The Plan

A friend called crying yesterday morning. Her border collie that she had rescued 8 years earlier had to be euthanized because he had cancer of the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and spleen.

Buddy had been her right hand helper for all those years. Her companion, protector, trusted friend. He helped her with the cats she rescued and cared for. He would herd them when they tried to wander.

A couple of hours later, she called again asking for the address and instructions to one of the animal control shelters we often pull from. She wanted another dog, a border collie. She doesn't have a computer, so I checked on Petfinder for border collies at local shelters, and printed out a set of driving directions so he could visit one of our most frequently visited animal controls. It was too late in the day to visit yesterday.

She walked into animal control and told them about losing her Buddy and wanting another border collie, an adult, already housebroken. They swooped her up and took her to the kennel area where there was a senior border collie that had come in late the evening before. He's 10 years old, looks much like her Buddy, and because of his age, even though he is a great dog, there was the danger of having to euthanize him for space.

They asked my friend if she minded an old dog, and she responded that she was old herself and didn't need something that would likely outlive her.

She brought her new dog, Duke (she's going to change his name), to meet me this evening. He's just exactly what she wanted and needed. Yep, things happen the way they do for a reason!