DEATH ROW

Death Row Dog on Facebook

February 29, 2012

NAME: Joanne ANIMAL ID: 15428041

BREED: Pointer

SEX: Female

EST. AGE: 8 months

EST. WEIGHT: 25-30 lbs

HEALTH: Appears Healthy

TEMPERAMENT: Friendly

ADDITIONAL INFO: Came in after being in a house fire 

RESCUE PULL FEE: $65

AVAILABLE DATE: Now

UPDATE: space is limited!!!

The dog in the picture has a sweet face with soulful eyes. Her name is Joanne and she is a liver and white female, with almost symmetrical markings. I saw her picture on Facebook about a week ago, shared by people who became my Facebook friends after we adopted a couple of dogs from Pointer Rescue Organization. She was originally listed as a Pointer mix, but the Pointer lovers on the web have now declared her to be a purebred. "Not a mix," one says. "Looks PB to me," says another.

I had looked at her picture before and read her story and thought she would be picked up pretty quickly. She has such a gentle face, and the poor thing is only in the shelter because her house burned down. When I first saw her, I had actually posted something on her picture because a lady in town had called me looking for a Pointer, especially a German Shorthaired Pointer. I was trying to direct her to dogs that needed homes. Since this one was just a couple of hours away in Greenville and looked so pretty, I had suggested her as a possibility. But I had also connected that lady to a young GSP male I knew of in Florida. She had decided to adopt that dog and so had never called about little Joanne. 

Now, leap day, we are working on a home improvement project and Joanne's face comes up again on my Facebook news feed. She has been listed in the Urgent Dogs folder at the shelter for about a week. The message today from a rescue group page is "needs commitment by 5pm today." This means that she will be killed tomorrow morning if no one steps up for her this afternoon. 

People on the rescue group page are commenting left and right about how they would save her if they were close by. A man in New Jersey says he'll take her, how can he do it? Someone says he has to contact the shelter and gives him an email address. He says he'll email them, and then we don't hear from him again. I go back to my construction project thinking about Joanne and her sad eyes. We already have five dogs, and the house is pretty full.

When we break for lunch, I go back to my computer to check the rescue page. Joanne is still there, and people are still lamenting that she seems destined to die tomorrow. It's about 1:30.  Greenville is two and a half hours away by car. If we leave now, we can get her out of the building this afternoon and save her life, I think. I show Gary her picture and ask him what he thinks.

"She's adorable," he says. 

So I post on the rescue page that I will go and get her now if she's available. Contact the rescue coordinator at the shelter, I am told. So I send an email, asking if she is adoptable, if she is spayed and can I come get her now. 

"Yes, She is able to be adopted," comes the reply. "She is not spayed yet so she couldn't leave yet but you can come meet her. The adoption fee is $65."

So I send another email asking some other questions about her. I don't want to make that drive to Greenville twice, and I know if I meet her, I'm going to be too worried to leave her behind at the shelter. I ask if I can adopt her over the phone, and I am told I can send in an adoption application, which I can download from the website. I ask Gary again if we should get her, and he says, of course. So I download the application, fill it out and send it in. It is 2:32, two and a half hours before her last call.

After I email the application, all I hear back is "so you are wanting to adopt her for sure?"

Yes, I reply. Then I ask when we can come get her and if I can pay for her by credit card now. 

"She wouldn't be ready until Tuesday," replies the rescue coordinator. This email is sent at 4:23.

Okay, I say, can I get her Wednesday? And can I pay for her by credit card? And do you need any more documentation from me? I am worried because it sounds like they are not taking my application totally seriously. Why did she say "she wouldn't be ready," instead of "she won't be ready." And why won't they take my credit card?

I write back again, asking about paying for her, and trying to confirm that I will pick her up Wednesday. I send them the name of my vet. I send them my picture. But I get no reply.

Meanwhile, I haven't posted anything on the rescue Facebook page, because I am unsure of the status. A little later in the evening someone who visits the shelter writes "Not rescued!:( ," on her picture. Then other people chime in, about how their hearts are breaking and how can people write that they are going to get a dog and then don't, and the dog just gets killed because no one at the shelter knows people are interested in her. 

This is clearly directed at me, so I write back that I sent in the adoption application, and that I have no reason to believe that I am not adopting the dog. I am a little worried, to tell the truth. But in my heart, I think everything will be all right. I am sure they will not kill her in the morning when they have my eight emails and my adoption application in hand. 

"She was still alive this evening," someone posts. "So if you are interested in her, be sure to email the shelter so they will know someone will take her."

But the next morning, I still have no reply from Greenville. So I write them again. Twice. Finally, at 12:32 pm, someone responds. The lady I was writing to yesterday is out sick. Someone else, who now thinks I am a volunteer for Pointer Rescue Organization, asks me if I am pulling as an individual this time. I say yes. She says she will schedule the dog for surgery on Monday and I can pick her up on Wednesday. 


"Thank you so much for saving Joanne," she writes.


 I say, "Great! We can't wait to meet her."

The next time I check, little Joanne has been moved into the "Dogs rescued/adopted" folder at the shelter's Facebook page. She is safe. She is ours.