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Canine becomes ‘symbol of dogs on death row’
Submitted photo. Charlie, also called Max, is a German Shepherd mix that was brought to the Carrollton Animal Shelter on Dec. 22. He is still in need of a permanent home.
By SARAH BLASKOVICH, Community Editor
Call him Charlie or call him Max; he answers to both, say three people who have cared for the lost dog in the past week. The face of this orphaned German Shepherd mix has crossed the computers of more than 200 people in the Dallas area who are crusading to save the canine from doggy death row.
His foster parents aren’t sure what his name actually is, but they know only that he was sent to the Carrollton Animal Shelter three days before Christmas, wearing a holiday collar with a bell around it. When the shelter advertised his lonely picture on the Internet, animal lovers spotting the DFW area fell in love.
“Everybody knew he belonged to someone,” said Karen Dussel, the woman who first advertised the dog’s Internet picture and is affectionately called “doggiemotha” by her online friends. “It was all over craigslist that people wanted to save this dog.”
Though e-mails were sent daily to Dussel and other concerned animal-lovers, no one saved Charlie in early January. The dog’s future was crowned with a somber countdown: Each day, the shelter posted the number of days left until Charlie would be put to sleep.
On the last day, Dussel cried. And gave in.
She linked up with a cyberstranger, Carrie Jones, to adopt the German shepherd. Dussel knew that Bo, Lexee, Danny and Dixie — her two dogs and two cats — may make her home too cramped for a fifth.
Dussel and Jones agreed to split the $72 adoption and neutering fee, rescuing Charlie from a near-death day. Jones took the orphaned animal into her Fort Worth home with her three young children, until the two ladies — no longer strangers — could find the dog a permanent home.
But the story continues on in a similar pattern.
Charlie was adopted by George Arroyo, an Oak Cliff resident and Golden Retriver foster parent who said he was looking for another dog to live with his cat, Oman, and his dog, India.
“He’s a wonderful dog. He’s happy, he’s engaged. He gets along great with my Golden Retriever,” Arroyo said.
But there was one problem: Charlie (called Max by Arroyo) doesn’t like cats.
“There were chairs flying and furniture being turned over. He really needs to be in a home without cats,” Arroyo said.
The 60-pound dog can stay with Arroyo — in his new kennel, new bed and with a new doggie hairbrush — until another family claims him, Arroyo said. But, the “logistics” of keeping his cat and the new dog separate is a challenge that can’t be permanent, he said.
And so, the German shepherd with the Christmas collar is again looking for new parents.
When he was brought into the Carrollton Animal Shelter in December, Joe Skenesky looked after the “shy, quiet” pooch. Skenesky said he may have considered saving the animal, but it wouldn’t have been the first time: Skenesky has seven dogs and three cats.
Dussel, Jones and Arroyo, strangers who are now “great friends,” are still on the search to find the dog’s previous owners or for a new home, feline-free.
“I have become so obsessed with placing this dog,” Dussel said. “My husband thinks I was a dog in another lifetime. It has totally consumed our lives.”
The now-cheerful dog has become a symbol of dogs on death row, said several involved foster parents. Though there are many animals in jeopardy of being euthanized, Charlie’s face has been linked in e-mail lists across the country.
“When you see his picture, you’re going to know,” Dussel said.
Charlie was been neutered, rabies vaccinated and tested negative for heartworms, Arroyo said. For information about adoption, contact George Arroyo at 214-738-3830 or george.arroyo@sbcglobal.net. People interested must sign a contract and pledge not to sell the dog or give it away.
Contact Community Editor Sarah Blaskovich at 972-628-4074 or SBlaskovich@acnpapers.com.
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