With Much Gratitude

by Heide Shepherd

My good friend Alison has 4 rescue dogs and has volunteered as a Flight Angel for helping dogs find there forever homes. Since our sweet Golden passed a little over a year and a half ago, Alison has been sending me pictures of hopeful dogs in need of homes. The timing was just not right, perhaps we just weren’t ready to open our hearts up to adopting a fur baby yet.

One day in early February, Alison sent me a picture of Cruz named after Santa Cruz El Grande (a.k.a. Jaime) and labeled it “How about this one? He’s from a Rescue just outside Guadalajara.” I was immediately drawn to his sweet face, the white star on his chest and the fanned Retriever tail. I scrolled through other pictures of dogs from the shelter, but my heart kept pulling me back to Cruz. I guess you could say it was love at first sight. This little guy needed a home and we had one to give. I contacted Syd needing to know if he was good with cats and kids as I own a preschool. After shared videos of Cruz I knew he’d be a good fit for our family. The word good is now an understatement as he has become the center of our universe this past week.

Cruz is patient with our Cat, who in the past week has developed a trust with Cruz. They now lie next to each other and I can’t help but wonder if our Cat needed another fur companion as well. Cruz loves to sprint in circles in our yard, and the dog park. His sprinting attracts other dogs to join in his play which brings a bit of laughter and entertainment to all. He retrieves balls most of the time and loves to cuddle. He has a favorite doughnut rope toy that he likes to carry around the house and sleeps in a crate next to our bed at night. Anywhere we are, he wants to be and anywhere we want to be is with him. Thanks to Syd and The Ranch in Chapala for taking a chance on allowing us to adopt Cruz.

With deepest gratitude,

The Shepherd Family,
Heide, John, Julia and Hannah