Lucy's Rescue

This headline in The Atlanta Journal & Constitution caught my eye:  RescueMe: The last thing he wanted was a dog, until Lucy stole his resistant heart.  It’s one of those heartwarming tales that makes you smile and cry and smile again.  Lucy, as the story goes, kept hanging out in the author’s backyard and just wouldn’t leave.  He lived alone, didn’t want a dog, and tried his best to ignore her, but she wouldn’t give up.  His stance was very clear:  “I [am] not — let me repeat — NOT a dog person. I cannot state it more plainly than that.”

When he tried explaining this to a neighbor who was urging him to take the little dog in, she too wouldn’t give up. “Well, you know,” she said, tenderly. “She seems to like it here. It’s like she’s found her home. She chose you.”One day when he found the dog huddled beneath the trees in his backyard trying to shelter from a hard rain, his niece convinced him to let the dog in the house. The rest, as they say, is history. Within hours, she’d found a place in his heart, and he’d named her Lucy. “…she was an excellent cuddler. I’d lie on the sofa. Lucy would nuzzle between my chest and arm. I could not get her close enough: Safe. Warm. Happy.”It seemed he’d found the perfect companion.

 

The beginning of the heartbreak came with Lucy’s first trip to the vet, where she was diagnosed with an advanced case of heartworms. With her best chance an extreme treatment that had significant risks, the odds were not in her favor. Lucy survived a scant six months. During that short time, though, she was cherished and cared for, and she forever changed the life of her rescuer.  When you see her photo, it’s easy to see how this little charmer won him over.  Once he’d opened his heart to Lucy and lost her, he had to have another dog.  This time, he found one through a rescue organization rather than in his backyard.

All of our dogs have been rescues, and we say with a smile they are lucky to have found such a good home.  We know, though, that we are just as fortunate to have found them. They add immeasurable joy to our lives. No, dogs may not be miracle workers, but at times, they come awfully darned close.  How often has your dog sensed your distress or tears and come to lick your face or stayed by your bedside when you’re sick?  It’s then you have to ask yourself, “Who’s doing the rescuing?”