LIFE WITH KRISTYEMAC: Who Rescued Who?

I've had pets all of my life. Started out with kitty cats my Daddy Stewart would bring to the house when I was a baby. He'd find a stray kitten somewhere and always wound up dropping it by our house. I loved my "dilly dally's" which is the name I think they ALL had. We lived on Prison Camp Road and for many years it probably had the heaviest traffic in town due to the folks that worked at the Prison Camp and the state DOT shed located there. I learned early in life that cats and roads don't mix well. Little girl grief would overtake me every time I was informed that Dilly Dally had gone on vacation, never to return.

Usually within the week Daddy Stewart would show up with another lost soul....sadness would be forgotten as a new little ball of fur would rub around my legs and follow me every where I went in the yard.

I was extremely envious of my friends that had dogs...in their HOUSE for heaven's sake...but mother and daddy would never allow a dog in the house.

Along came a new preacher to Lillington for the Methodist church which was pretty much located in our back yard. He had a bunch of little girls....and the prettiest little poodle I had ever seen. Not even sure if I had ever seen a poodle before. I fell in love with their dog and as luck would have it they called me over one day to show me the beautiful puppies that she had just given birth to. I was probably 12 or 13 and begging didn't go off very well in our house. A no was a no...not to be questioned, so I didn't ask again once I asked about getting one of the pups and was told it wasn't going to happen. About six weeks later I came home from school to find my daddy at home in the middle of the day. That was strange...he worked pretty hard and never came home during the day unless something bad had happened. Dreading hearing bad news when I got inside I found mother and daddy in the kitchen with big smiles on their faces and my favorite puppy from the preacher's in mother's hands. Humphrey Bogart McDonald quickly became "Bogey" and all of a sudden staying at home was a lot more attractive.

I married my high school sweetheart in my teens and immediately became a family of three....me, Bogey and Randy. Where Randy had once been jealous of my best friend, he quickly fell madly in love with a dog that absolutely adored him. Now it was my turn to be jealous! Every where Randy went Bogey was at his side. We lost that baby due to stupidity on my part when she was run over in the drive at our apartment complex by a neighbor. We grieved like it was our very own real baby.

A few weeks later mother showed up in Southern Pines with a 6 month old ugly reddish brown poodle in her car. The preacher family had moved on and mother had tracked them down looking for another puppy from Bogey's mother. They had sold their dog and helped Mother track her down to a lady that was breeding her. This ugly little thing had not found a home and was available.

Leonard Bernstein Turlington became our new little boy, Bernie...and it didn't take me long to find out that he was a daddy's boy, spending his every waking moment with Randy if at all possible. Many moves later we were living at Lake Surf outside of Southern Pines and part of Randy's job provided us a two story townhouse to live in. For some reason Randy had to do something that required Bernie to stay at home with me. It was a beautiful early Spring day so I was upstairs cleaning and changing the linens with the sliding glass doors to the balcony open letting in the sunshine and fresh air. Out of nowhere Randy had come home and showed up outside and as usual started whistling a tune while he was starting a project in the yard. Lord have mercy...by the second note to pass his lips, Bernie's ears flew up and he flew out....OUT...as in up and over the balcony to get to his "daddy". Screaming and running to the balcony all I expected to see what was our "baby" lying dead or broken up on the ground below. What I saw was Randy laid out on the grass with Bernie in his arms. How he ever saw that dog flying overhead and was in just the right place at just the right time to catch him we could never figure out. THAT, my friends, is a loyal pet.

Rarely, did Randy leave without Bernie in the truck or beside him after that. He was even allowed in the clubhouse when Randy would go there for lunch. Sadly, one day when walking in the door at the clubhouse another big dog jumped out of a guy's pickup and killed Bernie right in front of Randy's eyes. I don't think he ever really got over it and we didn't get another dog. Bernie could NOT be replaced.

Until now every dog I've had has left me due to unusual circumstances. There was PC who was taken from our yard and Schatze (my first schnauzer) who wound up moving in with my Uncle Donnie who needed her desperately and could give her hours and hours of lap loving until she passed away at his house from old age. My boys were given a dog by their Aunt Betty that they just didn't pay any attention to so I found it a good home with space to run and play.

