[PyrNet-L] CHAT: Update from our place

[MagEBroD@aol.com]

   Many of you are aware that for the past few weeks I have been very tied up 
caring for my 83 yr. old neighbour that had been abused by her granddaughter 
and had come to live with us after the authorities deemed it too dangerous 
for her to return home.  Well, after 3 weeks of putting up with 11 angry 
phone calls from her abusive granddaughter and her husband,  2 face-to-face 
confrontations, a hateful note on my door, and finally this cold-hearted 
granddaughter throwing her grandmother's clothing & furniture outside that we 
had not yet all moved out (although we had moved out about 15 carloads 
already). What they had decided not to steal from her anyway! Amazing how 
rotten some people can get!  Anyway, my little ol' lady is now in an adult 
family home that Albert and I do pet therapy at and I have all her belongings 
safely there or in storage.  So we can all breathe a sigh of relief now.
   During these past weeks I have been a stranger here to the Pyr lists as I 
was so busy caring for her and trying to find her a place to live and moving 
her.  The real sad note here is that she had to give up her little 
chihuahua-mix dog Gypsy that she loved.  (There was a waiting list that may 
be years' long before she could get in a place that would let her keep her 
dog that she could afford.)  She wanted to take it to a shelter at first and 
I refused as it was not an emergency:  I was willing to care for Gypsy until 
a good home could be found.  I explained to her that shelters are only to be 
used in EMERGENCIES when a dog's life or safety is at stake like when it is 
abandoned or abused.  NOT for the convenience of humans!!!  Then she thought 
of having it put down because it was older and also because it had been 
abused before her and it takes a while to earn Gypsy's trust.   I said that 
we owed it to Gypsy to at least try to find her a good home because she found 
a good home with her once.  Hopefully it will happen again I said.  Well we 
did find a wonderful home for her Gypsy. They all took to each other right 
away and it seemed like a great match!  A tearful parting, but that is to be 
expected.  I did take lots of photos of her and Gypsy, though before Gypsy 
left with her new family. 
   I told her that, although I am no longer her caregiver, I will always be 
her friend and she can beat me at Dominos and card games and Kismet many more 
times in our future!!  And she can always count on me to be there for her 
when she needs a friend. She is so very thankful to be out of that former 
home and with people who care about her now and where she is safe.  One thing 
that did happen throughout all this was that Albert once again worked his 
magic.  This woman has been terrified of big dogs for over 70 years since she 
was brutally attacked by a german shepard once.  Yet when she was in the 
hospital she insisted on coming out to the car to say hi to my family once 
when they were there with the dogs.  She looked at Albert and he looked at 
her and a miracle happened!  She reached in and hugged him hard and he kissed 
her!!!  She was hooked!!  70 years of fear melted away!!  When she was at our 
home she loved to see Albert and Albert and Gypsy played so cute together!!  
She got the biggest kick out of seeing her 13 yr. old chihuahua-mix dog play 
with Albert and be so thrilled to see him!!  She'd never seen her dog play 
before!!  (If Mattie would have not been growling at Gypsy I might have 
considered keeping Gypsy for her... but Mattie insists on being the top 
female dog here now & worried there might be a fight and her dog get hurt and 
it would upset her so I didn't want to chance it permanently.) 
   At least she took to Albert and now really looks forward to our visits 
there.  There is just something about these Pyrs' eyes that really get to 
people.   I certainly know I am hooked!!
   This is long so I will share some Albert tales in my next post that I had 
not written about lately. So stay tuned........ To be continued.....

:)  &  :)```   (me grinning & Albert grinning & drooling!)

See Albert's photo at:   
http://www.sonic.net/~cdlcruz/pyr-l/pyrlpix3.htm#Albert

Janice Vocke
MagEBroD@aol.com
Shelton, WA.