Goliath has been with us for five months now; we picked him up from the vet where he had been transported after getting bailed out of “doggy jail.” I was only supposed to foster him, but I think I knew the moment I met him that he’d never leave my house. He was covered in Demodex, weighed less than forty pounds, and could barely stand on his wobbly legs. He had the worst case of Kennel Cough I had ever seen, and it took him several weeks to completely kick it. He was heartworm positive, and when I got his medical records after I adopted him, I cried when I read them. There, in black and white, the vet at the shelter had written “recommend euthanasia.” I loaded him into my car, where he tried to sit in my lap as I drove him home. His skin was cracked and bloody in patches, hot all over, and he reeked (Demodex does that). He sneezed and sniffled and snorted and coughed. I guess we bonded at some point between 2 and 4 AM that night, as I sat up petting him and rocking him while he couldn’t sleep thanks to his cough.

Five months later, Goliath is a happy, healthy, hairy, heartworm free clown. He still loves to snuggle. And although he now weighs DOUBLE what he weighed when I picked him up, he still fits perfectly into my lap. He shares his home with a human sister, a Boxer sister, and several foster Boxer siblings. We could not imagine life without him. This guy makes me smile every single day!