RIP 10/15/09
Logan lived at a puppy mill for 4 years, he was the stud dog. He had no name, was kept caged, used and abused.
Eventually when the owner of the puppy mill thought he no longer fit
the bill as a stud dog he was put up for auction. Yes, auction, so
possibly another breeder could come along to buy him and continue his
life of abuse. Or, if he wasn’t bought he probably would have been put
down.
This is where a wonderful organization called the Bernese Auction Rescue Coalition
comes in. They bought him, got him medical attention, and put him in a
wonderful foster home until he got adopted. On June 6, 2008 Horst and
I went to pick up our new family member. When I saw him I had tears in
my eyes, he was so beautiful, and so scared.
We celebrated our 1 year anniversary in June, it truly was a celebration. Logan had overcome so much in a year, he was a different dog.
When we first got Logan, I’m not going to lie, it was hard. He
barely moved, spent most of his days in our 1/2 bath where he was
comfortable. We never pushed him, always let him do things on his own
time schedule. Each day we spent quiet time lying with him and
petting him. We started taking him for walks everyday and that was when
we got our first glimpse at the dog who was waiting to come out.
We made progress, and had setbacks, working with Logan was like
nothing we had ever dealt with. We’ve always had rescues but Logan was
in a whole different category. I remember after a few months had passed
wondering if we were just going to be Logan’s caregivers, which was
fine, or we would eventually breakthrough and show him life could be
good and people could be trusted.
I don’t have an exact date or incident to mark the change but it
happened. I do remember the first time he wagged his tail it touched my
heart in a way I didn’t think possible. Every breakthrough brought us
such joy.
As we were saying goodbye to Logan yesterday we knew our tears were
for us, we would miss him but he would be fine. In the short time he
was with us he went to the park everyday, up to the lake on weekends,
had a vacation in Asheville at dog friendly B&B, came to Wilmington
with us and saw the ocean, played with his siblings, and was constantly
fawned over. He packed a lot of living into a year and a half.
On our drive home from the vet, without him, we didn’t think we
could ever go through this again. We knew the risks of adopting an
older dog going in and we knew Berners are susceptible to cancer, yet
we thought our dog would live to twelve. What happened wasn’t a total
surprise but the pain that came with it was.
Yet this morning, although I’m still crying as I type, something
happened. We brought such joy to Logan and him to us, isn’t it out of
selfishness to not do it again? It doesn’t seem fair to not give what
we gave Logan to another dog in need. So somehow Horst and I found
ourselves looking at the BARC board this morning to see if maybe, just
maybe, there’s another Berner that needs us as bad as we need him.
Rest in peace my dear sweet Logan, you will be missed every day you are not with us.
www.badtothebonememoir.com
* On October 24th we adopted a new BARC baby, Patience. She's a five year old that was used as a breeder dog, BARC rescued her about 2 months prior to us adopting her. She is a wonderful addition to the Hoefinger household.