The DU Lounge

12 years ago, I fostered a dog that I found in Colorado. She was adopted in Phoenix and 12 years later, an animal shelter in Las Vegas called me and said they had found her on the streets. So, I went down and adopted her. Okay, baby. Oh, I'm Aaron and this is Sadi's story for Geo Beats. I found her outside my office building in 2014.

It was a snowstorm. She was on her own. It didn't seem right. I was able to kind of coax her inside. She just really warmed up to me. Was just a sweetie. Sat on my lap. I was able to track down the owners and they said they didn't want her back. I wasn't able to keep her. I was going to be traveling for a while, but I wanted to make sure that she ended up somewhere where she was going to be well taken care of. I got her spayed and shipped and then I got her adopted in Phoenix, Arizona. Somebody had great references and all checked out.

It seemed like a great great fit. And then that was it until January of this year. It was exactly 12 years to the day. It was January 7th, 2014. I got a phone call and they said, "Uh, we're animal shelter in Las Vegas and we have your dog." And I said, "I don't think that's true. I'm looking at my dog. What are you talking about?" And they said, "No, we have your dog, Sadie." And I, it took me, you know, a little bit of time to like, "Wait, what are you what, Sadie? That was, you know, like, wait, how long has it been?" So, I explained like, "Oh, she's not my dog."

And there was this whole thing. And they said, "Well, we hold her for hours, then we put her up for adoption." But they said it's probably unlikely that she'll be adopted. people aren't really adopting -year-old dogs very often and they put dogs down when they can't, you know, adopt them. And so said, "Well, I'll I'll be there tomorrow." And they said, "Well, we're closed tomorrow." And I said, "Well, I'll be there tonight then." And I jumped on a plane and and flew to Vegas and uh picked her up. We had a short drive to a hotel and as soon as I got into the hotel, she just was like a puppy again. She was rolling around and belly rubs, wagging her tail. Oh my goodness. We were playing fetch with this little stuffed animal that I had brought. Okay. Okay. Okay.

We did find out a little bit what happened. years. She became a working dog, somebody that trained dogs to find bed bugs for hotels and pest control places. And then she was there for about eight or nine years and then ended up at a pest control place in Las Vegas that went out of business and then somehow after that ended up on the streets. Buddy, years is a long time. A lot of things can happen. So, I feel like I did the best I could. somebody that had references and all that, but um sorry I'm getting emotional right now.

Just knowing that I didn't find the perfect place for her. I do think she was well cared for for the most of that time, but it was heartbreaking. I feel responsible for her even though she sort of randomly came into my life twice, and I feel like I you know, you you can't you know, you can't save everybody, but it's like, well, I can I can save her. I would say to her, "I know you've been through a lot, but you're safe now and you're home forever.