What Extreme Would You Go To

I read this news story today and it made me wonder, what extremes would you go to, to save a pet in danger?  Would you stop traffic to save a dog or cat or even a goose and goslings in the road?  What is the most extreme thing you have done to rescue an animal in need?

I was driving home from a rescue event at our local Petco a few years ago.  My husband had just gotten me a satellite radio and I had to wait 15 minutes for it to program.  Since I was almost home, instead of turning left to go home, I turned right to drive down the road a bit and give the radio time to program.  As I was driving along I saw a large white dog running down the side of the road.  She was emaciated and, to me, obviously needed help.

 

 

I pulled up behind her and she stopped to look at me. When I got out of the car, she turned around and ran down the road. Another car that saw what I was doing pulled over in front of her and tried to stop her. She ran across the highway at this point right in front of another car. She made it across the road and I pulled across, driving the wrong way on the shoulder. I pulled up beside her and rolled down the window to talk to her. She looked at me and sat down.

 

 

I got out of the car talking to her the whole time. I slowly walked toward her and she hung her head looking scared. I got down on my knees and crawled the rest of the way to her holding out my hand. She sniffed my hand and licked my finders. As I got closer she scooted up to me and laid her head on my chest and looked into my eyes. She just took one big sigh and reached up and licked me on the nose.  That right there made me say I’m going to help this dog.

 

 

She had no collar and was filthy and starving. I went back to the car to grab a leash, all the while talking to her. I hooked the clip part through the handle and slipped it over her head. She was fine with that till I started walking her to the car. She started to fight with me then, just terrified. I got her calmed down and tried to coax her to the car. She just sat there shaking. Finally I picked her up and put her in the back seat.

 

 

By this time my radio was programed and I turned around to go home.  I called hubby along the way to give him a heads up about bringing home a stray.  He wasn’t too thrilled with me, until I got home.  He saw the condition she was in and we did our best to help her.  We took her to the vet and she only weighed 50 lbs. According to the AKC a Great Pyrenees should weigh about 85 to 100 lbs. The vet thinks she is less than 2 years old and has had at least two litters of puppies already.  He said that was why she was so small was because the calcium and nutrients she needed to grow were going to her puppies.

 

 

She was so sweet and so gentle, we decided to name her Tenderheart, after Tenderheart Bear from the Care Bears.

 

 

We started feeding her up and getting her healthy again.  A few months later a young couple came to meet her and adopted her shortly thereafter.  This was about 7 years ago or so.  She has a wonderful new family with a sister named Tegan and a brother named Burney.  They changed her name to Lexie, but I still call her Tenderheart.  She also has a couple cats and a new human sister named Emory also.  Her family is very proud of her…as you can tell by all the photos they sent me for this blog.  :)

 

Burney, Lexie (Tenderheart) & Tegan

Tegan, Burney, & Lexie (Tenderheart)

Tegan & Lexie (Tenderheart) helping Emory with her snack

Tegan & Lexie (Tenderheart)

Tegan, Lexie (Tenderheart) & Burney

 

This was my extreme rescue.  So what extremes would you go to?

Be Well & Be Happy,

Pet~Pourri