Saving Gracie Read Online Free
Author: Carol Bradley
officers left, Wolf even turned over to them an English Bulldog who was visibly ill. The women crated the dog, put him in the back of the van, said goodbye, and pulled out onto the highway.
Shaw tried to act calm, but her pulse was racing.
She hadn’t started out to be a humane society police officer. She’d studied graphic design, but abandoned that idea and instead she underwent officer training in the early 1990s. For several years she worked at an animal shelter in Montgomery County. After that, she juggled a couple of part-time jobs. But she missed helping needy dogs and cats. Animal work was what she’d been put on Earth to do, apparently—she couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
So she’d started over, this time one county to the south. In the beginning, she commuted thirty miles from her home in Schwenksville to West Chester on Sundays to handle stray animals. Eventually, she got promoted to humane society investigations officer. Now 35, she had worked for the SPCA for six years. Her days were filled with grim cases of abuse and neglect—everything from starving and mistreated dogs to cat hoarders to victims of ritual sacrifice. Despite the grim nature of her work, she savored every aspect of it, the happy endings most of all—the days when she could rescue dogs and cats who were helpless to save themselves. The good outweighed the bad. She honestly believed that.
Now, though, she was driving away from the largest case of animal cruelty she’d ever witnessed. If these dogs were to have any chance at better lives, she needed to act fast.
She and Siddons were barely out of the driveway when Shaw pulled out her cell phone and called her supervisor, Turnbull. Quickly, she described the rancid, unhealthy conditions she and Siddons had observed. Filthy dogs were crammed into tiny crates, so many they were hard to count. There was no question what had to be done, as far as Shaw was concerned.
“We can’t leave these guys there,” she told Turnbull over the phone. She turned to Siddons and asked, “Do you agree with that?”
Yes, Siddons replied, she did.
Chapter 3: A Breeder’s Rise and Fall
Conditions at michael wolf’s kennel had been out of control for some time, but the public had no idea. For decades, Wolf had been a fixture in the dog show world, a crown prince in a sometimes surreal galaxy where dogs bore long and whimsical names, were groomed to perfection, and were pampered like royalty. He’d built a reputation for walking off with Best in Show trophies at some of the most prestigious dog shows in the country. A dog owned and handled by Wolf was very nearly impossible to beat in the ring.
Wolf began showing dogs in the mid-1960s and quickly made a name for himself. A bachelor in his late twenties, he was believed to be independently wealthy. There was nothing to interfere with his obsession with top show dogs.
He dabbled with several breeds, first Italian Greyhounds and Maltese, later Afghan Hounds, Löwchen, Boston Terriers, Poodles, and Chihuahuas. By the early 1970s, he was hooked on Pekingese. The luxuriously long, thick coats and exotic, flat faces of the petulant-looking dogs captivated Wolf.
He kept an eye out for would-be champions, and when he discovered a Pekingese in California who showed particular promise, Wolf had to have him. He purchased the dog, brought him back east, and began entering him in all the major shows. In one single year alone, Champion Dan Lee Dragonseed won twenty-eight Toy Dog Group trophies. In 1969, he took Best in Show at the National Capital Kennel Club Show in Washington, D.C., and at the Boardwalk Kennel Club Show in Atlantic City.
Wolf had not just one prize-winning dog, but two. Champion High Swinger of Brown’s Dean captured the top prize at the Pekingese Club of America’s specialty show (a show just for Pekes). Wolf had also found Swinger in California; he’d acquired him after discovering that the dog had won five Group prizes. The day
Shaw tried to act calm, but her pulse was racing.
She hadn’t started out to be a humane society police officer. She’d studied graphic design, but abandoned that idea and instead she underwent officer training in the early 1990s. For several years she worked at an animal shelter in Montgomery County. After that, she juggled a couple of part-time jobs. But she missed helping needy dogs and cats. Animal work was what she’d been put on Earth to do, apparently—she couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
So she’d started over, this time one county to the south. In the beginning, she commuted thirty miles from her home in Schwenksville to West Chester on Sundays to handle stray animals. Eventually, she got promoted to humane society investigations officer. Now 35, she had worked for the SPCA for six years. Her days were filled with grim cases of abuse and neglect—everything from starving and mistreated dogs to cat hoarders to victims of ritual sacrifice. Despite the grim nature of her work, she savored every aspect of it, the happy endings most of all—the days when she could rescue dogs and cats who were helpless to save themselves. The good outweighed the bad. She honestly believed that.
Now, though, she was driving away from the largest case of animal cruelty she’d ever witnessed. If these dogs were to have any chance at better lives, she needed to act fast.
She and Siddons were barely out of the driveway when Shaw pulled out her cell phone and called her supervisor, Turnbull. Quickly, she described the rancid, unhealthy conditions she and Siddons had observed. Filthy dogs were crammed into tiny crates, so many they were hard to count. There was no question what had to be done, as far as Shaw was concerned.
“We can’t leave these guys there,” she told Turnbull over the phone. She turned to Siddons and asked, “Do you agree with that?”
Yes, Siddons replied, she did.
Chapter 3: A Breeder’s Rise and Fall
Conditions at michael wolf’s kennel had been out of control for some time, but the public had no idea. For decades, Wolf had been a fixture in the dog show world, a crown prince in a sometimes surreal galaxy where dogs bore long and whimsical names, were groomed to perfection, and were pampered like royalty. He’d built a reputation for walking off with Best in Show trophies at some of the most prestigious dog shows in the country. A dog owned and handled by Wolf was very nearly impossible to beat in the ring.
Wolf began showing dogs in the mid-1960s and quickly made a name for himself. A bachelor in his late twenties, he was believed to be independently wealthy. There was nothing to interfere with his obsession with top show dogs.
He dabbled with several breeds, first Italian Greyhounds and Maltese, later Afghan Hounds, Löwchen, Boston Terriers, Poodles, and Chihuahuas. By the early 1970s, he was hooked on Pekingese. The luxuriously long, thick coats and exotic, flat faces of the petulant-looking dogs captivated Wolf.
He kept an eye out for would-be champions, and when he discovered a Pekingese in California who showed particular promise, Wolf had to have him. He purchased the dog, brought him back east, and began entering him in all the major shows. In one single year alone, Champion Dan Lee Dragonseed won twenty-eight Toy Dog Group trophies. In 1969, he took Best in Show at the National Capital Kennel Club Show in Washington, D.C., and at the Boardwalk Kennel Club Show in Atlantic City.
Wolf had not just one prize-winning dog, but two. Champion High Swinger of Brown’s Dean captured the top prize at the Pekingese Club of America’s specialty show (a show just for Pekes). Wolf had also found Swinger in California; he’d acquired him after discovering that the dog had won five Group prizes. The day
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