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Handsome and Gretel
8/14/2020

This month is Clear the Shelters month and, as part of Team Flagler Humane Society, this is important to me, our staff and all our furry friends living it up at the shelter, here. We care for them with an abundance of love, nutrition and great veterinarian care (thank you, Doctor Roberto Carlos Auguiar) but this is no place for adorable animals to live their lives.

They belong in homes.

As part of this national movement to find forever homes for our wayward pets, Petco is sponsoring Holiday Wishes Grant Campaign.

“What is this?” you ask.

Gee, I am so glad you asked. They are encouraging adopters to share their stories of shelter-adopted pets brightening up their lives. Oh, did I mention the chance at a $100,000 grant for our shelter? So, okay, I’ll go first and, hopefully, you will go next, right?

Mine is not a shelter story but it is unique. Her name was Gretel. Wait, no, it was Sophie.

I had just purchased my first townhouse in a family community and decided now was an excellent time to introduce my son, a good-looking young lad, to the world of loving pets. Alas, allergic to cats, a canine companion was the clear way to go. As a single parent working a demanding job that required multitudes of time, maybe an older, already housebroken, sweet animal could be the solution? I scoured the newspapers until I found a classified ad that startled me with perfection.

1 yr. old dachshund - $100. to good home.
She does not get along with our other dog.


A weinerdog?

I love weinerdogs and I didn’t have any other dogs so I dropped the paper and immediately phoned Jane, the dog’s owner. She came to our home to scope us out, inspecting the community, the courtyard and my grinning son, but then abruptly skedaddled. I worried that she had found us unsatisfactory but no, a week later, she called to see if we still wanted her dog, Sophie.
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And just like that, this delightful dachshund became part of our family and we immediately fell in love with her. She followed us from room to room, shadowed us around the neighborhood parks and loved riding in the old Volvo. She settled in quite nicely but, about a week later, Jane called me up in tears.

“I will give you three times what you paid to have Sophie back. I can’t stand it. I can’t sleep. I miss her so.”

“I don’t need your money. If you miss her so much, of course you can have her back.”

“Thank you so much! Please, what can I do for you? I want to do something for you.”

“Nothing. I’ll find another dog.”

And, that day, Jane drove sixty miles out of her way to a place where she could obtain a dachshund puppy that looked just like Sophie. When she came to fetch her dog, she handed me the puppy.
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Wow.

That’s how Gretel came into our life and, see, that’s two happy endings.


© Copyright 2020 Flagler Humane Society
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