A grand pre-Thanksgiving plan was put together the other day and came to life over the last 2 days, resulting in 2 beautiful bull terriers from 2 different rescues going to their furever homes. Here is how it happened. In February, late on a Saturday evening, we were contacted about a 9 month old bull terrier named Ember (now known as Amber) with an obstruction. She needed immediate surgery and the owner could not afford it. We took over Amber’s care, covered the surgical costs and then placed her with long time Blue Ridge Bull Terrier Club Rescue (BRBTC) foster Diane Thomas. The intent here was different though, Diane planned to adopt Amber. All was going great until Diane blew out one of her already bad knees this summer. Amber ended up going to stay with Sharon Whalen-Keillor during that time because Diane was not very mobile. Diane had surgery on one knee in October and then the other just yesterday. Diane realized that Amber was a bit too energetic for her and her knees and that Amber would do best going to someone else. It was a difficult decision. Meanwhile in Tennessee, 2 miniature bull terriers, Lady and Ginger, whose owner passed away, came along in September. A local woman took them in but quickly realized she was in over her head. Rescue Welfare Trust Fund of the Bull Terrier Club of America (RWTFBTCA), the national rescue, took over and together, we worked on finding a place for the girls. A lovely, very experienced bull terrier couple, Gordon and Chris, in North Carolina offered to foster them and have had them since. In mid October when Diane reached the decision that she couldn’t keep Amber, she had spoken with her friend (and ours) Alison Ibbitson about the situation. Allison told Diane she knew the perfect family for Amber, turns out she was talking about Chris and Gordon. Chris and Gordon, however, had the 2 mini’s so we couldn’t send Amber there. Last week, a family from Indiana, Daniel and Kelly, came along who seemed like a match for one of the mini’s, Lady. Chris and Gordon felt that it would work for Amber to come to them if only one foster was there so we starting brainstorming on a way to make things happen. There was a lot of time spent staring at maps until a plan came to light. Yesterday afternoon everything began. Rhoda Bennett drove from Ohio to Michigan to pick up Amber. Amber spent the night with Rhoda and Randy Bennett. This morning, Rhoda headed off to meet up with Daniel. Daniel took Amber and headed to Kentucky. Gordon also headed out this morning with Lady in tow to meet up with Daniel in Kentucky. Daniel and Gordon exchanged bullies around noon today. Daniel then went on home to Indiana with Lady, a RWTFBTCA bully, and Gordon went on his way home to North Carolina with Amber, a BRBTC bully.
It’s a lovely thing to see a plan come together where so many people can work together to help with getting bullies to their new homes. We continue to be grateful for our volunteer bull terrier community as well as our excellent working relationship with RWTFBTCA and Glenna Wright.
Special thanks to Diane for caring so much about Amber during her time with her, Sharon for taking Amber in while Diane was down with her knee issues, Allison for finding the perfect family for Amber, Rhoda and Randy for driving both days and allowing Amber to spend the night at their home and Daniel and Gordon for driving hours today to deliver and pick up Amber and Lady
