Colby, or Not All Stories Are Bad

[oldE]

I was moved to post this after reading the "Why I Hate People" thread. My wife is the real animal lover in this lash-up. About 15 years ago, she found out a number of Husky pups had been seized by the SPCA in another part of the province. She had been on their website and found one of the pups was blind. Her words,"Who else is going to adopt that poor dog?"

So we drove to Halifax, but the dog wasn't there, the Manager said she would go to the other holding facility to bring the dog to us, but we realized it would be faster to meet her there. Another hour up the road and we were able to meet the Manager in a parking lot and sign the paperwork.

Colby was a 30 lb 'bag of bones'. He had spent his life in a crate and I suppose he wasn't considered "marketable" so wasn't worth feeding.
He was held in my wife's lap all the way home and, once we arrived he was introduced to Casey. Casey was (we think) a Huskey/Golden Lab cross and was the laid back "alpha male" of our critter collection. Casey gave the new guy some sort of signal and led him around the house, which gave Colby the layout. Then he took the pup outside and repeated the process to give him the lay of the land and the boundaries.

It didn't take long for Colby to fit in, but it took us longer to appreciate him. We didn't learn he liked to play ball until we realized he was hearing the tennis ball hitting the ground. After that he was included in ball games.

Colby and one of the older females, Breezy illustrated some of the finer points of dog ettiquette for us one day. If you notice, when a dog is running toward one of its fellows, it is considered proper to stand and let them pick their way around you. Colby had learned he could run along the gravel driveway between the barn and the garage and was doing so one day when Breezy saw him approaching and stopped. Colby of course couldn't see her nor could he hear her because she had stopped, so hit her broad-side and sent her rolling. Breezy gave him a piece of her mind, but there was never any physical threats toward him.

Two years ago, Colby's kidneys started to fail. We were medicating him and for the last three months of his life were administering sub-cutaneous saline. When the time came, our Vet, a woman we have known for thirty years came to the house and helped our friend slip into his final, well deserved rest. We buried him under a young oak tree in the front yard where his spirit can look out over the marsh and river.

I guess I wrote this because I know there are people on this board who have stories just like it and who love their animals.
Best
Les

[widgeon13]

Great story, thanks for sharing and more importantly for being such kind souls.

[imcarthur]

Thanks for the nice story, Les.

Ian

[Jays72T]

Yes, thanks for sharing, very touching.

[matt f]

Why I love animals.
You and your wife were blessed to have a pup like Colby.
Colby had the best caretakers.
Quite a good symbiotic relationship.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by oldE

We buried him under a young oak tree in the front yard where his spirit can look out over the marsh and river.

Thank you for sharing this. You ended my perfectly awful day with something beautiful.

[wdfifteen]

Thank you.
I'm such a softie I can't read the stories of animals being abused. I give money to two local rescues, but I can't go there in person. It's so nice to read a positive story now and then. Great story!

[stealthn]

Reading this with my old girl laying beside me, allergies kind of kicking in, sniff...

My first dog was blind as well, amazing how they can cope, you would never know he was blind.

Nice story

[VINMAN]

Thanks for posting that.

Damn contact lenses must be dirty...

[oldE]

Thanks Guys.
I posted this thread from my laptop and didn't have a pic of Colby on it. Here is one from my files. No longer a "bag of bones" as you can see.
It was amazing to watch him go out after a storm, stepping high and plowing through the drifts.

If he got "lost" sometimes he'd run into things, but he'd just shake it off and give it another go. Amazing role model.
Best
Les

[BK911]

Dang man, got something in my eyes.
We need more stories like this and less like the other.

[Rikao4]

you both did good..
I often wonder who finds whom ..
and who is the rescue..

amazing aren't they..
was playing ball with GS long ago..
commented on his interesting eyes..
'he's blind'..
he would listen for the fall..
and then he was on it..

Rika