Jill and I were just getting ready to leave Pet Smart about 5:00 pm on a cold Tuesday evening. Our rescue Group, Green Pets America is usually only at this Pet Smart in Canton, Georgia on Sundays, but we were here because I was making a special effort to get one of our lovable rescues a new home. This special rescue was a big scared lab and he needed a permanent home to feel safe and really loved again. So as we left I loaded Sam, the big goofy yellow lab in Jill’s little eco car and walked back in the store to make sure we left nothing behind.
All of a sudden this young guy comes running in with a little white and brown Jack Russell Terrier. The little dog was shaking and his leg was sticking out looking like it may be broken. Jack Russell’s are funny and crazy and always wired up. They all seem to be caffeine hyped 10 Starbucks ahead of all the other dogs we rescue.
The kid asked if I was “the rescue guy” that came on Sundays. I said yes. He immediately said he was in a hurry and was late to work, but I needed to take this dog. He said he was driving to work on the highway right near us and saw this little Jack Russell jump out of a car onto the highway and scamper to the side of the road. So this kid, I was referring to him in my head as “Lying Dude” said he turned his car around and picked him up and drove him here for someone to take him. I know I may seem coarse but we hear all kinds of reasons when someone wants to give up their dog. So I was hoping he was really a Good Samaritan, but skeptical that he may also just want to get rid of his own dog.
As we talked “Dude’s trying to get out of the store as quickly as possible. I’m holding the little scared dog…with his lease attached to his collar. So, I had to ask. When “Jack” jumped out of the moving car, did he have this leash on him at the same time?
He looked at me for a second, kind of dumb founded and said; yup he jumped with the leash as well. We talked a bit and just as he was leaving I said to him, looks like this poor dog he hasn’t eaten in a while. “Dude” said, no he ate this morning and ran to his car. So much for “Good Samaritan”
The truth is I am glad “Dude” did bring him to our rescue group at Pet Smart. He actually did the right thing. Sometimes “Dudes” abandon their dogs in the woods. Little house trained dogs just don’t survive long on their own. Or had he taken him to a shelter, as an owner turn in, with a broken leg as well, the little guy would probably be immediately euthanized. Many shelters feel if you as the owner turn in your own dog, the dog must have bad issues and they won’t readopt them, they euthanize them. Also, most shelters are community, tax payer funded kill shelters. As such most do not receive sufficient local government funding to surgically fix all the dogs abandoned.
So, “Starbucks” as I started calling him was saved. He was taken to a No-Kill Rescue Group. Our Tag line at Green Pets America is…Rescue – Recycle – Relove. Little Starbucks was now rescued. Over a couple of months in a Green Pets foster home he would be Recycled and made new. And when little Starbucks got adopted, which he did, he became reloved.
If you love dogs, please what ever you can to help your local rescue no-kill groups and local animal shelters. Volunteer at your local community animal shelter, or donate a small amount of money to a local rescue non-profit group like ours so they can rescue more little ones like “Starbucks” and get them Rescued – Recycled and Reloved into new homes.
P.S. Sam, the big goofy yellow Lab I had taken a special interest and took to Pet Smart that day also got adopted. My son Stephen and his wife Trish adopted him a couple of weeks later. He now lives happily after ever with four of their other rescued dogs. It seems rescuing dog’s runs in the Monahan family.
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