Your Pet's Rescue Story
My husband Chuck and I have been married for 28 years but due to his allergies and my health limitations, we've never once discussed owning a dog or cat. One day out of the blue, however, I brought the subject up and said I wished perhaps we could have a little pocket-size doggie because maybe I'd have the energy to keep up with it. Lo and behold, 3 1/2 weeks later, our forever and much-loved rescue dog presented himself under the very strangest of timing and coincidence.

You see, I was taking a return flight home from a trip out of state and my 8:30PM arrival into Orlando had gotten delayed. I'd taken this flight numerous times and it had never once previously had a late arrival. This placed Chuck on the road to pick me up from Orlando International Airport more than hour later than expected.

Chuck was driving along a major, very busy road at 9:45PM under cold and rainy conditions, when he spotted a little dog sitting right at the edge of the road. Cars were whizzing by, but he risked pulling off to the side and tried nudging the dog away from the roadway. It wouldn't move. Upon closer inspection, Chuck saw the young dog had several scraps on one of his front legs, so he loaded him into our vehicle and proceeded to pick me up from OIA. We both realized this little guy needed immediate emergency care, so we drove directly to an all night vet clinic.

It was determined that while the dog gratefully had no broken bones, he was suffering a massive concussion and would need much TLC. We brought him home, made him warm and comfortable, and snuggled with him for days while doing everything possible to find his owner. He had no chip, no collar, no ID. We searched far and wide for one month for what we'd thought was his rightful home, while secretly hoping that home would be ours.

During our search, my elderly mom phoned us from out-of-state to inquire how *Barkley* was doing and I'd replied we hadn't yet named him because we'd been searching for those who might've been missing him. We never found the owner, Mom's name stuck, and Barkley became an integral part of our home, one we couldn't fathom being without now.

The photo of Barkley we've shared for this contest was taken when we'd only had him for 2 months. He'd quickly claimed ownership of us and when Barkley saw the lion statue in our front yard so diligently guarding our home, Barkley immediate (with NO prompts or input from us) struck an identical pose to the statue. Just incredible!

We're now into our third year as family. Thank you, Barkley, for the love, joy and companionship you so willingly share!