It seems as though the typical rescue person has little or no empathy for those who can’t keep their animals. But being in rescue, at least for me, has changed that. I don’t see how I can cherish the Sheltie who needs help and not have similar feelings for those whose hearts are breaking as they turn their Shelties over to us. I don’t care how ignorant the situation might seem — most people who turn over their dogs to us are grieving over their loss…some terribly. There should be a place where they can find solace and support. My heart breaks for them.

This is Stevie Nicks who was turned over to us by her puppy raisers, awhile back. I guess with the baby and law school, if I remember correctly, she needed more attention than they could give her. Stevie Nicks’ adopting family is now selling their home here in Utah and moving out of state. Life has changed for them and their hearts are breaking and they are overwhelmed with guilt.

Below - this looks like a photo of Stevie Nicks and Evie interested in something over there…away from the camera.

I can’t stop the pain of loss and end the grieving but I can lessen some of it. When people can see that their Sheltie is going somewhere that they’ll be loved, protected, and placed as though we were placing our own Sheltie, it brings them some relief. I can reassure people that I understand and empathize with their situation and that there’s no blame or shame. I do, because this is how I really feel. My girlfriend Julene thinks I’m too soft. I don’t agree but…that’s me. - Barbara

13. Sounds like so long ago. But things happen. Don’t they?

Let’s do the good news first, OK? We got a call this evening from Ralph, who adopted Tippy and Copper just a few days ago. He wanted to report on the kids’ first visit to their new veterinarian. Copper was pronounced in outstanding health, and Tippy’s report was generally good but tempered by what we continue to believe is lupus on her muzzle. Their vet’s working with a nearby university that’s developing some new tests related to lupus and Tippy’s going to participate in the program (at least that’s the impression I got from Ralph). So, everything is going great there!

Better yet, we had another adoption last night!! A woman to whom Barbara had been talking for some time came over to adopt Echo. She had very recently lost (to old age) one of her three Shelties. The other two came over with her to meet Echo. They were elderly (one is 13, the other about 8 or 9 I think), very sweet and gentle, and got along fine with Echo. Echo really seemed to like the woman and didn’t mind the other two Shelties, so we decided this was right. The woman called today to let us know that everything is going OK, but that Echo isn’t eating. Barbara reassured her that Echo didn’t eat when he first came to us, either, but that he would start eating in a day or two. Hooray…another dog off to a forever home!

Tippy and Copper were barely out of the house (and Echo still here), on their way to their new home in Oregon, before we got a call from a couple to whom we adopted a largish Sheltie named Laddy almost exactly two years ago . The economy has taken its toll on them and they had become unable to spend any time with Laddy; I got the impression that they were both working two jobs or something like that. Anyway, they very unhappily needed to return Laddy to us. He’s been here for 3 or 4 days now, and he’s a little bit clingy…wants me to pet him almost continuously. He’s relaxing some, though, and is now sleeping upstairs in the bedroom with us. He’s a great guy. Even though his adoptive daddy told us that Laddy had not completely gotten over his issues (reported in his adoption day story), we haven’t seen any evidence at all of that.

But the real story is what happened today. This morning, Barbara told me that she’d had a call from an animal control facility down in Utah County, about 30 or 45 minutes south of here, about a Sheltie they’d found wandering the streets. Barbara checked the picture they shelter’d put up on the web to confirm that the dog was really a Sheltie and was immediately concerned about the apparent poor condition of the dog. She left the house almost immediately to go retrieve the girl.

When she got back home with "Sage" (which is the name the shelter gave her), I was horrified. I wasn’t positive that this girl would live until I got her upstairs, never mind to the vet’s! She seems to be very old, her eyes were so runny and gunky that we could barely see the eyeballs…and there was little evidence that she could see at all, she was wheezing like she had fluid in her lungs, shivering from the cold and seemingly from pain, and Barbara said that she wasn’t really able to walk, perhaps due to a broken leg. And, of course, her teeth were horrible. Also, she has worse mats on her legs than I have every seen…ever! This girl looked worse than anything we’ve had come into our program in quite a while.

At the moment I’m writing this, Barbara has Sage, as well as Justice, at the vet. She’s been gone for more than 1.5 hours, so I’m very curious to find out what the vet had to say. I’ll be surprised if she lasts the night, although Barbara did give her subcutaneous fluids to rehydrate her some…that might actually have saved her life long enough to get to the vet’s.

We’ll keep you posted on what is going on.

Ralph is a retired Coast Guard man who lives in Oregon. He had a very hard loss in August when his wife passed away. He’d been caring for her and their two Shelties, Jack and Jill. Ralph and his wife didn’t have human children…the Shelties are their kids. You can’t imagine what a soft, warm hearted man he is.

In September due to very tragic circumstances, Ralph lost both Shelties, Jack and Jill, on the same day. Broken hearted and alone, Ralph started looking for Shelties who needed him as much as he needed them. We were lucky enough to have this wonderful Sheltie-Dad contact us. He drove down from Oregon and met Tippy (previously Zipper and Tipper) and Copper. Ralph was hoping to adopt two Sheltie-kids…a girl and a boy and Tippy and Copper became very attached to him in no time at all.

On the day they were all to leave to return to Oregon together, Tippy and Copper had a little tiff and one of Tippy’s canines got knocked badly enough that it was in the wrong orientation and had to be extracted. One emergency dental later and the very next day…Ralph, Tippy, and Copper rode off into some beautiful fall weather and arrived in Oregon safe and sound the next day.

Before they left we took these photos. I ask you…who’s happy? They all look really happy to us and we can tell you it was really wonderful to see that smile on Ralph’s face. He’s had more than his share of sadness lately. We love adoptions like these.

Tippy’s previous family contacted us shortly after Ralph, Tippy, and Copper left for Oregon to ask how she was doing. We were able to tell her all about this wonderful adoption. We were very pleased to hear her say that the adoption was more than she ever hoped for, for Tippy…beyond what she imagined was possible. She was very happy to hear all the details of Tippy’s new life with Ralph and Copper.

Right now Ralph is busy teaching Tippy and Copper to use the doggie door. We hope to hear more about their progress soon. - Barbara