Names: Cassie (11 y/o) & Rascal (8 y/o)
Family Members: Cleo, Andrew & Dwayne
5 more dogs: Snickers & Scooter (are brothers they are my bottle babies and they are 6 years old), Busy Bee & Myra (5 y/o) & Jack (2 y/o), & 4 cats: Gabby (17 y/o), Boots, Mittens & Hunter (all around 10 y/o) All rescues.
How long have Cassie & Rascal been in the family? Cassie has been in the family 10 years and Rascal 8 years.
Profession: Cleo - Office Administrator at Fred White Construction.
Location: Macon, GA.
Nicknames: Cassie: Cassie Coo
Rascal: Ruby Do (because he is a Jewel of a dog)
Cassie
Rascal
5 words/phrases that best describe Cassie & Rascal:
Cassie:
- Beautiful - white with green eyes and white eye lashes.
- Intelligent - capable of opening a baby/pet gate that most people cannot open.
- Loving - Cassie is a very affection girl, she loves all people and dogs.
- Survivor - She is a cancer survivor.
- Loyal Service dog - Cassie has trained herself to be my husband's service dog. Andrew cannot speak so she speaks for him. She stays by his side and looks after him.
Rascal:
- Faithful - Brown and White with beautiful brown soul searching eyes
- Intelligent - passed first in his class during puppy training
- Loyal & Devoted companion - Rascal is always by my side. He is always in the same room with me when I am home, if I am outside so is he. He sleeps with me at night. Rascal can be depended on to go anywhere with me at the drop of a hat. He does not care where he goes or how long it takes as long as he is with me.
- Loving - Rascal is one of the most loving dogs I have. He is very affectionate and he is always there when I need someone to talk to and let me cry in his fur when I need it.
- Nanny Dog - I foster puppies and Rascal is the best Nanny dog ever. He lets them climb all over him and he never gets cross with them. He teaches them how to potty outside and play with toys. He lets them pull on his ears and bite his tail. Rascal gets very excited when I bring fosters home. He will set outside their pen and let them get use to him for hours if necessary making sure they are not afraid of him.
What makes Cassie & Rascal unique? Cassie has taught me to always listen to my dogs. Cassie is dedicated to my husband. If there is anything wrong she notifies me right away. Andrew is on coumadin. One day I was working in the backyard and she came outside. She ran to me and was barking furiously and then headed back to the house. I thought this was odd because she can open the back door going both in and out. When I got to the back door, I opened it and let her inside. She ran inside and I went back to work in the yard. She came back outside and did the same thing. I went to the back door and let her in again and went back to work in the yard. When she did this the third time I went inside with her. She ran straight to Andrew’s room and that is when I realized that she was trying to tell me that Andrew had cut himself and was bleeding and needed help. That is when I decided that you should always listen to your dog. When he gets up in the middle of the night she wakes me up to let me know. If he gets up off the bed and goes to the other room she clears all the other dogs out of his path and announcing he is coming by barking. I put up a pet gate to keep the dogs out of Andrew’s room so that he will not trip and fall. Cassie refuses to be away from him, she knows how to open the pet gate.
Rascal is a big 80 pound marshmallow. His love and affection never ends. He is dedicated to me and he is one of the best representatives of his breed there is. He loves to have his head, ears and neck rubbed and he lets you know when he is content by a long soft sigh. Rascal loves puppies and he is wonderful with kids. Rascal has never met a stranger. He was put through puppy training and he still knows all his commands.
Big Cassie smile
Rascal with his favorite toy.
Rescue Stories: Cassie was left abandoned tied to a dog house in the backyard of my son’s neighbor. They just moved off and left her. My son (Anthony) noticed that the house was empty and she was still there. He watered her and feed her for two weeks waiting for them to come back for her. Her dog house had a hole in the roof and when it rained she got soaked through and through. After two weeks he climbed over the fence and got her and brought her to me. At the time I did not have any dogs. My last dog had died Thanksgiving that year and my house seemed very empty. Cassie had every kind of internal parasite that you can name and she was also covered in fleas. Her fur was missing in several places and her pink skin was showing. Cassie was skin and bones. Anthony (my son) brought her to my house and put her in my backyard. We bought her a dog house and her vetting was started immediately. Cassie thought she hated cats and I had four. But it did not take Cassie long to learn that if she wanted to be a house dog, then she would have to learn to love the cats. Cassie very much wanted to be a house dog and she made the transition in record time. Within weeks of my having Cassie she was spayed. Cassie was only 8 months old when she was rescued.
Rascal was rescued straight off the streets of Macon, GA. Where he was running down the middle of the road, he was searching for food. A friend of mine (Leisa) rushed out and picked him up. Since I was a puppy foster she brought him to me. Rascal was only six weeks old, he had fleas on him bigger than he was and an extremely bloated belly full of worms. I washed him three times in the sink at work trying to get as many fleas off of him as I could before I took him home. Rascal was vetted and put up for adoption. I took him to an adoption event in Macon. Georgia and a young lady fell in love with him and another puppy. She put in an application for his adoption and I was waiting on the home check and the adoption application to be approved. Until approval of the application he was to stay with me. I cried all the way home and all night long because he was being adopted. A few days later I got an email and said that the adoption was approved but they had decided on the lab puppy. I cried again, this time for sheer joy, because Rascal never attended another adoption event. I kept him.
Rascal just pulled off the streets. (no "before" photo of Cassie available)
What is your favorite pastime as a family? Cassie loves to sit in the swing in the front yard. Her place is next to my husband. If anyone tries to sit next to him she wedges herself between them. While Rascal loves to go. He jumps up and down at the sight of his collar and lead. His head pops up and he runs for the door if you say, "you want to go with mommy." Rascal does not care if it is around the block, to the vet or to pick up fast food. He loves to go.
What is life like since you rescued Cassie & Rascal? Cassie has had cancer and it was malignant. We were told that it would most likely return. Cassie had another lump show up on her side a few years later. I took her back to the vet and they said it was most likely cancer again and so I agreed to let them do surgery on her again. This time it turned out to be something called internal skin tags and it was not malignant. Cassie now has lumps and bumps on her everywhere and due to her age we will not be doing another surgery. Even with all that, Cassie's life changed 100% for the better the day she was rescued. She is loved, she is happy, she has never been thirsty or hungry again, she does not have to go out in the rain and she has a roof over her head.
Rascal's life changed from street stray to living the life of luxury in my home. He has never been hungry or thirsty again and he is one of the most loving, laid back dogs on this earth. Rascal has been my rock many times, we have shared lots of secrets and heart breaks. Rascal sleeps with me on my bed at night, he makes an excellent dog blanket. I am not sure with Rascal who rescued who.
Photographers Note: Cassie and Rascal were the 2nd family of the Macon 3 trip! Their Mom was the planner and organizer for it all. She helped me a ton on getting everyone's stories and coordinating times and location. Then bonus, I got to meet and photograph two of her babies! Rascal and Cassie were so funny during the shoot. Cassie, not the most cooperative or a fan of the camera; but with each treat she warmed to the idea. Then there is Rascal who would pose every which way to be sure I got his best side.
Cassie's self designation as Andrew's (not pictured) service dog is just an amazing story. This sweet pup knows her job and does it well. The more stories we collect for this project, with the unique traits of these pups really does support the fact that every dog is an individual.