Dog Stories and Poetry
by Patricia Walter
|
Sugar and Spice and their Courageous Destinies by Bart Peluso
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans Louisiana, we had no idea how
it would impact our lives way over in Ft Lauderdale Florida. Not too
many people know it, but back in 2005 the Humane Society of Broward
County moved literally hundreds of abandoned dogs from New Orleans to
their state of-the-art facility in S. Florida.
We already have two Lapsos that we adore, Billy Boy and Trooper, but my
wife Barbara wanted so badly to adopt a rescue dog from New Orleans. So
off we went to the Humane Society to “Save a Katrina dog”
We were given a beautiful female Yorkie, We took her home and low and
behold we had a dog who was so traumatized, whenever we went near her
she would try to bite everything in site. We tried so hard for the next
few days but to no avail. So, left with no choice, we had to take her
back to the Humane Society. Barbara sat in the car in tears while I
brought the little Yorkie back.
The wonderful people at the Humane Society said because of the volume of
dogs from New Orleans they could not properly process every pet and this
little Yorkie should never have been released . The good news: she would
need to go to a Humane Society sponsored special foster home to be
socialized but it may take months before she becomes adoptable. We
wanted to help right now !
I asked do you have another little dog? The Humane Society Director said
with a sheepish smile “not exactly but bring your wife in and we have
something to show her” � So I dragged my wife out of the car and had her
wait in the Executive Directors office
The Director came in with two of the most beautiful Bijon sisters , we
have ever seen and said if we don�t adopt them both, they will, most
likely, be separated . How could anyone separate such sweet twin girls ?
So off we went with our two new children “Sugar and Spice”… We were so
happy to have these lovable girls and they got along so well with Billy
and Trooper. �
And Spice Girl the smallest of the pack, quickly adopted us and
developed this little habit. She would jump all over Barb and myself and
wake us up every morning with a million kisses. What a fur family. I
told Barbara my wife how lucky we were to have four wonderful and loving
dogs.
But wait the story does not stop here. Our little Spice girl recently
came down with Sards, an instant form of total canine blindness. We
searched the internet and contacted a renowned Sards expert Dr. Sinisa
Grozdanic at the University of Iowa for help. We even had an
experimental procedure performed under his direction with our
Ophthalmologist Veterinarian Dr. Tina Pellicane at Camelot Animal
Hospital In Davie Florida. Unfortunately, even with the best care
available, Spice was in the 50% that doesn�t not show improvement.
Even with all our efforts, our baby, Spice Girl, was permanently blind.
We were devastated and I even asked how could our Creator be so cruel to
make a lovable sweet girl like Spice go blind? All we could do is love
our baby and help her through her blindness. I went on www.blinddogs.com
and learned so much and how to live and care for a blind dog. We did
everything the website said to make her life easier and as normal as
possible.
But Spice Girl took it so much better than us and her positive approach
and courage set an example for Barb and myself. We were saddened while
she took her blindness in stride, never gave up trying, her tail always
wagging and she gave us new hope.
Then I realized maybe The Lord did send little Spice girl to us for a
reason, as he knew she would go blind and she needed us to help her
through her affliction and we needed her to love us back..
Spice is doing so well now, if I didn�t tell you she is blind you would
think she has perfect sight…and oh yes�. did I mention Spice Girl
still wakes us up every morning with a million kisses.
I remember something I read when I was younger that “every little boy
has the best dog in the world”. I may be much older now but I do feel
like that little boy every day.
Bart Peluso
|
|