At the age of 15 1/2 Bear lost everything. His mom died in the spring -- the only mother he had known since he was 5 months old. His dad had no time for him. His best buddy, the family cat, went to live elsewhere. For the first time in his long life, Bear was alone as he had never been alone before. Luckily, Bear's dad loved him enough to contact Westie Rescue for help.
Finding someone whose heart is big enough to take in an older dog -- even one as healthy as Bear -- isn't easy. But Bear was lucky once again... He found his new family, and in them they found the joys of a very special love.
"He has to be the sweetest dog on the face of the earth," his new mom says. "I hope and pray he will be with us for many, many years. We are just in love with him."
Bear, whose new name became Barry, lived with his new family for a year before crossing over the Rainbow Bridge. But Barry is far from gone -- his memory is alive and his spirit lives on in the love he gave, and the vast love he left behind. Today, Barry remains the first canine member of the West Highland West Terrier Club of Indiana, and he encourages other Westies to join him in becoming a member of "Barry's Club," with membership dues going to support Westie Rescue.
Westie Rescue Stories...
Here are some stories of some of the wonderful Westie's we've been able to help!
Heidi
Heidi was a 10-month-old Westie with permanently floppy ears, legs more like springs, and a sweet disposition. Her family got her when she was only a few months old, and then they decided that maybe Heidi required too much time and attention -- especially since they already had a 2-year-old child. So Heidi had to go, and without a backward glance they left her with Westie Rescue and rode off into the sunset. Better for Heidi -- today she lives in a house full of wonderful "rejects" who are loved and cared for by a vet tech/vet student in Indianapolis who has helped dozens of Westies find new and better lives the second time around.
Snuggles
Snuggles thought she had it made. For most of her 5 years, she spent her days playing with the family's kids and the other family dog. She could let herself in and out to a fenced back yard, and at night she would snuggle with mom and dad. then one day everything changed. The family decided to move, and they were taking their TV, but not Snuggles.
She was scared, and when she was scared her teeth would chatter. They chattered a lot. But not for long. Thanks to Westie Rescue, Snuggles found her new home, and today her new family is all about making sure Snuggles is never left behind again...
Winston
It's hard to look at this sweet little face and understand how it came to be that Winston found himself in need of a new home when his family decided they no longer wanted him. Another disposable pet... Today, thanks to Westie Rescue, Winston is living happily with an older sister and two adult cats with a family who say that neither they nor their grandkids can imagine life without him.
Q-Tip
"We were not too smart, and we didn't investigate the breed before purchasing her..." the email stated. So Q-Tip paid the price. At the age of 5 months, her family decided they didn't have time for her and needed to find her a new home. This time, however, they did their homework -- they found and contacted Westie Rescue. As a result, Q-Tip, a Westie-Bichon mix who now answers to the name Zoe, today romps with her older Westie sister, well on the way to living happily ever after with her new forever family.
Chloe
This precious little gal probably was used for backyard breeding until she couldn't produce any more. Then, at the age of 11+ years, she was tossed out to fend for herself. We named her Chloe.
Bedraggled, terrified, flinching and untrusting of human contact, her future was questionable -- if she could find a loving home, would she even know what to do, how to react?
Chloe touched the hearts of all who met her and heard her story. She started to believe that not all people were going to hurt her. She began to trust, a little bit at a time, and then more and more her tail began to be held upright and her ears stood up from her head. She dropped her frightened look, and instead looked eager for what was to come.
What was to come was a wonderful family where today she lives "happily ever after" in a home where Chloe is being given all of the love she was denied before. She is particularly fond of going on road trips, country music and ice cream, and when her new mom looks at her, she sees "a true blessing."
Looking out from eyes newly trusting, we're pretty sure that's what Chloe sees, too.
Nike
Once upon a time, Nike was the joy of a young boy's life. But like Puff the Magic Dragon, young boys grow up and sometimes leave their childhood loves behind. Sometimes, they also leave their pets. Nike knows what that feels like. He lost his best friend, and at the age of 7 years, he also lost his life-long home.
Alone and very much wanting to share his life with someone who needed him as much as he needed them, Nike found the perfect partner in an 81-year-old widower whose own life was sadly empty.
Today, they are making a new life together, giving each other the love and attention they both so desperately needed.
Tish
Tish had lived for all of her 12 years with an older couple whose health in recent years had begun to decline. Finally, when the wife went into a nursing home, the husband had no choice but to give Tish to his daughter. Unfortunately, Tish and the Corgi owned by the daughter’s family didn’t get along, so this not-so-new dog suddenly needed to find a new home.
