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| In Loving Memory "Andy" Rescued August 2001 Gone to the Bridge 1/24/03 |
It was a typical afternoon when the phone rang. A young girl was calling. She had gone to the SPCA to surrender her dog, and they wouldn't take him. She was calling me from a payphone along the road. This girl was 18 and getting ready to leave for college. That morning her mother told her if "that dog" was still there when she returned from work, she was taking him out to a farm and dumping him out. There was no doubt in this girl's mind, that her mother fully intended to carry out her threat. She would not go home with the dog. I told her to bring him down and I would take him. The dog turned out to be a young chocolate/tan male. We estimated his age at 18 months. According to the girl, they found him about a year before and just kept him. She said no one in the family liked him or wanted him around, besides her. |
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| She could not provide a vet's name... so they apparently provided no vet care during the year that they had this dog. He was already neutered when they found him, so someone was at least responsible enough to have that taken care of at an early age. Of course, the first order of business was to get Andy cleaned up. He had such a mop of hair on his head, that he could not see out. |
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| Andy was adopted by a family who recently lost one of their cockers to old age. They had three other cockers. This is Andy on his adoption day in August 2001. |
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| Christmas 2001 |
| Christmas 2002 |
| In July 2002, Andy started exhibiting some bizarre medical problems. He was taken to his treating vet several times and there were also several visits to an opthalmologist. Unfortunately, the physical symptoms were accompanied by extreme swings in his personality. The bouts of aggression became worse, and the physical symptoms would flare up and settle down. A brain tumor is very likely what was causing these problems for Andy. He was a sweet dog, and the bouts of aggression seemed to upset him as much as it did the family. Quality of life became a consideration. With a heavy heart, Andy's owner sent him to the Bridge. It is particularly sad, because Andy was only about 3 years old. At least we were able to give him 18 months with a loving family. He had far more with them, than he had ever had in his life. And they had the courage to do the right thing and release him from his suffering when the time came. |
| We love you, "A-Man" |
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