Harper’s Story

This is the story of how Harper (formerly known as) Violet made her way to Pennsylvania and into our hearts. My name is Nancy, and I have been a volunteer with local rescues for about 15 years.

My first rescue was Carly. She was a 9-month-old golden doodle I found from a rescue in Delaware. When I picked her up, she was the most fearful and broken dog I had ever seen. Her ears were inflamed, and she had a bad case of mange. If you moved too quickly near her, she would bolt to the other side of the room. But that fear would soon manifest into other challenging behaviors.

In her first year she ate through 2 couches, chewed a hole in the wall and destroyed countless pairs of shoes. She would fear bite and snap at family members and friends but I refused to give up on her.  

Knowing I needed help, I brought in a trainer to teach me how to work with her. She gave me so much good advice along and even more importantly taught me how to recognize her fears and give her all the support I could.

Through love, patience and a few more pairs of shoes, Carly turned into an awesome dog and we were lucky to have her for 10 wonderful years .

Sadly, one morning we woke up and found her breathing was very labored. I called the vet and told him we were heading right over. I called Carly’s name and told her to hang on, she did not look at me but wagged her tail. My daughter had given me sign for my birthday a few weeks prior. It says “A Dog wags it tail with its heart”.

Just minutes later she passed before we could even get her in the car. Every time I look at that sign I smile because I now know she was saying good bye and she would be ok, not to worry.

As we were driving her body to the vet I promised her that when my heart healed some, I would look for the most broken down older dog I could find and give him or her the most loving home in Carly’s honor. The kind of dog that does not get the attention they should because of age or breed or appearance.

A few months later, I was eating my lunch and went on Petfinder. My heart was still broken but I felt ready. I always said if I had the room I would rescue every animal I could.

As I scrolled through so many sad and hopeful faces looking at me, I finally saw her—Violet. Or Harper as we came to know her.

I saw the pain and sadness in her eyes but also the hope and trust that someone out there would give her a chance. She was older, had a gray muzzle and her body was very thin.

At the time I did not know her story, I just knew she was the one. I put in my application and just hoped if she really was the one that I would get the call.

When the call finally came, I went through the interview process, and it was then I learned her story. She was used as a breeder dog.

When she could no longer make money for the people that owned her so they dumped her like a piece of trash on a busy highway and left her. A kind man was able to coax her into his car. She was taken to the local shelter and made her way to Rescue Coop.

She was just skin and bones. She weighed around 60 pounds. Her weight should have been closer to 130-140 as a Neapolitan mastiff.

Once she was able to put some much-needed weight on, she was spayed and slowly nursed back to health and ready for the long ride up to Pennsylvania.

We were so excited when the car pulled in the driveway and out popped Harper, but her journey was still just beginning.

She was scared, tired and hungry.  We brought her in, gave her a nice dinner and just let her sniff and explore on her own. We did slow introductions with our other dogs. They are very used to having new dogs in the house because I have fostered many before.  

Harper took time to open up. She was okay with the other dogs but simply did not know how to interact with them. I would try to take her for short walks about a week after arriving. She just kept looking back at the house and pulling towards it. That’s when I realized that she thought she was going to get dumped again. It was the same with the car.

She was so fearful of getting into it. It broke my heart, and I promised her she would never get left behind again. She has been with us for over a year now. This summer she had surgery for mammary tumors; this was a result of being overbred and never spayed.

My vet told us we caught it in time, and she is good to go. With time and patience, she now goes on long walks without stopping and looking back at her house. She freely gets in the car to go on trips to her mobile home at the Jersey shore. She has made quite the impression at the campground where we get stopped all the time and people ask about her. We love it because it gives us a chance to promote rescue.

I encourage people to look for that senior dog with the sad eyes and open your heart up to them. She has learned how to play with her fur brothers and her favorite activity is border patrol of the fence with her fur brother Finn. She runs and bounces around as if she were still a puppy and it just puts a giant smile on my face. They protect the yard from the “evil” squirrels that try to steal the bird seed.

I know that Carly is looking down on her and smiling. Harper did not replace Carly, She opened the door for Harper to help heal the emptiness we felt.  

She is home and we love her. We are forever grateful to Rescue Coop for saving her and choosing us as her family.