Rosie the Velcro Dog

Rosie, our 7-year-old Red Heeler, is the sweetest dog you ever met. We call her our Velcro dog because her favorite place to be is right next to you, preferably leaning on your legs. She loves scratches, chasing cats, and pestering the other dogs -and somebody threw her away.

That's right. Rosie was one of the millions of unwanted pets that are abandoned every year in the US.

Early in June of 2001, a local family became concerned over the very friendly half-grown puppy that had been running loose in their neighborhood for a couple of weeks. After some deliberation (and pleading on the children's part) they managed to get her in their car, and they drove around the neighborhood looking for her owner. They had no success, and it was getting very late. They were about to give up and take her to the local animal shelter, when one of our neighbors thought they recognized her. "I think that's Effie! Her family lives across the street." They knocked on our door not knowing that just that very morning, Effie, our beloved Dingo mix, had died peacefully of old age.

The other family could not keep Rosie because their dog was old, blind, and grouchy. Mom decided that since we had dog food and room for her that we should keep Rosie until we 1) found her owner or 2) found a good home for her. Three weeks went by. We had put "found dog" ads in the newspaper and on local radio (free for found pets) with no success. By this time, love had sprouted, and we decided that we couldn't bear to give Rosie away.

We had thought from the size of her head and feet in relation to the rest of her and the usual size of her breed that she was about 6 months old. However, when I took Rosie to our veterinarian to get her vaccinations and license, he said she was probably a year old - she was just that malnourished. She also had a bad case of tapeworms.