Then I wound up on my own. The boys were grown and gone and I was by myself for the first time in my life. Having Schnauzer's in the past and missing my Schatze I somehow wound up on the Schnauzer Rescue of the Carolinas website.

http://www.schnauzerrescueofthecarolinas.org/

I didn't have time to train a puppy from scratch and it seemed like a good idea....filled out an application and forgot about it. A few months later I get a phone call and the Schnauzer Rescue wanted to send someone to my house for a "home visit" to inspect to see if I would make a good candidate for one of their rescues. It was just like trying to adopt a child! I thought the woman would come, meet me, give me more paperwork and leave. She inspected my whole house! And asked me LOTS of personal questions. She left and said someone would eventually get back to me IF I was approved for adoption. Got a call a week later...I was approved..and due to the circumstances of me working away from home and being a single woman it would probably be a few months before they had a dog for me, IF they had one that could get along in a house for long periods of time alone. After that call I was pretty sure I wasn't an ideal candidate and forgot about it. Then the good call came. They had an "unusual" circumstance...a beautiful schnauzer girl about 4 who had been beaten by her first owner and tied out to a tree by her second. She was "unsociable" so they said, but loving. She hated men, children and needed to be crated...so they said. She needed a home immediately because she couldn't be with the other dogs at her foster home. They told me to drive to the foothills of SC and bring a travel crate and have a crate at home for her when we returned. I was sure this was the biggest mistake of my life, but off I went.

This is a photo of me and Josey meeting for the first time at her foster home in Greenwood, SC.

It was love at first site...she looked at me like PLEASE get me outta here! Her travel crate was buckled up in the back seat and waiting for her ride home. She was TERRIFIED when I tried to put her in it. I put her in my lap and she didn't move from Greenwood to OD. Just laid there and let out a sigh every now and then. I thought I had found someone who needed me but it didn't take me long to realize just how much I had really needed her. Getting home I found out she was also terrified of her crate. She immediately had the run of the house and filled the empty space in the bed beside of me every night. She went to work with me every day...and as I worked on fixing up the rentals I had she would lay on her "travelin' bed" and watch my every move. When she was in the pickup with me she would make sure NOBODY came close...almost breaking out the windows pouncing on them to let anybody know to stay away from me. She alerted me to anything going on outside of the house at night and 9 times out of 10 there would be someone, or some thing, in or around my yard when they shouldn't be. The poor baby had never learned to play and no matter what toys I bought or how many hours I spent on the floor or in the yard with her, she never did learn. This broke my heart. It seemed she only lived to be with me. We were best buds.

She has grown old with me and we've had our good days and bad days...but always comforting each other. Josey had been sick with Cushing's Disease and Diabetes for the past two years and has steadily gone downhill. These past 6 months she hasn't been able to go on her beloved rides, hasn't been able to sleep with me and has pretty much been confined to a new area made up for her in my kitchen. I knew the day was coming that I would have to make a decision...for her sake...to let her go. I think I kept hoping she would just pass in her sleep but the old girl kept hanging on. After 3 terrible days of watching her suffer I made that decision and bought my best friend a one way ticket over the Rainbow Bridge.

Happy for her, but sad for me. I hope she's meeting all of my Dilly Dally's, Bogie, Bernie, PC and Schatze. I hope they all have something good to say about me. I can only speak of good things and lots of love about each one of them.

Another dog will probably not come to live at my house. I'm working pretty much seven days a week and at at job that would be too much for one to ride with me. I DO encourage any and all of you that are looking for a pet to complete your family to consider adopting a rescue. They NEED you and you have no idea how much you need them until you have done so. You will never find a breathing being that will love you so unconditionally and make you feel like the most important person in the world. They adapt very quickly because they know they have found a "furever" home.

I am thankful that Josey found her way to me. And I am thankful that I was able to make the hard decision to let her go. She loved my boys, loved my grandchildren (although we were told she couldn't be around kids) and loved to be loved.