I LOVE stuff like this. This story made my day! ...
"My job here is done"
I just ran across another happy dog story and would post a gift WaPo link except that they now want an email sign-in to read gift articles
so here's a summary with pics. Cue the Kleenex!
Dog charms construction worker, is adopted after years of neglect
“Seeing him that day, it was just meant to be,” said Richard Smith, who adopted King after seeing the dog amble by the construction site.
Construction worker Richard Smith was on a job building a new animal shelter and adoption center in Clearwater, Fla., in July when he kept seeing a large dog toting a toy in his mouth walk by with a handler.
“He was always super happy to see me, and he always had his squeaky toy,” said Smith, who was building the new shelter next to the current one, Humane Society of Pinellas. “Sometimes, he’d jump on me and he’d almost knock me over because he weighs 70 pounds.”
Smith, 35, learned that the mixed-breed dog’s name was King, and he’d arrived at the shelter in mid-June with a benign facial tumor so large it caused his head to droop to the ground.... King had been rescued from an abusive situation, where he was chained up in a yard all day...
“The mass on his face hindered his ability to move around and play freely like a normal dog,” ... “Our staff worked endlessly with him to give him long walks and keep up his enrichment with toys. He became a sweet boy that stole all our staff members’ hearts.”..
King had successful surgery to remove the mass, and he was getting treatment for heartworm disease when Smith first spotted the dog on his daily walks. In early August, when the Humane Society was looking for volunteers to temporarily foster shelter animals during Tropical Storm Debby, Smith immediately raised his hand...
...“I thought if I took him during the tropical storm, I’d get an idea of whether it might work out.”
When the storm was over, Smith returned King to the shelter and told staffers that he wanted to adopt the pooch.
...“I left him for a few days so he could get his second round of heartworm treatment at the shelter, and I couldn’t wait until it was time to pick him up.”
“One other thing he really likes is to sit on my friend’s boat and go fishing,” he said. “So we’re definitely a good fit.”
He said he’ll always be thankful that his employer was chosen to build the Humane Society’s new shelter.
“Seeing him that day — it was just meant to be,” Smith said. “He’s always super excited now to see me when I come home, and I feel the exact same way about him.”
