Our family has had a wonderful 2009. We are both still working, we have each other and our 3 wonderful dogs and 2 great cats.
We are Christians and we believe God has a plan for our lives. When we thought about adopting another dog, we thought of a collie and submitted an application for a rescue dog. The collie rescue people told us our application was rejected. So we said, OK, and that same day we found Homeward Bound Golden Retiever Rescue.
We submitted our application and were visited by 2 ladies who wanted to make sure we could and would provide a safe home for one of their dogs. We passed the test. One of the ladies who came to the house told us about the sweetest little golden 3 legged dog from Taiwan that she had picked up at SFO and took her to Homeward Bound.
Sherry, now Shelby, had her surgery on March 11th and was doing well enough that her foster mom and dad brought her down from Auburn to grant a few interviews. We locked eyes with Sherry and guess what? we were smitten. We left with our new dog about 2 1/2 hours later and started a friendship with Shelby’s foster mom and dad, Kathleen and Jim and with another of the volunteers, Jana.
On the way home we stopped at Petsmart to see about some obedience classes. Guess what, a beginners class started that Tuesday night. Our instructor Margie took a special interest in helping Shelby and I do the best we could so we could move to the intermediate class which started 3 days after we graduated from the beginners class. Margie is the person who suggested that we go to the VA Hospital with Shelby.
In order to visit a hospital we had to attend a certain school to become certified. Guess what, Margie was a volunteer at that school and told us a social/therapy team class was starting 2 weeks after we graduated from the intermediate class. With her help, we got all the paperwork and stuff done so we could attend the August class. The next class was not until November.
Our instructor at the new school, Nancy, was so moved by Shelby and her courage, she went out of her way to make sure Shelby and I and also Cindi and Penny had all the help we needed to make through the class. It was a hard class for Shelby and I. Shelby worked so hard that even Nancy teared up once.
All of us passed the certification exam! I can’t begin to explain how very proud of Shelby I was. We let Nancy know we wanted to work at Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa and one of the VA hospitals and guess what! Nancy is the lady whose job it was to help make those things happen.
I contacted Memorial and guess what, there was in introduction class for volunteers in a week and there was an opening! We made 2 of the required 3 visits with our mentor to the hospital and she told us no need for the 3rd visit, you guys are ready to go. Shelby and I got our ID cards, with pictures our made and started visiting Memorial the next week.
About 10 days later Nancy called and let us know that the VA Hospital in Martinez would be happy to have us visit and since we were only going to come one a month, we could cut the paperwork by 75%.
We have met an made wonderful friends from this website. It’s not an easy thing for me to talk to folks I don’t know. If I want to help Shelby do the work she does so well, I need to be able to walk into a hospital room and ask a stranger if they would like to visit with a dog. It’s been tough, but I’m getting used to it. Shelby has forced me out of my comfort zone so I can grow as a person.
Penny has taken her roll as the big sister to heart and has shown amazing patience with Shelby. Charlie has gotten a couple years younger with his new baby sister around. The cats have finally accepted her and she stays out of their way!
We have introduced Shelby to hundreds of people and only twice have I seen folks reject her. One was a nurse, the other was a fellow at the VA Hospital. You can’t win them all. Just last week we walked into the critical care waiting room and saw three peoples mood change immediately! Their mood and body language changed from worry and concern to a huge smile! Even if it’s only for a few minutes, it just doesn’t get much better than that!
It is impossible for all those circumstances and people to come together without some help from God. Shelby traveled half way around the world to come and live with us and teach the lessons that only a tripawd can. Seeing people react to her only reinforces what Margie told us, “Don’t ever underestimate the power of dog!”
We are so happy and blessed, thanks to those who have been supportive of our learning to live with a tripawd!
