Thursday, January 19, 2012

Happy Tale of a Birthday Dawg

Today is the Kobe meister's birthday. He is 8 years old...or so we are saying. When I was involved in Dog Rescue in Charlotte, I went down and pulled this guy from a High Kill shelter in South Carolina. His age was estimated to be 2 years.

This is the most pitiful picture. The "bag of bones" neglected (homeless?) Kobe was posted on Petfinder.com in early December of 2005 in the shelter...a Collie/Golden mix with ribs and hipbones showing...left in a pen outside the shelter overnight and found by the volunteers the next morning. (To this day he can not STAND to be in a crate with the door latched...)

At the time, I was fostering a Collie for Collie Rescue of the Carolinas, and could not go to get him....yet! By the time I pulled him out of there in January 2006, the shelter had managed to put a little more weight on him.


Here he was in the back of the van...sucking on a blankie on the seat. He still has that quirk to this day, and drags blankets and old tees and pillows/dogbeds all around the house and continues... (Linus and his security blanket?????)


He was a happy dog...a good dog!...He seemed comforted to be allowed in a home with lots of attention and other dogs to play with.


co-operated for photos to post on Petfinder online pet adoption site.



A beautiful canine...you can see why so many wanted to adopt. If his quirks had not been in the mix, we would never have seen Kobe again...

I had him with me for 11 days. We got SO many applications for him, and thought we had chosen the "perfect" family for him. In retrospect...11 days was not NEAR long enough to capture and understand the number of quirks and issues this dawg had. He left rescue and went to a family who lived in Florida. They drove up to get him. **(This was my first...last...and Only long-distance adoption for one of my FosterDogs.) NEVER again. ...LOCAL only!


an original photo of the Three Caballeros today... in January of 2006 before Kobe left for Florida. (and there's Big Sam there in the background...no longer with us)

As it turned out, right after Kobe arrived in Florida, he started having behavior problems and scratching and chewing on himself...He was taken to the vet and given topical treatments...injections of steroids, and oral meds...along with a prescription diet. He was left alone with another dog all day while the family was away...working and at school. He couldn't handle it. He got sick, and lost so much fur and had hot pink angry skin from all the chemicals forced on his system. (but I get ahead of myself) The family called and were going to give him to a rescue again, but I said no, and they had to honor the adoption contract to return him to the original rescue.


This is a follow-up photo the family sent to me from Florida right after Kobe was adopted...You can see WAY more of the Collie coloring (dark accents) in his fur here. After he lost most of his fur, those darker highlights never really came back in...

On Palm Sunday of 2006, my dear man drove me down almost halfway between Charlotte and Florida and we met the family and took Kobe back...We nursed him back to health, got his fur to grow back, and he never left our home again....He wormed his way into our hearts, especially Kurt's..


And here are those Three again, Kobe returned and all healed up...September of 2006.

And so Kobe turns 8 today. Have a wonderful day, you renegade, clown, cowboy dog..
Loved by all...quirks and craziness and all that stuff...



Kobe says prayers...


A dog and his blankie...


"Hiding" in the rock garden...smashing flowers while watching for squirrels...sigh


snow romping Charlotte


Uber HAPPY in the EXCITEMENT... because of a surprise visit from Justin!


Is this chair for me?????


WHY does she shriek when I roll in the grass after my bath???


Mom and Dad's bed is softer than mine....hmmmm


Autumn Golds in Charlotte


Why does the mean groomer put these dumb bandannas on us????


Guarding...in Dreamland


Handsome Kobe!


Happy Kobe!


Silly Kobe!


"Blessed is the person who has earned the love of an old dog." Sidney Jeanne Seward

Happy Birthday sweet doggy. McDonalds cheeseburger coming to you for lunch!! :-)

If you consider getting a canine into your family...give Rescue a good chance!

Hugs to all visiting here today! STAY WARM!

10 comments:

Joyce said...

Loved, loved, loved that post! What a sweetheart! He loves his family! Our Toby is a rescue dog too!!! Great dogs! Love you! Happy birthday Kobe!

Julie Harward said...

How sweet, such a tender story about Kobe! He is beautiful, looks like a Golden. My daughters little poodle mix sucks on his Teddy bear. Our next dog will be a rescue too, we have had several but not from an agency, just lot ones, one in need that God brought to us to love and care for. Happy Birthday Kobe, I think he need a shake with that hamburger too! ;D

Theresa said...

Oh what a sweet post! Happy birthday to that cute and HAPPY Kobe! So many sweet pictures, I can feel the love! Have a blessed day my friend, HUGS!

Privet and Holly said...

This brought tears
to my eyes. Julie, you
are truly an angel and
Kobe was one very, very
lucky dog to have you
in his life. Your love
and magic touch worked
a miracle, here. May all
rescue dogs be as fortunate.
Happy Birthday, Kobe!
Enjoy that cheeseburger and
share some fries with your
angel mama : )

xx Suzanne

Anonymous said...

Awesome post. ALMOST enough to get me to adopt a dog. Almost.
(I'll get one as soon as they come out with a poop-less model - meanwhile, I'll stick with kitties!)
In Jesus, Paula

Dianna said...

Julie, this is such a touching post. Thank you for loving Kobe with all his quirks.

I'm glad to see that he is going to get his McDonald's cheeseburger for his lunch! I remembered that as the "tradition" from when you were in Charlotte. ;-)

Have a wonderful day!

Lili said...

Happy Birthday to your adorable fur baby Julie! I'm so glad he ended up with you, just reading about his past was so heartbreaking. What a little sweetheart. xoxo ~Lili

Sandy said...

Oh Kobe is so adorable and beautiful--all of your babies are! Happy big 8th birthday to Kobe and many, many more!
Where would we be without our fur babies?!
xo

Manuela@A Cultivated Nest said...

Well now I'm crying. He is so adorable and reminds me so much of my Maxie. Maxie used to always hide in the flower borders and try to squeeze himself onto seats that were to small for him (he liked to be cozy).

Kobe looks so happy and well cared for. Thank you for caring so much to go to such lengths to provide a happy home for him. So many people just don't care - which just breaks my heart.

Happy Birthday to your sweet boy!

Tete said...

This was such a good post! Happy Birthday, Kobe! What a dog! Good boy!
Love the blanket thing. My Bebe loves socks. If he were a bigger dog, it would be blankets and pillows.