One day Ashley and Sam went to the Contra Costa Animal Shelter and met Locket behind a cage. Ashley says, "We went to the shelter hoping to take someone home that day :) but ended leaving pretty disappointed and frustrated. There were two dogs we had our eye on after walking through the facility... One a Husky that had arrived that day and a husky mix that was flagged as problematic and scheduled to be put down in a week. We got the ID numbers for both dogs and followed up with the shelter over the next week. The first dog was a run away and ended up going back home to its owner while the second dog, Locket was unable to be adopted due to liability and was still scheduled to be put down even though we had expressed interest in giving her a home. The staff at the shelter didn't care one bit that this poor animal was going to die. The only help were the volunteers, the selfless unpaid handlers that come in for free to brighten a few dogs days with simply a walk. They had preformed the personalty test for Locket and unfortunately she had failed due to being too shy and timid, along with the bad rap the previous owners had given her as they surrendered her.
They said that there is too much liability to the city if they were to knowingly give a troubled dog to the public... That in order to become Locket's family we had to have another rescue organization pick her up and give her to us taking the responsibility of what the dog does away from the shelter. So I contacted Gail from Norsled... And when I say I contacted I mean I emailed, voice mailed, texted and redialed Gail's number until I got a response, lol. She said she was really busy and on the road so she couldn't talk. But knew my story and wanted to help even though she was on overflow with all the dogs she already had to find homes for.
I made calls to the shelter every other day to see if things had changed or if Gail had stopped by but as the execution date came upon us and there was no word from Gail. I spent all morning calling every rescue, shelter, foundation in the Bay Area. I told my story a dozen or more times and by the afternoon was emotionally exhausted... I talked to the manager of the CCAS and she could tell how serious we were about finding a home for Locket and extended her stay at the shelter one more day. THATS WHEN GAIL CALLED!! It was loud on the phone and I could hear dogs barking, she had been tied up all day and on the road once again so couldn't talk but wanted to still help and said she would stop by the shelter to check our dog out, make sure she wasn't aggressive and would let us know from there... The next thing I knew was a text from Gail, she had picked up the dog and they were headed out!!! She took Locket to her compound in Concord and did her own evaluations, sent me a picture and an update that she had made an appointment to take her to the vet the next day to be spayed... We ended up picking her up at the vet, the first time we hadn't seen her behind bars. All groggy and disoriented we took Locket straight to the pet store to HOOK HER UP! She's finally coming out of her shell and developing her personality. She loves going on hikes with Dora. You can tell she gains a lot more confidence having a friend by her side and Sam took her to the water in Benicia and could tell this was the fist time she had been near a big body of water, he said, " she was funny to watch and curious overall." There is so much more we can't wait to have her experience, like the snow, camping & the taste of every bone on the market! For now though, were just happy that she's happy :)
Three words to describe Locket: Gentle, beautiful, lover
Favorite thing to do together: Go on hikes and runs