Sixteen years ago this April I got a call from Laural Pierce that would change my life and give my family almost sixteen years of pure joy. For some reason I need to document that story. 1993: My husband Tim and I had just moved into our new home in Shelby, New York in February of that year. The wind chill on the day we moved was in the single digits. We brought with us two Basset Hounds (one a Save-A-Pet dog), four cats (two of them Save-A-Pet), two raccoons and a Red Tailed Hawk (I'm a licensed wildlife rehabilitator). Needless to say, my husband is a saint because the move was not an easy one. What we didn't know was that the former owner of our house would leave behind two un-neutered cats and a dog with severe mammary cancer. All of the animals had lived their lives outside in the cold. We spent almost $3000 that month on cancer surgery, and spay/neuter surgeries for the animals that didn't belong to us. We found homes for the two cats and ended up adopting Sarah, the cancer-ridden dog. Little did we know we would only be able to give Sarah six months of love and warmth for her more than 10 years of life on a rope, tied to a dog house. . That April I received the call from Laural Pierce, dog officer of Save-A-Pet. I had worked with Save-A-Pet fostering kittens, and we'd adopted several animals from Save-A-Pet before we moved so it was not unusual to get a call from her. But I will never forget that call. Here's how the conversation went: "Hi Wendi? It's Laural from Save-A-Pet. Can you take 11 dogs?" "Are you high Laural? Who's going to tell my husband?" "I know, I know. Well, the Heartland dog warden just picked up a dog that was thrown out of the window of a truck driving down RT 104. He put the dog in his kennel and last night she delivered 10 puppies." "He says he's only going to give five days for the owner to claim them and then he's going to put down all 11 dogs." "Oh God, Laural, what am I going to tell Tim?"