Lucky and I (with our new family members) are back for round 2. We first participated in Fuzzy in 2007. Lucky and Hank finished in 2nd place. The competition was fierce and Lucky and Hank found the cat participants to be by far the most intriguing!!   We lost Hank a little over a year ago after a short illness. Hank was the best boy ever. We shared many great years.

Lucky is now about 15 years old. She was a young street dog when we first met. Hank joined our family not long after Lucky; he had been cared for at a shelter after being picked up as a stray. Lucky had given up on life after Hank died. Her life companion was gone. Lucky had spent her life telling Hank what to do!  Lucky and Hank had worked out a deal early in their relationship where Lucky was in control of everything with the exception of the car! Hank would always jump in the car first, then bite Lucky's paw when she followed.  (I would guess that many happy couples have similar arrangements.)

It was very difficult to move forward because there will never going to be another Hank. After a visit to a couple of shelters, I was reminded how many little miracles are waiting to come home. 

Tank (his actual name) was dropped off at a shelter by his owner. He was about 3 years old at that time and full of energy and very bad ideas! When I first met Tank and turned to walk away he took his paw and pounded on the glass. Tank was not the only black dog waiting for a home. There were others but I knew I could only take one home. (Having 3 dogs would be crazy.)  We settled into our new routine at home. I checked the adoption page on a regular basis just to make sure that the other black dogs had found their homes. For some crazy reason no one would take Albert!

Albert was basically terrified of men and not crazy about most women. Albert had been chained in a back yard for almost his entire 1 ½ years. It was pretty clear that contact he had with people in the past had not been very positive. The wonderful staff at Wayside believed in him and tried so hard to make introductions to good prospects. Albert would often just back into the corner barking. He was really frightened but he was also a little bit scary for anyone that did not understand his fear.  Albert joined us at home about 7 weeks after Tank. Albert was going to be with us on a temporary basis as I knew with some love and stability he would be just fine and then we would find this big beautiful dog his own forever home.

I am sure all you dog and cat lovers can appreciate why Albert's forever home is with Lucky and Tank.

Lucky, Hank, Tank and Albert all had rough times early in their lives.  My job has always been to look into their big beautiful brown eyes and promise the pups that we are in it for the long haul.

Thank you for your support.  Your help means so very much to the Kansas City Free Health Clinic and to Heartland SPCA.

Please consider adopting a black dog.

Steve

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Photo Credit: All contest photos were provided by Elaina of Photography by Elaina.
You can see more of Elaina's work at www.elainag.com.