8 State Hurricane Kate

Sophie was at-risk at Indianapolis Animal Control when she was rescued in January. She is now in rescue in Toronto, looking for a permanent home.

Sophie’s pound photo:

A nameless older blue female turned up at Indianapolis Animal Control. Christina found her there:
“I was walking through the kennels as always looking for dogs marked to be put down. As soon as I saw her I fell in love. She was a total sweetie and out of place in the shelter. She seemed very wise!!! I got her out and when I saw her teeth and was told how old she was, I just knew nobody would take her. I took her picture, just in case and asked them to make her safe for a few days. Well as soon as I sent out her picture, I had tons of people trying to save her. It was wonderful!!!!!

Christina sent this message, along with Sophie’s shelter photo, to Sjoukje (and others):

Here is another cattle dog at the shelter I go to. She is in danger. However, her chances aren’t as good as the other one. She appears older and her teeth are a mess, but she is sweet.
Sjoukje in turn sent this message to the ACD rescue lists:
Subject: [ACD_Rescue] ANOTHER ACD female in Indianapolis, IN at Animal Control.
This girl is NOT on Petfinder and will be put down.
If you have room, please contact Christina
Thanks,
Sjoukje

Eileen (who also has a soft spot for the older ones) cross-posted and the message got to Laura of the Indy Pit Crew in Indianapolis. Laura forwarded it to me.
A sweet older blue girl with bad teeth…how could I resist helping this girl? I then joined the group of people who were trying to find a safe place for her to go.
We found out from animal control that Sophie was turned in as an owner surrender. The family said that they had found her about two months before turning her in. They hadn’t vetted her, or done anything with her, just finally decided they couldn’t care for her. Animal control didn’t have a name, med history, etc. on her, but said that she was basically a stray who happened to be in someone’s custody for 60 days.
Over the next couple of days, we must have set a record for the number of e-mails going back and forth to save this girl. I tried to find a rescue to take her in Minnesota, but everyone was full. Sjoukje then found a wonderful rescue in Ontario to take her. We tried to spring her from animal control on Friday, but everyone was busy with work. They knew we were going to save her though, and kept her safe. Laura found a place to get her vetted on Saturday morning. It was bothering me that she didn’t have a name, so we decided to call her Sophie.
Christina said that when she went to pick Sophie up on Saturday morning (the day she was originally scheduled to be put down) she seemed to know that Christina was getting her out of that nasty place. She was very happy. Laura met Christina at the vet, provided a crate for her to travel in, got a rescue discount, and paid the bill, with the promise of ACD calendar funds to reimburse her. At the vet, everyone fell in love with Sophie. They even took pictures. She sat on command and then would shake hands on command. She then rolled on her back to get her belly rubbed. Christina was in love!!!!!!! Sophie got her vaccinations and the health certificate needed to cross the border to Canada.
The story continued as Sophie started her journey to her final destination in Canada.
She was transported to Ohio and loved on by Christina and Cathie. She spent the night at Sjoukje’s house and that was enough for Sjoukje to be totally in love with her. Sophie’s eyes were telling Sjoukje she was desperately looking for her own person. If she could talk, Sjoukje was sure she had a lot of stories to tell. Because part of the transport got cancelled at the last minute, Sjoukje drove her all the way to Detroit where she caught a ride to Canada with two other rescued dogs.
Rhea of Nickquenum Dog Rescue, a small group of volunteers in Guelph, Ontario (http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/ON200.html), then took her to her new foster mom, Sue, an ACD rescuer. “Nickquenum” is an Indian word that means “I am going home”. It is the mission of Nickquenum Dog Rescue to find permanent loving homes for dogs. Their mandate is to rescue dogs of good temperament that would otherwise be killed due to overcrowding at shelters and pounds.
Sue was completely thrilled with Sophie and recognized right away how special she is. Sophie has fit right in and Sue thinks she is younger than 10 years. If Sophie does not find an adopter Sue will keep her. Sue lives on a 10 acre farm with horses. She has a yard for the dogs to do agility if the dogs choose to. She agreed that there was something special about Sophie.
At last report, Sophie is doing really well at Sue’s. Sue is making an appointment for her to have dental work done. She follows Sue everywhere and she seems quite happy with the “jobs” Sue gets her to do. If for some reason Sophie does not get adopted she will just stay with Sue. She will never have to worry again.

Thanks so much to the support group that worked together to get Sophie to safety:
Christina, Laura, Cathie, Sjoukje, Eileen, Jenny, Mim, Mindy, Mary Jo, Laurel, Rhea, Joyce .
I hope we haven’t missed anyone!

Thanks also to Sue who gave Sophie a safe, loving home, to the ACD calendar funds (http://www.acdcalendars.com/) for covering her initial vet visit, and to Carol, who made a donation to be used towards Sophie’s dental work.
Thanks to all of these dedicated people, Sophie is safe and sound and will have a happy life.

Update from Sue @ Meet The Pack, Australian Cattle Dog Rescue

Kat (formerly Sophie) got her dental work done right after arriving here. X-rays showed that she had a fused back hip and her opposite back knee was also fused. She was probably hit by a car at some time. Her ear is permanently cauliflowered from an infection that was left untreated. Other than that … she is now very healthy and very happy. Kat has decided that she is staying here!!! She has chosen me and I can live with that and all her quirks. She’s now my “self” appointed “right hand”. I can’t complain…. she takes real good care of me.

Sue Cameron-Day
Meet The Pack, Australian Cattle Dog Rescue
Lyndhurst, Ontario, Canada

http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/ON279.html