Zachary's Thanksgiving, 2008, Kentucky

When we were contemplating getting away for Thanksgiving, it looked like we'd have to take Samson along as well as Zachary. Samson is a foster who came in about a week ago with a touch of pneumonia. He's a wild man with no manners and would have wreacked havoc at my sister's house. Fortunately, he recovered quickly enough that I felt comfortable boarding him along with the others. The 2 SPCA fosters went back there, 3 went to a boarding kennel we've used for years, and 8 others went to a new kennel recently opened by another dog rescue person.

So, we loaded up Zachary in a travel crate, tied a larger crate on top to use once we got there, and headed off to Kentucky. At a reststop along the way a man approached me after seeing the VGSR signs on the side of the van. That happens fairly often. I usually hand them a card, exchange a few pleasantries if it's not a redneck, and get on my way. This guy wanted to chat. He was an Airedale person, but he had a rescue dog and planned to get another when the time comes.

Thanksgiving was a success. Zach was definitely out of his comfort zone, and was content to hunker down under a table next to Clay much of the time. Zachary (named for Zachary Taylor because we were sticking with central Virginia names) has traveled with us to Thanksgiving for the last couple of years. Boarding him is difficult because of his special diet. Zachary came to us as a rescue along with his father, Ryker, and a female shepherd. All three dogs were forcibly surrendered by the owner as an alternative to facing neglect charges. Zach was just a pup at the time, maybe 3 or 4 months old. They were all emaciated, but Zachary was the saddest looking foster we have ever taken in. Every rib was showing, his hip bones were protruding and even his face looked sunken. He looked like a starving refugee child from one of those Save the Children commercials. To top it off, he picked up a fungal infection that gave him black spots all over his skin. The spots were off-putting to potential adopters although they very quickly resolved. But by then, Zachary had bonded with Clay, and Clay had bonded with Zachary, so we kept him.

The three dogs had been owned by a couple of backyard breeders who got divorced. The husband ended up with the dogs but apparently didn't feed them. To make matters worse, both Zachary and his father, Ryker, have a digestive problem that makes them unable to process any dog food containing grain. Consequently, Zachary now eats a combination of raw food and EVO, which makes him difficult to board when we travel.

Once we figured out the digestive problem, both dogs filled out beautifully. Ryker was adopted and is still doing well. The female that came with them didn't have the digestive problem and she was adopted almost immediately. Zachary grew to 80+ pounds and is one of the prettiest shepherds I've had or seen. He was recently used by the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA as the poster dog in an election season fundraising promotion that they developed. He is absolutely devoted to Clay, in spite of the fact that I'm the one who feeds him twice a day. He's not the smartest shepherd we've ever had, but he probably is the sweetest.