All dogs go to heaven; Rusty's going to Utah
In a season when so much attention is given to the all-consuming, pre-dawn shopping rush to find discount deals on everything from TVs to toasters, the patient folks at Hinsdale Humane Society have spent the last couple of months diligently shopping for the ideal home for a little stray dog known as Rusty.
They found it.
Rusty soon will be moving to Dogtown, an exclusive gated community of 427 dogs living in small group homes on the 3,800-acre Best Friends Animal Society sanctuary surrounded by national parks and nestled in what might be the most stunningly scenic canyon in Utah.
“I want to live there,” quips Rusty-supporter Harry Peters, president of the Forest Glen Homeowners Association, one of the Oak Brook communities Rusty frequented during his reign as the suburbs' most elusive stray.
While homeowners and village businesses left out gourmet food for Rusty, tried to coax him in from the cold, and saw the 4-year-old Chow-Sheltie mix frolic with their dogs, Rusty eluded traps, police officers and animal control experts for three years. In September, Rusty walked through an open gate in a backyard and allowed himself to be captured. He was suffering from heartworms, a parasite that would have killed him without treatment.
The Hinsdale Humane Society welcomed Rusty, and with the help of a trust fund fed by neighbors who had grown to love the unlikely rascal, is treating his heartworms. But finding Rusty a home has proved difficult.
“We have worked to ‘socialize' him to humans, but this has proved problematic as he is not oriented toward humans in any way and is not motivated by dog treats or other tasty food,” reads the latest Rusty update from Lori Halligan, executive director of the Hinsdale Humane Society, and longtime operations manager Jennifer Vlazny.
Rusty is never vicious; he just prefers the company of other dogs, Vlazny says. So she says she “poured my heart out” in a letter to the Best Friends Animal Society, which runs the not-for-profit no-kill animal sanctuary near Kanab, Utah, and accepts less than 1 percent of the roughly 2,000 applications received each month.
When the sanctuary, which treats and houses animals from around the globe, accepted Rusty, Vlazny admits to getting a little teary-eyed.
“He's got so many followers and so many people caring for him. He's a very lucky little dog,” Vlazny says.
“Rusty couldn't have had better friends,” says Barbara Williams, media relations manager for the sanctuary, which houses a total of 1,700 dogs, cats, horses, potbellied pigs, parrots, rabbits and a few wild animals.
“It's a beautiful, beautiful place. The scenery is amazing,” says Tamara Dormer, 52, one of five full-time dog trainers among the nearly 450 staff members at the sanctuary.
Will Rusty understand how good he will have it?
“It's not like he's going to come and go, ‘Woo-hoo! This is awesome!' But he should pick up from the other dogs that he is in a safe place,” Dormer says. “Occasionally, I see dogs sitting on a hillside looking, and I think, ‘Oh, wow, look at them enjoy those flowers,' but I have no idea if that's true. I don't know if they appreciate the scenery, but they do appreciate that we have a lot of rabbits.”
The shy Rusty will be matched with more outgoing dogs in a heated octagon that houses up to five dogs and includes private dog runs, specialized training and full medical care. Rusty could spend the rest of his life here, but “our goal is to get him a home,” says Dormer, explaining how Rusty could eventually be placed in a home anywhere, maybe even back in Oak Brook. “I saw his video on Facebook. Once his shyness improves, he's going to fly out of here.”
Sometime in the next few weeks, Vlazny and Rusty will drive to Utah.
“I want to be the one that hands over the leash and sends him on the next journey of his life,” Vlazny says.
Peters (who set up the trust fund with his wife, RonnDa) says he hopes to visit Rusty in Dogtown, a four-hour drive from Las Vegas. He says they'll continue to support animals through hinsdalehumanesociety.org, but also will make contributions to bestfriends.org because of Rusty.
“We're happy about it for him, but we're a little sad that he'll be so far away,” Peters says. “But like your children, you always want what's best for them.”