About our logo
Text Box: She was brought into animal control officer, Lisa Hughes, in Cabot, Arkansas, on April 4, 2002, from the side of a busy highway. Her intake papers list her as a possible sheltie/collie mix (she wasn't very tall.). She spent the next 13 days in 4' X 8' kennel, then the inevitable happened. We are a small facility with only 12 kennels for a small city of about 18,000 people. Our ordinance requires that we hold dogs for 10 days, then we are supposed to euthanize them. When space permits, we try to hold the adoptable ones longer, but space and time had run out for #1500402. My name is Sandra Graham, I'm the senior animal control officer here. It's my job to go through the kennels and decide who lives and who dies. When I came to the sad little collie in number 10 and included her in the day's euthanasia roster, Lisa didn't get outwardly upset, she only commented, "She's such a beautiful old girl, this is a terrible way for her to end up." Lisa and I have been working together for 5 years and that's the first time she's ever said anything like that about a dog we had to put down. She understands that they're all beautiful in their own way and taking responsibility for ending their lives is not something I take lightly. I looked her in the eye and asked "Do you really want to try to save this one?" She said, "If we can." Seven dogs died that day, but #1500402 wasn't one of them. I got on the Internet and Lisa and Julie, our receptionist/kennel attendant, also got busy. There is a small grooming shop close by called Bows and Polish. Jeannie and Leslie, who own it, are wonderful people. They often take pound puppies and dogs and literally work miracles with them. They let Julie and Lisa bring #1500402 over and shampoo her for 45 minutes. You see, this dog smelled so bad it was intolerable in our small office. Her coat was so matted that her rear legs were hobbled down to the hocks, her bladder leaked

A Story of Hope Continued

I choose “Imagine” by John Lennon for this story to acknowledge all the people that helped this old gal.