Pippin

Pippin's story began with a phone call. A couple had found a small elderly dog wandering in the road and kindly took him into their home. They put up signs, but nobody came forward to claim him. Knowing that someone might be looking for him somewhere, they surrendered him to the pound in the hopes that his owner would find him there. The pound is required to hold dogs for 72 hours before putting them up for adoption in order to give owners a chance to come forward. This little old fella did not belong in the cold damp run at the pound facilities. The pound employees had not yet received any inquiries for lost dogs that met his description, and could think of no reason why this elderly little dogs should sit in a concrete run for the three day waiting period, so they gave us a call to see if we could foster him. We re-arranged our schedules and went up to get him, taking Arlo with us to test the little guy's tolerance level for big goofy puppies. They were fine together so, after a short conversation with the pound people, we were off.

Calm little Pippin was an easy dog to have around. He made friends with the resident dog, ignored the resident foster cat, and simply wanted to be near us. He was such a sweet dog, although very scruffy and unkempt. We were horrified to discover that his toenails were overgrown to the point that they were affecting his ability to walk. We clipped off as much as we could and it seemed to help.

The next day the wonderful people at Top Dog Daycare in Esquimalt were kind enough to give Pippin a bath and a haircut - being very gentle the whole time. He looked so much better! We were hoping that the new 'do would increase his chances for a speedy adoption, and were very grateful to the Top Dog folks, who always refuse payment for anything to do with our foster animals. (Except in the form of baked goods!)

Little Pippin really perked up in the few days that we had him. It was sweet to see yet poignant - like the time he got so excited he started running along the sidewalk, only to have his back legs give out for a second or two from the exertion. He was just an old guy and should have been spending his golden years laying on a cushion by his person's feet - not being shuffled around the shelter system.

On the third day we co-ordinated with Carol, the pound employee, to take him in near closing time so that she could take him home for the evening and then bring him in to the pound for adoption hours the next morning. It seemed that everyone was doing their best to keep Pippin out of a kennel. Well, we shortly got another phone call - it turned out that the couple who had originally found Pippin on the road wanted to adopt him! Their application was approved and Pippin was driven out to their house for the final home-check. It was reported to us that they took him gently into their arms and were absolutely overjoyed to have him as a part of their family - this time permanently. I'm glad for the little guy. He had a loving home at last, for the rest of his life.



This week Carol, the pound employee who helped us to help Pippin, lost her battle with depression. She was a guardian angel of the Victoria animal rescue community, working for the animals both in her capacity as a CRD Pound employee as well as with the Greater Victoria Animal Crusaders, of which she was a prominent member. She will be greatly missed in the rescue community, and my thoughts go out to her children.