SPIN In the News

A big dog gets a big family

*See Note following

02:30 PM CST on Friday, March 5, 2004

By LARRY POWELL / The Dallas Morning News

Good morning. Pause your reading for a second to scratch a loyal companion's noggin. Yeah, that's better.

PLACING A GIANT: Big, white, fluffy Great Pyrenees dogs are called "Gentle Giants." Three-year-old Charlie is one of them.

Last week, the formerly emaciated dog became the house companion for Edenbrook of Plano, an assisted-living center. He was placed by SPIN, a rescue group called Saving Pyrs in Need.

President Cindy Tuttle says SPIN formed last November to deal with the growing number of abandoned or mistreated Pyrs in North and East Texas. People often misjudge their abilities to care for such a big critter. It arrives as a small, fluffy puppy, but can grow to be 130 pounds. Not a lap dog.

Charlie is SPIN's first assisted-living-center dog. The SPINsters are happy to place any of their 20 rescued dogs in other homes, too. (E-mail savingpyrsinneed@yahoo.comor see www.SPINrescue.org)

Edenbrook executive director Debra Denney says Sunrise Senior Living acquired the facility last fall and "requires its communities to have a dog." She found an ad in The Dallas Morning News classifieds for Petfinder (www.pet finder.com) and posted a "dog needed" notice. SPIN responded.

As it turns out, the Great Pyrenees is the right size. Residents don't have to bend over to pet him, and he's the right height to greet someone in a wheelchair. He's practically perfect – and he has 65 residents and 65 staffers looking out for his well-being.

OPPORTUNITIES: Our friends at Sheltie Haven will have older rescued females available for adoption today and Sunday at the North Texas Irish Festival in Fair Park. (Festival info is at www.ntif.org. See www.sheltiehaven.org) ... The Feral Friends cat rescue group's annual Shoot-for-the-Moon Silent Auction and Mardi Gras fund-raiser is Friday in the Fairmont Hotel's Venetian Room. (Tickets are $45. For $55, you also get two drink coupons. See www.feralfriends.org.) Attractions include face painting, tarot card reading and conversation. The topic of cats may come up.... Ellis County SPCA Director Diane Dynis says Chris Hansen has been named honorary chairperson of the group's $290,000 building campaign. Chris and her hubby, legendary WFAA-TV (Channel 8) sportscaster Dale Hansen, maintain a menagerie at their Ellis County home. (Write to EC SPCA Building Fund, 800 N. Highway 77, PMB 138, Suite 160, Waxahachie, TX 75165. Call 972-935-0756.) The drive starts St. Patrick's Day (March 17) and is fittingly named "Looking for a Pot of Gold Campaign."

HOW'S DEWEY DOIN'? A few weeks back, I told you about Dewey, the 40-pound shepherd mix hit by a car in Garland and paralyzed. Animal Guardians of America took him in and fitted him with a cart that allows him to pull his paralyzed hindquarters around. (Readers from New Mexico and Missouri joined with generous Texans to pay some of Dewey's bills. Donate to Animal Guardians, Box 169, 7000 Independence Parkway, Suite 160, Plano, TX 75025 or see www.animal guardians.com.)

How's Dewey on wheels? Annette Lambert of Animal Guardians says that when he was put onto his cart "he took off like a shot.... It was an awesome sight, I tell you. He smelled of the trees and grass and checked out the birdbath. He went this way and that way, ran over the curb and even chased after a cat. It was thrilling to see him getting around on his own, and all the while he had a big smile on his face. What a high! We are so happy for him."

Reach Larry Powell at lrpowell@dallasnews.com or P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, TX 75265. Fax 214-977-8321 or call 214-977-8487. Visit Larry Powell's Pet Blog at www.dallasnews.com/pets.

*Unfortuately, Charlie’s life ended before he got to really settle in to his new home. He came down with a condition known as Gastric Torsion (http://www.eclipse.net/~bobaloo/bloat.htm) and died shortly after at the hospital. Although a new Pyr, Duchess has been place at Edenbrook, Charlie will never be replaced.