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Some Mistakes can be Good Mistakes

Some things are just meant to be, and the against-all-odds story of MacBeth’s adoption is a prime example.

It started a couple of years ago, when Cathy lost her family dog to in her divorce. She promised her daughter, Emily, a new dog when they had a home of their own again. Fast-forward a year and a half, and Cathy has her new home, so she and Emily start looking for a dog to make their family complete. They headed to the Adopt-A-Thon at PetSmart the first weekend of May to find a small dog. They had plenty of choices, as 26 dogs were there, awaiting their chance to find their forever home. As Cathy and Emily walked through the tent, where all those dogs were barking and playing, they spot a medium to large shepherd mix named MacBeth. This wasn’t exactly the small dog they were planning to adopt, but it was love at first sight. They asked the volunteer holding MacBeth if the dog is cat friendly, as they have two cats in the family already. A quick search for MacBeth’s paperwork, where that information would usually be recorded, turned up nothing. So, since no one knew how he was with cats, MacBeth, Cathy, Emily and the Heart of America Humane Society volunteer went to visit the adoptable cats to see how he reacted. MacBeth did well on his “cat test” visit, so they all went back to the screening table. Volunteers quickly discover that they dog they were calling MacBeth was not matching up with “his” paperwork from the shelter. The MacBeth Cathy and Emily fell in love with at PetSmart is an unaltered adult male Shepherd mix; the MacBeth on the paperwork is a 5-month-old female Coonhound puppy. Apparently, it was MacBruce, not MacBeth, who came to the Adopt-A-Thon ! Cathy and Emily didn’t really care about the paper work issue, because they just knew this dog needed to become a part of their family. To the average observer this would be the happy end of the story, but this is where MacBeth’s story takes an unexpected turn.

The wrong MacBeth had to go back to the shelter to be neutered before joining Cathy and Emily at their home. At the shelter, staff and HAHS volunteers got to talking about how lucky it was that this “MacBeth” got on the van that day and found his way into a forever home. We were completely shocked when the shelter staff told us that “lucky” is an understatement. This MacBeth, the one Cathy and Emily fell in love with at first sight, was scheduled to be euthanized within days. Had he not somehow been lucky enough to get on the van that went to the Adopt-A-Thon , then been spotted by Cathy and Emily, he would have, sadly, become another statistic. In addition, one of the reasons he was turned into the shelter was because he was killing cats on the farm where he had been living. We started asking ourselves, “Just how many more obstacles does this boy have to jump to get into that forever home?”

In order for him to have gotten on the van that day, he passed by three different shelter workers, and no one realized he was the wrong dog. But now the cat issue was a problem, so we called Cathy to tell her about it. She thought about it and just knew that he would be fine, but she had a plan to keep the cats safe if there were to be any issues.

There are a lot of reasons that make every adoption a success story, but this is one of the luckiest dogs around. We’re now calling him Lucky MacBeth because, well, he earned that one.

He is currently living with Cathy, Emily, and the two cats. Everyone is happy, and there have been no problems with him and the kitties. Cathy and Emily liked the name so much that they decided to keep it, so he is officially MacBeth now, and getting all the love and attention this lucky dog deserves.

Oreo a Mom with a New Home

Being a foster parent to shelter dogs is one of the most incredible roles I have the privilege to hold. Every one of our fosters holds a special place in our hearts, but somehow a pregnant foster finds a way to capture your heart even more. We decided to foster Oreo the same day our previous foster found his forever home. Oreo has those eyes that look so deep inside yours that you can’t help but fall in love and she stole our hearts from the minute we met her. Oreo’s previous home was not a happy one. Her owners turned her in without letting anyone know she was pregnant and after having kept her outside for two years. Despite this rough start, Oreo must have been born with her positive demeanor and a deep love for people. We fostered her for two weeks before someone took her to the vet during adoptions one Saturday and found out she was pregnant. Then, just one week later, Oreo gave birth to seven beautiful puppies, five boys and two girls. It was truly one of the most amazing experiences I have had and it felt like I had never loved something so much, let alone seven little somethings! My family doted on all eight of them for six very hard, busy and wonderful weeks and Oreo was a better mom that we could have asked for.

When it came time to separate Oreo and her babies, we decided it would be best if we kept the puppies for a few more weeks as it would be easier to place Oreo in a different foster home. We certainly missed her wonderful smile, wagging body, and soulful eyes, but we knew she would do well at Mark’s house. The puppies kept getting bigger and funnier and all seven of them quickly found perfect families.

Oreo took a little longer to find her home and switched from Mark’s to Julie’s house before she found her forever home with Tim. She and Julie’s dog chased each other around in the yard and she seemed so very happy. As Oreo has a way of stealing people’s hearts, it wasn’t long before she had Tim’s too. Tim works as a pet trainer and both Oreo and Tim became quite smitten with each other. As Oreo is one quarter Pitt Bull Terrier, she was not allowed to live in Overland Park or Leawood. Tim started the process to get Oreo approved to live in both cities and she passed with flying colors! With this approval, Oreo found her perfect family with Tim. Oreo now has a lab sister, Dixie, a loving dad, and a new start to life that she so deserved.

--Liz Musil

Tribute to a Shelter Dog

Bill & I recently said our final goodbye to our beloved senior lab, Buddy. We knew this day was coming but it was still hard to say goodbye. Buddy died peacefully in our arms.

Several years ago we had to put to sleep our dog, Candy. We had decided to honor her memory by adopting a shelter dog. I had contacted our local animal control officer and found out our city did not have a shelter. I had told her what had happened and what we wanted to do. She recommended a nearby shelter that she had worked at previously for 13 years. She made several suggestions to us regarding adopting. She suggested getting a black dog since more black dogs are put to sleep. She also said don't rule out a dog that doesn't jump to the door of the kennel for attention and also look for a dog who's time is almost up.

Armed with this knowledge, we headed to the shelter. We found this skinny odd looking black lab mix in the back of the kennel on a rug because he had kennel sores. He had all three of the strikes against him that the animal control officer told us to consider—black, disinterested in visitors, little time left. We took him away from the shelter and walked him in the park on the grounds as she had suggested and he started to come out of his shell. We took him home. We did not know at the time what a gift we had been given.

The unwanted shelter dog who's life would have been wasted had he been euthanized has touched so many and given so much. The dog we rescued from the shelter became the rescuer. He helped a grieving family over the loss of our Candy. Later he became a mentor and teacher to the young foster dogs we brought into our home. He was a friend and buddy to our family and the dogs we have adopted. In cases of emergency, he was a blood donor to our vet and gave life saving blood to help sick and injured dogs in need.

Although our loss is great, we had almost eight years with Buddy. A life that could have ended in the shelter, but he gave so much to so many. Through the pain and sorrow of losing Candy, we found great joy in the adoption of our shelter dog, Buddy! Although we will always miss Buddy, we want to thank him for the love, joy, and friendship he gave to us all. Rest in peace our beloved Buddy!

--Debbie Umstead