SASHA
written by
Carol
Welcome home, Sasha......
It's been almost 90 days since Sasha came home with me from MTSR on a Thursday
afternoon in June. Sasha who was originally named Cheyenne, but sometimes
called Sha-Sha, had been listed on Craig's List and Ann had responded to the
listing to see if she could be of any help. Turns
out she could be a lot of help!
The listing was placed by a young woman near Nashville who needed to find
a home for her grandparents old, nearly deaf, arthritic dog. The owners
of the dog had both died and the dog had stayed with another family member
for a little over a year but had not been well cared for. Alice (not
her real name) is a single mom with several children and the dog was snapping
at the two youngest ones. She thought at the time that the dog was going
blind and could neither see nor hear the kids as they approached her and was
startled. It was a tough situation and Alice, who loved her grandparents
very much and loved the dog, was distraught. Ann and I talked
and we both stewed and it kept eating at me so I asked Ann if she would take
the dog into Rescue if I would foster her. Of course, she said "yes"
and Cheyenne was
brought to Ann's and surrendered on Sunday, June 8th.On the 12th of June,
the dog
who became Sasha arrived at her permanent foster home on Signal Mountain.
Dr. Kathy at Brentwood had determined that Sasha was negative for both heart
worms and intestinal worms and microchipped her on the morning before we left
Ann's. Very soon after getting to Signal Mountain, Sasha went to see Dr. Laura
to get her rabies vaccination and get checked. She needed her teeth cleaned
badly so we scheduled that and Dr. Laura said she would remove a couple of
lumps from her tummy at the same time. Turns out there was another lump
in her mouth that was also removed. There was no malignancy in any of
them so we were delighted.
As I'm sure I knew from the beginning I would, I adopted Sasha in July so
she has a second forever home. I hope her former owners, and Alice,
would be pleased with her life here on the mountain with me and all my other
fur children and have a sense of peace about her. All the kids, even
the cats, get along just great and Sasha and I have become very attached to
each other. She's a wonderful, gentle girl who gives me sweet kisses
once in a while -- but stays very near me all the time. She sleeps beside
my bed,
or chair, or computer desk, wherever I happen to be .......................
She and my Cheyenne are good
buddies and they go out together all the time. They are so precious
walking so close to each other that their sides almost touch and just puttering
along. They are two dear, dear girls who needed me and that I am so
blessed to have in my life. There's something really, really special
about an old dog. They certainly do melt my heart. We look forward to
some wonderful time together -- this old girl and I.
With gratitude to the God of old dogs -- and everyone and everything else!
Carol