our pets: RESCUES
Annie —
Orphan No More
By Melanie McCrary
Rhonda Hole has been rescuing animals for years
and when she first spotted Annie, a little white
poodle mix with matted hair who never seemed to
get enough to eat, her heart went out to the little
dog.
“She was running with a pack of much larger
dogs,” Hole said. “I knew that she was in heat. I
just thought, ’Oh you poor, poor baby.”
A few days later, Hole saw Annie with a young
girl, a neighbor. As Hole approached the girl and
her dog, the poodle growled and the girl scolded
the poodle and apologized for the little dog’s
behavior.
“I told her that it was OK,” Hole said. “I asked
her if Annie was pregnant, and she said that she
was. She said she’d been trying to find a good
home for the dog. She said that she really couldn’t
afford to get her fixed. I thought, ‘You can’t afford
to feed her, let alone pay for spaying.’”
Hole offered to take the little dog and pay to have
her spayed.
The girl was thrilled. She told Hole that she had
taken the dog from a sick neighbor, promising
she’d find a good home for the little dog. Turned
out, that wasn’t as easy to do as the young girl had
thought. Hole offered to take Annie in and find a
home for her once she was spayed. The girl had
agreed.
“I took her home and fed her,” Hole said. “Then
I put her on a table and got my clippers and
began to get those mats off of her. She was clearly
depressed, hanging her head. Then about halfway
through the process, she began to feel better. She
started coming to life and interacting with me. It
was great to see her cute little personality emerge.”
Annie was inquisitive, and she was playful.
“If she was in a playful mood, I knew I would have to make
sure I didn’t have any of my shoes out within reach,” she said. “If
I did, I understood it was my own fault.”
Word was getting around about Annie and how much fun the
little poodle was and that she was going to be available for adoption.
“It’s hard to let her go,” Hole said. “I had a lot of people who
wanted her. I wasn’t going to let her go to just anybody. Of all
the animals I’ve had, this little girl was one of the hardest to let
go.
They all take a piece