Jimmy
The Southern Alberta flood of 2013 had an enormous impact on our family. No, we didn’t suffer any displacement or damage from the water. Instead, we went on a path that would change the dynamics of our family by adopting a dog through Little Mutts Rescue.
How this began was when there was a call by the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society (AARCS) that needed donations for animals that had been displaced by the flood. As we are a family with a dog already, we felt we wanted to help. Our family brought supplies to AARCS’ headquarters, where we were introduced to a little dog in need of fostering. His family was forced to turn him over to AARCS’ temporary foster care because their home had been flooded, and they were evacuated to a place that wasn’t appropriate for animals. The dog needed a foster home for a short period of time, and we were told that it may be just for a few days or weeks while his family recovered.
We took him home, not knowing that his stay with us would be longer than we had expected. There was some belief that he might have to be surrendered because of the uncertainty his family and other flood victims were facing regarding longer term accommodations, and we were prepared to give him a furever home if that was the case. Our foster dog had showed us that we had enough room in our home for another dog. Fortunately, he was reunited with his family after a 2 month stay with us. After he went back to his family our house felt empty, despite our two small children and large goldendoodle dog, so we began the process of finding another dog to join our family.
We looked at several local rescue groups trying to find the right dog to join our family. When we were researching the available animals that Little Mutts Rescue had, we were taken by one dog’s profile. Jimmy was a dog that had been found in Coachella, CA, and had been brought to Alberta by the Wings of Rescue organization in the summer of 2013. We decided that we wanted to meet Jimmy and see if he would be a fit with our household.
Jimmy’s foster family happened to live near our home, so one of his foster parents brought Jimmy over to meet us. The moment Jimmy walked through our door it truly was love at first sight for us. After a little bit of nervousness, Jimmy was very comfortable in this new environment. We then introduced him to our full-sized dog Tucker, and he and Tucker acted as if they had been friends forever. Within 15 minutes, we knew that Jimmy was our dog. We began the process of adopting Jimmy, and within 36 hours, Jimmy became the newest member of our family.
Jimmy settled into our house right away. He just loves being with people, so he was cuddling up with everyone he came across. The night Jimmy came home to us, we had some company who are not dog people. By the end of the night, he had completely won their hearts. Since then, Jimmy has just been a wonderful dog. He can’t get enough of being with his family, loves going on walks, and has just been an overall wonderful dog.
After adopting Jimmy, we have found out more about him. His records indicated that after he was found by the Coachella rescue organization that cared for him, he was treated for extensive chemical burns down his back. When our vet checked him out for the first time, she noted that his teeth exhibited signs of wear that were consistent with a dog trying to chew himself out of a cage or a wire fence for an extended period of time. Despite what he has gone through, he is still trusting and affectionate with humans. It saddened us to know that Jimmy had experienced such hardship in his life, but we are giving him the furever home he deserves. We could not be happier to have him as part of our family, and hope Jimmy feels the same way.
We are so thankful for the hard work that so many people have done to help save our Jimmy. We went through his paperwork and counted the following people who helped him with no return to themselves (well there probably were some puppy kisses J ):
1) the person who found him and took him to a no kill shelter,
2) the shelter staff that cared for him
3) the groomer that cut the mats from his skin,
4) the vet who treated his burns, vaccinated and neutered him,
5) the Wings of Rescue folks who flew him to Calgary,
6) Little Mutts Rescue in Calgary,
7) his Calgary foster family.
Thank you to each and everyone one of you. You have brought so much joy to our family and saved the life of a dog, our dog J
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- Appointment Only
Where to find us
P.O. Box 2101 Station Main
Cochrane, AB T4C 1B8
