Happy Tails: A Certain Smile

Karen Hagerty of Marshall, Mich., knew it was now or never.  She had grown up on a farm and had all kinds of pets, which suited her just fine.  Her husband, Matthew, on the other hand, had always had only cats and had never acted interested in having a dog. One day, they saw a friend walking a Great Pyrenees.  "Now that is the kind of dog I would like to have," her husband remarked. "I jumped on Petfinder.com that afternoon," she says, "excited with the new knowledge that my husband was simply turned off by hyper "yippy" dogs."  Petfinder is the largest database of homeless pets on the Web.       Karen had already done her homework by reading about the Great Pyrenees temperament.  "I knew it was a good match for our family since we have three kids and five (yes, five) cats)? and the breed had a good temperament for both and had strong traits of loyalty and protectiveness." Jasmine was at a rescue about 20 miles from the Hagerty's.  She had been working on a goat farm, and the farmer neglected her.  Eventually, he dumped her and three other Great Pyrenees at the shelter when he shut down his goat business.  Educated Animal Rescue and Teen Haven posted the dogs' descriptions and photos on Petfinder.com  at http://earthservices.petfinder.com , where Karen spotted Jasmine.  "She hid behind the couch when we first met her," Karen recalls.  "She was horribly undernourished and very shy."  In time, Jazzy came to trust her new family.  "She smiles that wonderful Pyr smile all the time now," Karen says.  And why not?  She has found her "forever" family.

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