The Angels and a Boy Take Ethan from the Backyard to a Warm Bed

 

There are many important days in the life of a dog and, for those who were unlucky enough to be homeless, the most important one is the adoption day, or what we call:  “A Gotcha Day.”  For Ethan, that long-awaited day has finally arrived. 

He had a forever home, but it was not the proper one.  There was no love or care there.  He was purchased to be a guard dog, but the person who bought him mistakenly thought the term meant leaving a dog outside to act as an alarm system without giving him any attention. 

When the occasional bag of Old Roy dumped in a dish and left for Ethan became too much of an expense for the owner, the man brought Ethan to a shelter and dumped him.   A family, the Hendersons, who had just dropped off stuffed animals for the occupants,  saw the poor dog unmoving, lying in the rescue’s parking lot on a towel, and though he had passed. They jumped out of their car to tend to him and called the adoption desk to tell them there was a dog in need nearby.  The workers picked up the dog and immediately took him to their vet center.  The youngest member of the family, Tatum, was particularly traumatized.   The shelter workers discovered that Ethan weighed half the amount he should.  It would take weeks for him to get better. The shelter promised to keep the family informed.

While he may not have realized it, when Ethan was brought into the shelter, he was about the receive the best news a dog could hear.  He discovered that he must eat as much food as he could stomach because he was so uncared for that.  You don’t have to ask us to eat as much as we can twice. Ethan immediately undertook the difficult assignment.  In less than a month, the pup had doubled his body weight and was nearly ready for adoption.  

Tatum kept pestering his parents to see Ethan until one of them contacted the shelter and set an appointment for him to see the dog again.  It was two weeks before Tatum’s twelfth birthday, and shortly after Ethan was neutered, they met. Tatum marked the occasions by wearing a “Team Ethan” shirt.   They bonded immediately, and there was no question who Ethan would be going home with when he recovered.

Of course, the Angels had a hand in the rescue.    Ethan had been praying to be set free for months. This time we used a different technique to reach our goal.  We entered his dark and disturbing nightmares and convinced him that the dog was too much trouble to keep.  We received a fright when the bad man began to consider shooting the poor pup, but with a lot of persuading, we got him trump Ethan at the shelter instead. 

Finding the family was easy.  Any people who bring toys to a shelter are top-rate dog parents.  I arranged for them to be there when Ethan was dropped off after that nature took its course.

Now, Ethan is very happily ensconced in his new home, a vital part of the family and Tatum’s best friend for life.  The angels don’t need credit; seeing them as a happy family is all we need.

And, it’s what we do.