Love Of A Family
These are the dogs who crossed over the rainbow bridge and left paw prints on our hearts.
We are grateful we were able to give them a home and show them the love of a family.
CHESTER
Our first special needs senior rescue, and the handsome face from our logo. We consider our adoption of Chester a success, as had cancer and terrible arthritis and was only given months to live. Chester lived for two years as a part of our family. He was about 10 years old and had spent over 8 years in a shelter. We are eternally grateful to have been able to love him for the last two years of his life and have dedicated our work with this sanctuary in his memory.
RIPLEY
Miss Ripley was a beautiful and loving 15 year old hound mix with renal failure. We adopted her June 19, 2020 and she passed away in Todd’s arms July 2, 2020. We only got less than two weeks with this angel, but we’re lucky she got to spend her last days cuddled up with us and the rest of the dogs, instead of alone and leaving this earth next to a stranger.
CLYDE
Clyde was Anna & Todd’s first dog together and was with them from December 14th 2005, through 3 living spaces, before engagement and 15 wonderful years up until January 27th 2021. Clyde passed suddenly and we believe it was either some sort of cancer or his rare blood disorder finally took his life. He was the OG. He will live on in our hearts & memories forever.
MAX
Max was an almost 14-year-old Shitzu who was rehomed into the Sanctuary in July of 2020. He had an advancing heart condition and was going blind and deaf. He couldn’t do the stairs and had to be carried in and outside regularly. Max had surgery to remove his eye in June 2021 and made it through despite his now grade 6 heart murmur. In August, he started to show signs of fluid around his heart again and after a trip to the vet and a decision to increase his medication, he sadly passed away 10 minutes after arriving back home. It’s almost like he waited to be back home. Todd stared to feed him dinner and Max ALWAYS barked at the top of the stairs to be brought his dinner. One day, he didn’t and Todd found him in distress and held him until he passed away in his arms. He was the smallest one with the largest presence and he is missed every single day.
WALTER
Walter was adopted in early September 2021. He was completely deaf and had thyroid issues. Unfortunately, it is believed his deafness was caused by lack of attention to them for years. After only 5 short weeks we came home, and it appeared he had a stroke. Usually with old age vestibular disease they bounce back with medication. Sadly, Walter did not. His head and neck were twisted up pretty bad and he couldn’t get his bearings to stand or walk. He passed away in Todd’s arms on October 19th, 2021.
COLBY
Colby was one of Todd & Anna’s 3 dogs before they started rescuing. Colby was a puggle like Clyde and he was a part of the family from August 2007 up until December 17th 2021. Along with Clyde it was before they were married and living in the condo. He was really the only dog they had that never had any issues and was as easy going as they come. He developed a spinal infection that sadly led to him unable to walk and was in quite a bit of pain. He is no longer suffering and we are sure Clyde was the first to meet him at the Rainbow Bridge along with their huge pack in heaven.
VELMA
Velma was with us at our sanctuary for exactly 3 months. She was adopted in December 21st, 2021 and was with us until March 21st of 2022.This 14 yr old poodle didn’t have it easy. When she was surrendered in November, the rescue learned she was never spayed resulting in a multitude of mammary tumors. Also infected with fleas they were eating away at them. She had horrible dental disease and needed a fresh start in life. We stepped up and adopted her.
She was the senior old lady in our nursing home. She was always quiet and found a bed in the sanctuary that she claimed as her own.Velma loved laying in the grass in the sunshine. We know her last few months on earth were better than her previous 14 years. And that she was to finally know love and how we should live and leave this life. We miss you my girl. I’m sure Chester, Mackie, Little Buddy, Ripley, Clyde, Max, Walter and Colby greeted you at the bridge.
Petey
Petey came to the Sanctuary in December 2020 and passed away on July 7th 2022. He was 17 years old. Pedro (his nickname) was like no other dog we’ve ever had. He never barked, not once, ever. He slept about 20 hours a day in his little round, cushy bed. He was completely blind and deaf.
