It’s been many years past now since my husband and I adopted Bosco, a scared lonely 10 month old Red Australian Shepherd. I wasn’t sure about him when I first saw him sitting at the very back of the long cage he resided in at the animal shelter, there was something in his eyes that made me wonder about what was going through his mind. All the other dogs there were running to the front of the cages for some much needed attention, but not Bosco, he sat at the back of the cage and watched everything going on around him. We left the animal shelter and went home empty handed. The next morning, I told my husband we needed to go back to the animal shelter, I just had to see this dog again and ask some questions about him.

We managed to snag one of the volunteers to take him out of the cage. I could tell that he was scared to death, I think he felt that this was the end of the road for him. We walked him through the cat’s quarters to see if he got along with them, since we had 4 cats at home. He walked through being aware of the cats but not paying any attention to them, his walk was one of fear and he never took his eyes off of the areas around him. After some consideration, we adopted Bosco and brought him home. When we arrived, he continued his fearful activity, he would not walk into the house until he looked every which way, even at the ceilings, I tried to make him comfortable but the dog was still stricken with fear.

Later that evening after dinner, as we settled down to watch some television, I grabbed a brush that we had from our little dog that had recently passed away, Bosco must have felt some comfort with us even though he didn’t show it, I gently motioned to him to come up on the couch with me, which he did very carefully and laid down. I took the brush and started running it down his neck and back. He finally laid his head down and seemed at ease for the first time. I must have been tired from the long day and dosed off. Right about then the brush fell to the floor, I woke up to see Bosco stepping down off the couch as carefully as he could as if not to wake me. He picked the brush up in his mouth, turned and tenderly laid it on my stomach. I was totally amazed and knew right then, that he was highly intelligent and very special.

We later found out through the animal shelter, that this poor dog had been mistreated by 3 different owners and was brought back to the shelter twice after being adopted. He had been at the animal shelter for the maximum time and he was only a couple of days away from being euthanized.

Bosco was afraid of many things, and I believe his former owners did things to strike fear into the poor animal. Balloons, ceiling fans, certain furniture and parts of the yard would make him crouch down as if he was going to be hit or something was going to fall on him. We decided to get him a companion to help him get over his fears, so we adopted Hershey, a half Wolf, half German Shepard puppy. Bosco and Hershey grew up together and shared a very happy life. Hershey was very laid back, which did wonders for Bosco, as he soon became a normal and loving dog.

Bosco was with us for 12 years when he developed problems with his hind legs. He eventually could not stand up on his own without great pain, we decided it was time for him to be free of the pain and suffering and sent him into God’s hands. Hershey eventually developed the same problem a couple years later, and we were once again faced with a decision no loving pet owner wants to have, but they are now both at Rainbow Bridge where they will be together eternally to play and live the life they deserve, until we can be with them again.