Woman drives from Cape Cod to adopt dogs from Darlington shelter

Kathryn “Kay” Hartman is so much of an animal lover that she drove from Cape Cod, Mass., to pick up a sickly puppy — named Susie Q from the Darlington County Humane Society Animal Shelter.  Susie Q was hours from being put to sleep.

And, as a bonus, she happened upon another dog named Sheba who wasn’t at the pound. She found both on Petfinder.com.

Susie Q had worms, kennel cough and was “one sick pup.” She looks like a border terrier with a fox tail.

“A volunteer at the animal shelter had worked very hard to try to place Susie Q,” Hartman said. “Once I saw her, there was no way I wasn’t going to take her.”

Hartman was caught on her cell phone Tuesday afternoon walking the dogs in a Cape Cod park. Neither was on a leash.

“Everybody here thinks I have the prettiest dogs in the park,” she said. “They (the dogs) mind me like you wouldn’t believe. They are just two real loves.”

Hartman said she originally planned to adopt Susie Q, but was smitten the second she saw Sheba’s picture.

“She’s a golden retriever-chow mix who is about a year old,” she said. “I immediately recognized her as having the same type looks as my darling Jackie O, who had to be put down.”

Sheba and Susie Q bonded immediately.

“They bring much joy and laughter to my life,” Hartman said. “The trip to Darlington was well worth it because I had a hole in my heart after losing Jackie O. I think strays are much more appreciative. I know the happiness they have brought into my life is irreplaceable.”

Hartman met Carolyn Powers of Darlington when she arrived.

“Sheba lived down the street from me,” Powers said, “and her owner told me she no longer wanted her.”

Powers contacted Bridget Johnson, who maintains the Darlington County Humane Society Animal Shelter’s Web site and posts animals on the Petfinder site.

“Bridget agreed to post Sheba on Petfinder, even though she wasn’t housed at the shelter,” Powers said.

Hartman got in touch with Powers when she saw Sheba’s picture. She wasted little time in driving to Darlington.

“I have kept in touch with Kay and am still in awe that someone would drive that far to give two stray dogs a home,” Powers said. “How uncanny is the timing that Sheba was posted just as Kay was searching for a dog?”

Although she said she feels blessed that Kay rescued Sheba and Susie Q, Powers’ heart breaks for the other animals who aren’t so lucky.

“I don’t think the general public has a clue about the dire plight of so many unwanted animals in our area,” she said. “I was told that 80 animals were put down at the shelter the week after Kay left.

“We must somehow get people to spay and neuter. People actually think they are doing an animal a favor when they take it to the shelter — if they even care to think. There has to be a way to bring about positive change. In the meantime, the best way to keep the numbers down is to spay and neuter.”

Hartman said she didn’t adopt in Massachusetts because the state’s strick no-kill policy has the animal population under control, meaning there are far fewer animals to adopt. The shelters there will not release an animal until it has been spayed or neutered.

South Carolina law requires all animals adopted from a shelter, pound and/or rescue be spayed or neutered, but the law is loosely enforced.

How to help the shelter
The Darlington County Humane Society Animal Shelter is located on Animal Control Lane, off S.C. 151 between the new Darlington Middle School and the Darlington County Water and Sewer Authority. For details about how to adopt an animal or to volunteer at the shelter, call (843) 398-4402. Monetary donations can be made to the Darlington County Humane Society, P.O. Box 1655, Hartsville, SC 29551.