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 Julie's Story,We were quite certain we didn’t want another dog. Our beloved fourteen year old basset Schultz had died nine years before, and we were quite certain we didn’t want another dog. Although we didn’t want another dog, Tom occasionally “just looked” at the ABC site. The story of Julie, the abandoned blind basset who was picked up in traffic, caught both of our hearts. And before our heads could remind us that we don’t want another dog, unh-unh, no sir, Julie was ours. And are we ever glad! Julie got her name from a rescue volunteer who dubbed her “a little jewel,” and she certainly is. She is a lovely little girl: cuddly, sweet, playful, and brave. She never has any idea what’s ahead, but she plunges forward cheerfully, and if she takes a knock to the head, so what? She just finds a way around the obstacle and keeps going. I think her name should have been “Faith” or, better still, “Blind Faith,” but Julie suits her too. We’ve had her for two months, and during this time Julie has been busy eating, sleeping, walking, chewing on her toys and rawhide bones and, in her spare time, chasing our cats. I laugh because I remember thinking “at least a blind dog won’t pester the cats.” But her hearing and Smell-o-Vision work just fine. She even catches a cat occasionally – and slurps them until they can wriggle away. Julie’s been coming to with us to Take Your Basset to Work Day (which occurs whenever we feel like bringing her), and has made friends with neighborhood characters: the school crossing guard, college students, and her special ladies: two office workers who walk around our block at lunchtime, and who gave her a box of treats for Christmas! Julie has taken road trips to visit friends and family, and made one memorable visit to the Houndstooth Bakery and Boutique to meet Cassandra and Jim (and Franklin), big friends and supporters of ABC. The first of many visits to come, but we have to wait until our schedules and the weather allow us to go there again. I understand why people tell us that they admire us for adopting a blind dog, because I guess it was a pretty nice thing that we did. But I hope you can understand, corny though it may sound, how much Julie gives back in return. Despite the lousy hand that life dealt her – blinded at birth and abandoned in traffic at one year old – she trusts that she’ll be taken care of, and she trusts that people are basically pretty good. She reminds me not to be afraid of what’s out there – if something bonks you in the face, just find a way around and keep going. So no, Julie isn’t anybody’s charity case – she’s a perfectly healthy, perfect dog, except that she can’t see. And since she doesn’t consider this a hindrance, neither do we. Marie and Tom Hegeman |
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