Saving Smeegle from the Fiery Brute

by Laura Simpson
We Showed Him that Hands Could Deliver Love Instead of Pain
Written by Ness Watson of West Sussex, United Kingdom

In the Autumn of 2007, our very old Border Collie, Frog, went out for a long walk as usual without any problems. On her return, she climbed the steps to where we lived, got to the top and lay down and couldn’t get up again. We rushed her to the vet and they told us that at nearly 15, she was going into heart failure quite quickly and although they may well be able to make her comfortable, there was no coming back from it. I said goodbye to Frog and she crossed the rainbow bridge.

Cut to a few months later and we were having a lot of difficulty adopting a new dog. I live in a very large apartment and this went against me when it came to adopting from all the larger organizations in the UK. ‘Dogs cannot live in apartments’ I was told. I felt this is incorrect as I take my dog out for four long walks a day, a lot of dogs I am aware of just get to do their business in a garden and rarely see the outside world.

One day, I received an email from a lady who was desperate to rehome her dog, JJ. She told us all about him, how he was 8 months old and a handful. She said she and her husband had four kids and that her husband no longer wanted the dog. I went immediately to find out more about the situation. When I got there and first met with JJ, he cowered and cried so much, I couldn’t put a hand on him as he shied away and he wouldn’t walk properly, just crouched so low to the floor. He was bald in a lot of areas, very underweight and most of the fur from his face was gone, only pink skin remaining. He did his best to keep well away from my partner and would try and disappear if my partner put a hand out for him to smell...Keep reading...