Beautiful Boy

There is a HUGE email network among the people that do animal rescue. I have found that it is best for me to ignore those emails when I can’t help. But, once in awhile, there is one that just cannot be ignored.

Last week, a post came across about a three-month-old, nameless puppy that was living chained to a barrel. He didn’t even have a collar, just a chain tightening around his neck. A very brave lady saw the puppy and approached his owner as he was beating the puppy with his fists. She convinced the man to give the dog up and talked his landlord into restricting him from ever owning another pet in that house. But she could not keep him. She sent a plea out begging for assistance.

I forwarded the email to the new Adoption Counselor at FHS (her name is Erin and she is amazing), asking if we could help. It turned out that she was already on the case and trying to figure out how to get him to the facility. Within days she was on the road to pick him up. Despite the enormous number of people and organizations the plea went out to, FHS was the only group ready and able to step in immediately.

The puppy is now at my house where I will foster him until he caught up on vaccinations. We are calling him “Ivan the Incredible”. He is 21 pounds of pure love. My best guess is that he is Pit Bull and Lab. Proving that animals have an unbelievable ability to forgive, Ivan shows no signs of aggression, fear or misbehavior. Instead, he LOVES people. He follows me and/or the other dogs everywhere we go. So far, the older dogs are not very found of his boisterous love of life.

Ivan is a very typical puppy. He is full of energy. He wants to play constantly and has yet to figure out how to slow down and enjoy a good cuddle. He adores squeaky toys and tug-of-war. Last night was his first night in a kennel and he did well for a youngster.

Ivan has about three weeks until his vaccinations are current. Then, he will be neutered and ready to find his forever home. Ivan is going to make an awesome addition to an active and loving family. In the meantime, we will continue to care for him and raise funds to keep places like FHS and AARF functioning so that they can continue to respond to those urgent pleas for help.