Manly Monday: MANPUP RESCUE!

Tom and Bibi-Chan: Today, we are giving up our blog time so that we can tell you about a rescue we have been involved in over the past few days. We think it is a great story and want to share it with you:

First of all, take a look at this little guy:

He was brought in early last week to a clinic where our friend Dr. S works, about two hours west of here. He is a four month old pure-bred labrador pup, and his breeder brought him to be euthanised. Yes, that is correct. PUT DOWN. Why, you ask? Well, it's because he has a mild case of kennel cough which is likely to take a couple of months to go away completely. Until then, the breeder can't put him up for sale at the pet shops and garden centres he usually dumps his litters at, and he would probably be considered too big by the time he is all better. And, of course, he would be eating expensive food all this time, wouldn't he? A total waste of money! So, the solution was to have him put down...

Dr. S took a good look at the pup and every bone in her body said NO! So, she took the animal, mumbled OK and ostensibly carried him to the back for his final injection. Except that she didn't... Little pup was spirited away to her flat, his cough treated, and she started to look for a home for him. Through our friend, Ms. A, she put the word out to everyone she knew, and she brought him with her this past weekend when she came to visit Ms. A.

We were touched by the story and immediately thought of our neighbours who lost their beloved lab cross, Madrac, a couple of years ago. We knew they wanted another lab but they never seemed quite ready. #1 mentioned it to them, emphasising that they would be saving the little guy, and they said they would think about it, upon which she decided that a more direct approach might be the most effective strategy.

So, on Sunday morning, Dr. S, Mr. C. and Ms. A, as well as Pie, Tommy's friend, and Mr. Pup, came for a visit! #1 went quite weak-kneed on seeing him and decided he would stay with us if no other home were found for him. He is so gorgeous, so soft and such a good puppy! He is already clean, knows the meaning of No, and generally very well-behaved. He came into the house and immediately became best friends with Bibi!

And when we went back outside, he and Tom had a great time playing together!

Well, our strategy worked! Our neighbours immediately fell in love with him! Here he is with his new Dad:

He has now gone back west with Dr. S because he needs a simple surgical procedure to remove his existing microchip and put in a new one, so the evil breeder never finds out he was not killed off. He will also have his little boy operation, and he is scheduled to come back on Thursday or Friday! We are all very excited because he is such a sweetie and he will be a great friend to us all, and of course will always stay with us when our neighbours go away!

In conclusion, here is a short message from Mr. Pup himself:

MY NAME IS FERNAND AND I HAVE A FOREVER HOME!