Clapton's Story

An angel by the name of Nancy pulled into a reststop on I-95 one Spring day in 2007. She was stopping to give her three dogs a "potty break" on the long journey home to Chesterfield County,VA from Georgia. As she was about to uncrate her dogs, she noticed a local Animal Control truck in the parking lot. When she looked further, she noticed that they had guns. Deciding to check out the situation before she removed her dogs, changed the life of a little grey dog in a remarkable way! She approached the officers to ask if it was safe for her animals to be out. They assured her that they were in no danger. A small grey scruffy dog had been abandoned and on the loose for three weeks at the rest stop. They had tried everything they could to capture him, but couldn't trap or get their hands on him. They said that they had no choice but to shoot him. Nancy asked if they would let her try to lure him to her before they took such drastic measures. They laughed at her, but said "Sure lady, if you think that you can do anything we haven't thought of in the past three weeks, go ahead. We're in no hurry to shoot the little fella." So after the potty break and getting her dogs re-crated, Nancy dug into her bag of tricks -- namely a fresh bag of
Crystal Burgers she always would purchase as she was leaving Georgia to take home and freeze. It took her three hours, but finally the starving, frightened little matted dog came to her. He was an absolute mess and so hungry, that he just about swallowed three of the burgers whole. Nancy took the little mange mess and put him into a spare crate from her car. As she was about to hand him over to the officers she asked, "Now what will happen with him?" The control officer told her that they didn't have a shelter in that county, so he would be taken to a vet and be "put down". Horrified, Nancy told them that she was involved with animal rescue, offered to give them names, numbers of orginazations and vets - anything, to release the dog to her. He looked pretty healthy for his time on the loose, young and just too nice of a dog to be put to death. The officer just smiled and said, "Dog? What dog? I don't see any dog lady! Have a nice day." and walked away. The little grey dog had been given a "second chance" twice in one day! Nancy took him home, knowing that living on a fixed income of a disability check, she would not physically, or financially be able to keep him. She cleaned him up, called him "Toby" took him to the SPCA for shots and kept him for three months to get him over the trauma and to make sure that he would be a good pet for another home. Then she put him up for adoption, with the restriction that SHE had to approve of the family that adopted him. We had been searching for another dog after getting Spunky. This was to be my husbands dog. I was beginning to get frustrated with him, because he had rejected several dogs that I had found for him over a period of about 4 weeks. I was about to give up because I felt he was getting "too picky". Perhaps he really wasn't serious about wanting a dog. After, putting in the paperwork for "Toby" - we were asked to meet at a neutral place with us and Spunky to make sure that the two boys got along ok. When they came, my husband went outside to meet Nancy and Toby while I put Spunky's leash on him. By the time we got outside, my husband was sitting on the ground and "Toby" was on his lap, like best friends. Spunky and Toby really weren't all that interested in each other at first. Just sort of a "sniff and greet" thing. Nancy was pleased saying that was actually a good sign. After receiving several pages in instructions and documentation, all Nancy would take in payment was reimbursement of her expenses. She gave her little rescued scamp a kiss and said goodbye and "Toby" was ours! My husband decided that "Toby" was not the name for this little guy, and renamed him "Clapton" after his favorite musician Eric Clapton. Now we each have our rescued "boys". This past weekend, my husband was sick in bed and his "boy" was at his side the whole time, only leaving for us to take our walks and eat. Clapton is, at best guess, about 5 years old now and 15 pounds -- Spunky is now 10 and 17 pounds. They've given us so much joy -- and filled our hearts. So if you're looking for a furry friend, we would encourage you to check your local shelter, or Pet Finder -- the cat or dog you give a forever home to might be the best pet you could ever have -- and you are giving an animal that someone else gave up on ... a second chance -- every animal deserves a loving home. Spunky and Clapton have gone from give aways to beloved pets -- and they've given us so much more! We're so thankful for the people (angels) like Nancy who have the heart to spend hours to rescue a little frightened dog. Spunky and Clapton are now very spoiled, pampered and loved pets -- they deserve no less!

See ya!