MORE ABOUT THE CLEO AWARD

The Cleo Award* was recently established in honor of a special pet and for everyone that works to save animals everyday. The story begins with a special Rottweiler named Cleo that was adopted from Homeward Bound many years ago. The "Cleo Award" was founded in memory of Cleo. The first pet recipient of this special award is "Ranger" from the Thomas family in the City of Arlington, Texas.

RANGER'S STORY



Hello!

Back in July, just one month shy of turning 16, we had to put our beloved dog, Dusty, to sleep. It was the most difficult decision we have ever had to make and one we never wanted to have to do again. We swore on that day that we would never get another dog but our kids said different. We have two boys ages 13 and 8. They lived their entire lives with a dog and never knew anything different. The day we said goodbye to Dusty, they asked if we could get another dog. Every day after that, they asked if we could get another dog and we kept saying no.

Well, after about two months, I was missing the loving greetings Dusty would give us at the door, so I started talking to my husband about adopting another dog. He was not ready at all and was insistent on not ever getting another dog.

One month later, he woke up and said we could start looking online for another dog. He realized it was not fair to us not to get another dog for the family. We talked a lot about the kind of dog we wanted, and what we knew was important was a dog that would be great with our boys! We spent that Sunday morning looking online for hours for a dog that looked like would be a good match for us. We emailed a lot of foster families but did follow up on any one of them.

A week later, I had been looking online and found a dog I was interested in looking at so I went to the Arlington Animal Shelter and to take a look. I took my friend that was a dog trainer with me so I would have some help knowing if the dog would be a good match for my boys. We looked at a lot of dogs and took the one dog I saw online out of the kennel and walked around with it. The dog showed no interest in me or my friend and it did not feel like a good match to me either. We continued to look and the other dogs. Some were barkers, which we did not want, some ran away and hid. Then we came to this giant dog. He tried so hard to get as close to me as he could thru the fence. He never barked, never jumped but he was HUGE! On his papers, it said GREAT DANE and that made me nervous so I kept walking. I thought, he is just too big. So I left that day without a dog and feeling very sad for all those dogs who may or may not ever get adopted!

I came home and told my husband about my visit and told him about the gigantic dog. That night, I dreamt about him and the next day, could not stop thinking about him. I pulled his picture up online and told my friends about him. I decided to go back that afternoon and take him out of the kennel and see what he would do with me. I took another friend with me. Ranger was so excited to see us and get out of his cage. We took him into the fenced area. At first, he jumped around looking at the other dogs. He sniffed at us and chased a ball and still no barking. As soon as I sat down on the bench, he came over to me and leaned against me like he was already mine. I fell in love with him that instant. So in a way, he picked us.

The pictures I have attached are of Ranger meeting our kids for the first time. He is a very loving, sweet dog. We prayed about this and even asked Dusty, our first member of our family, for help in making sure the new dog we got would be a good match for the boys. Our prayers were answered!

Thank you for the opportunity to share our story.

The Thomas Family

*As the winner of the Cleo Award, Ranger will receive 10 pounds of Nutri-Vet treats and the City of Arlington Animal Services received 80 pounds of dog food from Nature's Select Pet Food of Fort Worth, Texas.

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