In 2015, I had been prowling the adoption sites for the prior two years after losing our Border Collie of 15 1/2 years to kidney failure. I spotted a Border Collie that was the spitting image of our lost one at the Sumter County SPCA SC shelter, which was a four-hour drive from my home in NC. I called them and asked if they could hold him for two days until I got there to meet him. They told me he was in the meet and greet room with a family at that time but would see what happened.
The family elected not to adopt him, and they agreed to hold him for me!! I called my brother in law and we set out on the road trip two days later. When we met him that day, I could tell he was going into shelter shock! But within five minutes of sitting down with him, he would sit down for a treat. I asked if he could be tested with a cat, and they brought one in and he licked it! I was sold!
On the drive back to NC, we stopped at a rest area and my brother in law held him on a leash while I went inside. He told me that he never took his eyes off of where I went the entire time I was gone. I named him Sumter for the SPCA that I adopted him from.
When we got back home, I took him to the vet the next day and got the happy report that he was heartworm-free but unfortunately he had a bad heart murmur. I decided then and there that I would love him everyday for the time that I had him.
When I got him home, I was amazed that my Samoyed Lexi, who was an alpha, adopted him immediately. He housebroke himself in two days! He nurtured me through carotid artery surgery when I needed comfort. He was the only dog that my wife said was perfect!
Sadly, his heart murmur caught up to him after only being with us for three years. He just went to sleep one afternoon and didn't wake up. I was devastated. But I know that he is waiting for me over the Rainbow Bridge.
HICKORY, NC
