GRAHAM FINDS HIS FOREVER HOME

Graham Comes to GRREAT
By Melissa Pence, Foster Mom

When Bruce dropped Graham off at my door- I was a little shocked. Graham came to the rescue at a whopping 129 lbs, a product of untreated hypothyroidism and probably little exercise and poor nutrition. His skin was in horrible condition, with red spots and yellow, open, draining areas. He also had flaky dry skin covering him, like he had walked through a snow globe. Despite his problems, Graham maintained his sunny outlook on life. He has such intelligent eyes, with a hint of curiosity - immediately you could tell what a special dog he is beneath his neglected body. With excellent and very compassionate care from Dr. Cooke and her team at Cooke Vet, Graham quickly became a different dog physically. He lost 40 lbs in the 10 weeks or so before he was adopted; which is amazing considering inexpensive thyroid medicine, controlled portions of nutritious food, and short walks was all it took. His skin also healed miraculously quickly with a few heavy duty medicated baths and a course of antibiotics. When the Paradiso's came to visit Graham, I was thrilled. They are a wonderful family who had been patiently waiting for the right dog for their family (including their cats) for months. At one point during their visit, Ms. Paradiso said to Graham "Do you want to come home with us?" Graham walked away. He went into the next room and then ran back. He had his beloved ball in his mouth. He then he sat down and looked at her as if to say, "Now I am ready. I just needed to pack my ball."

These are the stories that warm your heart and make all the hard work worthwhile!

How we got Graham!
By Rick Paradiso

We have always been an animal loving family. For the last 15 years we have had three cats and one dog. Our last dog, Shelly, was a black lab that we rescued when we were at West Point, NY in 1991. She was with us for 11 years when we had to put her down for mouth cancer. I wanted very badly to go out and get another dog to fill the void caused by her passing, but my wife, Carol, put her foot down. She said she could not take the trauma associated with having to put another dog down, which we all know is an ultimate certainty.

So, we lived for three plus years with just the three cats. Then I started working hard on Carol to get another dog. Every time a dog came on a TV show, I used the opportunity to say how nice it would be to have a dog again. Carol began to weaken. I grew more persistent in my research. I discovered the SEVA GRREAT website. Carol actually agreed to put in an application for adoption and said, “we’ll see what happens.”

Then we went through the interview process to see if we were suitable to adopt. We passed. We began to work with Jill Hoehlein. Her guidance was simply for us to monitor the website. It was a hard task to watch for just the right dog. See, we had a few very specific requirements for the right dog. It had to be a dog that did not bark, jump, run away, must like cats (3), be able to be left alone (both Carol and I still work) and not be too hyper. Sounds like a lot, right? Anyway, after watching the web for a while the right dog did come up. Her name was Amber and her foster mother was Melissa Pence. I called Jill the day I saw Amber and she gave me Melissa’s phone number and told me to call. I called and got her answering machine. I explained how much we wanted a dog and all our special requirements. Melissa called back very quickly and explained that there were two families who had also expressed interest in Amber and that we were essentially third in line. Lucky for us, neither of the families could accommodate Amber so Melissa called and we went to meet Amber. What a wonderful dog she was, but there was a real question as to her like or dislike of cats. We asked if we could take her home for a “see if we bond” weekend. After Jill agreed, Melissa called us to come get her. That was a Friday evening. We brought Amber home and all seemed to be going well until she saw one of our cats. It was obvious that she believed the cat was “fresh meat,” something to be pursued with wild abandon and should she be lucky enough to catch it, would gladly eat it with relish. Amber literally chased the cat under a very heavy couch and lifted the couch completely off the floor. I immediately took Amber outside to go for a walk and to clam down. We tried several times that evening and the next morning, but it was clear – Amber did not like the cats. With heavy heart, we called Melissa and made arrangements to return Amber.

Several months passed while we again watched the web site in search of just the right dog. I had seen the write up on Graham several times, but there was no picture. Further, Graham was seven years old. I was really thinking that seven was probably too old. However, we were beginning to get discouraged as our criteria seemed to eliminate most of the possible dogs on the website. We talked it over and decided to ask about Graham. It turned out to be one of the best decisions we have ever made. Coincidentally, Melissa turned out to be Graham’s foster and it was like déjà vu calling her again. Yes, there was another family coming to look at him, but she would keep us in mind. She called us up the very next day and said come on over and meet Graham. I knew from the very first that he was a great possibility. He was obviously excited about meeting us and seemed to exhibit many, if all of the traits we were looking for. After 30 minutes Carol surprised me by asking Graham if he wanted to come home with us. We arranged with Jill and Melissa for another weekend visit. Graham came home with us that weekend and immediately became part of the family. While he did want to chase the first cat he saw when he entered the house, he stopped cold when told “no!” It was obvious he had been raised with or had lived with cats in the past.

Anyway, he has stolen our hearts. He is a very loving wonderful dog that we hope will be with us for many, many years. He still has some minor skin problems, but those we get treated right away. He seems to enjoy every activity we do together, almost as though each were his absolute favorite thing to do. He is healthy, happy and a wonderful companion. I can’t believe that we almost passed him up because he was seven. But upon reflection, he is actually only 49 in human years, exactly the same age as I am. Maybe that’s why we get along so well.