Ginger Blossoms

Cindy Griffith was close to tears. Her neighbor had called her over to look at a sad photo on Petfinder.com of a young, yellow Labrador Retriever. Petfinder.com is the premier online database that lists over 230,000 homeless pets in 10,000 animal welfare organizations. "She had a cute face," says Cindy, who lives in Ira, Michigan, "but you could see every bone in her body, and her skin just hung below her, both from a recent litter of pups and from starvation. I looked at that picture and said, 'That dog needs us.'"                 Cindy went home and showed the pictures to her husband. He encouraged her to do whatever she needed to do.The next day, Cindy called Kalamazoo County Animal Services & Enforcement, where the dog was housed after she had been rescued from a dumpster. The staff, which posts its adoptable pets at http://kcase.petfinder.com, told Cindy that someone else had called about the yellow Lab, and she was scheduled to go to a new home that day.                Kalamazoo County Animal Services & Enforcement is the only stray animal shelter in Kalamazoo and is an open admission shelter. Each year it takes in about 6,000 lost, abandoned and seized animals. For open admission shelters, space is always at a premium, and those animals that don't find homes after a certain length of time must be euthanized to make room for others coming in.                Cindy knew this and worried about the Lab. What if the people didn't show up to adopt her? How many days did she have? Still worrying, she called the shelter the next day. Her worries were well founded; no one had shown up for the dog. Cindy hurried to the shelter. "When I got there, I saw this beautiful animal that could barely stand. She looked at me and cried. She put her paw in my hand and just shook and whined."                The family renamed her Ginger "We couldn't be more thrilled," Cindy says. "She guards our son, our yard and us. You couldn't buy a dog like her. She is loyal, loving and friendly. She was well trained and has a good understanding of basic commands." She also knew couches were for lounging, evidence that once she was in a caring home. Perhaps, Cindy speculates, she was stolen and then thrown away.                Besides her new human family, Ginger has found a buddy in Max, the family's black Labrador Retriever. "They are attached at the hip," Cindy says. Ginger has blossomed as her health has returned. "She is eating a lot," her new "mom" reports, "and you can hardly see any bones anymore. I think she's one of the best decisions I've ever made."

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