Meet Holcombe,an amazing 4 year old golden mix who has turned out to be the sweetest and bravest dog we ever met. This is his story: We got a call from a woman who said she had dog that had been hurt for several days and she didn’t have the money to take him to the vet. It wasn’t “her dog” but when she moved into her home she discovered him living in an old dog house at the back of her property. She fed him and he stayed in her yard. He occassionally slept on her deck. Now he looked like he had been attacked — possibly by some mean dogs in the neighborhood. We told her we would come. When we arrived, we met this big ole’ sweet boy who had terrible wounds on his chest and under his front legs. He was caked in blood and in fact, when he moved, he still bled. We carefully loaded him into the back of the car and took him to our vet (off Holcombe Bridge Road – hence the name HOLCOMBE) who is open on Sunday. They immediately put him on pain medication and IVs and not once did Holcombe growl. Following his exam, we found out he was heartworm positive, not neutered and his leg was swollen due to the infection which was setting in. He had to have surgery for his wounds and we opted for the expensive anethesia due to his HW status. We had no choice. One wound was so deep into the muscle of his leg, he will require physical therapy. If that isn’t bad enough, the vet discovered a bullet hole in his back. Holcombe had been shot too! The vet decided it was best to leave the bullet in so Holcombe can no longer go through airport security! Anyway, on with his story — a wonderful vet tech nursed him through his first surgery but as he was feeling better, it became obvious to us that he needed a stay at home mom who could nurse him back to health and begin training him. We asked our special needs foster to take him. This couple and their dog Reagan were pretty special too. They just have a knack with dogs who need TLC. It wasn’t long that Holcombe was starting to wag his tail. Then he began playing and becoming fast friends with Reagan. Pretty soon Holcombe was ready for adoption day! (So, we thought!) Holcombe was intent not to get adopted. He looked so sad at adoption days and as soon as he got to his foster home, he became Happy Holcombe. We knew what Holcombe was telling us. He didn’t want to be adopted by anyone except his foster family. He wanted them and we knew, they wanted him. Even though we knew we would lose them as future fosters, we knew that it was a small sacrifice and a much greater reward to give this special boy a forever home where he would be safe and loved for the rest of his life. Holcombe is home and Holcombe will be forever happy.