Here at Rolf’s we like to showcase a different charity each month as our “Charity of the Month”. When online appointments are booked a screen pops up with different charities to choose from to donate to. We donate the money to the charity you choose. With most of our charities one dollar is donated but when the spotlighted charity of the month is chosen five dollars will be donated to that cause. We have chosen ACSR (American Cocker Spaniel Rescue) as our July charity of the month. www.acsrwa.com
American Cocker Spaniel Rescue’s primary mission is to provide a safe haven to Cocker Spaniels who are at risk of euthanasia by providing short and long-term foster care, health care, breed education, sterilization, rehabilitation, and ultimately a suitable forever loving home.
ACSR is close to our hearts here at Rolf’s as we have recently adopted a loving chocolate cocker named Hershey. We have had Hershey for about a month now. Ah the joys of pet ownership! Besides all the wonderful love and companionship he offers -he also brings people together. Let me share!
Last Friday as we were scrambling to get out of the house to leave town for the weekend-the goal was to be gone by 9am-I was startled by shouting coming from my downstairs. It was my husband Mark. Hershey had escaped through the garage and was running free through our neighborhood.
I quickly grabbed his leash in a feeble attempt to trick him into thinking I was going to take him for a walk. To no avail every 10 feet we got closer to him another 10 feet he would run. What fun playing tag with a puppy! We tried everything to get him to come to us- begging, pleading, threatening, ignoring. Finally we said lets just walk home and see if he follows us.
No way! We were at home waiting and time was ticking away. I decided to jump into my car and see if he would like to go for ride! Oh this will work Hershey loves car rides! Uh-uh it didn’t work. Now he was running away from me and getting ever closer to the busy street ahead. I didn’t know what to do.
I stopped and was sitting in my car on the side of the road when a woman passing by in her car spotted the dog and became concerned for his safety. We looked at each other and we both rolled down our windows. I told her he was my dog and that he wouldn’t come to me but maybe someone else could get ahold of him.
She put her car in park, with the engine running, rolled up her window and left her two dogs in her car as she attempted to cajole my dog back into my car. After about 5 minutes of rounding up my dog we got him! I was so grateful! I thanked her profusely and was about to drive home when I watched her walk up to her car to open the door and “pop” her dog stepped on the lock mechanism and locked her out of her car!
Wow! Now what? There was no way I was just going to say “Hey lady thanks for the help!” and drive away. I had to see this thing out. First we tried to get her dogs to step on the lock again. We banged on the windows and ran around the car-anything we could think of to get them excited. Yeah right-her Shih Tzu just looked at us like we were a couple of dopes, as his foot was soaking in her just purchased undrunk venti vanilla latte! Who’s the dummy? I had to get home and share the news with Mark. I promised to return with a solution.
As I was pulling into my driveway I could see the look of relief on my husbands face that the dog was home safe at last. Now we can get out of town! Not so quick honey there’s a slight problem. There’s a lady up the street with her car locked and running with two dogs behind the wheel!
Oh boy we tried various methods to try to get into the car but ultimately had to use roadside assistance. It all worked out fine and the the woman got into her car a few hours later. We left town at 11 instead of 9.
It wasn’t exactly how I would have liked to meet a new friend but the experiences we shared during the two hour ordeal were quite pleasant. Good thing neither of us had a plane to catch or a day surgery planned in the next hour. It sure is something to laugh about now!
Without ACSR I may not have had the opportunity to adopt Hershey and my life might not be filled with such joy, ha-ha!
Sara Simons