Robbie’s story with us began on a hot summer day in 2015.

 One of our supporters contacted us about a big young dog that had been dumped near her home in the Yakima lower valley near Sunnyside.  He had been roaming the area for a couple weeks, playing with the neighborhood kids and existing on the junk food they shared with him but he had several concerning injuries and needed help.

 

True to his good nature, Robbie, who had never seen us before, was more than happy to load up with us and take a ride to the vet clinic where he was estimated to be about 11 months old.  He had two deep and infected bite wounds on one leg that had abscessed plus a very nasty eye injury, the cause of which, left our vets stumped.  To make matters worse, he appeared to have an undescended testicle which ended up being a completely missing testicle.  Once upon a time, it had been there.  Whether he lost it in a fight or a botched neuter attempt or a barbed wire fence, we cannot say but the search to figure out it was no longer there, left him with an incision from groin to sternum.   

 

Once recovered from his leg inuries and neuter, we then took him to a canine opthamologist who determined Robbie’s eye injury had been caused by being sprayed in the eye with some type of acidic or caustic liquid.  After two surgeries, most of the scar tissue was removed giving him much deserved relief but 90% of his vision was permanently lost and his Pop-Eye grin would be permanent. 

As always, Robbie took all the doctoring and medicating in stride, never holding a grudge and always happy to see everyone, even knowing they would poke and prod and probe.

 

Once Robbie was on the road to recovery and feeling much better, we discovered just how truly strong, robust and enthusiastic about life and the people in it, he was.  He went through three trusted and experienced foster homes and was returned by his first adopter for being “too much dog”, before catching the attention of the Neauschwander family of Salem OR.   The Neaushwanders love and had experience with big breeds and Robbie, with all his zest for living and athletic charm, was a perfect match for their active family.  He was adopted in March of 2016 and the love affair, as you can see, just continues to grow.

 

These tough dogs challenge us as rescuers to become more than what we are.  Every volunteer who came into contact with Robbie, while he was in our care, fell in love with his absolute joy for life and wide open heart.  I dare say they learned about themselves in the process too.  And while every dog we send on its way to its forever home, takes a little piece of our heart with them when they go, Robbie also left in his wake, a fire that will burn forever.