescue our Shelter Mutt, Lucy…she literally rescued me. I mean that in every sense of the word. I wanted to save this starving dog on death row and she truly came into my life rescuing me and touching me in ways no other being has…to the deep core of my soul. God gave us to each other that day. I thank Him daily. I mean EVERY SINGLE DAY.
This year, for Remember the Rescue – Remember Me Thursday – we here at Shelter Mutt are remembering Marley and Lucy. They are forever in our hearts. And…Savannah, who still warms our hearts every second of every day.