The Drama Of It All

Yesterday, the USDA/APHIS veterinarian visited the touring facility, as she was in the neighborhood and was wondering how things were going with the new director.

The new director inquired on the cost of renewal fees, and the vet volunteered to get the information from her car. It was at that point the vet discovered her vehicle had been broken into and her purse was stolen.

From what I understand, the vet parked her vehicle at the end of the property closest to the wolves which is adjacent to the former director's personal property (which as of today still owe $6326.23 in back property taxes). Now I am not accusing the former directors' of breaking into and stealing the vet's purse for apparently there has been a rash of robberies in the neighborhood and this was the second time a parked car in from of the sanctuary was broken into within the last six months.

I almost forgot to report the "President" of the Board of Directors quit a couple of weeks ago. I'm still waiting on the details of this event!

Every week there seems to be something happening at the sanctuary -- lots of drama, but I'm hoping things will settle down soon for the sake of the animals!

A Rough Start for the WAO Animals

This year experienced a rough start for the WAO animals. Last weekend I noticed one of the cougars, living in the horribly small enclosure, had a large growth on her shoulder blade. It looks like a fluid sac, but I'm not sure. The animal caretakers were already aware of the situation.

One of the male long-tailed macaques from Bayer had an injury to his tail a couple of weeks ago. And yesterday, from the same group, one of the males had his finger bit off. The primate was taken to the new vet so it could be properly amputated. This small group of macaques are very aggressive, so I hope their new enclosure will be finished very soon so they can be relocated into a much larger enclosure. The former director thought it would be a great idea to put the very aggressive primates on tour in a small enclosure. I warned the USDA/APHIS that this was a horrible mistake because of all the fighting reported by past tours. Just goes to show the former directors really did not care about the primates--they just wanted to fill the empty cage vacated by the macaques from Lehman College (they moved into their larger new enclosure which resulted in less fights reported).

And finally, Monday, during the vet's walk around at the second property, she noticed the black-spotted leopard, Zion, had a large growth under her belly. It has gotten so large over the years that it was now dragging on the ground! I was told the growth appeared in late 2005 and was allowed to developed under the former director's management. The new director is looking into surgery options with the new vet.

On a positive note, two months ago a little capuchin monkey named Zoomy was born at the touring facility. Apparently, one of the "fixed" male's reproductive organ reconnected and so over the years, babies have been born to the capuchin colony. Zoomy was left with her mother until the other primates started attacking her. Out of concern for Zoomy's safety she was removed from the colony and now the animal caretakers are raising her. She is absolutely adorable! The new director contacted another animal sanctuary for assistance in determining which male is reproducing young, so he can be "fixed" once again.

I also learned the former directors left another surprise--an unpaid IRS bill totalling over $20k due this week! From what I understand, the available funds are really low right now.

I worked really hard on the sanctuary's first e-newsletter and it was sent out to over 390 people. Sad to report, my first attempt was not a complete success as there were over 70 bounces (bad email addresses) and 5 people hit the "spam" button. When that happened, the service supporting the e-newsletter suspended my account until I explained in detail where I got the e-mail addresses! After explaining that this was our first attempt at sending out an e-newsletter to our donor's list, the service resumed service to my account. So, I am back in business, but before I send out any more e-newsletter I plan to confirm authorization to send out future e-newsletters to the public! 


http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=c95107a9f0dc5a47c9dca4cc7&id=25fb2323e8

I also plan to canvas the neighborhood again with newsletters and fliers in the hopes of generating tours. I did receive word that my canvas two weeks ago paid off for one person came in for a tour, said he learned about the facility from information left on his door step and he wanted to volunteer his services as an electrician! So my 2.5 hours of walking the neighborhood paid off!

Update on the injured macaque (finger amputated):

It appears the primate may have also have Tetanus. What is Tetanus you may ask? Well, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases:

• Tetanus is a serious disease that is caused by bacteria found in dust, soil, and manure

• Tetanus enters the body through many kinds of wounds—from a pinprick to a deep wound
• The bacteria live all over the world
• Tetanus is commonly called “lockjaw” since it can cause stiffness in the jaw muscles

Little Brody is receiving treatment for Tetanus. Poor little guy probably got Tetanus from the cage mate that bit him.

With medical bills mounting and funds just not coming in like they used to, the Director is feeling the strain. I pray donations come in soon so the sanctuary will be financially stable.

Any Fool Can

It's just amazing how anyone off the street can start a non-profit corporation. Just fill out a few forms, pony up a few bucks to the Corporation Section of the Office of the Secretary of State of Texas, and viola! you have started a new non-profit corporation.

