"I picked up my 3 year old Shepherd / Husky mix on Dec 14,
2007 from CTHAA. Sam is my first dog on my own and the people from CTHAA have
helped me enormously. I am not sure I could have done this without their help.
I joined their group and get to see all the emails of everyone in the group
with questions, answers and other everyday life stuff. CTHAA has gone out of
their way to answer my questions and keep me informed on things going on in my
area, even though I am not local for them. I wanted a big dog but it had to get
along with two cats I have. I scoured the internet for almost a year and
visited some local shelters before I found Sam. He is a great dog and I could
not imagine my life without him. Without CTHAA our paths would have never
crossed and for that I am eternally grateful.
If I ever deal with another rescue, CTHAA has set the standard by which
to be judged. -Thank you from Sam and his new family!"
Odin’s story (as told by Odin)
"Hi, my name is Odin, and I
wanted to tell you a little bit about myself.
I used to live in Michigan
and was a homeless orphan for quite some time.
I had to find my own food, and my ears got a little chewed up by some nasty
biting flies. Well, one day I ended up
in an animal control facility; I did not like it very much, but at least I had enough
food to eat. Sadly, dogs like me with no
one looking for them didn’t last very long in that place, so my days were
numbered. Fortunately, the people from a
rescue group called CTHAA found me there and decided I should have a second
chance. They picked me up (with a mere
few days to spare…yikes!) and brought me back to my foster mom’s house. I stayed with her for about a month, because
I had to recover from kennel cough and also had a bad tooth removed. Once I was better I got to meet one of her
‘kids,’ Shannon, and we had a fun time playing.
Foster Mom also took me to get a bath and get brushed. She was very patient with me, as I did NOT
like having my tail brushed (lots of tangles – OUCH!). Before I even came to live with her, Foster
Mom had contacted her friends through the JNMRF (John Nelson Moosedog Rescue
Fund), a Norwegian Elkhound rescue, to see if they had any good families
interested in a big, burly boy like me.
Fortunately, they did, and my potential new family was waiting patiently
while I was recovering from my various ailments. Once I got better and was all cleaned up,
Foster Mom worked with them to set up a meeting to see if they were right for
me. When they came to meet me they
brought their little ‘girl’, another elkhound named Kaisa! I was so excited and the two of us had a
great time playing that afternoon. Well,
I guess I passed that test, because I got to go home with my new family to
Illinois, and I’ve been with them ever since.
Life is great now…Mom and Dad have a big yard where Kaisa and I can
play, and Mom takes me for walks every day.
I get plenty of food, eat lots of treats, and have more toys than I know
what to do with! I even have my own
blanket to sleep on (but sometimes I’d just rather sleep on the floor next to
Mom’s side of the bed). I’m so thankful
to CTHAA for all they did to give me a wonderful new life. Thank you CTHAA!!!"
"My two Samoyeds are getting up there in age. They are litter mates & have
been together since birth. I was worried that when one of them passed, the other
would be devastated. I began looking for a third dog to keep the surviving
Samoyed company when the inevitable occurs. I started searching Petfinder &
came upon Sophia & CTHAA. I kept looking at other dogs, but I could not get
Sophie's face & story out of my mind. I was hooked! I contacted Mindy &
we had several phone calls, then a home visit. I think it was a week later when
my husband & I drove over to Belleville to pick Sophie up. We can't imagine
our lives without her now, she is such a joy.
Thank you, Mindy &
CTHAA, for making the adoption process so smooth & for all you do to help
all of the dogs in need."
