Please give Dulcy and Tess a chance to live

This was sent by a friend. Please spread the word about Dulcy and Tess? Give them a chance to live after losing their "mom" to cancer. What a shame for these two loving animals to be destroyed.



Dulcy and Tess
Apr. 21st, 2008 at 3:11 PM

I posted this on a local forum, but I'm trying to get as much exposure for these two as possible. If you know of someone who can help, please let me know...

Here is another adoption story, but one with a slightly more dire deadline... Elderly dogs are always hard to rehome and these two, while healthy, may not have much longer to live before they are euthanized simply because no one will take them. These dogs have done nothing more than outlive their owner:

Dulcy and Tess are 12 years old. They were adopted as babies, and lived happily together in Ardencroft until their “mom” died last October.

Now, Underground Dog Rescue (UDR) volunteer Beverly Ford says unless someone gives them a home, they are going to die, too.

Tess is a healthy female Labrador Retriever. Dulcy, short for Dulcinea, is a female Golden Retriever showing early signs of arthritis in one hind leg, but is otherwise healthy. Both dogs come with complete medical records.

Both were well groomed, fed and cared for by Donna Dreisbach until she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in November 2006. As Dreisbach’s health deteriorated and hospitals stays lengthened, a family friend helped look after the dogs in Dreisbach’s Veale Road home, in Brandywine Hundred. The following August, the friend moved in to be a companion for Dreisbach in her final months.

Before Dreisbach died, she made her family promise that her beloved pups would never see a shelter.

That’s been a tough promise to keep for Dreisbach’s sister, Heidi Springer, because she has a dog of her own that she rescued in 1999, one that is too aggressive for other animals to share in the Coatsville, Pa. home.

For the past six months, the family friend has continued to live at Dreisbach’s house rent-free in exchange for caring for the dogs, everyone hoping a new home could be found for them.

But the Petfinder.com: Adopt a pet and help an animal shelter rescue a puppy or kitten. listing through UDR has not found a family, the burden of two mortgages has been hard on Springer, and she finally put Dreisbach’s house the market. When it’s sold, the dogs will have nowhere to go.

“The sad truth is that they will be euthanized,” Springer says.

Ford hopes someone will come forward before that happens. In one last blitz effort, UDR volunteers canvassed area pet stores recently with pictures of the dogs and their story.

Ford, a government affairs official, was a founding member of the rescue nearly four years ago, and has been passionate about the issue for more than 20 years, because she has seen too many cases like this –healthy, happy dogs killed because no one wants them.

“There are a lot of Dulcy and Tesses out there, and the number is rising as foreclosures force more families out of their homes into housing that often doesn’t allow dogs,” Ford says. “I am not an activist, but I respect dogs, and I think they deserve better.”

The Chadds Ford, Pa. based rescue takes shelter dogs just before they slated to be destroyed, then works to permanently place them in appropriate homes. So far, UDR has been directly responsible for saving 55 dogs. Volunteer staff “temperament test” each dog to ensure the best family match.

(http://communitypub.com/stories/04-1...nize-dogs.html)

UDR does not have facilities, but rather works through fostering their animals until an adoptive home can be found. If you are interested in adopting Dulcy and Tess or can foster them until an adoptive home can be found, please contact Beverly Ford at 559-4793.

For more on Dulcy and Tess, go to: www.petfinder.com/shelters/PA395.html