Adopter Name

Helen Ann Swartwout

Rescue Dog’s Name

Sketch

Where Did You Find Your Dog?

I was doing some fostering for Stray Animal Adoption Program at the time. Terri, the president, knew that I was looking to adopt a small dog. She called and said that there was a young little terrier mix who had come in so I should come up to Petsmart to meet him and possibly foster him. As Terri tells it, he had been living outside in sub-degree weather at a home in Kentucky where the owner had been cited previously for having too many dogs. Terri (a dog warden) had gone to the home to remove one dog to get the lady’s count down to the legal limit. Without care or a bit of regret the lady dismissively said ’oh, take that one’ and gestured to the scruffy black and white one like he was an old piece of furniture. Terri entered him into SAAP’s foster system (because she is cool that way!). He lived with another SAAP volunteer for a week or so. And on that beautiful Saturday in February, I went and picked up the scruffy little 6 month old. I took him on a s a foster and, no surprise, fell in love with him.

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

The first night I had him I was planning to teach him to sleep in his crate beside the bed. But he didn’t seem to like that plan and scratched on the crate door to come out. I couldn’t resist the big, sad eyes. And so I let him jump up onto the bed. He was a good snuggler. That was probably the end of any doubt that he and I were meant to be mama and fuzzy.

How Has Your Hero Changed Your Life?

Sketch has been a constant companion to me through some of the greatest struggles in my life. Through depression and anxiety, to surviving a bad marriage and divorce, to welcoming my new husband as his own ’dad’. Sketch is also a wonderful traveller. We have gone on a number of road trips from Cincinnati to Florida and also to Chicago. Sketch has enriched my life just by being himself and all the little things he does that make him one of a kind and so loveable.