Before the CosmoCon Fail a while back, I had a lengthy post about Coco, my beloved 17-year-old Border Collie, passing away. It’s been about 6 weeks, and I’m still getting used to the idea that he’s no longer with us.

If I’ve struggled 600 miles away, you can imagine what my parents have gone through. My family loves dogs. I don’t know if it’s possible to be more “dog people.” As they’ve grieved, Mom and Dad kept mentioning how lonely and quiet the house was. When my other two pets died, I was still around and Coco was the “young” dog. Not having a a furry creature has been tough for them.

Yesterday, they went to Petsmart to look at a Border Collie that was the pet of the week on Chattanoogan. The dog had just been adopted when they got there, but they were greeted by another “smiling” face and a wagging tail.They were taken in by a large, brindle-colored mutt with a sweet disposition. They left to think about adopting her and told me about her. After praying and thinking about it this morning, they went back to adopt her this afternoon. Meet Sunny.

Mom and Dad were heartbroken by her story. Her family was forced to surrender her to the Walker County (GA) Animal Shelter after their house was foreclosed. At the shelter she was neglected, starved and lost nearly all her hair.  The Humane Educational Society in Hamilton County rescued her when she was on the short list to be put to sleep and rehabilitated her. Because she’s a big dog at around 80 lbs and old with arthritis, she wasn’t ever adopted and was at the HES for about a year.

After telling me that story on the phone, I was crying. I can’t imagine what Mom and Dad were doing looking at this sweet dog. After dealing with Coco’s prolonged demise, my parents know exactly how to help an arthritic dog. The HES has no way to pay for special food for older dogs or glucosimine supplements. I think Sunny ended up in doggy paradise with my parents, and I’m glad they had an opportunity to help a dog that needed special care.

They’re already spoiling her and planning trips to Aunt Sue’s K-9 Bakery. I can’t wait to meet her next week over Thanksgiving.

In DC, we’re somewhat insulated from the animal overpopulation issues. It’s much worse in the South. Due to lack of education and backwards ideas regarding spaying/neutering and leash laws, there are far too many dogs. Animals that are sent to the Washingtion Animal Rescue League where Zeke came from, will be adopted. Animals that go to places like the Walker County Animal Shelter face a certain death. If you’re contemplating adopting a furry friend, please consider rescuing a dog first.

If you’re like me and a have a bleeding heart for dogs but can’t adopt one, you can sign up to help provide food to animal shelters by clicking on the Animal Rescue Site everyday. Each morning, I look forward to clicking on the reminder email and reading the rescue story of the day.

Tags: Aunt Sue's K-9 Dog Bakery, border collies, Chattanooga, Coco, dogs, Humane Educational Society

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 6:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.