Heartline - Sacramento SPCA

w 10 gifts for the animals …
One Adopt a Friend for Life
Find your new best friend at the Sacramento SPCA! Adopting
howard gold/pawprint productions
an animal is one of the best ways to support the efforts of our
organization. And there’s a bonus in it for you: Not only do pets
give unconditional love, but they have been shown to be psychologically,
emotionally, and physically beneficial. Read on for one
dog’s special journey from unwanted to unbelievably loved. >>
SPCA Executive
Director Rick Johnson
carrying Ernesto
from the transport
vehicle on July 7.
Folsom residents Thom and Judy Barrett were becoming
regulars at the Sacramento SPCA. “We’d been looking for a dog for several
months,” says Judy. “We had two wonderful dogs for 13 years, and when
they passed away we waited almost a year to start searching for another one.
We were at the SPCA all the time, just trying to find the right dog.”
On one of their visits, the Barretts noticed Ernesto, a medium-sized mixedbreed
dog who had been transferred to the SPCA from southern California in
July as part of a special rescue operation (see Heartline, Fall 2010). A Chihuahua
rescuer in rural Tehachapi in Kern County had become overwhelmed by
the number of pets in her charge and was evicted from her home. The SPCA
took in more than 160 animals, most of them Chihuahuas, after the Humane
Society of the United States removed them from the property.
SPCA Executive Director Rick Johnson recalls that he personally carried
Ernesto out of the transport trailer when the animals arrived at the shelter.
“I remember him well,” says Johnson. “He was larger than most of the other
s
dogs, and he was quiet and just let me hold him. He put
his head right on my shoulder.”
The public responded enthusiastically to the SPCA’s
requests for adoptive homes for the Kern County animals.
Once they became available, most went to new homes
within a month. But Ernesto continued to linger.
“A lot of people just walked past him in his kennel,”
says SPCA adoption counselor Casey DeCant. “The other
dogs were so much smaller. Ernesto wasn’t an adorable
little Chihuahua.”
A month went by, and then another. Ernesto became
a favorite of the SPCA staff, who often let him lounge in
comfort behind the adoption center’s front counter. But
none of the potential adopters wanted to take a chance on
an eight-year-old dog who was shy, a little nervous, and,
as DeCant says, “kind of funny-looking.” By the time
October rolled around, Ernesto had become a fixture at
the SPCA. “Everybody loved him to pieces,” says DeCant.
“But we still wanted to find him a great home.”
Enter Thom and Judy Barrett.
“We’d seen a lot of dogs, but none of them clicked
with us,” says Judy. “We got home, and my husband said,
‘I keep thinking about Ernesto.’”
The Barretts decided to take a chance on the shy, gentle
dog who had traveled so far to find a new family. Judy says
that Ernie has blossomed in his new environment. “He’s
just so loving,” she says. “He gets up in the morning and
the first thing he does when I let him go outside is run laps
around and around the yard. At night, he gets into bed
with me before he goes to sleep so we can snuggle.”
They have no regrets about making Ernie part of the
household. “He’s turned out to be a wonderful dog, and
we feel so lucky,” Judy says. “We’re so thankful to the
SPCA for taking such good care of him during his time
there. He wouldn’t be doing as well as he is if you guys
hadn’t been so good to him.” z
8 l “No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does.”—christopher morley
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