My mother-in-law had a great big dog (125lb lab mix) named Lady move in with her one day about 15 years ago. Lady actually belonged to a family a few streets away (John's mom lives in a quiet country subdivision). Lady, possibly lacking for attention or love, would take herself for daily walks. One day she found Virginia's house and apparently satisfied that this was better than her own home, decided to move in. Virginia (now 85), her elder sister Ruby (now 94), and daughter Cookie (now 65) all love cats and dogs as much as we do and were happy to share their home with Lady. So were all the other cats and dogs, especially Daisy and Sugar (both rescues). Lady's family tried keeping her home, chained up, fenced in, but Lady always managed to get loose from her house and "come back home".
Well, as time passed Virginia's and Ruby's health declined. Lady had become a house dog, and being as big as she was, had a habit of "tripping up" the older ladies. Well, much to my dismay, last summer when we went to see how everyone was doing, we found out that the physical therapist doing the home rehab (Virginia is now bedridden after losing a leg, and Ruby is in a wheelchair) called Lady's other family and asked them to take her back and keep her there or she would be responsible for "killing two old ladies". AAAAgh!!!! Needless to say, the therapist was replaced, but we got there too late for Lady. They had come and picked her up and left a note that they'd probably have to have her "put down" because she was too heavy, too old, and "peed" everywhere. They felt it was the only humane thing to do.
I cried for days and days. Lady was the sweetest, most loving "big ole bear" I'd ever known. We called the family and left messages begging them to let us have her, but they wouldn't return our calls. Then two weeks ago we got a call that Sugar had suddenly died in her sleep. What a blow! I can tell you I was dreading Thanksgiving this year...no Lady, no Sugar, (oh, & Ruby's Miss Kitty had her leg amputated from cancer). When we got to the house last Thursday everyone was so sad. We all sat around and cried, talking about Sugar and Lady.
Well, out of the blue, just like one of those Thanksgiving movies you see on Hallmark, we received a phone call from Lady's "other family". They said they'd had a change of heart and wanted to thank us all for loving Lady and taking care of her for the last 15 years...and that they'd found a great family with a big ranch close by that fell in love with Lady and adopted her. They said she loves her new home, has a running buddy to play with, and has even lost all the extra weight. Best of all....they said we are welcome to visit her anytime we want. WOW! Sad tears turned to happy tears. With such an incredible turn around, I half expected Sugar to appear before us. (I'm pretty sure she was around us somewhere, smiling.)
Finding out that Lady didn't die all alone at the vet was a gift in itself, and knowing she found another loving family pretty much made this the best Thanksgiving I've ever had!
But, witnessing how an uncaring family became caring for the love of an old dog was truly a "Gift from God."