Case in point, the former sanctuary female director filed a Certificate of Formations, Non-profit Corporation dated November 5, 2009 with the Corporation Section. The entity being formed is called "Animal Shelter Assistance Program Inc."

The new corporation's mission:

To assist nonprofit domestic animal shelters and wild and exotic animal sanctuaries in need by providing animal feed, building materials and other animal related that may be needed;

To assist nonprofit domestic animal shelters and wild and exotic animal sanctuaries in times of crisis by providing emergency funds;

To assist nonprofit domestic animal shelters that are overcrowded or those affected by natural disasters by offering temporary housing for domestic animals in order to avoid the euthanasia of health adoptable animals.

Yikes! The last mission statement scares me the most in light of what happened to hundreds of hurricane "victims of the storm" cats obtained by the former director. The cats only represented as a quick buck for this woman -- she did not care one whit what happened to the hurricane cats, as evidenced by the way she dumped several dozen cats to fend for themselves at the second property and sent the rest packing to other animal shelters throughout Texas. But it didn't stop her from raking in the bucks via newsletters after the majority the animals were gone!

What is even more strange, I found the two assumed name certificates on file with the County - Animal Shelter Assistance Program and Auction for Animals dated October 29, 2009. This led me to check Godaddy.com to see if the former director claimed any web address! I struck gold when I found two websites owned by the former director.

When I checked out both sites, I was stunned to see a picture of Sabastian, a lion living at the tour facility. I also saw a picture of a primate living at the non-touring facility! Can you believe it? The pictures were seen on both web sites. The former director was poaching pictures from her former "employer" to use for her personal gain!! Gee what a shock...

Needless to say, I notified the sanctuary and the sanctuary director apparently contacted the former director's current web host, for the pictures were taken down, but this comment was placed on the screen instead:

"Now we have proof of who is hacking who's email account.
Proper authorities will be notified."

Needless to say, the proper authorities were notified of the new non-profit corporation--but the complaint was not made by the former director!!

Today, both web sites have this simple statement: Animal Shelter Assistance Program.

I wonder why the former director registered only one name -- I guess the Auction for Animals site will be the business she operates under the table--much like the other little dba's she ran under the table, like Cat Haven, Chimp Aid, oh, and my favorite, "Feral Cat Rehabilitation Center!"

Meanwhile, the former directors continue to besieged the local magazine article's comment section with extremely negative comments made against the current sanctuary director. She is their own daughter and they are trashing her on the Internet. It's disgusting:

On 1/23/2010 6:07:34 PM, Anonymous said:How nieve it is to think that people are stupid enough to believe that with all of these accusations of animal cruelty, misuse of funds that not one government agency, including the Attorney Generals Office (who has supposedly been investigating [sanctuary] for several years now) has not filed any charges against anyone or has not closed the place down. I believe [current director] has a personal axe to grind with her family and I believe she is using the animals and the [sanctuary] to do so. Time will tell. I also would have thought that for someone that claims to be "transparent" [current director] sure wasnt when it came to her criminal background. I wonder if the Board of Directors was made aware of it when she accepted the position of CEO.

On 1/26/2010 7:55:24 AM, Anonymous said:I wonder if the board even cares about anything anymore. They certainly didnt care about their people when it really came down to it. I'm more likely to believe that this corruption goes further than [current director]. But hey, you know what they say, You lay down with dogs...you rise up with fleas.

On 1/26/2010 7:59:33 AM, Anonymous said:How can "someone" say good job but then say to everyone else that they didnt work very hard? How's the clinic these days? Still non operational? Didnt someone say that the cats were in there? lies lies lies. But who cares about people right?

On 1/26/2010 9:20:10 PM, Anonymous said:I would like to know if the board was aware of her criminal background. If they were aware and still thought her the best candidate, then that certainly says a lot about the board.

In regards to the "criminal background," the media, the board, and I know all about her past history. There is no comparison between the former female director's conviction of DWI/hot check writing and the current director's (1) misdemeanor deferred adjudication record. The former director is a hypocrite hell bent on destroying the animals by using her daughter's record as her weapon of choice. Instead of accepting responsibility for their actions, the former husband and wife director-team are pointing bony fingers at the animals, the current director and the board of directors. What a pathetic group of "ex" employees they make -- I'd say to them "get a job; get a life" but then, who would hire people with questionable work ethics?

The former directors may have fooled the public once, but something tells me they will not be allowed to fool the public twice!