As it turned out, Tish had been groomed for years by Sue Durcan, who is one of the Westie Rescue reps for southern OH, KY and IN. So the family got an added bonus when they called Sue and asked for help. Tish knew Sue and had boarded numerous times in her Cincinnati home. So when Tish came to stay with Sue this time, it was familiar turf and she moved right in.
Tish officially is still looking for her new “forever home,” but as far as this little Westie is concerned – she’s pretty sure that she already has found it!
Paisley
Paisley was a stray. No one knows how she came to be wandering alone for 3-4 weeks in last December’s numbing cold, running from people and shying away from any help. Finally around Christmas, she got caught up in some railroad ties in a field near Peru, Indiana. This slowed her down enough so that a woman who had seen her running loose was able to catch her and take her home. She was in terrible shape – frightened, sick and nearly starved to death at a year old. She was skittish and terribly afraid of men, and most of the time was too frightened even to eat. Through the months, Paisley was passed from one well-meaning family to another, but none knew what to do for her. Finally, in desperation, someone contacted Westie Rescue looking for help. They found it… Today, Paisley is a happy, confident, playful Westie who’s living in a home in Cincinnati with five other Westies and four Westie wannabees – finally enjoying life, learning to trust and losing all fear!
Mandy
Mandy’s life was hard. She was owned by a breeder, who dumped her at the age of four when she could no longer be bred. Her second owners traveled a lot and took Mandy along with them, and for awhile it looked like life was getting better for this sweet little girl. But then they tired of her, and left her with a friend to keep. Because Mandy and the third owner’s cairn grumbled at one another in the beginning, they decided to keep Mandy crated – and so except for the occasional potty break, that’s where Mandy stayed for the next four years!!. Late last year, the woman keeping Mandy was hospitalized and her prognosis wasn’t good. So she decided that Mandy and an outdoor dog she owned should be euthanized, “because at least that way,” the woman reckoned, she would “know where they were!” Mandy’s sad life was saved when a neighbor intervened, and turned Mandy over to Westie Rescue Indiana. Today, 9-year-old Mandy is enjoying life with a couple in Muncie, Indiana, who has a Westie and a Scottie – and the kind of loving home she never thought she would find.
Sir Snowsalot
Sir Snowsalot was rescued from a shelter in Corydon, Indiana, in August. His story was first posted on Petfinders… he was brought to the shelter when his family could no longer afford the cost of medications to treat his skin allergies. “The facility does not have the means to help this guy and he is in danger!” the posting read, “Please help save his life. He is great with kids, cats and other dogs. His disposition is wonderful. He really would like a new family…and a comfortable new home.” That was all it took!! A cooperative effort ensued involving a number of volunteers from across the Midwest. Westie Rescue Indiana and Westie Rescue Missouri got Sir Snowsalot out of the shelter, cleaned up and soon sent him on his way to a wonderful new home in Minnesota, where today he happily answers to the name “Chandler.”
Cody
Cody was a pampered little Westie for all of his 11 years, and his “mom” loved him dearly. He was her baby…until, that is, “mom” had a human baby of her own. When the infant developed serious allergies, it was soon discovered that pet dander was at the root of the problem. So Cody had to go…
Westie Rescue of Indiana helped find Cody a new home with a woman in Indianapolis who had been looking for an older Westie to love ever since seeing Bear – a 15 year old Westie who had been adopted by friends last year. Cody was the answer to her prayers…and we’re pretty sure that little Cody looks upon her the same way!
Laverne & Shirley
Posted 09/10/2006
Good things come in pairs – and these two girls are perfect examples of that. Dumped by a breeder at the ages of 6-8, they suddenly found themselves trading the confines of one cage for the confines of a shelter kennel. Still, it was a vast improvement over what they had known up until then…
Their feet were splayed from endless days spent in wire cages. Neither girl had any front teeth left – they had been worn down long ago from biting futilely on the bars of their cages. Laverne’s right eye had a ruptured cornea and the eye had to be removed. Both had kennel cough.
It was raining the day they came into Westie Rescue, and the feel of wet grass was strange and frightening to them. So was everything else, and they spent that first night huddled together -- in a cage, but one with an open door. Laverne’s eye got infected, but it didn’t seem to bother her, and Shirley watched over her constantly. Today, they’re doing well, still in transition, but ready for their forever home…forever together!
