Social Networking Parents Come Together to Save a Dog Named Radar

This is a story about a dog named Radar who needed a lot of help from caring humans to get to his forever home.

Radar belonged to our friend Angel’s mom  Lori’s neighbors.  Momma Lori saw Radar nearly every day.  He was malnourished and mistreated.  He was left outside in the worst heat and in terrible rains.  Over time Momma Lori could not take seeing this dog so abused, and she convinced the family to surrender Radar.

Unfortunately, Momma Lori was already living in a house overstuffed with dogs.  She was going to have to find a good home for the little man.  She took him to the vet where she found out he suffered from ringworm and Lyme disease.  It was an unwanted expense for Momma Lori, who had recently suffered lots of damage from the floods, but she had sworn to be Radar’s angel on Earth.

It is fitting that this was the week when Radar needed to find his way to a new home because it also marks the tenth anniversary of Doggyspace the social network that brought many of us together.  Angel Tommy Tunes, to commemorate the event, posted a blog showing many old friends who we have lost touch with or are now angels.  People commented about how they found the site and the wonderful friends they made there.

It is proper that Angel Tommy was the one to write this blog because it was Doggyspace that helped Tommy’s sister Freddy get to Tommy’s Dad’s house after Freddy’s mom Gina passed away. When Tommy’s dad was one of the two people who offered to take Freddy and her sister into their homes, it was the DS parents who came together to transport Freddy all the way to Florida in the middle of a blizzard.

While DS has been discontinued the friendships remain.  Carol Johnson-Isaacson read about Radar’s plight, and she found someone in her home state of Minnesota who would give Radar the home he deserved.  The problem was getting Radar from Nebraska to Minnesota.  All it took was one post on the Doggyspace Facebook Group where many of our friends had found refuge.

Momma Karen Schlabach, who was instrumental in transporting Freddy to Florida, stepped up and said that she would be the middle person to take Radar from Lori and to meet Carol.  The only other part to address was the money for the transport and medical expenses.  The three caring women asked their old DS friends for help raising money.  It did not take long for that to happen.

The transport began on Saturday.  Momma Lori took Radar to meet Momma Karen.  Momma Lori tearfully said goodbye to a dog she thought of as her own.   There were tears in her eyes because she would miss him, but also because she knew the hungry, wet, uncared for dog who would visit her pack was now going somewhere that he would know nothing but love.  It was truly a bittersweet moment.

Momma Karen drove to meet Momma Carol and gave her Lori.  Momma Carol then delivered Lori to his forever home.  Doggyspace, and sites like it, were about celebrating dogs, but they grew into something more, a way for humans to make dogs’ lives better.  Eleven years ago Momma Lori would not have found a home for Radar so quickly if at all, proving that people who let pets into their lives are the most caring people in the world.

This is a picture of a happy, well cared for Radar with his Dad.  Radar had a happy ending. Thanks to the Internet, and caring parents, more parents and dogs should be getting happy endings and their forever homes.

So, to the parents who are reading this, or spend lots of time on pet sites, especially at work, if anyone asks you why it is because you are saving lives.