Selena

My Tribute to Selena
About 2003 -- 2006

Selena entered the GSGRR program in late August 2005, just prior to Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast area. Jim and Carol Butts took an immediate liking to her and Selena also caught my eye from the first time that I saw her photo. She had a poor beginning to her life and it was pretty clear that at the young age of about 2, she had already had at least one litter. She was very skinny and her entire coat had fallen off as a result of the hormones raging through her body. She entered the program and was treated with love and kindness from the start.

She reminded us of puppy mill doggies who are not treated well and not socialized at all with humans, just other dogs. She was timid, skittish in her movements and not very social with humans. She weighed in at about 40 lbs and now weighs about 45 or 50 lbs. She had a beautiful blonde coat and it was very thick.

Selena, like all the other doggies in the GSGRR program, was put on the web site but there was very little interest in her. Was she too skinny? Too little? A mix? Not exactly sure why but she spent in excess of 6 months in the program and then was finally going to be adopted to a family in Massachusetts. I picked her up at the airport in Hartford CT and brought her to my home for a few days. We made the long anticipated trip to her new family's home a few days later.

For some reason, Selena’s past and the demons inside of Selena did not allow her to relax enough to understand that she was going to live in a nice home and be the queen of the pack. She reacted negatively to her potential new home and was taken back to my house in CT. She was puppy-like in her manners and had not mastered basic obedience. We worked hard on “sit” and she loved cookies. She loved to play with the ball and could run and fetch the ball for what seemed like hours. She loved rope toys and nylabones to chew on. I spent the good part of two weeks working with Selena and getting her to trust me and my husband. We had her evaluated by a behaviorist as well. She ultimately did trust my husband and I ( as she had trusted Jim and Carol Butts) but could not be trusted around others.

In the end, her demons were winning out. She was not able to adapt to life outside of a very controlled existence. She represented a risk to others when not in a very controlled environment and we had to let her go.

My husband, Mike, and I sat with Selena as she went to Rainbow Bridge on Tuesday March 14th, 2006. I know that she is playing there with many other doggies that are now pain-free as well. She was loved and taken care of by GSGRR for part of her life and we did the best that we could for her considering her circumstances.

Foster Mom, Lee