| Jeff,
We have been very much impressed with the Rescue Me web site. And, we are very grateful for the site because it is so computer friendly. I stumbled on the site by coincidence while looking for another Bloodhound Rescue site. But to understand our full appreciation, I need to tell you some background.
In 2003 my wife was diagnosed as having Crohns disease. She became very ill and we knew she would eventually become unemployable. She had raised, trained and competed with Golden Retrievers for many years. She had always wanted to have a boarding kennel and in Jan 2004 we started a pet service which allowed her to stay at home and work at her own pace. About that same time my longtime difficulties with mobility issues took a turn for the worse. We managed to keep the business under control with one exception, it grew like crazy.
In March of 2006, a stray five months old Bloodhound puppy found her way to our door step. We did all we could to find the owner to no avail so we eventually claimed her as our own. We named her Charlie and as she grew it became obvious she was a true bred Bloodhound. Although we had no papers on her, we had many requests for a puppy from her. In the fall of 2008 we decided we would let her have one litter and Marcia (my wife) would keep one of the puppies to train and show. On January 23rd of 2009, Charlie presented us with 15 puppies, all were in perfect health with no deformities and we had no problem placing the puppies except for Ellie Mae whom we had planed from the beginning to keep.
As sometimes goes life, Marcia's condition continued to get worse. From Sept. of 2006 to April of 2011 she was hospitalized 22 times, most of those for surgeries. In late 2009 she became wheelchair bound but along with her faith, she hung on to the hope that one day she would be able to work with Ellie May and maybe even show her. She gave it all she could, but by October of 2010 it had become obvious that working with Ellie Mae simply wasn't going to be possible as was the fact that we would no longer be able to operate the pet service even though we had hired help.
We sold the kennel business on October 12th, 2010, which also meant we were facing a serious loss of income. With our kids help, we cut back, sold assets, paid off all debts and started adjusting to a new normal of life. Because we also had a Golden Retriever and a Shih Tzu, (neither one ate very much) we had to find new homes for Ellie Mae and Charlie as part of our cutting back.
We had been dealing since April, 2011, with a Bloodhound rescue in North Louisiana but due to Ellie Mae's age, she just wasn't drawing much attention. Then a few weeks ago, ENTER 'Rescue Me.' The next week, the rescue folks in Louisiana thought they had a good home to place her so we sent her to Louisiana on Sept. 10. That same day, I had a seminar to do out of town and when I returned home that evening, I had a hit on the Rescue Me web site. I let the folks know Ellie Mae was no longer available but her mother, Charlie, was. So happens they were wanting a mature dog and Charlie filled the bill. As a matter of fact, they came here this afternoon and picked Charlie up to take her home to Crawford, Texas.
Marcia had surgery for the last time on February 14th and it was very successful. Following months of physical therapy, she has now done away with the wheelchair AND the walker. She is still using her cane but she is once again, for the first summer in several years, been able to get out and work in her flower beds and vegetable garden.
Thank you so very much for having your web site available to help us. The fact that it was free was huge. I wish we were able to send you a very large check, but things are really tight right now. One thing I can do is forward your request on to Charlie's new owners.
Thank you again for all your hard work in putting the web site together for us,
Dave Hylan
Mount Pleasant, Texas
| |  |
|
