cavalier king charles spaniel rescue columbus ohio

#CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIEL RESCUE COLUMBUS OHIO HOW TO#

We wanted to rescue a dog that no one else would. Why did you consider a “special needs” dog? I was sure at this point we were doing the right thing. He was a big teddy bear and my wife and I instantly fell in love with him. My first thoughts were that he was one of the most beautiful dogs I had ever seen. What was your first impression when you actually saw Sammy face to face? Thus I felt like I knew him well before I even met him. She even furnished videos that showed him in action.

#CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIEL RESCUE COLUMBUS OHIO HOW TO#

Once again, the support of having Grace share with me what Sammy ate, his schedule, how to talk to him, what he liked and didn’t like was a huge help. What kind of support did you get from AH during that time? I didn’t want him to feel abandoned or betrayed. I also thought about transitioning him from a foster family where he was dearly loved and who had experience with blind dogs to ours.

I wondered how a blind dog would function in this environment. We have a tree-covered backyard and a two-story home. What were your feelings and thoughts in the days leading up to meeting Sammy? At that point, Sammy and I drove the ten hours back to our home in Arkadelphia. What makes it easier was that I was speaking in Illinois and Grace, the foster mother for Sammy, drove the six hours to where I was speaking to bring Sammy to me. We lived in Arkansas and Sammy was being fostered in Michigan. Our contact with the foster family assured us we could do this.

I like the fact AH checked us out to make sure we would be a good home for Sammy. The AH adoption experience was smooth and relatively easy. What did you think of the adoption process you went thru with AH? How was your experience? As the months went by and no one adopted him, we decided we had to. I had a very good friend who went blind and I have also worked with and known many blind people, so I began to wonder if we could bring Sammy into our family of another collie and three cats. Yet it became obvious that most who saw him must have been scared of taking in a blind animal. He had a dynamic look and a certain charm about him. What made you decide to adopt Sammy and adopt from Almost Home?Īs I watched dogs being adopted on Almost Home’s page, I was shocked when Sammy was passed over. Thus I found Almost Home’s page on Facebook and spotted Sammy there. You couple that to my having written two books with the Lassie franchise and it was natural for me to seek out sites on the breed on the web. While I have had other breeds of dogs as well, collies have been the dogs that have spanned my entire life.

How did you find out about Sammy and Almost Home? You can follow along at Lessons Taught by Sammy. Note: Ace keeps a blog about his experiences with adopting a blind dog into the family. Please enjoy and consider adopting a special needs dog or a senior dog into your home and family. We interviewed Ace to find out his thoughts on adopting a special needs dog and his feelings about the process. It began with a simple email from Ace telling us that he wished Sammy well, and ended up with Sammy finding the best forever home we could have imagined. The adoption of Sammy, our blind Collie rescued from a puppy mill breeder in Missouri was one of those times. Our special needs dogs are especially dear to us and normally we adopt them to families close to our base in Columbus.Įvery now and then rules were made to be broken. An Interview With Ace Collins by Charlene MolnarĪlmost Home has strict guidelines we follow in the adoption of our dogs and make the process very seriously, as most of you reading this know.

Cavalier king charles spaniel rescue columbus ohio