Happy Tails

Featured Success Story



  
It's been almost seven years since my husband adopted Cleo (previously Stacey) from the Animal Rescue League. At the time, he was a young, single college student looking for a companion. After months of careful consideration, he knew he was ready and visited your shelter - up and down the kennels he walked, until he happened upon Cleo, and just had that feeling that she was "the one." Cleo, a Basenji/Whippet mix (listed as a Boxer/Terrier...her previous owners clearly did not know her very well), had spent several weeks at your shelter after she was dumped because her owners were "moving." There she was, alone in her kennel, silently gazing up at him and lifting up her paws one by one. He called over a counselor and, after a wonderful interaction, they were inseparable. A few years later, I was lucky enough to find them both (and I, too, knew immediately that both of them were "the ones"), get married and move to sunny San Diego to work in animal rescue to help other abandoned dogs and cats just like Cleo once was.   
During a seminar on compassion fatigue, I once heard someone explain "shelter math." It's a very simple formula relating the number of happy days to a remarkably few number of days in a shelter. Cleo, for example, spent fourteen days at ARL. Since her adoption, she has lived 2,372 very happy days with us. So far, that's a ratio of 1:169 days - one day of very hard work on your part for 169 days of joy for us. Now that's a wonderful investment!   I just wanted to drop you a line to extend my most sincere gratitude to you for caring for Cleo for those fourteen days. I'm not sure if those who cared for her still work there, but it doesn't matter; you are. Every day, I am grateful to have her in my life (even when she drop-kicks me in her sleep in the middle of the night, breaks the screen door to try to chase a bunny, or learns how to open a cabinet to get to the leftovers in the trash). At times, I am angry with the person who abandoned her at ARL for no good reason - hey, we were able to move over 2,000 miles with Cleo, who thought she won the dog lottery of the world's longest car ride - but then I remember that they did not deserve her. And I am so very grateful that you were there. And now, every day, I get to spend time with the World's Best Dog, and we love her so very much. I do believe that she was meant to be ours, but I recognize that it would have never happened without you. For that, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.  
Gratefully,   Abby, Avi and Cleo Kouzi 

PS I attached a photo of Cleo enjoying the winters in San Diego. She does not miss the snow one bit!


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