One Photo: One Story; The love of a rescued puppy.
January 2014, I was working a radio event outside of Norristown, Pennsylvania. My wife Kelly dropped me off and took our Jack Russell Terrier, Seamus to Petco. It had been snowing for several days and he needed to get out of the house.
The Mid-Atlantic Jack Russell Rescue was at Petco meeting with customers to find forever homes for needy Jack Russell’s. That morning Seamus and Kelly met Cora. A sweet 8-year-old short legged Jack who desperately needed a home.
At my radio appearance my cell phone began to ping with many messages.
Wife: Can we get a new dog
Me: No
Wife: Please?
Me: No
Wife: I just met her she needs us.
Me: Let me think…umm No
Wife: her story is so sad…….really sad.
Me: I’m working.. No
Wife: Seamus Loves her. Please?
Me: No
Later that afternoon she picked me up at work. On the ride home in the middle of a snowstorm she told me her story.
Corazon is an eight-year-old Jack Russell. She spent all of her 8 years in a cage or whelping box. She was a breeder for a puppy mill in Indiana. She was skittish and terrified of everything. She was in poor health, her teeth rotten, she had an atrocious diet, and didn’t know how to play. She never felt grass, or been outside or even had fresh air.
When Kelly met her she could tell she was curious. Our dog Seamus took an immediately liking to her.
She continued to tell me the story as we drove.
When the rescue first took her outside she was overwhelmed by open spaces. She was pulverized with fear. She crawled on her belly to be back indoors.
She was rescued along with 49 other dogs from a puppy mill in Indiana. The rescue picked them up in a van to transport them back to New Jersey. Along the way the van broke down and the police found dog cages piled one on top of the other.
I couldn’t believe the story I was hearing.
Over the next few days, Kelly exchanged emails with the Jack Russell rescue.
I thought about the poor dog ‘s journey and her terrible life.
Kelly said to me, “She’s got a patch of hair in the shape of a heart”!
“We need to take care of this dog”. I said.
Cora was coming home.
She followed Seamus everywhere he went. He was her first true friend. On her first night, she howled. I sat up with her all night. She sat on the floor shaking.
She went after our cat Fiona who we rescued 13 years earlier. I told Cora “ If it comes down to you or her….It’s you. She was here first”. Cora just looked at me.
On night two; She slept on the corner of our bed next to Seamus.
During the many days after we changed her diet, gave her vitamins, she played with Seamus and walked in the grass.
She got hugs and kisses, we repaired her teeth, eventually they had to be removed due to infection. She settled into her new home.
Seamus crossed the rainbow bridge the following year. Cora missed her new friend and we all went on vacation to Cape Henlopen, Delaware. Here Cora and Kelly enjoy the sunshine on a summer afternoon.
We continue to work with her everyday. She even has a new puppy brother named Munson. He is also a Jack Russell rescue.
Cora is like a puppy again. She thinks she’s the boss of our house. She likes long walks and just being loved. Every so often her old fears come back but we just hug her and let her know she’s home. Forever.