Some people say that everything happens for a reason. I didn’t believe that until I got involved in rescue. The week before Easter Sunday I traveled to Marion, IL with my son’s high school baseball team to watch them play in a tournament. One afternoon I checked my e-mail and because I had been gone for a few days there were hundreds to read. One in particular jumped out at me, the subject line read “Williamson County Dog Pound, Marion. It turns out that Williamson County Dog Pound was 5 minutes down the road from my hotel.
After a series of phone calls, later that afternoon the local rescue worker and originator of the e-mail called me. We decided to meet at the animal control the next afternoon. When we arrived the ACO was out on a call so we had some time to talk. We got to talking about how the facility operates and what kind of dogs they had currently. She told me about a few different labs that she had met the day before. I was immediately interested in them because they are such popular dogs and so easy to place.
After the ACO got back from his call we went inside the facility and I took pictures of all the dogs. The shelter was eerily quiet from the outside. If you didn’t know it was an animal control you never would have guessed by the silence of the building. However, as soon as we walked in all of the dogs joined in a chorus of barking, as if each one is saying “pick me, pick me”. My hope was to meet them all, see what their temperaments were like and then decide which dogs we would like to target for our next transport. I wasn’t going to take one that day; I was staying in a hotel and didn’t have anyplace to keep the dog overnight. My first interest was a very large, super friendly yellow lab boy. We brought him outside for some fresh air and you could tell he just enjoyed being out of his run getting some attention. The next dog I brought out was a black lab girl. She barked excitedly when I approached her kennel run. When I opened the kennel door she waited patiently for me to attach a leash onto her Easter grass green plastic collar. Once she knew she had the all clear to come out of her run she did an army crawl to exit. A few feet from the run she perked up and followed me outside, as if we had known each other forever and I had already taught her to heel. I introduced the two dogs to each other on leash to see how they would react. One thing that is imperative to Placing Paws being able to take in a dog is that they have to be good with other dogs. She greeted the yellow male submissively and neither one reacted much to the other one. They were both more interested in getting some much needed attention. After a few minutes this black lab girl who had been kenneled for ten days without any exercise was laying by my side just soaking up the afternoon sun. She wasn’t jumping, or pulling on leash she was just happy to be outside. I spoke to the ACO about where she had come from. He told me that she was a stray that wandered onto a woman’s property and she couldn’t keep her so she brought her to the animal control. She was wearing her green plastic collar when she was found so she was obviously someone’s pet at some point in her young life. She patiently waited at the animal control for about 10 days and nobody came to claim her. Her time was running out. Black dogs almost never get adopted from shelters and they are often the first to get euthanized. This beautiful, sweet, friendly, perfect girl deserved so much better than that.
The ACO couldn’t guarantee how long he could hold her. It was getting close to 4pm and closing time for the animal control. They were not open the next day because it was Good Friday so I had to make a quick decision. We had a pretty full car and only had room for one dog. I knew that it was the end of spring break and all of the boarding facilities would be full. All of our foster homes were full and the day cares that we work with were also jammed full of boarding clients. I wasn’t sure where I would put her when I got home but decided that this lab girl was way too nice to leave behind. I told the ACO that I was taking her with me. I signed the release form and off we went. After taking a few more pictures I opened my car door and she hopped right in. We were off to the vet for an exam, a bath and an overnight stay. While at the vet’s office I called Becky because we had to come up with a name and my mind was blank, she suggested Easter. It was after all Easter weekend and this lucky girl was just given new life. Unfortunately there are millions of fantastic dogs just like Easter, sitting in shelters across the country just waiting to be saved.
Friday morning I picked her up, she jumped eagerly back into my car and we headed off for our 5 hour drive home. Easter was a dream in the car; once she settled down she sprawled out on the backseat and slept most of the way home. By the time we got back to Mundelein Becky had a potential foster home lined up. One of our phenomenal volunteers had a friend who was willing to come and meet her and said she could foster for a few days (famous last words). This was a great relief because we figured if we could at least get through the end of spring break then she could go to the daycare. We are very lucky to have the support of Marla and K9 Playtime. After her new potential foster mom spent 2 minutes with Easter she agreed to take her home. By Monday she had fallen so in love with her and she fit so well in her home that she wanted to adopt her. This dog that was on death row just days before had already found her forever home.
Easter who is now named BeBe will live happily ever after being spoiled rotten and loved like every dog deserves to be loved. She has some doggie friends that she gets to frequent the dog park with while she swims in the lake and chases tennis balls. You can just see her smiling. There was a reason that I received that e-mail the week that I was in Marion, IL. There was a reason that she was there that day on death row. She was there because she was meant to be rescued by Placing Paws and to be placed into the “heart of her forever home”.
