LIHUE — Scarlet Spade is one of those who loves animals. She’s one of those who stops to check on lost dogs. So when she came across four abandoned puppies last week, she knew she had to help them. What
LIHUE — Scarlet Spade is one of those who loves animals.
She’s one of those who stops to check on lost dogs.
So when she came across four abandoned puppies last week, she knew she had to help them. What she didn’t know, though, was they would turn out to be her greatest Christmas gift.
“This is all I wanted for Christmas this year, was for these guys to get a chance at life,” she said.
And they will, thanks to the Wailua woman who moved to Kauai earlier this year.
“It just became my mission to do everything I could possibly do,” Spade said Monday.
Spade was zipping along on her Scooter in Anahola last Monday when she found the pups lost, whimpering, looking for someone and running in the middle of the road.
She stopped, corralled the hungry, thin hound/lab mix dogs, and called the Kauai Humane Society. For the next few hours, while she waited, she bonded with the puppies, which she named Hope, Peace, Faith and Charity. She held them, hugged them and comforted them. Residents came by and provided food and water until KHS arrived and took them to the shelter.
But Spade has kept in touch. She visits the dogs — three girls and a boy — often, plays with them and takes their pictures.
“I wanted those dogs to know that someone loved them,” she said.
She was elated when Faith and Peace, the boy, were sent to the Mainland, where they have a better chance of being adopted. Two others are up for adoption here and may be transferred out next week.
She was dismayed to hear the KHS shelter doesn’t have a no-kill policy. She cried when she worried the pups might have to be put down.
“It’s sad to see so many dogs and cats there. The harsh reality is that they’ve got so many,” she said.
Despite everything, she’s determined all four puppies will wind up in loving homes. She laughs as she explains that she didn’t sit for hours in a muddy, mosquito-infested area near an ant hill with the pups only to have them put down.
“It became sort of my Christmas mission,” she said.
Since she moved to Kauai, Spade has helped numerous lost and abandoned dogs. She has come across them at gas stations, at work and on her way home.
And it bothers her. Homeless dogs tug at her heart.
“I can’t handle people not taking care of their animals,” she said. “People really have to love their pets and take care of them.”
This is a tough time of the year for Spade. It was about a year ago her beloved 12-year-old terrier, Titan Sun, passed away after a bout with cancer.
“He was like my son. I treated him like a kid,” she said, smiling. “It was kind of in honor of loving memory of Titan to do this,” she said.
The four pups have, in a short time, become like family, too.
“They love unconditionally,” she said.
She described her reasons for their names:
Faith was the strongest of the bunch.
Peace was the most worried and took care of the ladies, letting them eat first.
“He was so skinny after being rescued he was more relaxed and more at peace,” she said.
Hope was the smallest and Spade was worried most about her health.
And Charity, she was always concerned with changes, making sure with insightful eyes everything would be OK.
Spade still shakes her head that someone would leave them.
“Who dumps puppies whimpering in a road?” she said. “Everybody I’ve talked to, they can’t believe it.”
Still, she says the fact that the four pups survived and may find homes is cause for holiday cheer. She says she is stronger emotionally and spiritually from her time with them. There is sense of peace inside her heart this season.
“This was the only thing that I wanted for Christmas,” she said. “I got my Christmas miracle.”
