They all have stories that we may never know. Anyone in animal rescue and welfare knows that sometimes the most frustrating part of animal rescue is that the history of the foundling is a mystery. That’s what it was like with Cassidy.
Twelve years ago tonight was bitterly cold and snow was beginning to fall. We’d called in the dogs for the night but one continued to bark at something outside the fence. Through the snow in the dark, it looked like our Plott Hound, Pepper. The dog refused to come to his name which was really unusual. Leslie walked down the long driveway in the snow only to discover the one who would become “Cassidy”. Cassidy was a Black & Tan Coonhound, very skinny and very pregnant. Leslie walked the shivering coonhound back up the driveway and put her in the laundry room in the guest house with blankets, food and a heater to protect her from the temperature which had plunged into the teens.
Leslie went over about 10:30 or so to check on Cassidy…she found Cassidy had eaten the food and was a little restless. An hour later she went back over to find Cassidy had gone into labor. For the next five hours, Leslie played midwife to Cassidy as the coonhound proceeded to deliver eleven puppies…huge puppies. Leslie called over to me to bring more towels and blankets. I arrived with new blankets to find that the ones Leslie had tossed outside were already frozen solid in the now 4 degree night. We spent the entire night with Cassidy, running laundry between the guest house and the main house. Thank goodness years before we’d made a decision to install a “dog” laundry separate from the “human” laundry.
When all was finished, there were eleven beautiful healthy hound puppies. It would be two months before we would name them which we did so when we sent them to the Humane Alliance in Asheville to be spayed and neutered. Cassidy and her kids had surgeries at the same time. What a handful!
We managed to adopt out 9 of the puppies with 1 coming back to us. We ended up keeping Cassidy, her son Rambler and two daughters…GiGi and Wiggles. Rambler, at his best healthiest weight is 85 pounds and his sisters weigh somewhere in the 60-70 pound range. Big kids. Sweet, kind, doofey and beautiful dogs. Cassidy passed away a couple of years ago but neither her nor her kids have ever had a mean bone in their big goofy hound bodies.
Today was the puppies’ birthdays. Twelve years…we can’t begin to believe it has been twelve years. While we will never know what Cassidy’s history was before us…there is no mystery about her kids. We’ve been there from the beginning and we’ve lived their stories.
Cassidy, you were a profound presence in our lives and we still miss you but since we have your children you are still very much here.
Happy Birthday Rambler, GiGi and Wiggles…and many more!
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