Second Chance: Angel Update + New Year, New Decade of Good!

01 Jan Second Chance: Angel Update + New Year, New Decade of Good!

Second Chance Humane Society’s Animal Resource Center and Thrift Shops have been servicing San Miguel, Ouray & Montrose Counties for over 25 years. Call the Second Chance Helpline at 626-2273 to report a lost pet, learn about adopting a homeless pet, or about spay/neuter, volunteer, feral cat, and other services. View shelter pets and services online: www.adoptmountainpets.org.

Fig

I write today’s Pet Column on the second to last day of 2019, retrospectively taking stock of all the good that happened this past year while conjuring a hopeful outlook for the coming year.

I am a homeless dog, so I really am needing more good, less bad to happen. So to spread my gratitude for the good of 2019 and hope and inspiration for 2020, I have a story to share…

The story is an updated version of an earlier one that was tough for many of you to read. It is about Angel, an incredible dog Second Chance rescued back in April after she had been shot multiple times and left, several weeks, for dead. But don’t worry, this story ends with Angel exuberantly leaping through deep snow with a huge grin on her face.

As you may recall Angel’s back left knee and front right ankle were shattered by bullets. Her back leg had to be amputated, but her front leg was saved, – although she will need to wear a custom brace on the injured leg the rest of her life.

Here is where the good news really kicks in. With her brace, Angel has been able to build her strength and do what she loves most, gleefully propel her body at high speeds. And so she does: up and down steep inclines and trails, through deep snow, nothing seems to slow her down after months of healing and laying low.

Angel is almost unrecognizable from when she arrived. Since returning to health –she also had to push through treatment for a tick-born disease which was seriously compromising her wellness – she has grown a beautiful and soft long coat of hair, from the short course hair she came with.

Besides running at full speed, Angel also loves to make people smile. And she is very good at that. Angel loves to befriend every single person and dog she meets. She knows how to connect and her gentle, buoyant, loving nature breaks down barriers. Angel seems to know that she has a greater purpose in life.

Angel also found herself her forever home. She had not gone through all that bad news just to end up homeless again. She brightened her foster family’s lives everyday and convinced them that they could not live without her. Which is perfect for Angel as her former foster-Mom-turned forever-Mom is also the director of Second Chance Humane Society.

In 2020, Angel will be working toward becoming a therapy dog. She is currently and eagerly making weekly visits into the public schools with Second Chance’s Pets Turning Pages program – simultaneously teaching kids that reading is fun and pets are important to our lives. She also teaches everyone how to overcome obstacles. Angel has also been given the honor of Second Chance’s first “Rescue Ambassador” and embraces this role with flourish.

My name is Fig. As I sit here waiting for my chance at a new family and life I am reminded by Angel’s story that there are bad people and good people, bad things and good things in life. 2020 may just bring another mix of both, but my job is to focus on the good and be healed by the good.

I find a lot of good when playing with people and dogs. And, of course, I love me a good bowl of figgy pudding. So bring it right here. I’ll eat while you fill out my adoption paperwork.