Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

[Fishslayer]

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Got a photo of Lucy from David & Connie. She's looking really well!

Lucy is such a special girl. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her, her forever family and the folks here and elsewhere who helped save her life.

[k9diabetes]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

Rick!!!! What a wonderful surprise to see you AND Lucy here today!!! I miss you here at the forum. How's fostering going?

And Lucy... Wow, she does look absolutely GREAT. Trim, fit, and happy!

Maybe I will go track down her thread so people can read her story and how YOU are the one who did the real work of saving her life.

Natalie

[k9diabetes]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

If you'd like to see what was happening with Lucy three years ago... Wow, it's hard to believe it was that long ago..., here's her thread in the Diabetes forum:

http://www.k9diabetes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2159

I confess I still dream about putting a certain backyard breeding operation out of business...

Natalie

[Fishslayer]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

She was looking a bit chubby there awhile back but she looks absolutely fabulous now. Even has a girlish waist.

She got another growth on the tip of her other ear awhile back & they had to take off the tip. So now they match!

[Fishslayer]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

I confess I still dream about putting a certain backyard breeding operation out of business...

Natalie

You & Glynda both. DoG help that "person" if the three of you were ever in a room alone!

[CarolW]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

Thanks for coming back and updating us on Lucy, Rick! Love that picture! Welcomd back! Thriiled that Lucy is doing so well! - but not surprised!

Hugs,
Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:38:49 (PST)

[Patty]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

She does look fabulous, Rick! Thanks for the great pic

Hope you had a Merry Christmas. So great to hear from you!
Patty

[Shellie]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

Wow! Amazing story and SO happy for Lucy! What a great dog she so obviously is! I do so love happy ending stories!

What HAD happened to her in her previous life? Was she used as a breeder? Just breaks my heart to think of what these babies endure before we get them!

Thank you to everyone who helped with Lucy! You are all angels, you know! Hugs!!!!

[k9diabetes]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

Lucy was a breeder dog for a backyard operation selling cattle dogs and some toy mixes. When she became diabetic - and therefore not only no longer able to be used to produce puppies but also might make their breeding program look bad - the owners put an ad up on CraigsList offering her up to anyone who would take her and threatening to euthanize her when the bottle of insulin ran out if she didn't find a new home.

The ad originally claimed they couldn't afford to treat her. Then the owner was contacted by email by a rescuer and he claimed he was a single father of two young children and couldn't take care of her.

Eventually the information wound up in front of me and I called him on the phone to see if they would keep Lucy if some financial aid was offered because it is very difficult to adopt out a diabetic dog. At the time, I didn't know that they were backyard breeders - something they never admitted - but the picture of Lucy in a pretty serious looking kennel got people concerned and it didn't take long to find their website with pictures of Lucy and her puppies.

So I talk to this guy on the phone, who claims to be a struggling single father, and there's an adult woman talking back and forth with him in the background making it clear money isn't the issue and that this is her decision as much as his - she's not just some visitor. He was not, in fact, single at all. They stammered around when I suggested that we could provide some financial support for her and then came up with a new excuse - they travel constantly, never home, can't give her two shots a day. Well, it was already clear from the noise in the background that the story about his having kids was true. I'm thinking two kids elementary school age and you all are never home? Yeah right.

It all made sense once we found out she was a breeding female for their puppy business. She was no good to them any more and they wanted her gone.

Would they really have euthanized her? I don't know. But it wasn't a chance we wanted to take so a group of people from here and from the Cushing's forum pooled our resources and rescued her.

The key to the whole thing coming together was Rick.

Because without someplace for her to stay, we never could have pulled her out of that home. There were lots of us who could donate to food, insulin, syringes... but she had to have a foster home and none of us could provide that. The whole thing would have fallen through if Rick hadn't stepped up and taken her in.

He picked her up from the couple - something I would not have been allowed to do because I would hurt someone... he taught her to sit for injections and nail trims, loved her up and fell in love with her, arranged for her spay, and took her to adoption events, where she met Dave and Connie, her forever home.

Lucy has been through coyote attacks, a fire, and being dumped for having diabetes. I'm so happpy that the second half of her life is in such beloved care.

Natalie

[Abby's Mom]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

A wonderful story. So glad that Lucy has a forever home, and from people who truly love her for what she is.

All of you are amazing!

[MaryLea]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

A wonderful story. So glad that Lucy has a forever home, and from people who truly love her for what she is.

All of you are amazing!

Agreed! Thanks, Natalie, for the story. It happened before we found this group, but yesterday I looked at an early pic of Lucy. Wow, she's had a transformation! I'm glad everyone pulled together--something the people here do well--and rescued her.

(((Hugs))) to all from me and Izzy (also a rescue),

Mary

[Shellie]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

That is an amazing story! I cannot imagine the anger you felt when you found out the real story but the fact that you kept after it and that everyone pulled together to help this little dog...truly a miracle! She is so obviously the sweetest dog...look in her eyes! Thank you to all of you and especially to Rick for doing this! It makes me believe just a little bit more in the human race and what we are capable of when it comes down to it. Not so ashamed to be a human being today. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! (and I'm sure Lucy is thinking same thing every day of her new life!)Hugs!

[Lulusmom]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

Oh my dog, I was just thinking about Lucy and wondering how she is doing. She looks fabulous! Thank you so much, Rick, for coming back to share Lucy's picture with us. It's hard to believe Lucy's plight started three years ago. I wish I aged as well as Lucy.

Lucy definitely had a few angels watching over her. Rick and his wife were two of them but I think she had her own personal winged angel. I didn't hold out much hope that Lucy would get any attention at So California's largest Pet Expo but I prayed she would and I was so very grateful to Rick for the long drive he had to make to get her there. There were literally thousands of dogs from just about every shelter and rescue in So Cal (plus a few breeders -gack) to choose from but it was Lucy that Dr. Dave and Connie connected with. Who would have thought that a little blind Cattle Dog with diabetes would not only be chosen to be a new family member that day, but chosen by a doctor and wife, who wasted no time engaging the best eye surgeon around to restore her vision. Luck? I don't think so.

Glynda

[acushdogsmom]

Re: Merry Christmas! New Lucy photo

Oh my gosh!!! RICK!!! Lucy looks awesome!!! Thank you so much for posting the pic and update!

I think about Lucy so often - I don't think I'll ever forget that particular rescue for as long as I live! I think it was at Christmas time, too, that we first saw that Craigs List ad and a bunch of us starting networking and trying to figure out how we could get her to safety. I think I will always associate Christmas with Lucy's rescue.

It was such a high when you offered to foster Lucy and when you went to get her and then when she got adopted by Dr. Dave and Connie! I remember there was a great pic of Lucy sitting in a fancy chair. And then after they had her cataract surgery done to restore her vision (didn't they fly in a special anaesthesiologist to monitor during her surgery?) I remember a pic that you posted here with the caption "I can see!!!"

But I think one of my favourite pics ever is the one you still have as your avatar pic here - with Lucy sitting next to a pile of something she'd gotten off the counter, with an innocent look on her face that was like "who, me???"

Thank you so much for the update! Happy New Year to you and yours and next time you are in touch with Dr. Dave and Connie, please tell them to give Lucy a kiss from me, from all the way up here in Canada.