She Never Received Any Hurricane Cats

Over the weekend I received a letter from the USDA/APHIS FOIA section in response to my records request back in 2008 (better late than never I suppose). In any case, the document sent to me was in regards to my 2005 Hurricane Katrina cats concern as well as a request in regards to the death of Tag (tiger) and Tarzan (lion).

According to the response, the former female director was allegedly asked if she acquired any animals from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She claimed "no animals returned to Texas with them." This is a out and out lie because I was there when the second batch of cats arrived. When I took the photographs, the cat cages were stacked several feet high in what is now the sanctuary's gift shop. I personally fund raised money from County employees in support of the cats the former director claimed were from Hurricane Katrina ravaged areas. If the money and supplies did not go towards the care of the hurricane cats, then where did the donations go?

Also, if "no animals returned to Texas with them," then why did the former director send out several newsletter appeals requesting donation for the "victims of the storm?" According to financial records, HSUS and ASPCA provide substantial funding towards the care of these cats.

I contend, the former director purposely lied to the USDA APHIS inspector in the hopes of avoiding answering questions regarding the disposition of the hundreds of cats taken in by the sanctuary.

I further contend, she purposely lied regarding the death of Tarzan. In September 2009, I was told by a Leslie Road animal caretaker Tarzan was alive and living in the same enclosure with Sheba and Sebastian. According to the animal caretaker, she said she found a dead lion in the enclosure, and believed it to be Leo. I was told when the animal caretaker reported the lion's death to the former director, she allegedly told the animal caretaker that she was mistaken--the dead lion was actually "Tarzan." Despite the employee's protests, the former director told her to record the death as that of "Tarzan." I have reason to believe, based on the animal caretakers report, the sanctuary's former vet did not euthanize "Tarzan" as claimed by the "signed vet statements concerning the death of these 2 animals" -- for how can one euthanize a dead lion?

When I visited the sanctuary in December 2009, I took pictures of the surviving lions. I am convinced the lion that died was in fact Leo and that Tarzan is alive and well, living with Sebastian and Sheba. I believe the reason why the former director lied about the cause of death of the lion and the identity of the same was due to the fact that Leo was one of the "Growing Up Lion" stars and she did not want to disclose to the public that another "Growing Up Lion" star died at the sanctuary in case it leaked out to the local media. The former director consistently lied about Rex's cause of death (another "Growing Up Lion" star), so it is not much of a stretch to believe she lied once again regarding Leo's cause of death.

Leo - God Bless his soul



Tarzan 2005



Tarzan 2009 - He lives!

As to Tag's death -- it was my understanding Tag was euthanized by a senior animal caretaker because he had "degenerative joint disease."

I was not aware that the former sanctuary vet was even on the property at the time of the animal's death. I would be surprised if there were even x-rays or medical exam reports on file at the vet's office confirming the diagnosis of "degenerative joint disease."

In light of the former director's new business, which she has acquired a corporation certificate, I cannot imagine any animal organization wanting to conduct business with this woman! But I save this story for my next blog...

Later: I received an email from the USDA/APHIS saying the documentation sent to their Office will be attached to the 2008 file, just in case someone cares to investigate the former directors by submitting a FOIA request.

War of Words

One of the hardest things to do is to keep one's mouth shut and the fingers off the keyboard. Too often, when someone makes a disparaging remark, the first instinct is to respond in kind.

Over the years, I have been called some really vial names by the former directors and board members as I pursued this case. But I've ignored their ridiculous antics, and simply started a case file of all the slanderous comments directed at me.

Now the detractors are at it again, but this time their wrath is focused on the new director.

Case in point. On the Internet is an article pertaining to the sanctuary case (I believe I referenced this article in past blog posts). In any case, the comments section is supposed to be used by the public to record comments regarding on the article. This particular article has 47 comments, much which I believe were posts made by current and past directors and employees.

Today, I discovered three new posts:

On 1/12/2010 5:33:07 PM, Anonymous said:

Does anyone care about how some staff members are treated? When you are in charge of or run an organization that deals with animals, you have to have people who take care of those animals. Which means you also have to deal with PEOPLE. The mission is to provide sanctuary for wild and exotic animals, but in doing so you have to be able to work well with others. There are appropriate ways of dealing with people and there are inappropriate ways. Especially when you are in an executive position. There are laws that protect employees and their rights. I would keep that in mind.

