Boone's First Year

While Boone's first few weeks of life are a mystery, he made his way to the middle of a Robertson County Farm to Market road at about 8 weeks of age. It is from that vantage point his story begins. In a nutshell, this has been his path over the last year.

It was a June Sunday in 2010 when my neighbors were coming back from their lake home on that very road and saw him sitting there. Of course, they knew this was a dangerous spot for a little guy like him, so they picked him up and took him home. They took him to their vet who examined him, treated him for some scratches, provided necessary vaccinations, and pronounced him healthy.

They considered keeping him, but their two other dogs were quite elderly and were not at all happy with a rambunctious puppy who wanted to play all the time. So they considered their options, which were slim - the animal shelter or finding a home for him.

After exhausting all the leads they had, I received a call. They knew that I had done some fostering and volunteer work for a local animal rescue group. I was able to get him into the rescue group by offering to foster him. He was a happy boy who got along well with my other dogs and cat.

He went to adoptions every Saturday and finally was adopted. A short time later, he was returned because his new owner had lost her job and was no longer in a position to keep him. He spent several months in various foster homes.

Being a rescue organization in a college town is a blessing and a curse! Having students available to foster animals is a great blessing! The fact that many of them are also vet and pre-vet students is an additional bonus. However, students have many obligations and are a mobile population. This makes it difficult to provide consistency for those animals who most need it!

After several months, he was adopted again.

Sadly, this adoption did not work out either, so Boone was back to the rescue group. Summer is a difficult time to find foster homes because so many students are not here. A boarding kennel with large runs and a homey environment became the only place for him to go. After a few weeks, his "issues" proved to be his undoing there.

That is how I now find him back with me, sleeping peacefully in the same bed that he slept in a year ago. My heart breaks for him, and he deserves a better life than this last year has provided him.