A Bit of Magic and a Canine Miracle that Touched My Heart by Sarah Raplee

MID-LEFT SIDE, HORIZONTAL
ASH AND ECHO

So many experiences touch  my heart with wonder, grace and gratitude. I hardly know where to start this post! I decided to share these two true stories.

A Bit of Magic

A year ago I played the scratch-off crossword card pictured here and was gifted with my two eldest granddaughters' names, Ash and Echo. Magical! Check out the photo. What are the odds? Was this a comforting message from the girls' deceased grandfather?

A Canine Miracle

We live on a wooded acreage in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. Three years ago, we agreed to pet-sit our son's kids' tiny dog, Steve, while his family went to Iowa for Christmas. Steve weighs five pounds soaking wet and has poor eyesight. He had never been a problem when we took care of him in the past. 

This time the little guy managed to run away and disappear before we could catch up to him. It was the dead of winter, and the coyotes had recently killed a small dog a quarter mile down the road in her own back yard. We searched for him frantically all day without luck. That night it poured and the temperature dipped into the thirties. We couldn't imagine what he was going through.

STEVE

I spent the next day posting signs the length of our road and all over the small town nearby, calling Animal Control and all local shelters, and posting his picture and info on local Facebook Groups. Steve was chipped and had a collar with his phone number on it and he was wearing a red sweater I hoped would make him get noticed. 

The third day I drove down our road, knocking on doors to hand out flyers. I learned he had been spotted by several different people running westward down the road the afternoon he ran away. They said he seemed to know where he was going and he wouldn't let them get near him. That didn't surprise me. He was always afraid of strangers.

Over the next ten days, we prayed for a miracle and continued to post signs and knock on doors, getting occasional leads. One man reported seeing him in the light of a large Christmas display on his way home from work at three o'clock in the morning! People were wonderful about watching for him, but he eluded  everyone that spotted him. Then the reports of Steve sightings stopped. We lost hope. An ice storm was predicted for Day 14. The night before, we agreed there was no  way he was still alive. We'd done our best, but it was time we all accepted Steve was gone forever.

STEVE THE WONDER DOG

Early the next morning we were watching the ice storm forecast on the weather channel when my son called. A farmer had caught Steve and called the number on his collar. 

His little red sweater was long gone. Steve had traveled five miles in two weeks and managed not to get eaten by an owl, bobcat or  other predator. He was skin and bones, dirty and matted, but Steve the Wonder Dog would be okay. 

Three years later, he's still going strong!

One Treat Away: A Charitable Story

By Courtney Leigh

Sometimes, most times, a charity needs manpower more than funds. Without volunteers, all the money in the country would do diddly-squat. So time, time, time is more valuable than gold...

The front page of my local paper reported a dog breeding kennel (only about 15 miles from my family's dog boarding kennel that I manage) charged with several counts of abuse, neglect, unsafe conditions, etc. The kennel had been reported in the past, but it had remained untouched. There were lots of people that had been waiting years for the county to do something about this particular breeding puppy-mill set on the side of a major roadway. Drivers could literally see dogs--TONS of dogs being neglected--as they drove past. 

Three days after reading the story, I got a call at work from a dog rescue group in this area.

The director asked me if our business would help their charity deal with housing 50-60 Kuvasz over a 4-6 month period (not all at once! No more than 3 at a time:). For those of you unfamiliar with the breed, Kuvasz are big, white, fluffy, and were originally used for sheep-guarding.  Which is why they blend with sheep so well. They're thinkers and jokers (I personally think they have the BEST senses of humor), and can be great family pets.

In any case, my mother and I discussed, and decided we could afford to commit 2 of our 8 kennels in the facility over to assist the endeavor of relocating the Kuvasz to foster homes, to other rescue groups throughout the US, or adopting them out to new families.

Though we do charge $5/day per dog, we have donated more time than anything else into these unsocialized, never-bathed-in-their-lives, insecure beasts who really do like people, but whose distrust is ingrained, instinctive and natural.

I've learned hotdogs are a great tool in luring never-been-touched Kuvasz. I've also learned how fulfilling time can be when you spend it well. And while I tell those volunteers to keep going, keep doing good things, keep striving for that end goal, they thank me for my time, too. Just think about who you'd like to help, what you can do even if you don't have much money to spare.

Because most of these dogs are one treat away from being a great pet. And it's such a gratifying sensation once you step up and help...I don't think I'll be able to look at hotdogs the same way after all of this is over!