A bright, chilly January morning brought a pic-
ture of a frightened, confused dog into my in-
box. As one of the seven ladies of Carolina Australian Cattle
Dog Rescue & Rebound, I monitor our rescue’s e-mail and hope for a
day full of miracles instead of bad news. This morning I needed to create a
miracle for the little red female cattle dog in a high-kill shelter in Georgia. The
shelter renames all its dogs alphabetically and “Larose” landed on this female
who was an owner-surrender because they were moving and could not take
her with them. Being an owner-surrender, Larose’s time at the shelter was
short and I had two days to figure out a game plan. The pictures of this girl
with her ears folded in fear, her body cowering, and a look of defeat in her eyes
spurred me to bring her to the attention of my fellow rescuers. It would take a
rescue community to pull off this last-minute “Hail Mary”, a rescue racing the
clock before a euthanasia date. Using our breed’s online chat forum, AuCaDo,
we were able to pool our resources and scrounge up some important local con-
tacts before Larose’s time ran out.

The combined efforts of a kind-hearted stranger and an old friend brought our
red girl out of the shelter and into the safety of a home. We had renamed her
Piper, shaking off the last remnants of the shelter environment and looking for-
ward to the day when she would be a happy, confident dog. Piper was not yet
out of danger. Piper’s ribs stuck out and a stiff breeze made her shiver but even
a roast beef sandwich wouldn’t entice Piper to eat. A weekend trip to the emer-
gency vet could not wait and Piper – malnourished, full of several types of
worms, and showing the initial signs of kennel cough – was fighting for her life
again. Despite her obvious physical distress, Piper wanted to cuddle and get
her belly rubbed by any human nearby. Her petite little face with its matching
rust-colored eyes gazed adoringly up at anyone showing her kindness. We
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