13016 West 151st Street Homer Glen IL 60491 (708)301-1594 Open 11 am-4 pm Tuesday through Saturday Closed Sunday and Monday webmistress

Here's the happy ending story of Ginger: Ginger when she first came to live with us, weighing 30 pounds On August 31, 2004, we had to put our Australian Cattle Dog, Sydney, down due to cancer. Sydney was a beloved member of our family, and that Tuesday was the hardest day of our lives. My 13 year old son took it the hardest. I swore that I would not adopt another dog. I was done with the slobber, the incessant barking, the dirty dog run, the squeeky toys, the vet bills, and the puffs of hair floating around the house. Two days later, my 11 year old daughter and I stopped at TLC just to see what dogs they had. We had come to look for a smaller, less hyper, dog than our Sydney (Australian Cattle Dogs are very hyper!). At first, we didn't see anything that interested us, and we were going to leave. All the dogs were barking frantically, except one, and, even though she was completely undernourished, she was still a bigger dog than we were looking for. But something about this dog made us stop and give her one more look. We decided to take her out to the yard and see what she was like. I asked the worker at TLC what kind of dog she was, and was told she was a terrier mix. Well, she was so happy to be out in the yard, and she was so quiet, not barking at all (which was a nice change from our Cattle Dog who liked to "talk back" to us just like teenagers), that we instantly fell in love with her. I called my husband at work to tell him that I was adopting a dog. He told me I was nuts and not to do it. He wanted to see the dog first. I told him, Trust me, she is perfect and we love her already! My daughter and I filled out the paperwork, had our new dog chipped, paid the fees, and left with this beautiful, quiet dog with big, Dumbo ears. We went to my son's school to pick him up and surprise him. He immediately fell in love with the new dog and wasn't angry at all that he didn't have any say so in picking out the new dog. When my husband came home from work, he was instantly in love, too. I brought our new dog to the vet and found out that she is a Pitt Bull mix. At first, this scared me and I wondered if I should return her to TLC. You see, I believed all the negative publicity about Pit Bulls that I had seen on the news. But I couldn't see how this dog was ever going to be aggresive. She seemed like such a scaredy cat! So I did a little research on my own and found out that Pit Bulls are very sweet, affectionate dogs, and are only as agressive as their owners try to make them. In fact, the Pit Bull used to be considered one of the greatest of family pets. Petey from The Little Rascals was a Pitt Bull, so was the Buster Brown and RCA dogs. Well, I decided to trust my instincts and we kept the dog. After a day or two, we decided on the name Ginger. Ginger was a stray, about one year old, weighing only 30 pounds, ribs protruding profusely, and with what our vet determined were cigarette burns on her face and legs. She is the sweetest dog I have ever owned. She loves to play with other dogs and loves people. She does bark now, but it took her several months of living with us to do so. Now she barks when someone comes to the door, and she will bark at you if you STOP petting her. She has gained weight and is healthy. We adopted a kitten in March, and the two are best friends! She has been with us for 10 months now and we couldn't imagine life without her. She has helped us to heal after losing our Cattle Dog. Thanks, TLC, for finding Ginger for us. We know that she was born to be a part of our family. It just took her a year to find her way to us. The Olsson Family New Lenox Ginger and Bailey sleeping