Brinkley&Me: The Story of a Nearly Euthanized Puppy

The story begins on July 6^th when a friend at work shared a picture with me of a dog on the “CODE RED” list at the Fort Worth Animal Shelter. For those of you unfamiliar with this, the CODE RED list contains animals that are on schedule to be euthanized, if not adopted or tagged before that night. Tagging an animal means that an individual or organization have said that you will pick up the dog the next day. If you don’t, the dog will be back on the list.

Bear with me, this story has a happy ending, but the sadder details need to be shared. In an attempt to save these helpless animals lives, shelter volunteers post pictures of the animals on the CODE RED list on Facebook in order for word to spread. It has spared a lot of lives, especially with such a short timeframe from finding out which will be on the list and when the time of euthanization will be.

Why does this have to happen in the first place? People get puppies because they think they are cute, then find out they are a lot of work and turn them in to shelters with no consequence. Other individuals cannot pay for the costs of their pet anymore, or have to move into places where they cannot keep their pet. A lot of animals are simply just found on the side or the road and turned into the shelter. Shelters don’t have room for all of the animals and when that is the case, animals get euthanized.

How is it determined who gets euthanized? Cats and dogs can be on the CODE RED list for a variety of reasons. It could be a simple URI (upper respiratory infection) that could be easily treated with antibiotics, skin problems that could also be easily treated, or the animals breed/personality could be classified as aggressive or too shy. This means that a lot of dogs that are perfectly healthy can be on the list just for their breed having a bad reputation.

All of this is super sad.

The puppy shared with me was on the list because of skin problems.

Shelter Picture

My friend had shared the photo with me because she had heard that my boyfriend, Brandon, was interested in getting a puppy in the next few months. He had just gotten his big boy job, an apartment by himself, and he was looking for a dog to make the place a little less quiet.

Brandon was debating between getting a chocolate lab or golden retriever. He wanted a puppy and was really interested in adopting a dog that needed a home. For the past few months I had been sending him photos of golden retrievers with fosters that needed homes. The timing was just never right.

When I sent Brandon the photo above, his response was “Can I go get him tonight?”.

The next few hours were chaos. It was a Friday afternoon and trying to get ahold of the shelter was extremely difficult. The dog’s photo didn’t have an ID number so they couldn’t locate the dog. When I finally found the dogs ID from searching the website, the employee at the shelter told me the dog wasn’t on the CODE RED list. I emailed the volunteers who disagreed. It turns out the volunteers know more than the employees. We wanted to pick the puppy up that night but the shelter closed at 6 and there was no way we could get to Fort Worth by then. Another friend at work was willing to do anything to help and called her husband to see if he could go get Ein. The shelter said adoptions couldn’t be done on the phone. I emailed the volunteers to ensure that the puppy was tagged, therefore wouldn’t be euthanized, and I was told we could pick him up anytime the next day. The shelter opened at noon, so naturally Brandon and I were there, with Brinkley in the backseat, at 11:15.

I’ll spare you the details of the two hours at the shelter. All I will say is that it is a very unorganized place, with far too many dogs going in, and not enough being adopted. To help my mental stability, I stayed in the car with Brinkley while Brandon waited to get the puppy. Two hours later, he got him.

Brandon brought the small, dirty, bloody puppy out to the car. Brinkley’s first reaction to seeing his brother? Growling. “WHAT IS THIS UGLY DOG DOING IN THE CAR?!”

Despite the muddy blond coat, the bloody back from the microchipping, and the incredibly scabbed face from an infection, the puppy was adorable. While small, you could tell he was a warrior who had faced many nights on the streets. Brandon decided to name him Albus Einstein (a little bit of science, a little bit of magic) but Ein for short.

It’s been two months with Ein and a lot of vet visits. I would share the detailed story but the photos below tell the story better. Ein had a tick on his neck, a tapeworm in his belly, and mites all over his body. The mites took advantage of his malnourished body and gave him scabs all over his face. Despite all of this, he was the happiest dog you’ve ever seen.

He is now mite free, double his weight, and still the happiest dog…ever. It took Brinkley a few hours, but the boys now act like brothers. They love to play and do everything together. They are truly happier together.

Through out all of it, I never saw any hesitation from Brandon about going through this journey to get Ein well. You could just see the joy in Ein and picturing him being put down for something that just needed simple antibiotics was unbearable. Ein has so much love to give, always wanting to be in your lap and giving you kisses. I swear he is always smiling.

Ein now spends his time running laps around Brinkley, attempting to get the plunger from under the sink, and searching for any possible scrap of food he can find.

The pictures below show Ein from the day Brandon adopted him to now.