Monday, January 10, 2011

Oreo and Elvis Need a Family Together!

This is Oreo and Elvis. They are two very committed dogs who love one another. They need a family where they can stay together.
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They came to us from BARC, Houston's animal shelter. Oreo, the female, had heartworms and we agreed to put her on the holistic heartworm treatment that we use to eliminate her heartworms. Sadly, many rescues will not take a heartworm positive dog. So our job was to eliminate the heartworms so that Oreo could move into a rescue.
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Elvis, the male, had been accepted by a rescue in New England. He is already heartworm negative. Our job was to get him to the vet so he could be neutered, and then get him to his transport to Vermont.
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But it didn't quite work out that way.
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When we took Elvis to the vet for his operation, he stayed overnight.
As soon as he was out of their yard, Oreo began crying long, loud, sorrowful howls. At first, we thought she was hurt in some way! But after checking her out thoroughly, and observing her howling, we concluded she was sad that Elvis was gone!
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Oreo howled through that night. Her long, mournful cries could be heard throughout the farm. The other dogs who sometimes play or bark at the cats at nighttime were respectfully silent, as Oreo's cries of desperate sorrow were broadcast through the farm.
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Next day, Elvis returned from the vet, to await his transport.
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And the happy reunion was beyond description. You just had to be there. It was VJ Day and Christmas morning and every other major occasion all rolled into one giant celebration in that yard!
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They danced together. Yes. Literally. They danced!
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They embraced each other, up on their back two legs... I promise I am not making this up!
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And once again, all the dogs within earshot joined the happy celebration! There was no barking, just happy stares and smiles from dogs all around their play yard! It was uncanny!
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They danced and embraced and cried happy cries at each other for nearly 30 minutes before they finally settled down together, laying side by side as they always do.
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That was when we knew that Elvis would not be catching the bus to Vermont. At least not without his best friend, Oreo!
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We explained their deep commitment to one another, and that we just could not bring ourselves to separate these two. We apologized for changing the plans for Elvis, and hoped that some other dog might be able to have that wonderful opportunity to go to the Vermont rescue.

Our commitment was to give them high priority in our adoption program. My goal was to have them in a home of their own -- together -- by Christmas.

Unfortunately, that has not happened. So we are going to keep featuring them on our website and in our blog until we find a family who has room for two friendly, happy, healthy larger dogs... who clearly love each other! If you know a family who might be right for these two special dogs, please have them contact us so we can get a homestudy going for Oreo and Elvis!

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