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Rescued dog becomes mascot
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Grizzly was dumped by his owners. Now he is the mascot for a rescue group.
Grizzly was abandoned by his owner and “dumped” on the front porch of the Heaven Can Wait Animal Society (HCWS) in the middle of the night. Volunteers found the grey-haired, old dog sitting by the door when they arrived in the morning. He wore a leash and collar without any identification tags. It appeared that his owner might have planned to tie the pup up, but then changed his mind.
Grizzly was in pretty bad shape as the rescue workers examined him. They guessed that his owner probably abandoned him because of his age and health issues. The little guy was extremely lethargic and his fur was matted and covered in leaves and dirt.
He was taken to a veterinary clinic where the group was told that Grizzly was actually in pretty good health for a senior citizen. His biggest health issue was a slow thyroid and that could be controlled with medication. And once he was sent to the groomers for a full beauty treatment, Grizzly looked like a pretty darn handsome fellow.
Still volunteers worried about him and any future ailments he might get, so they decided not to put Grizzly up for adoption. That’s when he became the unofficial HCWS mascot.
That was two years ago and today Grizzly is thriving in his unofficial role. He greets all of the volunteers with a friendly smile and a wag as they come in and out of the HCWS facility. He also helps the newly rescued cats and dogs adjust to the surroundings by showing them where food and water are kept and how to use the doggy door. He’s also very good at demonstrating the proper way dogs should introduce themselves to each other.
Grizzly has also forged some pretty strong relationships with HCWS members. His best buddy is the President of the organization. Together they run errands, check on community programs and hang out at the office. In the evening another loyal volunteer stops by from her day job to pick him up and take him home for the night. Then each morning she returns him so he can resume his unofficial duties.
Grizzly is part of the animal rescue organization that I helped start more than nine years ago. We are located in Southern Nevada, where sadly almost 40,000 healthy cats and dogs are euthanized annually because there aren’t enough adoptable homes and because pet owners are not getting their animals “fixed.” However, next month HCWS will open the city’s first low-cost/no-cost spay and neuter clinic to aggressively end this horrible situation.
Grizzly has become an integral part of our organization and hopefully will part of our group for many more years to come.
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