On 1/14/2010 12:29:29 AM, Anonymous said:

I do not believe anyone is interested in this anymore. give up on the attempt to injure already, it is getting very old. you should get another tattoo to hide from daddy.move on. grow up and get a life. in your attempt to hurt people your making yourself look stupid with all of the emails and comments and phone calls.

On 1/14/2010 6:31:10 PM, Anonymous said:

Your belief appears to be inaccurrate. I'm someone and I'm definately interested. I'm not sure though what you mean about "tattoo" and "daddy". Maybe that was meant for your sister.Sounds personal. Sorry to hear about all the emails and phone calls. As for the comments, I will comment whenever I please about whatever I please. Hurt? Seems extremely hypocritical to first slam someone about what seems to be personal issues, call them stupid and try to then say "they" are attempting to hurt people.

I didn't plan to post this today, but once I found it on the web, I just knew I had to say something because I think the majority of the comments are stupid and not worth even reading any more.

This War of Words needs to stop and it takes an adult to do so.

Later:

And so the War of Words heat up again - I just wish people would just grow up because this really looks bad to the public. I can only pray the writer yanks down these juvenile postings.

On 1/15/2010 11:05:10 PM, Anonymous said:

Oh, you must have me confused. I do not have a sister, and I think that you are misled. But have fun, this is no longer something that I care to read or waste effort on, as a matter of fact *I will not be visiting this story again. I am sure that you can have fun all by yourself. I come here for the positive comments on a place that I care about, and I don't really care about the negative ones. Just thought I would see how one would respond. :) success. I am sure It is very OBVIOUS who you are to many.

Have a great weekend though. Thank you for paying attention to my comments.

WISH THE BEST TO ALL!!!!!!

On 1/17/2010 11:29:10 AM, Anonymous said:

Deversion is not your best suite. Very weak. Of course you don't want to read the negative ones. I'm sure you wouldn't read them even with THE PROOF. That just proves me right about what I said earlier. Inability to lead. You need to remember the negative to really be able to appreciate the positive. But lets cover our eyes and not look in the direction that needs the MOST attention. We'll just forget that things happened. The public will just stop caring, right? WRONG! You seem very immature. To think that you are in control of others. LOL. By the way...... you also read my comments. Not really in as much control as you'd like.

Oh yeah...word of advice....those who you think are close, think about why else they might want to be close to you for. LOL.

The public makes sure you get a paycheck. I think they care more than you really would like them to. You just play way to many games. You are underestimating the ability of the public. This isn't just about the animals.

On 1/17/2010 11:32:19 AM, Anonymous said:

Hey if you didn't care about the negative comments why would you write so many? Sounds like someone has a problem with the truth.

On 1/17/2010 11:42:25 AM, Anonymous said:

Can someone tell me what happened to Rachel, Terry, Heather? Where did they go? One day they were there and the next time I came back all of them were no longer with the company.

On 1/19/2010 9:52:15 AM, Anonymous said:

yeah, sooooo transparent.

A Cold Start to the New Year

I have a lot of news to report today!

First, the WAO made it through its first freeze of the year, and sadly there were casualties. 1 Baboon, cause of death unknown died, and 5 macaques died (not from the freeze, but from fighting). The new director was very upset, but there was no way to know in advance the monkeys would start fighting when the temperature dipped below freezing.

The two animal caretakers at the second property did not report to the new director that there were two primate enclosures not set-up for heat. Since there was no run-off area, the workers were also unable to place straw in shelter boxes for the primates. Thankfully, none of the animals from these two cages died--truly a miracle. The workers were able to provide hay in several of the big cat and wolf-dog dens because the enclosures had no run-off areas!  So while the animals at the touring facility had warm dens, the animals at the second site did not receive the same treatment, just cold hard ground. I know the new director was upset with this news. The lowest temperature (with wind chill factor included) dipped to the low teens. It was amazing more animals did not die.

This week, the director toured the second site and discovered that the baboon that died on a Friday, was still in the enclosure the following Tuesday, AND that there were still macaque blood and other fluids on the surgical table used by the vet when one of the mortally wounded primates was removed and euthanized by the facilities' new vet. The new vet toured the second site right after the first cold snap to check on the animals when she witnessed the macaque attack. The primate was injured so badly the vet did not believe it would survive the trip to the clinic for x-rays and surgery. The new director immediately cleaned the surgical table, for failure to do so would be in violation of the AWA (housekeeping issue).

