A Letter to all the People Who Helped Me

as Translated by Kathy Pearce

            They did not feed me well, and there was another pet.  The other pet was a big Dobeman Pinscher and he was very rough when he played with me. One day these people took me to a place called “the shelter”.  This place had hard floors with no rugs and a lot of dogs and cats.  I was not feeling well and it was not the greatest of places.  After I was there for a while, to my surprise, I had these puppies.  I did the best I could with them, but the shelter people took them away.  Too bad, because I was hoping to play with them; they were just getting big enough. 

            I was just wondering if life was worth living when a nice lady called Juliana, came to the shelter in Alabama and took me for a ride. She stopped at McDonald’s and then continued to drive.  When the ride was over I was at her veterinarian’s office in Kentucky.  Here they fixed me so I could not have more puppies, and also found that I had heart worms.

            Juliana came back and picked me up from the vet’s and thought she would stop at McDonald’s again.  Well I spoke up and let her know she should not do that again. I did not want to go back to the vet’s. She must have understood because she took me to her home.  Since this worked, I decided I would bark every time I saw McDonald’s and I will tell other dogs to do the same.

Things started to look up.  At her house I met Bill and her seven dogs. Boy it was nice there!  There was a fenced- in yard and toys, but I still had the heart worms.  Juliana gave me medicine and   I started to feel much better.  The nice thing about Juliana was she talked to me and told me what was going on. 

            Bill and Juliana said someone was coming to take me to a new home.  I was a little worried about this because I liked it at their house and they kept saying what a good girl I was.  It seems there was this person in Colorado called Carolyn who Juliana was talking to on the phone.  She had told Juliana to get me out of the shelter and take me to the vet. Carolyn was now planning to send me to New Jersey.  Can you believe that someone in Colorado knew that I was unhappy and was helping me?  How lucky can a dog get?

            Then one Saturday night someone was outside our house making noise.  I heard them, but the other dogs did not bark so I didn’t. >From then on, I rarely barked.  Then the phone rang.  It was the people Juliana had told me about.  I was very worried.  They were coming for me Sunday morning at 6:00AM.

            Sunday when they showed up they seemed ok, and they smelled like dogs.  I greeted them with my tail going as fast as it could.  There were two of them: a mother named Kathy and her son named Chris.  All my things were put in their car, and off we went, and went and went.  In fact it took fourteen hours to get to their home! 

            On the way Chris asked his mother to check me because I was so good he was worried about me.  We stopped a few times, and they tried to feed me on the road.  I did not eat. They talked to me too and told me I would meet my new family that night.  They told me they were bringing me to their home and then I would go to my new home where there were people who would love me.  I was not sure of this; I really did not know what love meant. 

            When we arrived, there were a lot of neighbors, friends and my new family.  Everyone was making a fuss over me.  I was introduced to Jerry, Laura and their grandson.  They walked me for a little while.  Then they took all my things and put them in their car. 

            After a short ride we were at my new home.  There was a big fenced in yard, and a big dog bed.  I went right to sleep.  The next morning I went to work with Laura.  I got into a little trouble when I stole Laura’s lunch off her desk. (She call me over and I gave it to her very nicely.) Lots of people at work were waiting to meet me.  Things keep getting even better.  They are taking me to school and they play with me every day.  I never knew things could be this good!   

            I wish every dog that gets sent to the shelter could be as luck as I was. All I can say is thank you.

Allie, originally known as “Bama”, is a rescue female who was dropped off at the Alabama shelter with 4 Doberman mix puppies.  The Alabama shelter refused to release the puppies to HT-Z.  Bama was less than a year old, malnourished, patches of missing hair, and heartworm positive.  Juliana & Bill Sorbo fostered her and assisted HT-Z with spaying, heartworm treatment, and restoring this sweet girl to good health.  Laura & Gerald adopted and renamed her “Allie-Bama”.

 “Allie is doing great…we just adore her.  Kathy bathed and clipped her yesterday, looks like a different girl.  Jerry and I practiced on Kathy's Sergio, we're glad he's not a show dog…we'll get better with practice I hope.  I take her to work with me and she's wonderful there.  She's relaxed and doesn't bark at all (for now).  Since we're on the second floor, there's little danger of her running outside.  She's had a few episodes of hyperness, but I found the paper slapped against my hand calms her down immediately.  She really is just a puppy after all and I expect her to act like one too, so she gets away with a little nuttiness.  We're going to training classes and have taught her to sit. The trainer told us it would take two weeks for her to really settle in and doesn't want us to do too much with her for now.  We got her a prong collar and works wonders on her walking slowly, before that she really pulled one of my secretaries down the stairs, but now she walks like a lady. I'm calling the vet tomorrow concerning her medical records and heartworm meds. As you may know, we had a Doberman that stole our hearts and really grieved when she died (suddenly in our back yard) Feb. 01, 2005, and was a little leery about being able to love another dog, but no problem there.  I can't tell you how happy we are with her.  We'll stay in touch.  Thank you.

Laura