He loved to be cuddled as we’ve never experienced a Pug so calm on his back being held like a baby. He would often nip at us gently and give kisses. Especially with Jagger. They had a special bond like no other. One of his favorite things was to dose off on the lawn in the backyard. Sometimes for so long we’d forget he was out there until it was bedtime. Despite all this, he had his struggles. He had to be contained to a small area due to his limitations and had GI issues and even with his special diet he’d mess, walk or fall in it, which lead to multiple times a week at 5am scrubbing the floors and giving him a bath. We didn’t mind it. Those that truly need help and have handicaps just have our whole . Petey had trouble standing towards the end. He’d lay down to eat and kinda throw his face in the bowl. He became really weak. That, coupled with heart and lung issues that developed a couple months prior, he declined sadly where we felt his quality of life was diminishing. We made the difficult decision for Petey to be with the rest of the Angels.
Sam
Sam was found abandoned in a drain in November 2021. He had a horrible skin disease that had been neglected to be treated by previous owners on top of being emaciated. He came to the Sanctuary very timid and weak. He was unsure of the surroundings and obviously lost trust in humans. We wanted to erase every memory of not being loved from this old mans memory. We fed him copious amounts of food and after a short time he was able to go up and down the stairs on his own. His fur grew back and he no longer itched in discomfort daily. Sam was a true testament what love and care can do. He remained a bit grumpy in his old age and would howl at us often to eat, drink or get attention. With those big, sad hound eyes, Sam would always be close looking for a treat or human to slip him a piece of whatever they were eating. In mid-August 2022 and very sudden, Sam fell ill. Within 24 hours he stopped eating and spiked an extremely high temperature and left us to become an angel.
HILLIE
Hillie was with us for a little over 3 years. What was unique and special about him was being born without eyes. That didn’t stop him and with his nose and ears he managed extremely well. He was loving and easy and got along with everyone. We really never knew his real age and thought he was younger and going to live many years with us. But within a 5 day period he had trouble walking in which we thought he had a back/neurological issue.
Upon admitting him to the hospital they ran blood work. His kidney levels were double the normal level. They did an abdominal ultrasound and found a large mass. The doctors were able to normalize his kidney levels but he must have been advanced with the other issues. He came home and we were to take next steps about his back and internal mass but it was too late and within 24 hours he was gone.
Jack
Sadly, Jack was only with us for 5 days. He had lost his mommy and his family was looking for a sanctuary to be hi new home and we gladly accepted. He had Cushing’s disease and the timing was just unfortunate. He has stopped eating and drinking and had succumbed to his illness. He was a snuggle bug and wen wish we got to spend more time with him.
JENNA
Jenna came to us from North Carolina in April of 2022. Her owners were moving and decided to dump this 14 year old Angel at the shelter. She was skin and bones; you could see her spine and ribs. Our partners at Strong Paws pulled her and transported her to us.
She got in the backseat and crawled onto Jaggers lap for the ride home. She was an immediate crowd favorite. When we got home, we got her a cake and threw her a welcome home party. We vividly remember her eyes when she saw the cake, and that it was all for her. We love the moments when these dog’s realize what they can now call home.
Unfortunately, within just two weeks, Jenna suffered a stroke, but since she is a fighter, she overcame that over the following weeks and months. She was spoiled quite often and Anna would often give her 4 of 5 treats when the others only got 1 or 2! She was able to gain a good 10-15lbs, and she needed it!
Jenna had zero boundaries when it came to personal space. She would see a bed and it didn’t matter if 2 or 3 dogs were in it. She would walk right in and lay on top of all of them!
She was first to howl in the morning for breakfast but we couldn’t blame her, she was making up for a long time of not being fed the proper quantities that she needed to stay strong and healthy. After her stroke, Jenna made the trip to Maine with the family and got to experience many acres of farmland and some time at the lake.
It gave us great joy to watch her lay in the sun and see how content she was in her surroundings.
Recently one of the tumors on her leg became aggravated, infected, and should have been removed. Unfortunately, since her health had been starting to decline, we felt that she would not make it much longer. We decided to opt for treatments anyways, but after completing quite a few of them, we realized that our initial feeling was right and we started to see her health quickly decline. She started to suffer too much and was even having trouble standing up on her own.
Jenna was our blonde little pittie mix, and we’ll forever miss her. We will always cherish the memories we had together and the happiness and love that she felt when we hung out in the hammock together on those beautiful tranquil summer days.
