Special needs require very special people

How big is your heart?

Is it big enough for Grace, an American bulldog who was so relentlessly overbred by the now-deceased pet shop owner who had her in Colchester that she is now, at the age of 6, unable to gain enough weight to hide her ribs? Grace, who was kept in a cage so much that when her paws encounter grass, she isn't quite sure what to do?

Does your heart perhaps have room for Homer, a gorgeous young male purebred Siberian husky found wandering in the Brainard Road section of East Lyme, wearing a collar with no tags and dragging an expensive leather leash?

They call him Homer after the blind Greek poet, because shortly after he was found, he began to lose his eyesight. In the last three weeks, he has gone almost completely blind. No one has claimed him.

Homer and Grace both reside at the Waterford animal control facility. Chris Lamb, the part-time animal control officer for East Lyme, which shares the facility with Waterford, called me last week after I wrote about October being National Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month. She asked for help finding homes for Grace and Homer.

Grace, a beautiful brindle and white purebred American bulldog, has had a life filled with hardship and horror. She arrived at the Waterford pound in August 2008, emaciated and weak, after the pet store owner who had her died and the state seized 15 animals.

"She was heart worm positive and her muscles couldn't support her," Waterford ACO Robert Winters said. She was adopted and the family spent a great deal of money on her medical issues, but then Grace went after their cat, and so they returned her to the pound.

She was adopted a second time, but that family relocated to Hawaii, and so she came back again about a month ago.

She is quite thin, but Winters and Lamb have had her thoroughly tested, and she has no underlying medical issues. They think overbreeding has done damage that cannot be undone.

She cannot go to a family that has cats or other dogs, and Winters does not want her in a home with little children, simply because she is so strong.

"She is what she is," Lamb says. "She loves car rides. She loves to snuggle and give kisses. She deserves a good home. She has been through so much. She had no clue about grass, or stairs, or even walking. It will take a special person to take her the way she is."

Because Grace has been in town custody so long, Winters said, and the shelter is near capacity, there is the possibility she could be euthanized.

They call her "Amazing Grace" because despite what she has been through, she is a sweet dog.

If you have a heart big enough for Grace, or for Homer, call the Waterford pound at 442-9451 or e-mail them at welac@yahoo.com.

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me....

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see."

This is the opinion of Elissa Bass.