Animal Rescue Stories

My Aerial Bomber

We finally had a house, 2 cats in the yard, as the song goes... and it was finally time to add a puppy to the mix. Enter Aerial Bomber who turned into one of those best-dogs-in-the-world kind of dog.
Stressful days at work called for a lunch trip to our local nursery to look at flowers. One day instead fate intervened and pulled me to our local humane society. And there was this tiny ball of gold and white fluff, a cut paw, no tail and looking very lost. She had been brought in as a 6 week old stray puppy. I wasn’t sure what type of breed she was but knew in my heart she was exactly the right one for me.
Being a stray I had to wait a few days for the hold in case someone claimed her. Adopting her wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought. That night a forest fire was creeping close to the humane society and a call went out to come and rescue the animals. I tried to get there as quick as I could but the road was already closed. To save the building they called in an aerial bomber to fight the fires! Two days later the road was open and the stray hold was lifted. Arriving bright and early so I could be first in line to adopt her, she was gone. I was heartbroken. Slowly that day rescuers trickled back in, returning the animals they had saved from the fire. Staff said they would call if she was returned and many anxious hours later we received that call. The person who had rescued her during the fires wanted to know if we still wanted her. Of course we did! After all that, it was only fitting to name her Aerial Bomber.
Aerial lived up to her name. An Aussie or Border collie mix, she loved to fly through the air catching Frisbees, and ran like the wind. She learned tricks in minutes. Understood every word I said. I had to change the word for squirrel at least 5 times because she learned every name I used and her mission was to keep them from our yard. She loved everyone and every dog she met, and made me smile every day. Aerial will always live in my heart, and truly was the best dog in the world.

Lisa Smith
FLAGSTAFF, AZ

Senior dogs make the best bouquets

As rescue advocates, we knew we wanted to include rescue dogs in our wedding. We had our 2 rescues walk down the aisle, and we had them represented in the signature cocktails and on the cake. But we also wanted to specifically promote senior dog adoption and hospice fostering, a concept we have always felt strongly about but especially after we hospice-adopted our 12 year old foster pit with advanced lymphoma in 2018. We hoped she would make it, but we lost her nearly a year to the day before the wedding. To honor her and all of our senior fosters who have found homes we invited local rescues to send adoptable seniors, hospice fosters, and dogs adopted as seniors to take photos with us. The dogs all came to the park and loved getting loved on by the bridal party for photos! We hope that the photos help raise awareness for senior dogs and hospice adoption and fostering, because all dogs deserve love at the end of their lives.

Sam C
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY

Ocean rescue

My husband and I used to take our karate class to the ocean beach during the summer for beach training. One year, with the car back seat full of coolers and food supplies, and my husband in front with his Peke dog, we saw a dog straddling the double yellow line of the 2-lane highway, looking completely panicked.

I recalled a friend living in the southwest telling me how she’d picked up strays by the side of the highway, and I realized I could not let this dog go.

I pulled over to the side of the road, to the concern of my husband and the dog, and beckoned the dog to come over. She looked at me with the expression on her face saying – really? Really?? I told her to come, and she bounded over and jumped in the back seat.

With the help of one of our students, we bathed and fed her, and I tried to find her home nearby, but nothing. I’m pretty sure she’d had puppies a while back and either jumped from the back of a truck or was abandoned.

This started one of the greatest love affairs of my life. I named her Ocean for her husky-blue eyes and where I found her. She was my first dog, and taught me more than I can ever repay. She got along with everyone, dogs, cats, people – her heart was pure and all love. She died over 3 years ago, but she still lives fully in my heart.

Tina
SEATTLE, WA

My Love Bug

I go up to woods to feed a colony of stray cats who have either been lost or abandoned. One day in May, one of the senior cats showed up in my yard with a small kitten. It was love at first sight for me, but for him not so much. It took me from May to October to convince him that I was his person and that he should come inside and live with me. It has been a true love affair ever since. He greets me at the door, headbutts me constantly, follows me everywhere and at night purrs himself to sleep while he kneads my belly. My Bug, my love.

Mary Greene
FENTON, MO

Life Saving Tortie cat

Way back in 2001, a calico mama dug under the fence from next door to where I lived and had her tiny baby with her. It had been a particularly rainy season in Virginia, lots of flooding and the baby had been born during one such bad rain. We always figured that mama kitty knew where her baby would be safe. Anyway, after a couple months of coming in the house every day long enough to feed her baby, mama cat finally weened her and off she went, leaving her kitten with us. We named this little cat Ruthless because she loved to attack plants, feet, curtains; you name it. After I got married in 2003, I moved into a home with my husband and with Ruth. I noticed that when I had low blood sugar during sleep (I am a type one diabetic), Ruth would tap my face, walk on me, or do some other thing to wake me up so I could eat and get my blood sugar back up. She did this many times and actually ended up saving my life on several occasions. We never taught her how to do that, and we always figured that she was thanking me for having saved her life by saving mine in return. So this amazing tortie cat who entered my life and was saved from the storms saved me from many a life storm in return. Sadly, she passed away in 2014 at only 11 years old from heart failure. We miss her every single day, and I will never, ever forget the little tortie who grew up to save my life multiple times over.

