Help a canine’s climate change—October is Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog month

Rusty the rescued pup had a lucky day when he met our younger daughter; he won the equivalent of the puppy lottery.If I had to pick one of the 7 non-human wonders of my immediate world, it would be my dog. We actually have two. One we planned on getting and the other we didn’t.

We adopted Rusty when the family he started life with couldn’t take care of him anymore. He quickly became a member of our family. October is Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog month, and in honor of Rusty and all orphaned pups in need of a positive climate change, we’re sharing some advice from Dr. Diane Pomerance.

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Reality Puppy: Rescued dog finds road paved with perks

Background on rescued pup Tiny-Rusty

My cell phone rang and I heard four words that stop a parent’s heart. “Mom, don’t get upset.”

I was 3 states away, traveling with my husband to check on our parents. My mom and his dad were admitted to emergency rooms within an hour’s time in two different cities in South Carolina. Why do children always say ‘don’t get upset’ when they know what they say is guaranteed to upset you?

I asked what was wrong. Becky began to tell me about a dog owned by one of my daughter Jen’s clients who suddenly had to move and found it necessary to leave the pup behind. Big sister knew exactly what to do when faced with a rescue-wannabe. She called her little sister to go get the dog.

“Jen says he’ll be really easy to adopt out. So it’s just for a couple days,” Becky said.

Later, Jen told me, “He’s pitiful.” She said a former co-worker wants the pup. I had the impression the dog might have psychological scars after parting with his family, even at 20 weeks. “Left behind,” Jen said. “So sad.” Or something like that.

We were not looking for a dog. We have a perfectly good, hound who works hard at being lazy.

But what could I do? I told Becky to take care of the dog, get it to the vet for a go-over and we’d talk once the crisis in Carolina was under control. I waited 24 hours before telling my husband.

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