Echo's Spirit

Echo, the dog with the puppy spirit, was placed with his adoptive family last weekend. His new home is in Crystal Lake, Illinois. Remember that - it will be important.

Echo has caused us and the Puppy Coordinator great anguish. We cared for him during his sickness with a very nasty bug, then the one which we caused, and subsequent emergency surgery. Marlene and the two of us lost sleep trying to determine if he was guide dog material or not. He had us second guessing every decision.

Yesterday, Marlene returned home from lunch and checked phone messages. There was a message from a woman saying "This is the Humane Society and we have a dog here that belongs to you, Occupaws. A yellow male named Echo."

She called back right away and the Humane Society wanted to know if I was on my way to pick him up. She said she would pick him up in the morning since it's a couple hours away. Marlene asked where in Crystal Lake they were located and they had never heard of Crystal Lake!

They asked where she was calling from. They had never heard of Beloit, either. Marlene asked their location. Ocala, Florida !! Marlene told us "I almost fell over ... I said I was from Wisconsin and she almost fell over ..."

The Humane Society was about ready to close for the day and said they would have the manager call in the morning. Marlene called Echo's new owner, in Crystal Lake, to ask her how Echo was and she said she loved him and he was sitting at her side resting from a run they just took. She put the phone to his mouth so Marlene could hear him breathing. She said "Honestly Marlene he is right here beside me, well and happy. I am sitting on the deck taking acorns out of his mouth."

It speaks volumes about Echo that we thought it possible that he might actually be in Florida. Marlene had even called Chris and told her she might be going on a plane ride to bring Echo home.

Echo's spirit lives in everyone that he has spent time with. Echo's Spirit has put us through yet another scare, not even his fault this time. It turns out that the Human Society scanned the dog's microchip and misread the number.


"Will this dog "ever" stop haunting me?" - Marlene Morga