[Dailydrool] 5 year gotcha day

[gravemast at aol.com]

5 years ago today, several days after hurricane Katrina, I rode about 15 miles east of my home.  We had just gotten electricity back.  A friend of mine that was staying at my house (since his was destroyed) had a cousin who lived across the street from him.  His cousin owned a trailer that was destroyed during Katrina.  He also owned a 4 year old Basset Girl named Harley.  The cousin planned on moving to Miami to get a job, since his home and job was likely gone in this area.  He asked us to go feed Harley until the rest of his family returned post evacuation.  When the family returned, they would come by his yard and feed her and give her water from then on in.  We went to the trailer, which was a mess, and found poor Harley hiding under the destroyed trailer.  Poor kid had weathered the storm in the yard, most likely under the trailer.  She hadnt eaten in a few days, and she was petrified of male voices.  She cowered under the trailer, so we threw food under the trailer to her, which she ate of the ground hungrily.  We also left her some food and water.  Poor kid was dirty, very skinny and scared to death.  I told my friend that I couldnt leave this dog like this.  He called his cousin and his cousin said that if we wanted the dog, we could have it.  I looked at Harley, shaking under the trailer scavenging for pieces of kibble that we had thrown, and said that I would take her.  I went back to my house, spoke to my wife at the time, and she said OK.  She did say that I would have to look for a rescue or adoption though.  I took my doggie carrier back, but the poor baby was too scared of male voices to come to me.  We took a ride to get some doggie biscuits.  It took me being on the opposite side of the trailer, and my wife calling her to get her out from under the trailer.  We put her in the doggie carrier and took her home.  She was pretty afraid of males.  She had something wrong with her eyes (some infection).  We kept her in a run outside, since she had been an outside dog for years.  She wasnt sure what to do when i brought her water and food every day.  And she loved the cookies...they made her deliriously happy. I gave her plenty of them, even though she wsa still somewhat afraid of me.  When we finally had access, we vetted her, and cleared up her eye infection.  A few days later, we got her to our regular vets, and found she was heartworm positive and had intestinal parasites.  We took care of her intestinal parasites with medication, but the vet (who I trusted implicitly) wanted to wait until we put some weight on her before we treated her for heartworm.  She moved inside to our kitchen a few weeks later.  She started to warm up to me and we let me pet her and wouldnt shy away if I offered things to her.  As the potty training improved, she moved into the living room and eventually the bedroom with full run of the house.  As time went on, she became my little velcro dog.  Not only we she let me love on her, she would let me pick her up and she would trust me to do almost anything with her.  We got her heartworms taken care of (that was tough). Put some weight on her, and she became the second basset in the pack.  We became inseparable.  Over the 5 years since I picked her up, we have moved, and she fought a bout of pancreatitis.  But she has been mostly healthy and happy.  When my alpha female Calypso went to the bridge, Harley took over those duties.  We added another rescue and Harley is the senior alpha.  She still loves her cookies....loves to play....and loves to stay right next to Daddy when he is home.  Right now, she is curled up next to me, wagging her tail as I type this. She has even been able to allow other males to love on her....which was not possible when we first got her.  Thinking back to Katrina and all of the problems it caused, it did bring me something that I wouldnt trade for anything.  It brought me my Harley girl, my velcro dog.

So, Happy 5th gotch Har.  Daddy loves ya.

Tom, Slave to Harley, Annabelle, and Calypso (atb)
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