Rescue Corner - August 2011

By John & Lois Cleland

The Rescue Corner is a new column in the PCTC newsletter Thistle Talk. The Corner will keep you up to date on all the goings-on in PCTC Rescue and more. You’ll be hearing from several of us over the next several issues. We’ll tell you our stories about how we came to rescue and how it has enriched our lives. We invite you to enjoy our stories and maybe join us in Rescue, one of the most gratifying experiences the dog fancy offers.

Sometimes things just happen.

We stole our first Cairn, Bo, from my sister-in-law. He came to stay with me while Lois and her sister visited their parents in Virginia Beach. He was this scruffy thing purchased from a pet shop in the Boston area. The little goof took over the house and my heart in less than 24 hours. Lois convinced her sister that Bo should stay with us. Thus begins our new found love of Cairns. Oh! I forgot to mention: Bo was Lois’ first pet ever—except for a goldfish.

We got training for Bo (really us, of course). Our trainers became lifelong friends. Somewhere along about 5 or 6 months enjoying the precocious little fella, Lois figured he needed a playmate. (What was I? Chopped liver? Guess not or he would have eaten me like a big snack.) Naturally, Lois asked our dog training friends how we should go about getting another Cairn. How old it should be. What gender. Where do we find one. She had heard about rescue organizations, but that was about it; besides in the early 1990s the internet wasn’t what it is now.

I don’t remember how she did it, but somehow Lois found the number for the lady who rescued Cairn Terriers. We contacted her, filled out the intimidating questionnaire, placed our order for the perfect Cairn female, 2 years old, perfect health, perfect confirmation, the lot. Seriously, we did just that. To understand how absolutely silly this is you have to do rescue and read what we read. We got on the list somehow with only five ahead of us. Our condo was small and had no yard. We weren’t very “terrier savvy”. It just seemed we had a bunch of things going against us, but we made it. Thanks to that wonderful rescue lady, Linda Salyers. Doug told me later that our commitment to obedience training with Bo and our willingness to do everything we could for our dogs won the day for us.

A few days after we got on the list Linda called to say there was a young female who was a bit of a challenge would we like to meet her.

Sometimes things just happen.

She had no name. She was found running loose in Prince Georges County still wearing her leash. She was black. Pointy ears. Pointy nose. Pointy toes. We said yes. Picked her up from the foster home in Cape Saint Claire and drove to Kinder-Pup where Debi and Terri declared neutral territory for Bo to meet his new sister. For a girl who was a tad dog aggressive—I guess you get that way when you’re running loose and not wanting to be a bigger dog’s dinner—that little black girl took to Bo like they were litter mates. They were best friends for the next 13 or so years. Lois named our little girl Really Rosie.

We felt so fortunate to have Rosie in our lives and enjoyed watching the two wreak havoc on our little townhouse. But that was just the beginning. After Linda and Doug Salyers befriended us and sponsored us to join the club, we wanted to give back. We helped with rescue in any little way we could until gradually we became more involved with rescue and the club.

When Linda passed away, we wanted to honor friendship and offered to become the Maryland contact for rescue along with Linda Savage. Gradually, we—Lois—became the Maryland Rescue Co-lead with Veronica Hudak-Moe taking over from Lynda Hammel.

Maybe we haven’t seen it all, but we have plenty of stories of success and, sadly, a few failures. It turns out you can’t win ‘em all. In time, you may find one of us hanging around the Corner here and we’ll spin you a tale (tail?) or two…

Like the one about paw prints on my keyboard and this mysterious author named “Rescue Rosie”… But that’s another story.