In May 2013, Hunter came to Leonberger Rescue from an abusive home and despite the very recent loss of her own Leo to LP/PN Lucy Tisdale agreed to foster him.

Hunter was wreck with all the usual infections, flea infestation ect… the day after his arrival Lucy discovered Hunter has an adenoma the size of a golf ball on his anus by 2 AM that night he had emergency surgery. Lucy nursed Hunter back to health and says that he helped her deal with the loss of her own dog. As soon as Hunter was healed we discovered he had a growth in his stomach and given a couple of weeks to live and perhaps 6 months with surgery. We, Lucy included, decided to not put him thru such a serious operation for a few short months. Despite the obvious heartbreak Hunter would bring into Lucy’s life such a short time after the death of her dog Lucy would not consider moving him to another home. Lucy began looking into everything that could possibly help Hunter in his ordeal, as a result Hunter lived a very happy 7 months with Lucy until a few days before Christmas when it became obvious it was time to send him to the bridge. Lucy’s heart broke again but she says she wouldn’t give up her time with Hunter for anything.

Fostering is never easy at times dogs are a serious challenge, at others it is so difficult to give them up, sometimes both come into play and the most difficult to deal with is that not every foster is a success story. People who foster are very special and among them Lucy is that much more special for giving her already broken heart to Hunter knowing that he could die with very little notice. Lucy will tell you that Hunter gave much more of himself to her than the other way around. In the end it is that they found each other at the moment they needed each other that is so touching.

I cannot do justice to Lucy’s selflessness, she took Hunter in, loved him, cared for him and then let him go with a piece of her heart.