Match made in Heaven

Martha Petty lost her husband and life partner of 60-plus years back in January, just before COVID hit.

Earlier this month she lost her 15-year-old companion dog, a miniature pinscher named Daisy.

That left Martha, in her 80s, alone in Thompson Falls, with no family and only a Siamese/tabby cat who preferred roaming the neighborhood to staying at home in a lap.

Martha, a registered nurse in decades past, realized how much she needed the company of a dog who, like Daisy, was content to snuggle in her lap and sleep with her at night. A complicated disability prohibits her from standing more than two minutes without excruciating pain. Hence, she's living a quiet, fairly immobile and isolated life, away from her grown children who are scattered around the country. Having been a dog owner for many years, she knew a dog was important to her emotional health. She would have to replace Daisy.

She checked with the local animal shelter, which had plenty of small dogs that would fit the bill. But the bill was too high. Living on what she terms a "deficit income," she was unable to pay the $200 to $400 adoption fees required by the shelter.

During a visit to Internet Kitchen, she ran into her friend Joe Altmann, and shared her desire to find a new companion dog. Altmann suggested she call Jan Manning, local dog trainer, for some assistance. Martha called Manning that evening. Manning posted on the "Sanders County 411" Facebook page, "Asking for a friend...older widow looking for a small adult (housebroken) companion/lap dog. Quiet home in town, fenced yard. She is on a fixed income and cannot afford a dog from TRACS."

Within minutes Manning had a flood of empathetic responses on the Facebook page. Some offered to help pay the adoption fee for a TRACS dog. Others suggested a shelter in Ponderay that offers a "Seniors to Seniors" program, where a senior citizen can adopt a senior dog at no charge. Manning checked the Ponderay shelter's website and found there were no small dogs available at the time.

Someone popped up onto the "Sanders County 411" post with the suggestion, "I have a friend looking for a home for an older lapdog..it was her mom's but her mom passed away. It's a little poodle..." That person then forwarded the post to the friend who had the dog.

Minutes later Manning received a message from Shelly Hussey, one of her dog training students from Heron. Hussey wrote, "Hi, it's me who has the little poodle! She was my mom's. All she wants to do is sit on a little old lady's lap and snuggle with them. She has missed her own person since my mom passed. I have not been actively looking for someone for her. It would be very important that if anything were to happen to her new person I would get her back. She is crate trained. She is potty trained. She does need a haircut every couple of months. She had some dental work done. Lots of teeth pulled. She is probably eight or nine. She is allergic to chicken."

It sounded like an ideal match! Manning had Hussey call Martha Petty that evening, and Hussey agreed to deliver the dog to Martha the following day.

"It was a perfect fit," Hussey messaged Manning the next evening, and Manning in turn shared the happy ending with the rest of the "Sanders County 411" family. Since then, offers have come in to help Martha purchase quality canned dog food without chicken as an ingredient.

"I'm calling her Babs," says Martha, stroking the miniature poodle's hair while posing for a picture. "Her name was Babette, but that just seemed a little much to me. She is perfect. I really believe Providence was involved in getting us matched up so quickly. It was meant to be!"