Initiative: Rescued Bestie Feature, in collaboration with The 13 Project
Featured Canine: Serafina, 5 1/2 y/o Plott hound mix
Rescue Facilitator: Northeast Animal Shelter, Salem, MA
Serafina, since day one of her introduction to the neighborhood 3 years ago, has been a total love of a dog... a snugglebug... a mush when it comes to human attention - but a HOUND at heart, with a nose that will take her anywhere there might be food. One of 13 puppies in a litter originally adopted out from a shelter in West Virginia, she and 4 others were sent north. Rather tragically, two of her northeasterly sibs (both having found a home together in NJ) were killed in an auto accident before they were a year old... but Sera fared much better, and at 12 weeks old she found her forever home with Catherine, a retired librarian, and wonderfully wise older woman.
Sera is a striking brindled Plott hound mix - the streaky, variagated pattern that covers her is one of my very favorite coat colors, though optically, it has a tenency to look grizzled, aged, or muddied - an illustion that can bely the true age of it's wearer. At just over 5 y/o, Sera is nowhere near a senior, and it takes but a rambunctious play bow to confirm it. Catherine, on the other hand, is well beyond anything that could be perceived as rambunctous... and yet, she quite skillfully gave Sera one of the most structured and smart puppydoms possible.
Diligent with her training, tireless in her desire to be the center of Sera's universe, and exceptionally consistent in her routine, Catherine is a woman who both understands dogs, and has the humility to know that physical strength and agility are not the keys to good inter-species communication. She is a brilliant, compassionate soul, and I give her immense credit for taking on the lunacy of such a young hound dog (let's be honest, aaaallll puppies are NUTS!), at a stage when most people would be switching to sedentary house cats.
This being a dog blog, I will leave Catherine's portrait to your imagination, dear readers, but as an assist - what I love most about the vision of Catherine and Sera, together, is that they appear literally cut from the same marled, brindle cloth: a little ragged around the edges, perhaps not as sleek as those around them, but get up close and you discover their vibrance, and their perfect compliment in each other's energies. This exceptionally well-read, unflappable human being, and her bursting-at-the-seams, bright-heart of a dog - together - make one unmatchable pair.
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