The new director was hopping mad. She was upset to see the dead macaque still in the enclosure. It was ironic because just several days early we were discussing some of the crazy rules the former director taught the workers, like leaving dead non-human primate bodies in the enclosures for about a week before removing the body so the other non-human primates can "grieve" over the loss of their family member. Explains why there were non-human primate bones/skulls left in the enclosure. Something tells me the other primates may have eaten the primate remains after so much time passed. After all, they only received primarily dog food under the previous management, so this was probably the only meat they received throughout the year.

Also, the new vet was upset because Mona, a female chimpanzee, did not receive the required medicine to reduce the inflammation and swelling on her leg/foot. When asked by the vet and the new director, the senior animal caretakers said they did not know why they discontinued the medicine. So Mona's injury did not heal and she is still in pain. Needless to say, Mona is back on the medicine, no thanks to the senior animal caretaker.

The new director had a meeting with the two ladies and apparently they had a 'really good meeting.' The two workers apparently broke down, cried, and admitted what they learned under the old management was completely wrong and now they are having a difficult time adjusting to all the new rules and requirements. The new director explained that the focus should be on the animals and if they were not willing to do what was necessary to protect and care for the animals, then they would have to go. The two ladies also told the new director that a lot of pressure has been put on them because everyone comes to them with questions (gee I wonder why--are they not the Senior Animal Caretakers?). So instead of admitting they do not know all the answers and volunteer to reseach the problem, they have essentially been passing on bad information or just ignore the issue.

In my opinion, I think the new animal caretakers are coming in with great ideas, they search and learn on the Internet, and they are connecting with other professionals, and therefore the senior animal caretakers probably feel threatened by them--which explains why they said nothing about their concerns. I also think they knew their jobs were on the line and were confronted for the first time in a long time that they may lose their current employment. It is a scary time to lose a job right now because there are not a lot of jobs in their profession and breaking into a new profession at 40+ years of age can be very difficult.

I personally believe they are burned out and should have been let go long time ago and I say this despite the fact we used to be friends. From what I have been able to gather the senior animal caretakers do not take any initiative to research and implement changes to diet and care. When the water pipes froze at the second site, the two senior animal caretakers did not want to lug around water containers to fill up the animals' water bowls. Instead a male worker from the touring facility had to come out and water the animals. When it looked like the worker wasn't going to finish in time, the other animal caretakers from the touring property went out after hours to help him!

Despite all the past bad behaviors, the director elected to give them another chance, primarily because the chimpanzees have truly grown attached to the senior animal caretakers, and to remove them completely would upset the chimps. Instead, she elected to move the ladies to the touring facility, so they can correctly learn their positions. I've been told all the workers will be rotated so everyone will know how to work at both facilities.

As to the fighting macaque deaths--sadly, the former directors did not create run-off area or install walls to create separate areas for the primates. Instead, the former directors stuck a lot of primates inside the same enclosure and let them "duke it out." Macaques are very aggressive and if one starts a fight with another, that primate normally does not stop until the primate dies or becomes incapacitated. Also, other members of the group may join in on the beating. It is a horrible sight to see because there is nothing one can do to stop the fight.

So, the director is making plans to install run-off areas and install walls, so primates can hide from the group. Most of the trees died in the enclosure as the monkeys stripped the bark and leaves from the trees, so there is very little natural vegetation. Therefore, either man-made or purchased natural "vegetation" will need to be placed in the enclosure.

So from Thursday, January 7 - 10, the monkeys experienced their first freeze of the year. On the plus side, no big/little cat or wolves died from the freeze. Thankfully, the workers worked really hard installing heat for almost all the primates living at both sites, which probably explains why there were no deaths reported related to the cold weather. I also believe that lives were saved as the result of the primate and big cat diet change made in October, as it probably boosted their immune system.

Also, on the plus side, the new wolf enclosure at the touring facility is complete (and the wolves are already in their new home) and hopefully by next week the cougars will move out of the tiny enclosure (clearly not made for five cougars!). The new director wants to move the young cougar named Noel into the small enclosure next to the cougars. While I am not thrilled about the idea, it is probably better to move her next the cougars and take her away from the quarantine cage where she is surrounded by tigers. I've been told Noel is very distressed living around the tigers. Maybe, some day, she can be integrated with the surviving five cougars. If not, at least she will be close to her own kind.

More news to report, but for now, I think I shall take a break!

Ardie's Story

I met Ardie, a German Sheppard and Shar Pei mix, on the side of a highway on January 6, 2004. Ardie (then RD for rescued dog) had been hit by a car and was left for dead on the side of the road.

