Adopter Name

D. Eades

Rescue Dog’s Name

Abby

Where Did You Find Your Dog?

Back on November 5, 2012, our 14 year old Beagle lost her battle with kidney failure and we had the vet put her to sleep at our house, peacefully. We had also lost Wookie,our other 14 year old Shepherd mix just a few months before, and for the first time in 20 years we were a family without any dogs. The house was way too quiet. We knew it was coming and had plans to adopt a couple of older dogs from shelters, the ones who are often overlooked. We had been volunteer transporters for the Brown County Animal Shelter in Georgetown Ohio for quite a while. The day after Snugglebug died, the shelter asked if we could do a transport on short notice…we were glad to have something to get us out of that quiet house and feel useful. We were to pick up an 8 week old puppy named Flower from them and transport her to SAAP Rescue in Northern Ky.

Tell Us About the Moment When You Knew that You Two Were Meant for Each Other.

When the shelter manager brought her out and placed her in my arms, it was INSTANT KARMA. She had the sweetest brown eyes, and black face, with little brown eyebrows. She instantly reminded me of my Wookie as a puppy, who passed away 13 months before. During the hour long drive to Kentucky she kept making little puppy noises and giving my husband those cute little whimpers. After awhile he mentioned maybe we could ADOPT her, because she was so much like Wookie. We had not had a puppy in 15 years and had decided we were too old to put up with all that a puppy encompasses: chewing, housebreaking, etc. We wanted an older dog. Well I thought, maybe we could FOSTER her for a while to see if we were up to owning a puppy again. I called the rescue and they agreed. We were able to pick her up from their vet 2 days later after she had been spayed. She stayed with us for 2 more weeks before we finalized her adoption and changed her name to Abby, because she was found in a culvert in Aberdeen Ohio.

How Has Your Hero Changed Your Life?

Even though she has been challenging at times, she has indeed changed our lives. Our hearts were broken, not once but twice in a year from the loss of our old dogs. Having a puppy and all her exuberance for life has kept us laughing and seeing things from a whole new perspective now. We are back to taking long walks with her again, which we couldn’t do with the old dogs due to their health problems. Our hearts are healing and we believe she was a gift from Wookie, to make us smile again. She does so many things that we call “Wookie-isms” that were so unique to him. We were meant to be together and I hope we have at least 14 years with her.