Willie Finds a Home

David got a surprise call on Friday. Willie the Black Lab had surprisingly failed out of the Search and Rescue program. It turns out that his being locked up in a crate 23 hours a day for the first 18 months of his life had permanently damaged him. FLRRoF called and asked us to help out with an emergency foster. Since it was our buddy Willie we said yes.

Saturday brought great news. We brought Willie to the Petco adoption days near Millenia Mall on Saturday. While we were there a nice man came by and Willie introduced himself. David got to talking with him. Don and his wife Louise had to put down their beloved 13 year old black lab at the end of August. They are from St. Cloud and had come up to Christmas shop. While Louise was shopping, Don was out walking and passed by the Petco. He saw Willie, said hello, and Willie gave him a big kiss with that big ole tongue of his. Don seemed to really like Willie and we talked for about half an hour about why it would be o.k. to get another black lab, and that now was the time. Don said he would go talk to Louise and went away.

We figured that Don would regain his sanity, and that would be that. Instead, both of them came back and Louise just wouldn't stop petting and hugging Willie. They are a super lab family. They have a lovely home in St. Cloud on a huge fenced corner yard that rears onto a golf course. They have a pool, which Willie of course loves, and they tiled their house a few years back to keep the dust down for their dog. When their last dog became sick, they did everything they could for her, including running up really high vet bills and surgeries. When she passed, they spread her ashes on her favorite mountaintop in Massachusetts and buried her favorite toy there as well. Rest assured, we couldn't have found Willie a better home if we spent years looking.

We are so sorry that he couldn't continue in the SAR program, and angry at the way his original owners mistreated him. But now he is in an ideal situation for a family pet. Don and Louise are going to take him for walks, go boating, play lots of fetch and give him lots of love.

We were thrilled that Willie found them, Louise called it Kismet.