Debra L.
WINCHESTER, VA

The Strangest Noise I've Ever Heard

After graduating from college during the recession, I was bored and unemployed, so when my mom said she wanted to go to the shelter to look at dogs, I decided to join her. I of course fell in love with every puppy in the place, but little did I know that my mom had actually had a specific dog in mind that she wanted to meet. When I joined her in the courtyard of the shelter, I looked over to see this tiny brown Terrier/Chihuahua mix straining on the end of its leash to get to us. As soon as she got to me, she immediately peed all over the ground and my shoe. Right then I knew it was love.

When I asked the shelter worker what her name was, I was baffled. It wasn't until I heard the dog's excited bark/scream that I realized her name, Ankylosaurus, was fitting, as she sounded how I would imagine a dinosaur would. Turns out she was one of a big litter who were all named after different dinosaurs.

We left the shelter that day without her; I don't think we were prepared to bring home another dog with two rescue dogs already at home. However, I could not get this cute, weird-sounding dog out of my head, and dreamt about her all night. The next day I made a deal with my dad that she would be my dog and I would take all responsibility for her, as the thought of having 3 dogs was not appealing to him. That afternoon we went back to the shelter and brought one of our dogs with us so they could meet to make sure they would get along. We got there only to realize that someone else was interested in her, and I immediately started crying at the thought of not taking her home. I think this person saw my tears and took pity, ultimately deciding to take home a different dog!

Needless to say, we took her home that same day and renamed her Zoe. Zoe and our other rescue dog (also a Terrier/Chihuahua mix) are now BFF, and Zoe's been a happy member of our family for 10 years now.

PLEASE consider adopting a shelter animal!

Harper
DANVILLE, CA

Dog Walk Partners

I had just moved into my house with my year-old Lab rescue. Our morning walks were early and cold, as we moved in January. I began seeing this friendly black kitty who would walk side-by-side with me and my dog. I realized quickly that she was a community cat in the neighborhood, and her family had left her when they moved.
Daphne has been an indoor kitty for 5 years now and my snuggle buddy. Can't imagine life without her.

Heather Kennedy
MIDDLETOWN, OH

Hound Dog Hero

I had lost my beloved spaniel to lymphoma 2 years earlier and started looking for another furry friend. I decided to adopt from a program that fosters dogs. I saw her picture online, and she had me at those ears and sad face. When I met her to see if we were a match, she bounded out of the backyard and into my arms and heart. We have gone through all the puppy growth, and she is now one of the most precious parts of my life. Oh, she and I adopted her sister a year later and they have been inseparable for the last 3 years! Please consider adoption. It may not be what you expect, but the love you give and receive is well worth it.

Diana Rankin
BETHANY, OK

From hell To heaven

One morning my friend Jackie told me she found a nearly dying Persian under a garbage container. The poor thing couldn't walk anymore; his hair was tangled, dirty, and full of dry strings. She drove him to the vet and found out he was very old, and had a cardiac and kidney problem. My home belongs to my cats and my dogs. Jackie asked me to foster him for a while. We already had 7 cats and my husband was giving me the cold shoulder... still, we took the poor thing in and named him Dali because of his mustache. But Dali needed a lot of care, cleaning his eyes, brushing his fur, taking his treatment and following a special diet. And my husband was asking regularly, when will Dali will get his own family? Dali got better and my husband was seduced. Dali became the king of the house. My husband, first thing coming from work, was asking where his friend Dali was. Dali stayed with us almost four years. He crossed the bridge peacefully in our house early on August 28th last year. The vet told us he was easily 20, even older. He was such a trusty, loving cat, our little king. We miss him every day.

Martine Garzon
APPIETTO, France

Sebastian the Stray

My elderly mother asked me to buy her a bag of cat food (she didn’t have a cat!) and told me she was feeding an outside cat. (December in New Jersey is freezing!) I told her (lovingly) that she was nuts and that it was probably an opossum! Well, one morning as I was visiting and setting up her pills, I heard a loud meow outside her door. I opened it to see an emaciated Russian Blue cat yowling for his breakfast! Luckily, I had bought the cat food “just in case.” So I fed him and decided I would trap him and give him a forever home. I tried to trap him three times in a Have-A-Heart trap and failed miserably. Finally, on the fourth try, it worked! Six years later, he is a healthy, loving bundle of fur. He loves sitting in the window in a sunbeam with my other cats, Milo and Josie. All three are strictly indoor cats and love life together, along with my precious 13-year-old Shih Tzu!

Kara
CLOSTER, NJ