Roxie's Story

Ever heard the term "raised in a zoo"? Well I was. Kinda.

Growing up, we had every animal ranging from birds, to lizards, to a bunny, to turtles, hamsters and even gerbils. But mostly, we always had a dog (or two). From an early age, I learned about adoption and volunteering for the local shelters to help the animals in need. To this day, I have only adopted my dogs and try to convince others to do the same. I had also volunteered for the Kansas City Humane Society for 4-5 years after volunteering at our local college animal shelter during my time there. In summary - we LOVE our animals in my family.

Derek's and my last rescue, Bailey, was adopted from the Kansas City Humane Society. I'd like to use the term 'rescue' gently as this perfect little chocolate lab mix would have been adopted by almost anyone looking for an animal. So yes, she was adopted, just probably not 'rescued'. Someday though, I would like to genuinely rescue a dog in need, or perhaps an injured or 'special' dog. It would be my way of giving back to this tail-wagging, face-licking, unconditional loving community.

Now we get to Roxie's story. And for that, we need to jump back about three years ago to when my parents were thinking of adopting another pooch. My mother had been told by a co-worker that her neighbors had moved and literally left one of their dogs in the house. This neighbor had been going over there to feed it, but this poor lab/chow mix was in an empty house with no forever family and nowhere to go. She had been miss-treated by the family and generally spent her time in the basement leading her to be less social and constantly tense. The neighbor would only be able to keep Roxie alive for so long and would ultimately have to call animal control to come and get her. Eventually my mother's heart tore from hearing these stories and decided to go take a peek at this dog, knowing in the back of her mind she most likely wouldn't be able to help much.

After quite a few nights of coaxing this 6-year old, scared dog with petrified eyes, my mom and dad decided to bring her home and help her back to whatever level of 'normal' that they could. She was extremely timid to begin with and you could feel the aggression hidden behind those walls after all those years of miss-treatment.

That was three years ago. Today, Roxie is a happy, old girl who receives non-stop praise and attention from my parents. Her personality has developed quite a bit over the years and I think she knows that she has found a real 'forever family' who will not abandon her. Ever. She has given so much happiness to my parents and I'm so grateful for people like them in this world who give real meaning to the term 'animal rescue'.