Just like every person has a story and a journey that they have travelled.....so does every dog!
Zoey's story is unique as well.....
When Zoey was a puppy, her first owners also had a big dog. Unfortunately for our precious Zoey, they allowed their big dog to use Zoey as a chew toy. Horrible. Finally, the dog had broken one of Zoey's legs and torn ligaments in the other leg. The vet said it would require surgery to heal and the owner's chose to leave her on the door of a shelter when the shelter was not even open! But this sad moment in her life was about to bring her to a whole new world.....
Rick Kaplan, head of Canine Angels, was called to come look at Zoey. He chose to adopt her and paid for all of her medical expenses. She stayed in a foster home while healing from surgery where the family gave her therapy in the bathtub to get her legs stronger and stronger - brilliant!
Once she was strong, she returned to live with Rick and he trained her to be a service dog.....along with the rest of his 12-14 dogs. Rick fell in love with Zoey and his intention was to keep her as a permanent member of his pack with a few of the other dogs. However.....Zoey hadn't met Chris Skinner yet......
Rick's philosophy is that the dog chooses the owner. Chris wanted a smaller dog that he could really cuddle with and feel. He met with Rick just a few times and every time Zoey would hop onto his lap and stay there for the entire visit while the other dogs walked around or came to say hi. Rick saw this bond and decided to give Zoey to Chris.
The next step was to pay the fee to have Zoey. We needed $5,000 to get her which covered her medical expenses. Chris really wanted Zoey, but we weren't really in a place where we could pay what was needed for her.
A few of our neighbors knew we were talking to Rick and needed money to get Zoey. They took it upon themselves to write a letter and send it to everyone in our new development asking for folks to help us raise the money for her. Would you believe that they wrote the letter on Thursday and raised over $5,000 by the following Tuesday!!! 5 days!!!! And the money kept coming in which has continued to help pay for her vet bills and care. What an amazing blessing!! People in our community who had never met us gave money....one man even walked over to donate on his moving day when he was unloading his moving truck! He said he got the letter and it seemed like a good thing to do!! WOW!
So this precious little wonder dog is ours!!!! Zoey Skinner!
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