27/06/2021
UPDATE 6/26/2021
It is with Extreme Sadness we got news today that Aros passed away, due to complications of Valley Fever.
Aros (as you can see in his album) was the Unicorn (as his Loving Momma called him) of our rescue.
He was the Sweetest boy and So Loved by all who met him and knew him.
Justine & Cody along with his adopted siblings, Nobu & Paprika, will Miss him Dearly. We can Not Thank them enough for giving him an Amazing, Loving, Adventuress life. Run Free sweet boy.
ADOPTED 7/31/15
WHOO HOO!! YAY, WE CANNOT BE HAPPIER FOR AROS..
AROS STORY:
AROS WAS ON THE ELIST AT 1 OF THE PHX, AZ. SHELTERS FOR MANGE.
HE WAS ADOPTED BY THIS SHELTER IN 2013. A PHONE CALL FOR A WELLNESS CHECK ON HIM LEAD THE POLICE TO CONFISCATE HIM AND BRING HIM BACK TO THE SHELTER IN THIS CONDITION.
HORRIBLE, RIGHT?
WE SAVED HIM AND THIS IS HIS ALBUM SO FOLKS CAN FOLLOW ALONG WITH HIS PROGRESS..
ONCE HE IS ALL HEALED AND VET OK'S HE CAN BE ADOPTED, WE WILL UPDATE.
FOR NOW, CHECK BACK IN PERIODICALLY TO SEE HIM COME BACK TO THE HANDSOME BOY IN THE 1ST PICTURE..
WE ARE ALSO ACCEPTING DONATIONS TO HELP US WITH HIS VET BILLS.
IF YOU CAN DONATE, PLEASE GO TO:
http://pawitforwardaz.weebly.com/our-medical-needs-dogs.html
HE IS IN ONE OF OUR TUSCON, AZ FOSTER HOMES SO HIS VET IS IN TUCSON.
THANK YOU.
THIS IS FROM OUR VOLUNTEER WHO WENT AND EVALUATED AROS, HER WORDS WILL TOUCH YOU! WE CAN NOT THANK OUR CREW ENOUGH FOR ALL THEY DO FOR THESE DOGS. WARNING, TISSUE ALERT!
We HOPE her words INSPIRE More people to open their homes & Hearts to FOSTERING or Volunteering for Rescues.
From E-list to A-list
The story of AROS
(by a Paw It Forward volunteer)
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and that eyes are the windows to the soul. To me those were always just age old adages that never really had any meaning past the metaphors that they implied. That is, until I met him.
At first it was still just a picture. A picture of an animal about to be forced across the Rainbow Bridge before their time. I’d seen them a hundred times before, and I will see them a thousand times more. But something told me that this photo was different somehow, that there was something I was missing. Something made me have to pause on this one. It wasn't the mange that riddled his body so badly he was almost unrecognizable as a husky (although that was bad enough). It was his eyes. Eyes that said more to me than a thousand words or even a million could ever describe.
On nothing more than a hunch, I asked our president to pull him off of the euthanasia list for the night, and went to the shelter the next morning to evaluate his behavior. I anxiously walked the kennel aisles searching for this dog so that-just maybe- I could figure out what was pulling me so forcefully to him. When I finally found cell 339, I was met with those same soulful eyes from the photo and a wagging tail. But that wasn't enough. There was still something I didn't understand. I wasn't quite there yet. So I did what no one else would… I asked to take him out.
I was met with a very blank stare from the kennel attendant, and a resounding, “But… he has mange.” I assured the staff member that I really could not have cared any less, and just to bring me the dog. When they finally brought him out to me, I was taken aback. I expected them to be walking toward me a meek dog with a broken spirit from the utter neglect of his previous humans, because that is what you would expect from the retched condition he was in. What I didn't expect was a giant husky smile practically skipping to me, full of excitement that someone finally wanted to spend some time with him. I was astonished… But that still wasn't whatever it was that I was looking for.
In the light he was so much worse. His fur was patchy, and completely missing on most of his legs. What fur he did have was matted, greasy, and caked with so much dirt that his once white coat was gray and black. The exposed areas of skin were rubbed raw and you could tell he was in pain. His nails were so long his paws slipped out from under him as he walked. One eye was almost glued shut with yellow and brown puss, and his whole body reeked of that pungent, vinegar scent of infection. People walking by would give me a look of absolute disgust, and a lot of them would ask me what was wrong with him. At first I answered with the fact, that he looked the way he did because of mange.
How quickly my responses turned to an anger-filled, “There’s nothing wrong with him.”
Because there wasn't. I had found in that play yard what it was that dragged me there that day, wondering what in the world I was about to get myself into. I had found a dog so neglected and unloved, yet didn't let that change him. A dog who was bursting at the seams with so much love to give, and who wanted nothing more than to share ALL of that love and happiness with anyone around him. This was a dog that had been dealt a terrible hand in life, and chose to still see the good in the world that had let him down so horribly, and would never let anything break his spirit.
I couldn't, and wouldn't, leave him there. With the help of my amazing pack at Paw It Forward, and one of our absolutely wonderful fosters who agreed to take him in despite his extreme medical issues, we were able to break him out of there to safety. He has touched everyone who has met him since so deeply, and inspired us all, that we knew we could not let his story go untold.
He was Snowdog once. Adopted from the very same shelter two years prior to a family on the reservation. A neighbor became concerned for his well-being, and called animal control to do a checkup on him. He was found in the condition he was in, and was immediately confiscated. There’s no way to tell where his story truly began, or what his name was before that, but none of that matters any more. What does matter is his journey is just beginning, and he WILL have a happy ending.
His is Aros (after the Greek “Eros”), our God of Love.
