We had not planned to get a new dog immediately, but a few weeks after Lucky’s death, Sheila started to check out various dog rescue web sites. Sydney seemed keenly aware that Lucky was no longer in the house and, like Cricket before him, Sydney would wander from room to room searching for his best friend. Still, it was about 8 months later that our new pet companion came into our life.

Despite our constant support and willingness to help, Bridget Hamlin was forced to close SOAR in December 2002 due to a lack of funds. She had rescued many animals in the few short years that SOAR was in business, but keeping the rescue open required a constant inflow of money… and there just weren’t enough supporters. While it saddened us that the rescue closed, we were absolutely shocked when we learned, a few months later, that Bridget had died suddenly after a brief illness. Bridget loved animals and they loved her. It was a fitting tribute to her that so many animal lovers – those who helped SOAR and those who had adopted companion animals from her rescue – attended her funeral.

Bridget: Sheila and I thought about the best way to honor Bridget’s memory. Sydney was one of her rescues and, taking our lead from this, we decided to get another rescue dog. We scoured the local newspapers and web sites, and eventually found a one year old female feist terrier with “special needs". We weren’t sure what those needs were when we contacted the shelter but we soon found out. The dog had been found wandering in southeast Kentucky – hungry and dehydrated. She had a number of buckshot wounds and her tail had been broken. The shelter’s vet patched her up as best he could, but he could not heal the emotional scars from the abuse she had suffered. Sheila and I took her home to be part of our family – and we renamed her Bridget, in memory of our dear friend.

Bridget still had dew claws on her hind legs and there were still two or three small buckshot pellets under her skin, but she didn’t seem bothered at all by these minor blemishes. Our vet gave her a complete and thorough check up, and we arranged for her dew claws to be removed. She looked quite funny the next day when we picked her up, because the vet had put a cone around her head to keep her from chewing on the bandages around her hind legs. This really didn’t stop her though, because she was quite a bit more agile than expected. She found a way to stick her hind foot far enough in front of her to get to the bandages… and, on more than one occasion, she chewed through them… despite the cone. She went back to the vet twice that week for new bandages but, thankfully, after a week, the cone came off as did the bandages. It took another couple of weeks before the stitches could be removed, but after that she was fine and you’d never have known that there had ever been a problem.

Bridget was submissive. Whenever we talked to her – and we had to talk softly because loud noises spooked her – she would immediately roll over on her back and expose her belly. While her physical scars were healed, her emotional scars still needed work. She desperately wanted to be held and, if not held, then touched. Even today, she sits on the floor in front of my chair and plays with my feet. She needs to know that someone is constantly paying attention to her. I was the only man she’d allow to get near her. Whenever a man came to our front door, she’d growl quite fiercely and occasionally bark… but she did not display this behavior when a woman came to the door. We assume this is because it was a man who abused her. We found out, some time later, that the man must have worn a ball cap… because one day in the fall of 2003 I had put on a ball cap while outside in the yard and, when I came back into the house, Bridget growled and barked at me but immediately stopped when I took of the cap and she saw who I was! It was a bit disturbing at the time, but now I think it was quite funny!

Bridget and Sydney have brought – and continue to bring – great joy to our life… and I have only the fondest memories of Putchy, Cricket, Peppy, and Lucky. Sydney is 5 now, and Bridget is 3… and they are good friends; they are our children!