RedDog

RedDog and Jewel - These two dogs epitomize the meaning of a great friendship.  "RedDog," a wily feral Red Heeler mix, had a buddy, named "Jewel," a plain black Flat-Coated Retriever mix. They would visit us when we began working the area behind a rural convenience store off infamous Pearce Lane. RedDog and Jewel lived off egg rolls that customers tossed them. We were trapping stray puppies and placed 25 adoptable pups into new homes from this poor area, but had no foster homes for these 2, not so adoptable, adult dogs.

Jewel was furry and friendly and Red Dog was short coated and feral. We nicknamed Jewel "Circi Bear," since she was chubby and had the bearlike mannerism of tossing her head sideways while giving a big doggy grin and offering her paw. Since we couldn't take them into foster now, we decided to fix them first and find a foster home later. We took Jewel in to be spayed and had to trap the unsocial RedDog. After vetting, we released them to the hillside where they lived and we provided dogfood to the Thai residents who occasionally fed them. We'd visit every few days and trained the dogs to come to a whistle, excited about a good meal when they heard us call. Jewel would almost wag her body in half when we'd approach. RedDog would lie under the junk car and happily thump her tail, but dart away when approached. 

Eventually Jewel's overt friendliness encouraged RedDog to bravely trust, but it took  months. One late September afternoon, we decided to take both dogs into foster care. It would be long term and expensive, since both probably had heartworms. There was a lot to consider; would RedDog socialize? Would they even be there when we arrived to pick them up? 

With anticipation, we drove to Pearce Lane and whistled. The dogs were gone. We whistled again and and looked out over the overgrown pastures, burned trailers and solitary shacks. Suddenly, in the distance, we saw 2 tails rise above the grass and cut a narrow path through the brown sticky weeds, running until they broke the weed barrier into the clearing. We happily loaded Jewel and dragged RedDog to the car. Both dogs were indeed long term fosters, but as luck would have it, found wonderful permanent homes.