By Stacy Cole | Donor Communications
Deciding what to share with you, and how to share, it is sometimes difficult. Due to the nature of our mission, most every intake story can be tough to read or downright depressing. At the same time, they most all have delightfully happy endings. It is comforting knowing that we have eased the suffering of a pup and it is with your support we can do just that.
Our mission | The right Boxer. The right home. Loved forever.
The following story is that and more.
How did he come to be in the field? How long had he been injured? What on earth must he have thought when a woman stopped and began to follow him about? Why wouldn’t she leave him alone? Should he run? Bite?
The infection had set in days ago, a smell his sensitive nose couldn’t get away from. It was an injury he couldn’t lick to clean or comfort himself. Still, she followed him. Should he give in? With much trepidation, that’s exactly what he did. He was too tired and she was relentless. Cooing, she eased herself up to him and using the only thing she had—she slipped a shoelace around his neck as a makeshift collar. Was this MacGyver? The phone calls started, another lady appeared, and into a car he went.
More people, bright lights, voices echoing, a rush of new smells. Baring his teeth, he gave a few warning snaps. He hurt, he was scared, and after all, they didn’t know him, they didn’t know what he was capable of.
He was happy his displeasure with them worked at least for a bit. Then the strangers moved back in stroking his head, patting his back and then all went dark.
What was happening outside of the vet's office? People were hearing his story, rooting for his recovery, and donating money towards his mounting medical bills. Why was it they were willing to come together and help him fight his way through? How can a no-named dog roaming in a field bring so many people together?
Two surgeries and many days in the hospital, the newly named Gunner was being released. The pain? It was still there but a different kind of pain. Oddly, a better kind. Cheering him goodbye he was now on the road headed to his foster home. What must await him there? Gunner stuck his head out the window. Life seemed different.
Scrolling through her Facebook feed Sarah stopped on a picture. The eyes, it was in the eyes. A pup fighting infection, needing a soft place to land, and someone to care for him. Scrolling on past she scrolled back. The eyes. It was then she knew she needed him as much as he needed her. Knowing foster homes are difficult to come by she contacted the rescue and applied to be his foster. The answer was 'yes'.
Sarah and Gunner had an immediate connection. After checking out the house he crawled up on the couch, hunkered down he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Weeks passed filled with quiet time, slow walks, and vet visits. Healing was coming along nicely. As a foster Sarah needed to start writing Gunner's biography as when he was healed it would be time to find his forever home. Sarah put pen to paper but it wasn't to write his bio, it was to fill out an adoption application. Gunner was her lifeline and she was his, she couldn't imagine letting him go and told him so.
The call came from the founder of WHBR, telling Sarah Gunner was meant to be hers. Sarah cried, laughed, and went thru a sea of emotions before finally just saying, “You could have chosen anybody!” "Yes," said Deann "we could have but we chose the right Boxer for the right home, and he will be loved forever."
Sarah continues to foster Boxers for us, with Gunner's help of course! Together they show fragile pups the ropes of a loving home, nurse them back to health, and get them ready for their own families.
To you, our donors- it is with your support that we continue to save boxers in dire need. This has been a year full of saves. A year full of happy families bringing sweet pups into their home. A year of education on the importance of spay/neuter and proper animal ownership.
With your support, we continue to grow and as we grow our message gets stronger.
From our members to you, thank you
From our adoptive families, thank you
And from every pup that has come into our care, THANK YOU
For without you- we couldn't do what we do for them.
WOOF
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