My job included driving the company car and as I was driving south on the Henry Hudson pkwy heading into the West Side Hwy in Manhattan I spotted a light brown dog running north. I had a split second to decide whether or not I could pull over safely, and could I live with myself knowing I did nothing……

Of course, I pulled the car over just beyond an exit ramp that had a small triangle painted between the highway and the ramp, threw my car into park, started out for the dog and said to myself…. Ok, dog- I’m going to pick you up and put you in the car. If you don’t bite me great, if you do bite me, I need to take you anyway…

Her head was tilted in a strange way and she cried as I picked her up, but she didn’t bite. She sat quietly in the back as I went on my rounds delivering interoffice mail, each place asking if anyone wanted a stray. Everyone thought I was crazy…. I’m thinking how can I bring her back to my job, now what do I do? I planned on bringing her to the shelter. Thank goodness I worked with a bunch of great people. We let her stay in the outside porch area we had out behind the kitchen.She needed medical treatment, she cried anytime you went near her ears. They gave me permission to take her to my vet, and then to my house where my husband would take care of her until I got off work. The only thing they said was, leave the boss’s car and take the pickup!!!

My husband wanted to get a dog and I came home with this scruffy, old, street dog. It was funny, he said “well I said I wanted a dog, this isn’t the kind I had in mind!” HA… Good thing he’s like me when it comes rescues, we both were guilty of taking in cats already. We still laugh about the day I walked in with her.

I couldn’t give her to a shelter.. I found out she was old, nearly completely deaf because of a horrible ear infection and was blind in one eye… We named her Tippy because of how her head was tilted to the side. Her head straightened up after treatment. She still had her signature tilt when she looked at you a certain way because of her her blind eye So cute…..

She went everywhere with us. We went to the beach, went camping and was at my side almost every minute.. If she got to far ahead of me at the beach, she would look around franticly to make sure I was still there. She couldn’t hear well at all and whenever I came downstairs as she was sleeping, she wouldn’t hear but as you walked close she would feel you walking on the floor and wake up. She was the sweetest dog I ever had…. We had her for about 4 years before she started to get worse. Her back legs weren’t working as well as they should, but she still wanted to run, so she compensated by learning how to move both back legs at the same time. She’d push off, like a rabbit or kangaroo!

She loved to run, even with all her problems, she was happy and had an amazing zest for life. I couldn’t take care of her after she began to lose control of her bowls while sleeping at night.. I knew it was time, she was in pain, the arthritis medication wouldn’t sooth her suffering. She cried each morning after sleeping because her legs had been in one position, but after getting up and around it seemed to pass. Her accidents at night were happening more often. I had other rescues that needed attention (4 cats and 2 other dogs now). I knew that it was the only thing to do, a hard choice to make. I’ve had to do it several times over the years with cats and dogs, it never gets any easier. Tippy was special though.

I still feel bad about putting her down, but I knew it wasn’t going to get any better, it would only get worse.. She was such a beautiful girl. I know exactly how you feel… I cried as you read that letter on air from the little girl who wrote to God about her pet that passed away, and the return letter she got from “God”. Tippy is always in my thoughts and I find comfort in knowing that in the last years of her life we were able to give her a good home. I hate to think about the life she must have lived on the street before I found her.

Thank you so much for all you do… God bless you and everyone who looks out for Gods creatures..

Janis NYC