The dog rescuers

the other day, i got this wonderful email from my cousin patti. she and her husband, charlie, live in south texas. i knew they were dog-lovers because she had told me awhile back about her dog, Peaches, who she said must have been like my Toby--a golden dog of her heart, who died.

but in this email, i found out about her four other dogs: all rescued dogs. and then she told me the story of each rescue. the stories brought tears to my eyes and i knew right away that you would love reading them, too. so with her permission, here goes. in her words.

Amber.

Charlie was at his mother's house, where a little puppy was playing in the street, happily chasing kids and having a ball. He asked the kids if that was their dog. They said no, but she sure was cute.

Red flag. We didn't want one of them taking her home--not a good life. A very high probability of being tied to a chain for the rest of her days.

We still had Peaches at the time (our Toby dog), who was 15 years old at the time, and everyone thought that Amber was her puppy. She has a cute way of cocking her head right, then left, when you talk to her, and on the dreadful night that was Peaches' last, Amber walked up to her and cocked her head right, then left, as if Peaches were talking to her. Shortly after, Peaches died.

Beagle, the fat one.

I was in Vegas [where patti's parents lived] when Beagle was wandering the busy street we live on during a bad thunderstorm. She, too, was a puppy. Our neighbors brought her over because they know we're suckers. Amber had been living here several months, and Peaches was still around. Three dogs???

Still undecided as to what to do, she escaped and ended up at the place where I work. The director then was, to put it mildly, a real bitch, and immediately called animal control to be hauled away to our less than desirable humane society. Peaches and Charlie maintained eye contact as the truck gradually diminished from sight. He made it to the shelter as they were unloading her, and by slipping the guy a $20 he brought her home and called me to say no more undecided. My dad even sent him a check for the $20.00 He kind of considered Beagle his dog.

The personality of this dog is amazing.

Why so fat? She has a thyroid condition, which we treat with medication. She really doesn't eat that much, although she is always hungry.

Another trip to Vegas--this one lasting 5 months, while I helped with mom and dad during the heart attacks, broken ankles, broken leg, ambulance runs, rehab hospitals, emergency rooms etc. Charlie's mom had become gravely ill and had to be hospitalized. She had advanced alzheimer's and needed to be watched 24/7 by the family because she would pull out her IV and try to leave.

Charlie would feed the dogs before his watch, and Beagle would eat everything. I came home to a FAT dog. She's actually slimmer now.

Chance.

Charlie was in Mexico, shopping, several years ago and saw a little dog trying unsuccessfully to get someone's attention. Mothers grabbed their children and told them to leave that dirty thing alone. Charlie came totally bummed. I asked him what in the world was so wrong and he told me.

We went back, finally found him hiding under a car, put him in the backseat and smuggled him into the US.

We went straight to the vet and were amazed to learn that he had no heartworm but he had some mange, which was easily treated. He was also very malnourished and had NO energy. A few good meals, a week for the mange to clear up, and we have the cutest little guy. So lovable.

Sophie

She's the last addition. Again the busy street. A juvenile black lab was this close to being hit by a car. She came right to us. She had a collar. No tags. They never have tags. We tried to find her a home. We tried to find her owners. We kept her. Again no heartworm. More amazing no puppies yet. We eventually had her fixed but that's a story for another day.

Sophie is black. She is black from head to tail to toenail. Both of us on separate occasions have called her angrily to COME HERE only to turn around and trip over her. She tries so hard to be loved that it can be a pain. After almost 2 years she's starting to calm down and show some personality.

Energy to burn. She's great to get Beagle to run around and try to catch her.