There was Sandra Shaffer, who has been involved in rescue for most of her adult life, working both alone and with other rescue organizations. She had worked in vet's offices and had many animals of her own. But she always yearned to do more. Then one day, she received a brochure in the mail from a place called Best Friends in Utah. She was elated as she knew then what it was that she had been searching for. The "DREAM" began. She worked for many years alone, trying to build a similar place but seemed to always fall short of the goal.

Then, she met a very nice man, Patrick Kelly, who had become involved in rescuing a number of dogs on his own. He had a strong desire to help the animals, but was not sure how to go about it. They had met at an organizational meeting for the soon to be County Animal Shelter. They soon found that they had similar interests and since Pat had some undeveloped land and Sandra was looking for a place to build the DREAM, they soon realized that they had been brought together for a greater purpose. The DREAM began to take shape as they started to build slowly and with only their own money.

The photo below is a favorite because it shows what 2nd Chance Animal Sanctuary is all about. The animals look so peaceful and content. These three used to spend each morning like this.

This is Harry the cat, Tori my Dachshund, with Noah the donkey. The picture brings back a beautiful memory of watching them together every morning.

Our mascot and miracle dog..............

So named because he endured 4 days (that we know of) as a "dead dog" on the side of the highway.

In February of 2004, we received a phone call from some telephone cable employee who was installing fiber optic cable, along the side of a busy highway in our county. The workmen noticed what they thought was a dead dog's body lying just off the pavement and then suddenly, the dog raised it's head. They quickly got him food and water, but were afraid to move him, fearing that his back was broken. They called a vet who was about 3 miles down the road and asked him to come and at least, put him out of his misery, but the vet refused. The workers knew that he had been there for at least 4 days because they had been working in that area and had seen the "body" earlier but had not noticed that he was alive. They then contacted the Sheriff's Dept. who was of no help since our county had no animal shelter. It was on a Friday when they made this startling discovery, but it was the following Sunday before we, at 2nd Chance, were contacted. It had been raining and was 18 degrees for that entire weekend. We immediately went to get him and we called ahead to have our vet meet us at his office. When we finally found him, he raised his head and looked at us as if to say "what took you so long?" We gently rolled him onto a blanket we had brought, so as not to further injure him. We knew his back left leg was severely broken and possibly his pelvis. He had a large open gash in the side on which he had been laying for so long. We gently placed him in the front seat of the truck. As he laid his head in my lap on that long trip to the vet, I looked into the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. I promised him then that if he would just trust us, he would have a better life from then on. He never whimpered or offered to bite, even though we knew he was in tremendous pain. At the vets, we learned that his leg was broken and would require pins and maybe more than one surgery. He also had a broken tail, right where it attached to the pelvis. They said that it would always hang down because of the nature of the break. We endured several agonizing days of waiting to see about any neurological damage and if he would have use of his back legs and be able to relieve himself. They told us that they could fix the broken bones, but nerves were a lot more tricky. After 3 days and much discussion and much soul searching about whether it would be kinder to put him down, we decided that since he had an undying spirit and a strong will to live, we felt that we really had no right to make a decision as to whether he would live or die. He had come too far to be denied his chance at a real life where someone would love and care for him.

After 2 leg surgeries, 1 hernia surgery, 12 months of love and TLC, and several thousand dollars later, he has become our mascot dog and he truly has earned his name of "Trooper". On the day that we brought Trooper home from the vet's office, we received a special thank you when Trooper suddenly "wagged" his broken tail. While we will still be paying for awhile on his vet bills, we don't regret for a minute, our decision to give him a 2nd Chance and would gladly do it again. Trooper is now a happy 2 year old who runs and plays with the best of them (with only a slight limp and almost no scar) and YES, he DOES wag that tail.

But best of all...............he has taught us a valuable lesson about what it means to truly be involved in RESCUE !!

This little Aussie dog is Blossom. She was actually found lying in a ditch on the side of the road. Although thought to have been hit by a car at first, apparently she was just tired and worn out since the pads of her feet were quite raw, indicating that she had traveled a long way.

Meet Mia (the hand shaker). Mia and what we think were her two daughters and another young dog were rescued off Hwy. 160. They were sleeping in a pasture last winter when it was about 10 degrees and they were very, very hungry and cold.

Noah, the donkey, getting some petting from Sandra as Bob, the Critter Haven treasurer, looks on. The donkey is named Noah because he survived the flood....tornado storm where he literally drowned in a mud puddle after being separated from his mother at one day of age. Sandra actually breathed him back to life by using mouth to snout and wrapping him in warm towels. Noah loves to play ball, chasing a ball just like a dog.....and yes, Noah brings the ball back to Sandra so she can throw it again.

Two of Sandra's personal dogs going from their pens to the big play yard for exercise while their pen is being cleaned. The black Great Dane is Mollie; the blue one is Sadie, both rescued from a backyard breeder. Sadie's leg is deformed due to the growth plate being broken when she was a pup as the mother stepped on her because there were so many puppies (13) in her small pen.

