A Different Kind of Happy Tail

Today I'll share with you some pics and video of two TARC dogs who never left on transport. Paige and Abercrombie are rescues nonetheless, but I adopted them myself. I've spent the last five years trying to make up for the few short weeks of hunger, fear, and abuse they suffered as abandoned pups in the hard mountains of Appalachia.

Below is the first photo I ever saw of Paige. She was on "death row" in a West Virginia kill shelter, feral and terrified with a future as bleak as they come. I took five of the pups in that litter of nine and another rescue took four. We managed to save them all. Paige told me the day I met her, though, that I was hers and she was mine and that was the end of it. I have never regretted keeping her.

I don't have any photos of Abercrombie when he was a puppy. He and the others in his litter were dumped at four weeks old on the side of a mountain and left for dead. When a good Samaritan found them at least a full week later, they were barely clinging to life. She got them the urgent care they needed until they were able to eat, then referred them to my rescue. Abercrombie stood out to me from the beginning because of his unusual coloring. A dilution gene, probably the Isabella gene, causes his coat to be the most striking shade of buff and blue, and affects his eyes, nose, and nails as well. But the reason he stayed with me is that, at six weeks old, he was already so food aggressive he'd harm his siblings at feeding time. He would also strike at human hands coming near his food dish. Though small, he could do a lot of damage with those little needle puppy teeth. So I held him back to work with him, and while he still guards his resources a bit more than he should, the outright food aggression is gone. He, however, is not. He stayed, and I don't regret keeping him, either.

A couple of Christmases ago, I received an e-card from the other rescue who saved Paige's litter. On it was a photo of a family with two dogs who looked a lot like Paige. Turns out, they were Paige's brothers, Toby and Percy. I obscured the faces of the family kids for privacy reasons, but the dogs are front and center. I can really see the resemblance.

One very fun thing that TARC did a while back was match our dogs with actors and actresses who resemble them. We called it "Our Dogs, and the Actors Who Would Play Them in a Movie." Some of the combinations were just priceless. (Hmm--that's a good idea for a post, actually. . . .)

Here are Paige and Abercrombie's matchups. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Last but not least is a video compilation made last week when Paige and Abercrombie rode along on an exotic animal transport to South Carolina. Once the other critter was vetted and settled, @catherine813 and I made a quick trip to the beach. It was the first time either dog had seen the ocean. We had a few laughs, a whole lot of fun, and got some fantastic shots of these two puppers playing in the Atlantic. Possibly this video is nothing more than me being self-indulgent with phone-cam pics of two personal dogs. But why not? Their Happy Tails are just as happy as any dog who left here on transport. The joy on their little faces once they realize the beach is big fun makes up for an awful lot of the suffering they did before TARC changed their lives.

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