Friday, September 4, 2009

One at a Time

I had a very busy day yesterday...lunch with G-Ma, grocery shopping, unloading $200 worth of stuff, catching up on tons of emails, and helping to save a pup's life.
Yup, you read that right, a pup's life was saved yesterday because of the power of the Internet and the quick response of people with big hearts.

I received an email yesterday from a friend that had heard about a special little dog in the South L.A. Animal Shelter. To make a long story short, this fellow had been picked up as a stray, was suffering from severe kennel cough, and was due to be put down yesterday at 5pm. I got the email around 2:00pm. The first thing I did was call the shelter to check on the dog's status. Sure enough he was still available, in desperate need of a home, and "red-listed" to be destroyed - very soon.

My stomach did a flip.

I'd seen pictures of this little guy, named Echo, and he looked like a real sweetheart. Why hadn't anyone picked him up? My house is full, but I thought of one thing I could do to help out. I sent out his picture to all 707 of the members of my Golden Retriever Meetup group. Although Echo wasn't a pure Golden, and who knows if he was even a part Golden, I know that Golden owners have huge hearts, and hopefully someone had room in their lives for this desperate little boy.

The email went out...and within just a few minutes I got responses. Lots and lots of responses. Within 15 minutes I got an email from a member that had called the shelter and was told that Echo had been placed on "hold"....that he was going to be adopted. What? No way....not that fast. Then another email came in, same story. I picked up my phone, and called the same gentleman at the shelter that I'd talked to earlier. Sure enough, he'd received a flood of calls from people wanting to save Echo, and several people had given their credit card numbers to guarantee a "hold" on him - Echo had been saved. I was stunned, you know, in a good way.

The guy I talked to said he wishes we could do this for every dog that needed to be saved...so do I.
This is Echo, one of the lucky ones.


9 comments:

Dog By Nature said...

GReat job Sue! When we all pull together we can help those in need.

Valerie Cummings said...

Yay! Im so glad some one came through!!! He is a cutie!!! Great job Sue!!!! Hugs Joey and Kealani

kks said...

so was it someone from golden retriever rescue that put the hold on Echo? what a lucky boy! just think what he'll look like in a few short months with loving care and good food! hope we see pictures...
thanks for sharing, always love a good rescue!
xo

Kelli said...

How wonderful!!! God bless!

Ms. ~K said...

What a sweetie...
Way to go Sue! I love stories like this,
Kit

Maxmom said...

What a lovely story, cute little pup and what great work Sue!!! You are quite amazing and it warms our hearts to know that there are such wonderful people out there.
As I keep saying...our admiration for your incredible group has no bounds.
Sending really warm wishes to you all.
MAXDOG IN SOUTH AFRICA

Scout and Freyja said...

Each and every time I read about innocent animals being on a list to be destroyed my heart breaks and at the same time I am so happy that I live in a county with a no-kill shelter. Those poor animals that have died did so only because of the ignorance of mankind not wanting to spay, neuter or breed responsibly. God bless the people who rescued that adorable dog.

Golden Daily Scoop said...

The world and Echo is a better place because of you, thanks for that post!!! Great job!!!

Miley and her mom

Chris and Mackenzie said...

It's so nice to hear a story with a happy ending. I'm sure Echo was counting on a miracle and glad to hear that it came through!

Chris