A
red Doberman named Sonja owned my husband for nearly ten years.
Sonja was ten at the time she came to us. In spite of years of the
unspeakable cruelty she suffered in the first half of her life, she lived her
life with us in an atmosphere of love. She gave back as much, if not more,
than she got. She became the spokesdog in
California
for the plight of the many animals lost after an earthquake.
She raised awareness in
California
to the needs of these animals, and touched the lives of many children by
television appearances and a poster campaign. From her pictures everyone
could see the scars left by the horrible abuse she endured before she came to
us. We lost her not long after we
moved to
Texas. The loss was devastating to us, especially my husband Jerry as they had
a bond that was incredibly deep.
A
few months ago, I saw a picture of a Doberman that was available from the
Fort Worth
Animal Shelter. Four years after losing Sonja, that picture stirred
something in me and I approached the possibility of getting another Doberman.
With reservations, we went to the shelter.
After psyching ourselves up to accept another dog, we were told the dog
from the picture was gone. However, the next day I found Doberman Rescue
of
North Texas
on the Internet. I looked at the
first set of photos for available dogs. The very first picture was of a
red female named Adobe. She was the spitting image of what Sonja must have
looked like before the abuse scarred her. She too had the same laughing
eyes.
We
went to a Sunday Open House at Doberman Rescue after talking to Adobe's foster
mom. When we got there, we asked where Adobe was. Someone said, “She's in the
back. I'll go get her”.
Just at that moment, a dog in the cage behind my husband nearly launched herself
over the fence to get to him. He took one look at her and said, "This
Adobe better be something special or else I'm going to take this one. In
fact, maybe I'll take both, but I
have to have this dog.” Whoever went to look for Adobe came back and in
huddled whispers said "Adobe is not here. I don't know where she
went. Maybe someone took her for a walk.” At that moment, she noticed the dog
behind my husband and said “There she is. She's right behind
you.” The dog Jerry had instantly bonded with was Adobe.
Adobe
did not go home with us that day because we were going out of town and I did not
want to push a new dog onto our housesitter and my other animals. On the
day we got back from
Las Vegas
we called and arranged to pick her up. One of the animals in our family
was PumbaA, an elderly Scottish Fold cat whose playmate for many years was
Sonja. PumbaA was not in very good health and I was a little concerned
about what might happen when Adobe came home. We walked in the front door
and PumbaA was sitting in the rocker. Adobe broke from me, ran to the
chair, and nearly swallowed PumbaA's head. A bit wet and disheveled,
PumbaA looked up at Adobe as if to say “Just where have you been all this
time?!” You see, that is exactly what Red Sonja did every time she came
into the house. For the short time PumbaA had left, Adobe was her constant
companion.
Adobe
was home and all the other animals accepted her without a bit of trouble.
She has now finished her first set of training classes and she thinks Miss Mary
is wonderful.
Hopefully,
we will be able to bring Adobe out to the Rescue to see you all soon.
Sundays are a bit hectic here but we will try. Thanks you all for what you
do.
Teri
& Gerald
Adobe,
Doberman
Joonie
Moon, Shih Tzu
Shadow
Bug, Border Collie
Agent
Penelope, Pug
Ben-E-Da-Boop,
Lilac Point Siamese
Captain
Hook, Manx
The
Little Guy, American Short Hair
Mini
Me, Ragdoll Cat