This English Pointer is Bud. Bud was found running a populated neighborhood and so skinny he could hardly stand. He also had a terrible cough. He was heartworm positive and had pneumonia. He has now been treated and is working on gaining some much needed weight.

This sweet girl is Mocha, the Pitt Bull, who is being taken for a walk on leash. Mocha was actually being dragged off to the woods by her former owner because she would not kill wild boar. A nice young man who happened to see what was going on, paid the guy $20.00 to not kill her and to let him have her. He then called us and we agreed to take her. She is so sweet and does not have a mean bone in her body. She just wants to be loved.

This is Gypsy who was rescued after she was found walking down a major highway. She was with a small purebred Dachshund at the time. The Dachshund went to a Dachshund rescue and was adopted immediately. Gypsy has been here for two years and is still looking for her forever home. She is very sweet and craves attention all of the time.

No, this is not a case of animal abuse. It's Rueben playing "dead" when I pretend to shoot him. He was pulled from the Huntsville Humane Society where he and another Aussie named Rascal, had been for over five months. I pulled them on Saturday as they were to be put down on Monday morning. Rascal was immediately adopted through Aussie Rescue. Rueben is now very bonded to me but had dog aggressive issues and would have been put down by Aussie Rescue (their policy) if I had not adopted him, myself.

The black and tan little girl is Snickers and is one of four pups who came in with their mom when their owner was killed in a car accident. The golden girl is Faith who came from a South Alabama shelter that is high kill and still uses a gas chamber. She was one of four dogs we pulled just before Christmas last year. Two of the four have already been adopted to wonderful homes.

This beautiful red head is Chili. She is an Australian Cattle Dog who was thrown out of a car window near a local automobile junkyard. She was the perfect junkyard dog except that she does not do well with cats. Hence, she was destined to be dumped once again, but this time it would have been to the pound and it would have meant a sure death, as they only hold a dog for three days.

Mia, the hand-shaker is on the left. Nakia is my wolf hybrid who I rescued over 10 years ago. The black Chow is Grizz and he was rescued 14 years ago. They are great friends and looking forward to me getting all of my fence up soon.

The little Beagle boy is Hunter. He was rescued by my best friend at a Jack's Hamburger stand on a very busy interstate. The other dog is Sassy and she is one of the six pups that we trapped last year after their mother was hit and killed by a car. The three girls and three boys were born under an old abandoned and collapsed log farm house. We had quite a time catching these pups as they had never been touched by humans. It took us three days to catch all of them and Sassy, which is short for Sassafras was the last one caught.

The headless dog on the left is Sport. The black and white one is Barkley (so named because he raised such a fuss at 5 weeks of age, barking and trying to run us away from that old farmhouse). The only black one of the litter is the other little girl, Noir, which is French for 'black'.

The dog's name is Butter. Butter was in a pen in Sandra's back yard with some other dogs. The same family adopted both Butter and Rascal. For 3 weekends, they came down to 2nd Chance and took the two dogs for a Sunday outing, buying all the supplies they would need, but Sandra kept the dogs until yesterday (4/8) so that the couple could get their fence in place, etc. They are both now re-homed and sleeping in the bed with their new owners.

Butter and Rascal are big buddies and get along great. A happy ending for these two lovable dogs.

That's Harry on the prowl again. He is such a 'ham' and 'camera hog'!!!! On a side note --- Harry is named for Harry Houdini. When he was first brought to my former feed and farm supply store, my ex-husband had to put my other two cats, Samantha and Sabrina in their carrier at night, so they did not set off the alarm system. He had to leave and did not have a crate for Harry, so he decided to take him along in his truck. He got out and left his truck running while he locked the gates to the business. He had automatic door locks and Harry pushed the button down and the truck was still running. My ex-husband went back in the store and got a coat hanger to try to get into the truck. Harry kept playing with the hanger, thinking it was a toy for him. Finally, the ex got in and looked around and could not find Harry anywhere in the back seat of the truck or under the seat. Then he looked over on the passenger side and noticed that Harry was sitting out in the parking lot, looking at him like "what is your problem?" He had rolled down the power window on the other side and got out while my ex was trying to unlock the driver side door. What a personality and Harry thinks that he is a dog, rather than a cat. He does not have any finicky cat-like habits. He is just a big goof-off guy!!!

The Dog Quarters, at a glance. A lot has been accomplished in just one year's time, but there is still much more that we have yet to accomplish. At 2nd Chance Animal Sanctuary, EVERY animal deserves and gets that 2nd chance. YOU can help by helping us to make our DREAM become a REALITY. Donations would be greatly appreciated and may be sent to:

2nd Chance Animal Sanctuary
P. O. Box 193
Hayden, Alabama 35079

E-mail sshaffer01@bellsouth.net

PLEASE BE A RESPONSIBLE OWNER & SPAY OR NEUTER YOUR PETS

THROUGH EDUCATION, SPAYING AND NEUTERING AND HELPING TO ENACT NEW AND BETTER LAWS, WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE ONE ANIMAL AT A TIME.