Emma, a 10-pound schipperke, was found trotting down a busy highway in the pouring rain. When she was picked up and taken to a local animal shelter, her condition was deplorable: scraggly, matted, filthy, and with a serious case of pneumonia. It was obvious that Emma had recently had a litter of puppies, and, I suspect she was a “puppy mill” dog. These dogs are only productive for a limited period of time, and are often put up for adoption – or sometimes simply abandoned – once they can no longer be used for breeding. It seems that, in Emma’s case, at the tender age of 3 or 4, she had outlived her “usefulness” and was unceremoniously and heartlessly dumped on the side of a busy roadway.

Luckily for Emma, Sam Ebbert and her husband, Bob Grove, live nearby. Sam is the coordinator of the Schipperke Rescue of Oregon. When a “skip” lands in a nearby shelter, or an owner needs to surrender a dog, Sam will often be contacted for her assistance in helping find it a good home. In the meantime, the dogs are fostered at Sam and Bob’s, where they have the run of the house and the fenced-in acre of land. There is good food, plenty of treats and an abundance of love, along with veterinary care, behavioral assessment and, if needed, re-socialization and retraining. At any one time, Sam and Bob can have several foster dogs at their home – primarily purebred schipperkes, occasional “skip” crosses, and sometimes what Sam calls “skip wannabes.” As she puts it, “If a dog is black and weighs less than 25 pounds, they give us a call.”

And that’s what happened in Emma’s case. When she arrived at Sam and Bob’s, she still had pneumonia, along with a bad case of kennel cough. Although after several months of loving care her personality, and she was ready for a permanent home. Around that time, I had just said goodbye to Haida, my very special forever dog, who had succumbed to cancer. Haida was a schipperke, and because she was such a wonderful friend and companion, I’d fallen in love with the breed.

After Haida died, I knew I wanted to adopt a shelter dog. I started searching on the Internet, and came across the Petfinders website. I was amazed to find dogs of every conceivable breed – including schipperkes – as well as cats, rabbits and other animals. I was saddened to realize that homelessness in animals doesn’t discriminate. Petfinders is an inspiration in itself: well-organized and searchable, it features pictures and descriptions of animals for adoption in shelters across Canada and the US, as well as links to individual shelter sites. Of course, if you’re like me, you might have a hard time browsing through the profiles of so many adorable dogs – I wanted to adopt them all!

But as soon as I was put in touch with Sam and Bob, and heard about Emma, I knew she was the dog for me. When I first met her, and in spite of Sam and Bob’s careful attention, the signs of her mistreatment were abundant; she was painfully thin, and in some areas she had very little fur. She was timid and shy, but with a wistful expression on her little face, that told me that despite all she’d been through, she was full of hope.

Slowly, Emma’s personality began to emerge, and she is now a gem of a dog. Her coat is thick and shiny, and people constantly remark on how beautiful she is. She is funny and smart and sweet, loves to cuddle and enjoys long walks on the beach. She is usually a “Diva,” and very well behaved, although she does get into mischief from time to time. I was visiting a friend and went upstairs to see her refurbished bedroom floor; when I came back, the banana loaf my friend had put out on the coffee table was gone. It seems Emma had taken advantage of our temporary absence, and had jumped up onto the coffee table and cleaned off the entire plate.

Emma has been the “boss of me” for three years now, and she’s blossomed into a truly dear little girl. And she is not just healed, she’s helping to heal others. Emma is a therapy dog, visiting senior’s centers, and spreading cheer to just about everyone she comes into contact with.

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