Strays to the Rescue
Sadie
"Some years ago, when I was working as a news anchor and reporter at a TV station in Midland, Texas, I was sent out to investigate the alarming euthanasia rate at our local animal-services bureau. A staff person led the cameraman and me to a cage with the first dog scheduled to be euthanized that morning ... This particular dog had been found wandering around the local college campus, sharing lunch with students near the duck pond. As I peered into the dark cage, I encountered the saddest eyes I've ever seen. They belonged to a very small, very thin and very dirty golden retriever. She looked as if she wanted to say, "Are you here to take me home?" That was it for me! ... A year later, we became a certified therapy team. For several years, we worked in elder-care facilities. Now we visit with 1- and 2-year-olds at Homeward Bound, a transitional-living center for mothers and children from shelter programs. Some are homeless, some come from domestic-violence situations ... Sadie seems to have a sixth sense about people. I'm often amazed at her ability to know what a child needs. When the kids are upbeat and ready to play, she's ready too. If a little one is afraid, she will turn her back to the child, somehow knowing that her back may be less frightening than her face. She will wait patiently, sometimes for months, for a child to get over the fear of being near her."
— Alisa Armijo, insurance-agency owner