When I first drove by, I thought Ardie was dead because he was stretched out -- but then he moved his head. I called animal control to report a severely injured dog on the side of the road, and with the temperatures hoovering around the freezing mark, I knew he would not live long outside with his injuries. That evening when I drove home, Ardie was still there.

When I called animal control again, I was told he was issued a 'pickup' number and since there was only one person on duty, to expect Ardie to remain outside again for another night.

The next morning, as I approached Ardie, I was afraid he would be dead. But once again as my car approached, he lifted his head. I could not leave him there again, so I pulled over, backed up the car until I was close enough to Ardie to see if I could get him into my car.

Ardie seemed relieved that someone stopped to help him. Ironically, someone had also stopped by at some point to leave him a bowl containing water, which he could not reach. Ardie was a very large and heavy dog, and concerned for his leg injury and skull injury, I was worried about moving him to my car. Just then a very nice lady wearing military BDU's pulled over and asked if I could use her help. Thanks to her assistance, we were able to get Ardie into the backseat of my car. It turns out, the lady also saw Ardie the day before and was planning on taking him home too that evening if no one came by to pick him up!

Well, Ardie met three of his vets that day, as they tried to save his front right leg. His skull had indention where he was hit by a car, but there did not appear to be any brain damage. I was told Ardie was about 8-10 years old that that his expected life expectancy would not be much more than a year or two. So the question was -- should the vet amputate his injured leg, attempt to heal the damaged leg, or put him down due to his advanced age.

No question about it--Ardie was to live! When I first brought Ardie in, I did not know what to call him, so his chart was labeled RD for rescue dog. The name stuck and Ardie began his second life with me and my pet family.

I normally do not talk much about my pet family as I believe my family life should be kept separate from the animal case. The only reason why I am writing about Ardie today is because yesterday Ardie joined Jesus in Heaven.

Let me tell you some more about Ardie. Ardie lived with my family for almost six years to the day. The vets tried very hard to save Ardie's leg, but sadly it had to be removed one month after Ardie's rescue from the highway. Ardie was the most amazing dog with three legs. He ran, he climbed, and loved to go on long walks in the country. He smiled a lot, but he didn't like his picture taken--who knew a dog with three legs could run so fast from a camera?

Ardie was not much for hugs, brushings, and petting. He just liked to be in the same room where I was--I especially remember him sleeping near my chair as I worked for hours on the computer, typing up letters to the OAG or USDA, investigating a lead on the Internet, or updating my blog. Ardie was always laying within arms length of me.

The hardest decision I had to make was whether or not to have Ardie put to sleep. For the last three months, Ardie stopped smiling. He could barely walk. He had trouble eating and drinking water. And three days ago, one of his bed sores split open and exposed his tail bone.

That is when I knew it was time for Ardie to go to Jesus in Heaven. It broke my heart to make that decision because Ardie still loved eating his treats. He still responded to my voice and I knew he was struggling to hang on for me. I didn't want to let him go, but I knew in my heart my reasons for letting him hold on like this was for me and not for him.

One of the vets that performed surgery on Ardie was in attendance yesterday and he was most kind to both of us. I think Ardie knew this was his last time on Earth for he did not struggle or attempt to move away from the vet or the vet techs. Everyone loved Ardie at the clinic and were sad to see Ardie go.

Ardie had a profound affect on the other members of the family. On Ardie's last evening, the cats took turns watching over him. He was the most gentle dog and he was loved by the cats. One particular cat, Twiggy, loved to rub up against Ardie in affection. She would follow Ardie throughout the house, rubbing around his front leg and chest. I don't know very many dogs that would tolerate this behavior, but I think secretly Ardie loved the attention from Twiggy.

As Ardie was leaving me to join Jesus in Heaven, I let him know that he was loved, he was the best dog ever, that I would see him again in Heaven, where he would have a perfect body, with four legs and he would be pain-free. I knew before the vet told me he was gone because I felt him go right through me--he was no longer in the room -- he was gone.

I will never forget Ardie--he was the perfect example of perseverance--he was determined to run and play with his doggy brothers. He never wanted to be left behind so he worked doubly hard to keep up with us when we went for walks. He loved nature. He loved horses and cows. He loved meeting new dogs on our walks. He loved life. He will be missed by many--especially by me until that day we meet up once again. I love you, Ardie! God Bless You, my good boy. You were and always will be the best dog ever!

Monday:

I have the best vets and staff ever. Today, they sent me flowers at work my work in memory of Ardie. I also received a card saying they too will miss Ardie. Both meant a lot to me. Ardie truly was loved by all.