A New Harvey

Sara pets Harvey at the Annex
“What’s that other dog doing over there. He looks nice.”

“Thank you for feeding me. Will you be my new daddy?”
You can see the poor boy’s ribs through his coat from the front. There are also two wounds on his side where he was either shot or impaled by something.
I don’t know how anybody could abandon such a sweet boy to starve to death. There must have been something serious going on in their life.

That’s just the way it is

Some things will never change

That’s just the way it is

Ah, but don’t you believe them

—Bruce Hornsby

When we went to our friend Janet’s house for Thanksgiving, our neighbors were there, too. Ralph and Sara told Suna and me about this dog someone had dumped at the Rattlesnake Annex.

People dump dogs in the country all the time. I guess they think the dogs can survive by hunting or something. But most abandoned dogs are shot when they try to get at someone’s livestock or chickens. Almost all of the others starve to death because they have to learn how to hunt. If they’re abandoned, they don’t have time to learn before they starve. Only a few get rescued.

I didn’t think too much about another abandoned dog. Ralph or someone would probably put him out of his misery before he suffered too much. So I was surprised when Ralph called this morning to tell me I needed to “come get this dog.” He was still at the Annex, and Ralph had apparently been feeding him enough scraps to keep him going. Ralph explained, “He waits at the gate everyday for his people to come back and get him. He only leaves long enough to find some water or maybe a little to eat.” Ralph said the dog was understandably shy and hard to get close to. It had taken him a couple of weeks to get him to take food without waiting for Ralph to leave.

When I pulled up at the Annex, Sara was petting him. They had given him a bone with some meat on it to chew. I talked to them a bit. When he saw me leaving, he walked calmly to the car. When I opened the door, he jumped in, crawled into the passenger seat, and sat down looking at me like he was trying to say, “Okay. Let’s go home now.”

I took him home, and Brody accepted him without question. Suna calls him Harvey. Or Starvey Harvey because he’s so starved (only 19.2 pounds, although his frame will support at least twice that). To keep from making him sick, I fed him only about half a cup of dog food, which he ate greedily. When he was done, he jumped on the couch, laid his head down on my lap, and went to sleep.

That is not normal behavior for a rescue. I’ve spent the better part of a week getting a rescue to let me see them. I’ve never been accepted so quickly.

I guess Harvey is home.