ATB Friends Rescue a Brittany

 

SAVING RUDY

Our friend was visiting relatives in New Jersey during Christmas week. She and her family love Brittany dogs. She has "Wilson" (Treasure/Gibson 2011) and Brandy, who is a dog they rescued several years ago.  While in N.J. they visited a mall pet store and were surprised to find a 4 month old Brittany orange and white male puppy for sale there. Her heart told her this was wrong and she immediately began to think of how she could rescue this young puppy from one more day of life spent in a cage. She learned he'd been in that cage since he was 8 weeks old.  Although his most basic needs of food, water, shelter were met clearly he needed so much more. And those needs included saving him from one more day in a pet store cage.

Within 24 hours after reaching out to her family, friends, and the Brittany community several good and kind individuals offered to help purchase the 16 week old Brittany pup.  Due to the generous and immediate response of my friend and other 'angels' soon he was safely on his way to the first day of the rest of his life.  As a side note, I'm extremely blessed because several of those loving and caring folks are part of the ATB family, and share their life with a Brittany dog (or two) from our program here.

Because this happened so soon after Christmas, the puppy was nicknamed "Rudy". Rudy encountered so much love as he was welcomed as a foster to live with my friend and her family.  She is well experienced as a rescuer and an adopter with an official Brittany rescue group. Even so, it was not yet certain where Rudy's permanent home was to be.  But the uncertainty did not remain for long.

In the meantime another scenerio was taking place.  The parents of my friend were dog sitting the two Brittanys owned by her family while they were in New Jersey. (One of these dogs is from Treasure and Gibson's second litter, the other a dog that was also rescued.)  Her parents owned and loved a senior Old English Sheepdog whose health was failing and had been providing hospice care for her over the past 4 months. I find it ironic that Rudy was 4 months old.

So the first stop on the way back home from N.J. was to pick up their other two dogs at her parents who also were introduced to Rudy.  Rudy also met their beloved 'Samantha', he interacted with her briefly. The picture I saw of the two of them together touched my heart as Sam was kept comfortable and Rudy, being a puppy, showed his curiosity by gently leaning over her face. This is included in the collage above.

The 3 Brittanys went back to my friends home and Rudy happily began to settle in with his new 'family'. I saw picture after picture of this little guy. John and I have transported, fostered and rehabilitated a few Brittany rescues in the past. One thing I always watch for in a rescued dog is the way their eyes change. Usually I perceive a sense of loss and emptiness in the eyes of such a dog. They are unsure, fearful, and afraid.  I'd never ever seen such a young puppy before though in that situation.  It broke my heart to see that look in Rudy's eyes.  But with each photo shared with me, I could truly see the changes right before my own eyes.  The brightness was there, a spark ignited perhaps for the first time in this 16 week old puppy, a baby who had never experienced the love and wonder of life beyond a cage.

One night my friend contacted me to say that her parents had called the vet to their home, asking me to pray. They are a Christian family, and I had felt a strong connection to her mother when we first met a couple of years ago. Yes, yes of course. And so they lay there on the floor with Samantha as she passed over to that place we all know as 'The Rainbow Bridge'.  A place where we are certain that animals do have souls and spirits and that God created them for our pleasure, and we will be reunited with them again. There's a lot of Scripture to support this, but this isn't about theology at the moment.

This family had been praying, seeking God's will and direction for their life.  As they prayed, a certainty had come to them.  And the certainty was that Rudy should go to live forever with my friends parents.  They recognized the hand of God in all of this. The timing is phenomenal. Thinking about my friend just happening to go visit the mall where she had gone as a child, to stop into the pet store and then seeing Rudy. The way it all came together so quickly, with so many people with sincere and good hearts helping come up with the money to rescue Rudy. The way the official rescue organizations stood by to help out if needed.  Indeed, God has known all along about Samantha, and about her family and their needs.  Just as surely he has known all along about Rudy, and the special needs he would have. And God so perfectly intervened.

Rudy has a new home, and he has a brand new name! He's named after the very first Old English Sheepdog my friends parents had, and his name was Beckett. The entire family is still grieving and will continue to miss Samantha of course. That void can't be filled in their heart.  But I'm confident that little Beckett, saved from the pet store, is going to fill a lot of the sad and empty places in their lives and in their home.

When we have ears to hear, eyes to see, hearts to believe, faith to hold onto we also are able to look beyond our current situation and see that God indeed does care about all that concerns those who put their trust in Him.  Rudy (now Beckett) has had angels watching over him just as surely as Samantha and her family. And every good gift, does come from above.  Sometimes we need to look beyond ourselves though to even hope to understand that. As Dwight L. Moody said, Faith makes all things possible… love makes all things easy.”  Please keep this family in your prayers...

Take care and God bless,
John, Ann, and All Things Brittany

On another note... we have recently sent an email with an update regarding puppies to our 'serious inquiries'.  Please let me know if you have not received yours by contacting us via www.mainebrittanysitejas.com thanks!