To begin this post, I want to express a big thank you for sharing the recent loss of our sweet boy Milo. Losing both he and Lily this year has left a void in our home, because both had big personalities (especially Lily) and I know it goes without saying that I really miss them.
**Thank you Ingrid at Meezer's Mews & Terrieristical Woofs for making these lovely mementoes!
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As we all know, life has a way of continuing whether we want it to or not, and the dog beds at our house hardly ever get cold. And I never know if, when or how the next additions will come to us.
But for whatever reason, it seems that the cosmos always tells me to 'get ready' for one. For several weeks, I felt like I should contact the foster home coordinator for Lab Rescue and tell 'Christine' that if needed, we could take a foster dog. It had been almost a year since we'd welcomed a Lab -- even though we'd been asked a few times in recent months, the timing just wasn't right -- But now, despite everything that was going on in our lives, and knowing that the loss of Milo was coming, it didn't keep me from feeling like I needed to let 'Christine' know anyway. So, around the first part of June, I did. But I didn't hear back from her, which was okay. But it didn't stop that nagging feeling I had as each week I poured over the list and photos of the Labs that needed a foster home. However, none of them caught my attention.
Then about 3 weeks ago, I was asked to take a 10-ish year old chocolate lab girl named Keira -- Who by the way, was not on the list of dogs needing a foster home -- Keira was a stray that found her way to a shelter in North Carolina, and then onto Lab Rescue. She is and was not in the best of health. Her biggest medical issues is that she is heartworm positive, and has 'dermal hemangiosarcoma' -- or skin cancer. She has had to have a toe amputated, but still has other cancerous lesions that will not be removed. All this means that Keira is considered a 'hospice foster.' Of course none of that matters, I agreed to take her, and about 2 weeks ago, Keira arrived at Golden Pines.
Keira has settled in nicely and has found a friend with our big foster boy, Jack. The other dogs like her too.
What is (also) sad and a bit heartbreaking, is that some things in Keira's behavior strongly suggest that someone was 'heavy handed' with her. She's very skittish, and a raised voice for something as simple as calling the dogs inside, or loud noises, cause her to cower, run off or hide in fear.
Despite Keira's fears and her past treatment, it hasn't dimmed her gentle, sweet spirit, her smile or her really wanting to be your friend and share all that love she has inside -- And she has found a place 'inside' our hearts. ❤