Buddy
Posted 09/11/2006
Buddy (a.k.a. Buddy Bojangles) was an escape artist. Found as a stray in a Cincinnati suburb, Buddy had made it his life’s work to find new ways out of whatever enclosure he found himself in at the moment. He escaped from his first home and from a foster home, and then tried his best to escape from a kennel where he had been staying when all else failed. But winter was coming on and the kennel owner felt that Buddy was “far too nice of a dog to be kept outside.” So she called Westie Rescue…
It was to be a foster placement. Buddy should have understood that. He should have been looking for his escape route as he surveyed the fence line. He should have known it was temporary. He shouldn’t have just moved right into the first open heart he found.
Yea, right. Today, Buddy’s foster home IS his forever home, and when he’s let outside to do his business, his is the first scratch on the door to be let back in!
Derby
Posted 09/11/2006
Derby was a stray, picked up hungry, sad and dirty by the side of a Kentucky road and taken to the local shelter. A bath, a few good meals and a good night’s sleep, and Derby was ready to shine. He made friends first with a Doberman and a Rottweiller, and then with every other dog in the shelter. Then he set about winning over the shelter workers until one was prompted to call Westie Rescue to come get the little guy whom no one had claimed and no one had adopted. Well-mannered and sweet, he deserved so much better.
Derby’s first placement didn’t work – the owner developed allergies and brought him back inside of a week. But then it happened – a young man with severe emotional problems needed a friend, and for sure so did little Derby. So today they’re happily taking care of one another, giving each other a reason to smile.
Paige & Aurora
Posted 09/11/2006
It was just a week or two before Christmas when Paige & Aurora were rescued. They had come from a puppy mill in northern Indiana – dumped by a breeder who no longer had any use for them. The two girls were filthy and frightened, and inseparable. After having them spayed, the mission was to place them together. It’s not always the easiest thing to do, but in this case Santa was smiling on them.
A woman who had lost her Old English Sheepdog needed a new friend. She was older now and couldn’t handle a big dog – but a Westie would be perfect. Uh, two Westies? Well, sure, why not? It’s still a lot less than one Old English Sheepdog! So Paige and Aurora were transported to Cincinnati by Westie Rescue volunteers, and they now are happily ensconced in an artist’s loft, spending their days being fawned over and playing in the dust of spun clay pottery, and their nights curled up together with their new best friend, each dreaming of that Christmas when their fondest wishes really did come true!
Peter Pan
Posted 09/11/2206
Peter Pan was one of the little lost boys. At the age of 10-12, he found himself in a Kentucky animal shelter, unwanted, unloved and very much in need of a home of his own. This was in March.
Luckily for Peter Pan, that didn’t take long. So what that he was more of a tan and silky Westie wannabee? To a lady in Middletown, OH, who was looking for a companion for Starr, her tail-less female Westie, looks didn’t matter one little bit. And when Peter Pan saw Starr, it was pure puppy love at first sight. And these days, both Star and Peter Pan are happily sharing their days, sleeping on the patio and chasing squirrels from their big back yard – and for Peter Pan, chilly memories of last March seem very far away!
Rosie
Posted 09/11/2006
For Rosie, it was all new and all very unsettling, but for those of us in Westie Rescue it was just the same old story… terriers and toddlers don’t mix! As in all such cases, it was Rosie who paid the price – turned over to Rescue at the age of 1 ½ with a rap sheet that said she was aggressive and no good around kids or other dogs. (Never mind that the kids next door would antagonize her and that they once tried to poison her!)
Rosie needed an adult home with people who were experienced with terriers and who would give her the attention and discipline she required. Lucky for Rosie, she found that perfect home and was last seen lying peacefully in the sun next to her new best friend, a standard poodle named Mindi!
“She is great,” her new mom writes. “Now enrolled in obedience school – a class with two Rotties and two German Shepherds that she could whip with one paw behind her back – we are working on ‘perfecting’ her manners. We just love her to death and are so glad we happened upon her!.” And so are we!
Slick
Posted 09/11/2006
Wandering lost and alone is frightening enough, but imagine if amidst all of that strangeness you couldn’t really see anything around you. That was little Slick’s story when he was found as a stray in Louisville last fall. At the age of nine or so, Slick had limited vision as the result of heavy cataracts, a few tumors and more than a few aches and pains, but that didn’t stop him from capturing the hearts of everyone he met.
Sometimes it takes a village to save a little Westie, and it certainly proved true in Slick’s case. But eventually this little guy found his forever home with a man who had more than a few health problems of his own. His doctor wanted him to get out and get more exercise, and that’s just what Slick liked to do most of all. So today, Slick and his much-healthier and happier human companion spend their days devoted to each other… another case that leaves you wondering, just who rescued whom??
