Eskie Rescuers United

Louie
Just received word that my sweet former ERU foster, Louie, went to the Bridge this morning. I'll sure miss that sweet pup! Thanks to Joe Duvo for being a great Dad and forever home to him for the last four years and for allowing me to visit. Louie was devoted to Joe and knew lots of love in his old age!.......Catherine Boykin, March 23, 2018

Gracie
Our beloved Gracie who we adopted from ERU 8 years ago, passed away into eternity this morning. She fought a long battle with cancer. At first seemed like she was winning the fight, but over the last few months she steadily declined. We will miss her so much. She loved people and other dogs. When she was healthy she love going for her walks, and loved to look out the window. Run with the angels my beloved. Mommy and Daddy will see you again in heaven.......Ronda Brockway, March 20, 2018

Bonnie
Back in April of 2008, I adopted an Eskie, Bonnie, from the ERU. Her foster mother was named Rebecca and lived in Spokane, WA. Truth be told, it was Bonnie who adopted me and these last ten years were truly joyous with her in my life. In December 2015 she was diagnosed with bladder cancer and only given 6 – 12 moths to live. Luckily for me, Washington State University has one of the best vet schools in the nation and one of the few oncology centers. I immediately got Bonnie into the oncology center and she went an astounding 27 months on chemo. Most of the times, you wouldn’t even know that she had cancer and life went on as normal. She was a trooper above and beyond. Sadly, this morning, I had to let her go as her quality of life was rapidly deteriorating these past six weeks......Robert Yarbrough, March 9, 2018

Benny
Benny(or "Ben-ben) was a hoot! It took a bit of work to get him to calm down enough when we were getting ready for a walk, so I could get him hooked up. When he came up the stairs, he had his own rhythm - pokita, pokita, pokita..., until he got to the top. When he started to slow down, I put it down to age. Both of the Shibas I had started to slow up a bit at 12. Then he started to flop down in the middle of walks. And he started to eat flopped on the floor by his bowl. Finally one morning, he got out to the kitchen, flopped down,and never stood up again. The vet put him on steroids and crate rest. We did that for a couple of weeks. Then one day, he refused to eat. He even passed on scrambled eggs. That was when I took him to the 24 hour clinic to see what was going on. The attending was in surgery with another dog, so I left him for his tests and went home. A couple of hours later, I got a call to come in and talk with the vet. X-rays showed that one of his vertibrae was damaged, probably due to bone cancer. And some of the blood work results weren't encouraging either. I talked with the vet for a while, and decided that it was time to let him go. They have a lovely, quiet room where I sat holding Benny in my lap. He slipped away peacefully. As a dear friend of mine said when I told her, "He can run and play with the other dogs now."........Lee Webber, February 2018

Tess
Four yrs ago, I was asked to foster a little girl who had not been able to adjust to a loving home. She was one of the "Tennessee six" who came from a documented hoarder situation (the kind where the decaying carcasses of other dogs are lying about). I met Heidi K. Ortmeyer at an exit off the NJ Tpke to pick up Tess (formerly Twister and Basil). The first thing she did upon seeing me, was to roll over on her back, looking at me with pleading eyes, that said "please don't hurt me." It was just heartbreaking. I remember saying, " Oh, honey. No one is going to hurt you." The bond was instantly cemented for me. She had my heart. Someone wanted to adopt her a couple weeks later, and I was thrown into a state of turmoil. As a foster, wasn't I supposed to work to place her? And, the potent adopter was a very nice woman. But, I just couldn't let her go. Ever so tentatively I wrote an email to Heidi (the ERU Director) and Gary ( the regional director ), asking if it might maybe be possible for me to adopt and keep her. You cannot imagine my relief and joy at hearing back that Heidi had hoped I would keep her. So Tess became permanent family, joining my Angel, and being the most tolerant and accepting sister to Gabriel, Kahli, Joseph, and then Sampson, who was her canine soul mate. Sadly, she was not so welcoming toward Oliver, but he was fine so long s he stayed on his side of the gate ~ She had many a quirk, and would become phobic of the strangest things. My favorite example is the period where she would not go out through a particular door, but would come back in that same doorway without a problem. I have no idea why. Eventually she got past it. Most recently, it was the entire backyard that was a no go zone - this from the dog who could scent the deer on the other side of the fencing at the back of the yard, at night, and would charge them, and send them running off. And let's not forget the bear we recently saw walking down my street she wanted to take on ~ Calling her was another thing that would send her into hiding, and noises like clickers????? Horrors. Nor would she dare to come down and sleep in the bedroom with me. But when I would first wake up, if I barely whispered, "where's TessTess?" she would come flying down the hall for her morning hugs and cuddles. And there was little more glorious than arriving home, having her and Sampson meet me at the door, with him scrubbing his face all over me while she snuggled in and rolled over for her much loved tummy rubs. I was gifted with her companionship for 4 yrs. I will miss her for many more than that.......Suzanne Loftus, January 20, 2018