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By Vickie Snow, Staff writer
The Palucki family, from left, Rob, his wife Julie and son Brent, recently adopted Missy (in Julie's arms) to help keep Abby, their other Beagle, company.
Carol Dorsett/Daily Southtown
Julie Palucki is a woman with a big heart and two little dogs with interesting tales.
Abby, the alpha of the pack, is blind.
After glaucoma forced veterinarians to remove her eyeballs, prosthetics were put in place so her face wouldn't sink in and her eyelids were sewn shut.
Now 8 years old, Abby gets around fine. She just looks like she's sleepwalking.
The other beagle, Missy, is the new kid at the Paluckis' New Lenox home. It's a 2-acre respite from Missy's summer home, a kennel at the South Suburban Humane Society in Chicago Heights.
That is where her story begins.
Palucki, an occupational therapist, wanted a playmate for Abby after her first beagle, Elmo, had to be euthanized in March at age 16.
"Being blind, I thought she'd do better with another dog in the house because she'd follow the sound of Elmo's collar," she said.
While Abby and Elmo were from a breeder, Palucki considered a shelter this time around.
"When I was a kid we had a mutt from a shelter and he lived until 17," she said.
On Aug. 2, she found Abby's new playmate when she opened the Daily Southtown's Life section and fell in puppy love with a photograph of Missy.
"When I saw Missy's face in the newspaper, she looked so sad and like she needed somebody," Palucki said. "The picture made me go get her."
The experience confirmed a shelter was the right choice.
"I thought it'd be a sad experience," Palucki said. "But it wasn't. It was warm and caring."
Palucki is among dozens of people to choose a shelter over a breeder or pet store in response to "Looking for a Home," a weekly feature the Daily Southtown started in May to help minimize the number of abandoned animals in the south suburbs.
So far, we think we deserve a big pat -- or paw -- on the back, along with all the volunteers who do their best to keep track of all the animals and people coming and going through the shelter doors.
Nearly 80 animals at five nearby shelters have been pictured in the Southtown in the last five months.
Shelter managers and volunteers estimate they've had a placement success rate of at least 70 percent.
Plus, "Looking for a Home," they said, not only generated more traffic but also adoptions of animals not pictured who proved to be irresistible nonetheless.
"We've had a lot of people call to say they've seen them in the paper," Judi Stone of the South Suburban Humane Society said. "Sometimes those calls lead to adoptions. If that animal is gone, we say we've got more, and we always do."
Many of the dogs and cats were adopted within days, or even hours, of their photos and stories appearing in the Southtown.
At the Tender Loving Care (TLC) Animal Shelter in Homer Glen, a basset hound named Bo Jangle, a husky pup named Baby and a 3-legged cat named Lucky were adopted in May and June shortly after being featured in "Looking for a Home."
One of our most touching tales dates back to the beginning.
A 2-year-old black cat named Calamity Jane had been at the Peoples Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) in Tinley Park for more than a year.
Within days of being pictured in the Southtown on May 17, she finally was adopted.
"A lot of adult cats have been getting adopted, which is rare because of all the kittens we have!" PAWS volunteer Marjie Woodard said. "But I'm not complaining. The more we get adopted, the more we can save."
Some animals took a little more time or even a slight makeover to find a home.
A large dog named Shay, at PAWS since March, was profiled May 24 in the Southtown.
"In June, I took her to the groomers and they shaved her completely," Woodard said. "A week and a half later she got adopted."
Then there's Punky, a 66-pound golden retriever mix rescued by the Fulton County Humane Society, which has no shelter of its own.
Kate Brock plays with Punky in the back yard of their Blue Island home.
Art Vassy/Daily Southtown
"Their time there is very limited," TLC shelter director Janine Carter said. "Well, Punky ran out of time."
He also tested positive for heartworm, which is expensive to treat.
Volunteers drove to southern Illinois, brought Punky to TLC on July 29, and gave $100 toward his care.
He was profiled Aug. 16 in the Southtown, but to no avail.
"Poor Punky just sat there," Carter said. "He'd look so forlorn and thump his tail when people walked by. Everybody looked the other way."
Finally, someone came to the rescue. Again.
"I fell in love," Kate Brock, of Blue Island, said.
She had seen Punky's picture in the Southtown and continued to follow his story on the shelter's Web site.
When Punky, 2 years old, sat there week after week, Brock said she had to rescue him and did so Sept. 29.
"He's such a sweetheart," Brock said. "He's the biggest baby in the world, but he makes me feel safe when I go running at night."
Brock is fond of calling him Punky Bear due to his teddy bear-like nature.
As a family educator at Aunt Martha's Youth Services, Brock hopes to train him as a therapy dog.
She lives with her grandmother Caryl Muir, who keeps Punky company during the day.
"It's working out just fine," Muir said. "My great-grandchildren loved him right away and he loves them.
"Punky gets along with my two cats," she said. "He gets a little jumpy when someone comes in, but he'd been cooped up so long. We just tell him 'stay down.'"
For Muir and Brock, a shelter is the only place they'll ever go to for a new pet.
"Why pay $800 for a dog (elsewhere) when you can go to a shelter?" Brock asked. "I was raised in a house where we always got dogs at shelters. And I've always had better luck with mutts."
Diane Farley, of Palos Park, adopted an Australian cattle dog from the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge 13 years ago.
When he died in June, she returned to the shelter looking for another cattle dog.
Several visits later, she ended up adopting Scout, a German shepherd/collie mix profiled July 5 in the Southtown.
"He was a stray and the previous owners never responded," Farley said. "That broke my heart."
Scout, she said, is proof that shelter animals are not necessarily problem animals.
He is docile, plays with her puppy Max and likes car rides.
"I walk him and people say, 'What a pretty dog,'" Farley said. "There are so many dogs at shelters that I can't see going to a breeder."
Over at the Palucki household, Abby and newly adopted Missy have lived together for two months and become more used to each other.
"They stick their heads down the same squirrel hole," Palucki said.
The Paluckis -- including Julie's husband Rob and teenage son Brent -- stand by their decision to choose a shelter over another breeder.
"I would definitely recommend a shelter," she said. "But it's a big decision because you are taking on a life that's probably been in other homes before."
The Paluckis are Missy's third family.
"Sometimes, you need a lot of patience," Palucki said. "I just want to give them a good life."
Vickie Snow may be reached at vsnow@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5981.