| Freckles' Story Freckles was a very special dog the we adopted in May of 2005 when she was already 9 years old. She was a Cardigan Welsh Corgi that had been surrendered to a rescue because the owners "had too many animals." Freckles was very traumatized by the whole experience of being given up for adoption, fostered for 3 months and then adopted. She came to us nervous and afraid. We bonded immediately and she wouldn't let me out of her sight. Corgi's are herding dogs and need a job and she decided that I was it. I think she was also afraid of losing another human. It took many months for her to feel secure and a couple of years before she became the confident, bossy little Corgi that was her true personality. It was six weeks before she even barked and when she did, she ducked her head as if afraid that I would strike her. Instead I gave her a treat and let her know that it is ok for a dog to bark to let us know when she needs something. She had hot spots and very dry skin, her teeth were all worn down (Dr. Burke said that was likely from being chained), some arthritis, one of her back legs had an old ACL injury that had not healed properly, severe ear infections that took over a year to heal and left her deaf and she seemed to have tunnel vision. In short, she was in pretty bad shape and we honestly thought we'd only have her for 6 months to a year. We decided to make her last months the best of her life and proceeded to spoil her as much as possible. We treated her arthritis with glucosamine, her urinary incontinence with Proin and her ear infections with anti-biotics and Mometomax. We discovered she had allergies to many of the "fillers" in most dog foods (wheat, corn & soy) and put her on a nutritious diet of par-boiled chicken, brown rice and Natural Balance dog food from Petco. Freckles responded by giving me 6 of the best years of my life. When Freckles joined our family, we had 7 cats who had never lived with a dog before. I fully expected WWIII but Freckles simply ignored their hisses and spitting and within 24 hours, they gave up. Soon they were treating her as if she was their very own pet. 2 of them, Callie and Sandman even insisted on accompanying us on our walks. Callie decided that litter boxes were only for emergencies and walking to do her business was the way it should be. Freckles was very polite with the cats. When the cats were given a can of food, split up among several plates, she would wait patiently until each cat was finished before licking the plate clean. We began working as employee benefits specialists in 2007 which requires a lot of traveling. Freckles went with us everywhere, work or play. She traveled to: Clarkesville, GA, Hancock and South Lee, MA, St. Louis and Columbia, MO, Dandridge, TN, Merrillville and Indianapolis, IN, Canyon Lake, TX (San Antonio), Matteson, Glenview and Chicago, IL, Erie and Pittsburgh, PA, Hazard and Lexington, KY, Buffalo, NY and Williamson, WV. Freckles loved to travel and was very at home in the car and any hotel room. She quickly made friends of the hotel staff and other dogs. In Pittsburgh, one of the housekeepers even gave her a gift of treats, sparklies for her collar and pretty bowls for her food and water. Everyone loved Freckles. I am still amazed that anyone could have given her us but ever so grateful that they did. Freckles inspired us to organize Freckles' Friends to help improve the lives of pets like Freckles by creating a place where they could find a good home and by reducing the number of unwanted pets. The only shelter in DeKalb County, TN is the Smithville Animal Control facility, available only to city residents and where the vast majority of pets are euthanized within a few days (usually 3 days). It is a concrete block building with no heat or air conditioning and is only staffed during morning hours, Monday - Saturday. Freckles eventually required daily pain medication for the arthritis as well as meds for hypo-thyroidism. Dr. Wheeler recommended putting her on fish oil (omega 3s) for her skin and possible CDS (cognitive disfunction syndrome) and it really helped! Then on May 2, 2011, we made the decision to humanely send her to the Rainbow Bridge. Her back leg had finally given out and she could only walk for a few feet without assistance and she had developed cardiomyopathy (her heart was failing). At 15 years old, she out-lived her life-expectancy by around 2 years. We wish she could have stayed with us much longer but know that she no longer has any pain and will be waiting for me at that Rainbow Bridge. I'll be with you soon baby girl! Kim Brantley |







