Blue Bear’s father has been his sole home for the previous 11 years, but that all changed last week.
Blue Bear’s father couldn’t find a place to stay, so the senior mastiff wound up at Trenton Animals Rock. Blue Bear was perplexed as to why he was at a shelter and why his father wouldn’t stop sobbing. He barked and barked, terrifying the staff at the shelter until his father urged him to sit and Danielle Gletow approached him.
Gletow, director of Trenton Animals Rock, told The Dodo, “I walked up to him and he instantly nestled his head into my waist and let me touch him.” “It was simply devastating,” adds the narrator.
Blue Bear wasn’t violent, Gletow recognized; he was simply bewildered and unhappy. Blue Bear’s owner was guaranteed that the dog would not have to spend the night at the shelter, so Gletow set out to find him a foster home. Blue Bear started to mourn as he was torn from his own family.
“We attempted to put Blue Bear in a cage just to get our bearings and make some calls, and he was just really upset,” Gletow added. “So we brought him inside the office and he sat down on my lap.”
“He’d walk over to the door and sit in front of it weeping every time he had,” she added. “When he turned around, he had tears flowing down his cheeks. I’m not exaggerating when I say I was in tears.”
Gletow told Blue Bear she wouldn’t leave the shelter until he found a temporary home that night. Blue Bear weighed 130 pounds and had terrible arthritis in his rear legs, so she realized it wouldn’t be simple to place him.
Gletow shot a Facebook Live video of Blue Bear, and calls and comments started flooding in from all across the nation.
Thankfully, Madison, a local foster, watched the terrible video and volunteered to take Blue Bear so he could begin to relax. Blue Bear eventually started to relax at Madison’s residence.
“We placed a cushion on the floor, and he lay his head on it, and Madison and I just sat with him and hugged him and spent some time with him,” Gletow recalled. “He’s a wonderful darling.” He reminds me of a gentle giant.”
Gletow is still in communication with Blue Bear’s father, but she is working to give Blue Bear with a suitable place to spend his golden years while his position remains unsettled.
“We’re going to put him in foster care for a bit to give him a chance to decompress,” says the mother “Gletow said. “We’ll start searching for a home with someone who is knowledgeable with large-breed dogs after the vet has examined him and we know what his requirements are, and we’ll put him on vitamins and potentially acupuncture.”
Trenton Animals Rock is just one example of how they are striving to support the creatures in their neighborhood.
“A lot of people in this city aren’t aware that this is a no-kill shelter, so they’re afraid to call us,” she adds “Gletow stated. “We’ve sought to make this shelter a more friendly place for the community, proving that we can be a resource. They don’t have to be frightened to call out for help before it’s too late.”
While Blue Bear’s destiny remains unknown, one thing is certain: no more tears will be shed.
