A tribute to a little girl who loved to sleep in cars ...

Last week, the GSP Rescue NE Board of Directors and DJ Knoedler, Chanterelle's foster dad, had to make the sad decision to put Chanterelle to sleep.  Chan suffered from seizures all her life but in the last several weeks they became much more frequent, severe and Chan was injuring herself.   

After a long night of one seizure after another, Chan had a stroke and at that point it was time to end her suffering.  Chan was put to sleep, lovingly at home, with DJ at her side.

Chanterelle came to us a little over a year and a half ago.  Ten years old at that time, she was being surrendered by her owner who had her since she was a pup. Often times I'm asked "how can a person do that?" meaning surrender a dog you've had for its whole life.  There's lots of answers to that question, but in Chan's case it was because life had gotten too complicated for her owner.  She loved Chan so much, knew she couldn't give her what she needed any longer, and asked for our help.

GSP Rescue NE never turns away any non-aggressive dog,  regardless of age, so we gladly accepted Chan into our program.  We knew there would be issues placing her but as a lover of seniors I knew there was a kindred soul out there somewhere who would accept Chan as she was and provide her with a loving home where she could live out her days peacefully.  

(I would have taken Chan into my own home as a foster but Chan had a penchant for eating cats and I sort of wanted to keep my cat around a little longer. ;-)  

Chan eventually went to live in Ohio with DJ, another lover of senior dogs who can also deal with health issues.  When DJ's career changed, involving a move to Texas, we decided it was in Chan's best interest for her to go along. She had become a part of his household and DJ loved her.  We loved hearing stories of the girl who would sleep in any car with an open door, sunning and basking in the warmth.  Or the girl who loved to sleep in the laundry basket in winter.  She made the transition to Texas easily and it seemed the Texas heat agreed with her.  Still running in the fields, sniffing out critters even though she had begun to lose her hearing, life was good for Chan. 

There came a time that as a Board of Directors, we decided, due to Chan's advancing age, that we would no longer consider her for adoption and that she would stay with DJ. Chan, at that point, had become our mascot. In all this time, Chan's former owner stayed in touch with both DJ and me and she followed Chan's life closely. Pauline, Chan's former owner, contributed frequently and generously to Chan's increasing medical costs.

As I said, I knew there was a kindred soul out there who shared my love of seniors but I didn't know it would be DJ who would become Chan's forever home.  The three humans in Chan's life became friends, rejoicing in her triumphs and saddened with her decline. Chan was a girl who never lost her zest for life even when her health began to fail.  She was spunky and energetic in spite of her seizures and had a will to live that was stronger than most.

Rescue is a funny thing at times. It brings out the very worst and the very best of people. But this is a happy story. This story begins with but doesn't end with the passing of a little girl who loved to sleep in cars and who touched the three lives of her humans.  We all loved her and wished as we do with all of our four-legged friends that they could live forever. We humans will be forever connected with sweet Chanterelle as the common thread.   

I will end with these beautiful words as a fitting tribute to our girl:

My dear friend,

You have guided me through this long and difficult process so lovingly. But now we have come to this very sad end. I couldn't write to you earlier as my grief is deep.

Chanterelle was a very special dog and a great friend to me, my employees, my xhusband, clearly D.J., and you, perhaps her greatest cheerleader of all.

I am so sad that her last night was such a difficult one for her and for D.J.

I wished she could have passed on in a quieter way but then she was never a quiet dog, except asleep the front seat of a car ... any car, or in any spot of the sun.

Thank you for the wonderful gift of her photograph.

I think we will be in touch.

 With love and gratefulness for all that you did for me and for my warm and loving friend Chanterelle,

Pauline

Godspeed sweet Chan.  You were loved.

Celeste 

 In that feature, a GSP named Preston had just been rescued by members of DDR, who pulled him from the side of a Detroit highway where he was found wandering with a badly broken right rear leg after having been hit by a car.

Poor Preston on the day he was rescued.

 
DDR has incurred more than $8,000 in vet fees for Preston and has a ChipIn page where donors can contribute to his care. (If you contribute, please make sure to mention that you're from GSP Rescue NE!)
 
If you haven't seen the story on Dateline about the amazing group of people that make up Detroit Dog Rescue, take a look here. (WARNING: The video is graphic.)  

GSP Rescue NE was the first of many GSP rescues around the country to repond to DDR and offer help and advice on Preston. Monica Martino, one of the founders of DDR, has been staying and touch with GSP Rescue NE and in her most recent email she writes:

" Just wanted to let everyone at GSP NE know that Preston is doing well.  He had a few setbacks and we are only just now looking into the best home for his adoption.  As you know, since his medical bills were so extraordinarily high (now approaching $8,000), we wanted to make sure he had a clean bill of health before placing him so that his new family was not hit with thousand-dollar payments. 

His most recent setback was an infection at the surgical site, which doctors are monitoring closely.  We currently get his wounds re-dressed every three days.  Doctors also detected a heart murmur during a recent checkup.  They are not terribly concerned about it at this point, but he will need to be monitored for heart disease down the line.

But everything else is going well.  He is healing up and you can tell he is ready to RUN.  In the month that we have had him, I have done a lot of research on GSPs and I'm confident that we will be able to place him in a perfect home.  I also got a lot of help and advice from Missy Neal (from GSP National Rescue).  Preston has had so many applicants who want him, which is wonderful. 

We are going through a rigorous screening process for Preston as well as for all of our other adoptions, including checking bank statements, personal references, vet references and records and completing home follows. I think we have an amazing home lined up for him with a gentleman who has extensive GSP experience -- he has had five pointers in the past and has extensive bird-dog / pointer experience. He also has an ideal living situation -- lives on a huge, 1-acre fenced in yard and also works from home doing commercial real estate. He seems very promising so far.  He'll be meeting Preston in a few weeks and we will take it from there.

Anyway, just figured you'd want an update. I'll let you know where he goes once we finally send him on his way and will send photos as well so you can see how far he's come. It's going to be really tough to say goodbye but this really will be such a great new life for him."

Hope you are well.

Monica

A happier and healthier Preston  awaiting his forever home.