On Friday evening, as I was driving back from Missoula after saying goodbye to dear old Dillon, Alayne called me in the truck to say I had just received an email about a blind Beagle named Briggs. He was on death row in a rural Georgia animal control shelter. The email, which came from someone we don’t know, included a link to the Beagle’s PetFinder page with a photo. Alayne said, "He looks just like Widget."
I got home, read the email and looked at the photo of Briggs. Yep, looked like the Widge. Alayne and I discussed it and decided we’d offer to take the dog. I planned on Saturday morning to email Morgan S., who runs Atlanta Beagle Rescue, and ask if she could go rescue this Beagle and help send him out to us. Morgan was the person who had sent us Widget, many years ago, and more recently sent us blind Willie as well.
Amazingly, when I got up Saturday morning and walked into my office, I had an email waiting for me from … Morgan! The subject line read: "Widget’s Cousin?" She was emailing to say, "I’m pulling this little guy today…" and it was Briggs. Morgan wanted to know if we’d be able to take him. I emailed her right back to say yes.
About 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Morgan emailed again. She wrote, "We successfully got Mr. Briggs out today. He’s very sweet! I think you may get a two-for-one because aside from being blind he’s also wobbly." Morgan attached a photo she took of him, which is what you see above.
On Sunday evening, Morgan emailed to say, "When he got up this morning he actually couldn’t get up – he looked a bit like Bambi on the ice. Freaked him out and me! I carried him outside and once he "walked" around a bit it got better…. When I woke him up from a nap this afternoon he went in circles a bit before he got his bearings and walked out into the yard. Aside from his eyes he doesn’t have any outward appearance of an injury or anything that might explain this."
She shot some video of Briggs so we could see him, and here it is:
As you can see, he clearly has some kind of neurological issue, but exactly what we can’t tell. He’s a "two-fer" indeed. Morgan is going to take him to her vet this week, and then we will work on his flight reservations for his trip to Montana.
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Alayne and I wanted to thank everyone who posted such kind and heartfelt comments about losing Dillon. We are very, very touched by your compassion. It’s never easy to write those posts about the death of one of our beloved animals, but we are always overwhelmed by the emotional support we receive in response. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
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Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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