Save Me remembers Fred (Theo)
Fred left me two weeks ago, only nine months after I adopted him. Early on, I knew that his terrible life had taken a huge toll and I thought I was prepared to lose him, but not so soon! Not so soon. And then his vet phoned me with the results of his blood tests, and I agreed to euthanasia. But Fred couldn’t wait for that kindness. He
preferred to set himself free instead, in his bed, in the living room.
The day after I adopted him, I took Fred around the block happily introducing him to my neighbours. At the last house, as I sat chatting, Fred jumped into my lap and pressed his face against my neck as if to say: ‘Please don’t give me away.’ I pledged that I never would, and my neighbour marveled, ‘He really wants you to be his mom.’
Fred’s legacy is one of my other dogs, Petey, a seventeen year old puppy mill survivor I adopted when he was nine. Until Fred came, Petey was a terrified fear-biter I couldn’t take for walks or even pick up. Fred changed all that, and now Petey loves his walks and I can pick him up and cuddle and kiss him without risking a bite. It wasn’t that Fred especially liked Petey. It was just Fred’s calmness and gentleness. It had the strangest effect on Petey.
The shelter Save Me rescued Fred from named him Ole Man, and recognized his nobility despite his dreadful physical condition including the neck scars from an embedded collar. Fred, labeled a rat terrier-cross, looked as if he were part Pharoah Hound, the sort of dog you’d see on Egyptian tombs or pyramids. He was a beauty, a grave, reserved dog who loved to be cuddled, and loved his food.
The day before he died, one of my cats, Chanel, put her little squashed up face (she’s a Persian) on his face and licked him, and cuddled him for hours. Usually when he got into the dog bed with her, she’d be mad at him and hiss at him, but not this time. She sniffed him, and she knew he was at the end.
I’m so grateful that I was chosen to care for Fred and to usher him across the Rainbow Bridge. For the last months of his life, Ole Man Fred lived like the prince he truly was, and he left a loving dog behind him to comfort me.
~ Elizabeth~
Theo was lovingly fostered by Alissa
Theo’s pull was sponsored by @Redemption Dogs
