A package deal

By MiNDFOOD

Image via Salem Dogs Facebook Page
Image via Salem Dogs Facebook Page
These rescue dogs came with a disclaimer - they must not be separated, and it's for the sweetest reason.

Shelter dogs often come with a tiny bit of damage, whether they were abused in their old homes, or simply not loved enough, the biggest challenge is for the new owners to make these pups feel at home.

When these Doxies were dumped over the fence of an ex-dachshund rescuer, the shelter who then took them on, soon realised just what it was they were dealing with.

Out of the three abandoned dogs, the healthy male with black colouring was adopted almost instantly, it was the other two who were proving difficult to re-home.

Hilda and Herbie had an obvious connection, anxious when separated, the pair remained side by side at all times.

It became apparent that Herbie, a smooth coated, dapped male, had serious vision impairment. He was constantly running into walls and suffered from hearing problems.

“It’s not uncommon for dappled-coloured dogs of any breed to have vision and hearing problems, and when I and the shelter staff saw Herbie walk into walls, it was obvious he couldn’t see much,” Diane Young of Salem Dogs, a rescue home in the area, told the Statesman Journal.

“We believe he sees some shadow and movement, but Hilda shepherds him around and protects him, and we knew immediately they needed to be adopted as a pair,” she continued.

It was discovered that Hilda was acting as Herbie’s seeing-eye dog and helping get around, it was therefore paramount that the pair were adopted as a package deal.

Retirees, John and Dorothy Sinnar of Yakima, Washington, happened to come across a Facebook post , advertising the pair for adoption. Having just recently lost their 16-year-old Dachshund, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

“I’d been Googling dachshunds and knew we wanted a rescue because we’d rescued Annabelle from a puppy mill in La Pine years ago, and I somehow got onto a Salem site and saw Hilda and Herbie,” John Sinnar told the Statesman Journal. “I told Dorothy that ‘I think these are our dogs’ and I knew immediately that we had to go see them.”

So the couple drove 9 hours to meet the dogs and fell for them immediately and needless to say, they didn’t drive home empty handed.

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