The Ramapo Bergen Animal Shelter in New Jersey is a haven of last resort.
“Our goal is really to take those who have nowhere else to go. And that was Sadie,” said managing director Megan Brinster.
Sadie was almost 100 pounds and she wasn’t particularly good with men, which was why three other shelters turned her away. It’s also why Brian Myers adopted her.
“I thought let me give this dog a shot because she is beautiful and I think I can solve her problems,” Myers said.
He thought he was going to save her. Little did he know he was going to save his savior.
Megan Brinster / Ramapo-Bergen Animal Shelter
“I was very lucky to have her the night I had the stroke,” Myers said. “I got out of bed and when I was up here I fell straight down. And my cell phone was over there. And then I grabbed her collar and she pulled me out of this little room.”
Sadie pulled him across the room to his phone.
“As far as I know, she had never been trained as a service dog or anything,” Myers said.
Brinster said rescue dogs are often incredibly loyal.
“When you have a dog that has lost something – all of the dogs that come here have lost a family, lost a person, or they never quite had one. When you make that connection, you really become their world,” Brinster said .
Myers said Sadie was always following him. Obviously she was there the night he needed her most. Myers was taken to Englewood Health in Englewood, New Jersey that night. He spent a few weeks in treatment and rehabilitation. Shortly before his release, he had a very grateful visitor.
“She immediately jumped on me and kissed my face, took off my glasses and mask and I just thought I love this dog,” he said.
You don’t have to be Doctor Dolittle to hear Sadie say, “I love you too.”