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ENLARGE
Patty Belletete with Tommy, who she adopted through the Summit County Animal Shelter.
SUMMIT COUNTY — Tommy sat calmly on the ground outside Abbey’s Coffee in Frisco Wednesday afternoon, surveying the scene with alert golden eyes.
Whenever passing strangers approached, the 100-pound pit-bull mix jumped up with furious tail-wagging and enthusiastic attempts to lick them.
Observing all this canine friendliness, no one would ever guess that just 18 months ago, Tommy’s former owner took the young dog out to a construction site, shot him in the head with a .45, and left him for dead.
“Dogs live in the moment, and he’s a perfect example of that,” explained Patty Belletete, who adopted Tommy from the Summit County Animal Shelter in October.
“He’s just an unbelievable dog,” she went on. “In spite of everything he’s gone through, he really has no issues.”
His tale — and his tail — reveal the delight of adopting a pet from the animal shelter, which is hosting an Adopt-a-thon on Saturday.
Tommy’s troubles started in January 2007, when he developed a bad infection in his leg. Apparently unable to care for the dog and unwilling to relinquish him to the vet’s office treating the infection, his owner instead tried to destroy him.
Only Tommy didn’t die.
According to animal-shelter records, he wandered bleeding onto Colorado 9 near Everist Materials north of Silverthorne with a shattered jaw and bullet wounds to his muzzle and neck.
A motorist stopped, initially thinking the dog had been hit in traffic, and called 911.
After what surely must have been the worst day of Tommy’s life, his luck began to change, as the community mobilized to save him.
Animal Rescue of the Rockies transported him in a blizzard to a veterinary hospital in Wheat Ridge for emergency surgery. Animal-shelter aides began spreading the news about him through the organization’s extensive word-of-mouth network. A local couple stepped up to foster the wounded dog in their home during his lengthy recovery. Once he was back on his feet, he was even the guest of honor at a fundraiser held at Breckenridge’s Salt Creek restaurant in July.
Belletete first met Tommy in September, when her longtime companion dog, Molly, grew old and sick. An avid walker, she knew she wanted to find another dog to walk with. A trip to the animal shelter near the County Commons brought her face to face with the large dog.
“I thought he was beautiful, but a little bigger than what I had planned,” she said. Immediately attracted to him, she brought both Molly and her husband, Dave, to the shelter to meet him.
She didn’t hear about his history until her third trip.
“He got in my heart,” she said. “We couldn’t let him go.”
Molly died in October, and, after several more visits with Tommy, the Belletetes took home their new friend.
Today, Belletete has nothing but praise for animal-shelter staff and volunteers. A self-employed event planner, she takes Tommy everywhere with her. He loves to walk and appears to like everybody he meets.
“I couldn’t be happier,” she said. “Because he’s a great dog. I really believe it was meant to be.”
Local shelter sponsors Adopt-a-thon
Between six and eight million dogs and cats enter the nation’s animal shelters each year, according to estimates from the Humane Society of the United States. Of these, about half are adopted and half euthanized.
Summit County Animal Shelter administrative clerk and humane educator Donna Taylor hopes Saturday’s Adopt-a-thon will encourage anyone who’s ever thought about adoption to stop by and meet the available animals.
“We’ll have lots of volunteers to show the animals,” she said. Normally, prospective adopters have to wait at least 24 hours to take home an animal. Same day adoption may be a possibility during Saturday’s event, however.
“But we’ll still make sure we place the right animal in the right home,” Taylor emphasized.
Whenever passing strangers approached, the 100-pound pit-bull mix jumped up with furious tail-wagging and enthusiastic attempts to lick them.
Observing all this canine friendliness, no one would ever guess that just 18 months ago, Tommy’s former owner took the young dog out to a construction site, shot him in the head with a .45, and left him for dead.
“Dogs live in the moment, and he’s a perfect example of that,” explained Patty Belletete, who adopted Tommy from the Summit County Animal Shelter in October.
“He’s just an unbelievable dog,” she went on. “In spite of everything he’s gone through, he really has no issues.”
His tale — and his tail — reveal the delight of adopting a pet from the animal shelter, which is hosting an Adopt-a-thon on Saturday.
Tommy’s troubles started in January 2007, when he developed a bad infection in his leg. Apparently unable to care for the dog and unwilling to relinquish him to the vet’s office treating the infection, his owner instead tried to destroy him.
Only Tommy didn’t die.
According to animal-shelter records, he wandered bleeding onto Colorado 9 near Everist Materials north of Silverthorne with a shattered jaw and bullet wounds to his muzzle and neck.
A motorist stopped, initially thinking the dog had been hit in traffic, and called 911.
After what surely must have been the worst day of Tommy’s life, his luck began to change, as the community mobilized to save him.
Animal Rescue of the Rockies transported him in a blizzard to a veterinary hospital in Wheat Ridge for emergency surgery. Animal-shelter aides began spreading the news about him through the organization’s extensive word-of-mouth network. A local couple stepped up to foster the wounded dog in their home during his lengthy recovery. Once he was back on his feet, he was even the guest of honor at a fundraiser held at Breckenridge’s Salt Creek restaurant in July.
Belletete first met Tommy in September, when her longtime companion dog, Molly, grew old and sick. An avid walker, she knew she wanted to find another dog to walk with. A trip to the animal shelter near the County Commons brought her face to face with the large dog.
“I thought he was beautiful, but a little bigger than what I had planned,” she said. Immediately attracted to him, she brought both Molly and her husband, Dave, to the shelter to meet him.
She didn’t hear about his history until her third trip.
“He got in my heart,” she said. “We couldn’t let him go.”
Molly died in October, and, after several more visits with Tommy, the Belletetes took home their new friend.
Today, Belletete has nothing but praise for animal-shelter staff and volunteers. A self-employed event planner, she takes Tommy everywhere with her. He loves to walk and appears to like everybody he meets.
“I couldn’t be happier,” she said. “Because he’s a great dog. I really believe it was meant to be.”
Local shelter sponsors Adopt-a-thon
Between six and eight million dogs and cats enter the nation’s animal shelters each year, according to estimates from the Humane Society of the United States. Of these, about half are adopted and half euthanized.
Summit County Animal Shelter administrative clerk and humane educator Donna Taylor hopes Saturday’s Adopt-a-thon will encourage anyone who’s ever thought about adoption to stop by and meet the available animals.
“We’ll have lots of volunteers to show the animals,” she said. Normally, prospective adopters have to wait at least 24 hours to take home an animal. Same day adoption may be a possibility during Saturday’s event, however.
“But we’ll still make sure we place the right animal in the right home,” Taylor emphasized.
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