Thank you for your hard work

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Sandy,
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for the kind and professional manner you handled the situation with Wrigley and Rosie, my Australian Shepherds, in Round Lake this past week. You were not judgmental, kind, and considerate the entire time. That helped me make the right decision on what needed to be done for Wrigs and Rose instead of one that would have been based out of anger or defensiveness.

I thought that I would tell you a story about these wonderful dogs so that you know a bit about what you did for them. Four years ago my wife and son and I moved to a gorgeous home in a wonderful neighborhood in Lindenhurst. It had a nice backyard, a park just beyond our backyard, and McDonald Woods right across the street. It was a neighborhood where people came up to introduce themselves when we moved in. It was the happiest time in my life and I thought I had found the place I would raise a family and spend the rest of my life, it was so wonderful I don't think I would have ever considered moving.

Three months after moving, and sorry if this gets a little personal but this is a big part of moving on for me, my wife started having an affair. Two months after that I found out and despite my pleas to try to work things out and resolve them for the good of our family she left. I was left with a huge home (and mortgage to go with it), car with its loan, a Chinese Shar Pei we had since just after we were married and our 6-year-old Autistic son. His mom was and is still involved in his life but for all intents and purposes he was living permanently with me when she went back and moved in with her parents. I put up the brave face at first and managed to keep a home and a career all put together but gradually things began to unravel. Our Shar Pei was outside in the yard and during a tornado warning when I was trying to tend to our son and get him to shelter she slipped her collar and ran away when i was trying to get her inside. I immediately called the police after the storm but no one had found her, I searched the neighborhood and contacted neighbors but no one found her. Two days later I contacted Orphans of the Storm and found out that Beijing had been put down the day after she ran away because she was "aggressive" (what dog that ran away during a tornado wouldn't be?), apparently the county had picked her up.

This hurt me very much as I lost my wife, my marriage, and now the dog that was a big part of our life as well. A few months later I had taken an interest in Aussies and there was a dog down in Sprigfield that was just a puppy and no one had picked him up. My son and I drove the several hours down to Springfield and adopted him, my son immediately named him "Louie". Louie was a great dog but he was a ball of fire. Our yard wasn't fenced in and he had to be on the tie out and he hated that. We would go to the dog park in Lindenhurst and he would disappear. I contacted Aussie Rescue and Lisa and the fine folks there found him another home after an extensive search. She told me about an older dog she had though named Rosie and would I be interested in seeing her? I said that I would.

We drove out to the western burbs where Rosie was being fostered and out came this sad shy red tri Aussie they had named Rosie. She was found in the Springfield area and no one knew anything about her. However, they also had a blue tri they had just named Wrigley (this was 2003 now when the Cubs were a few outs away from going to the World Series). He also was old, his elderly owners had abandoned him and he was the sweetest most kind-hearted animal I had ever seen. I couldn't choose, I just couldn't choose which one I wanted so I took both of them.

Since it was just Aidan and I Wrigs and Rose had the run of the house, they could go anywhere they wanted, sleep on the couch, Wrigley slept in my bedroom, they had no limits. They were very happy there except for Rose and her obvious desire to be outside more. Similar to Kramer vs Kramer (if you've seen it) I was starting to get increased pressure at work from my former employer by this time. I was no longer working the long and extra hours anymore, I was calling in sick when I had to take my son to the doctor or when he couldn't attend school. They couldn't fire me for that (in fact I had to assert FMLA rights to stop them from firing me for attendance) they decided to start inventing "performance" issues. I went into the hospital from an anxiety attack and the next week I quit that job after almost 11 years there.

Wrigs and Rose really had it good now, I was home all the time, they got to go to the dog park a lot, Wrigley loved to go hiking in McDonald Woods with Aidan and I, things were going really well. I had a number of good job leads and had no fear about getting another job. Then lead after lead evaporated and one month out of work turned into two and three and so on for 9 months. I had to give up the house and I had nowhere else to go but to Round Lake to be with my mother. This was great for Rose (in many respects) but not for Wrigley. I had fallen into a huge depression being out of work, out of a marriage, my dream crumbling around me and the home I loved so much hung like an albatross around my neck now. I had to get out of there. Had it not been for those dogs keeping me company and my son's love I may not be here right now to write this to you.

With the new house came new rules though, my mom has some cats through Save-A-Pet that she can't even legally adopt she is a foster for them and she didn't want the dogs near the cats (despite the cats coming downstairs to pillage their food and water all the time). Rosie stopped wanting to come in at all because she was confined to the downstairs and Wrigley would sadly sit at the top of the stairs at the gate wanting to be with us. I managed to find another job finally and then another that was pretty good but I still have not been myself yet. I still have trouble keeping on top of the things I need to. The dogs suffered because of that and they had saved me.

A once active dog owner who was selective about things as simple as their collars or leashes now didn't even take his dogs to the vet or have them groomed. The most I could do was spend some time with them. So, you see, when you called me on Friday night, I knew what the answer was and what I had to do. But you have to know that was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. But I loved those dogs and I WAS NEGLECTING THEM and I knew it. I was just too ashamed to admit it.

Your kind and gentle manner helped me see that and helped me see what I needed to do. When Loren and Lisa came I cried the whole time I felt so guilty for what I had done. Lisa called yesterday and apparently they are doing very well but Rose has some medical issues that have been neglected because of me and I feel terrible. You have made a difference in the lives of those dogs and for that I am forever grateful to you because they deserve it so very much. This has hurt me greatly but I know that I will get through it and continue trying to rebuild myself into the person I once was. That person would have never let that happen to those dogs.

So God Bless You for what you do and the way that you do it. I hope you can take this and be very proud for what you have done and when you run across that time where it may seem like too much, the burden too great, or the owner who wants to rip your head off for making accusations that you will think of Wrigley and Rosie and that will keep you going. I'm attaching some photos of them from much happier times so that it can help you remember them.

Best regards,

*John Smith
*name changed

Date: April 27, 2007
Posted By: Withheld

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