Tucker’s healing ways
By Lynn of Lake Stevens
It was love at first sight for everyone.
Several years back, my family decided to adopt a little beagle named Remi from a cancer research program. Remi was born into the testing facility and spent the first 14 months of her life donating blood for cancer research. She was confined to a 6ft by 6ft kennel and had never seen the light of day or walked on real grass. Once her study was completed, she was made available for adoption to hopefully spend the rest of her life as a normal dog.
Well, normal never quite happened for poor Remi. Given her past, she came to us with many issues, one being she lacked confidence and was extremely fearful. At the recommendation of our vet, we decided to adopt another dog to help build her confidence and give her some much-needed, doggy companionship. That’s when we met Tucker, aka Pina Pineapple, a scrappy beagle-mix that came in on a rescue transport to PAWS after Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria.
I saw him sitting in the back of the kennel on his warm bed surrounded by toys with the face of a broken soul. I went into the kennel and he immediately approached with his big, brown eyes looking up at me with a little, doggy smile. I knew right then, we needed him and he needed us and Remi needed him the most.
It was the perfect match for all of us! The family was now complete and he is the gentlest goofball! His favorite thing to do is hide one shoe from a pair and sit and watch you search for it. Remi follows his lead and he never leaves her side. She’s getting braver every day. He’s truly healing her frightened soul.