Gumby is a gorgeous white Hound mix with a tendency to escape and wander. An adventure hound! Gumby was already around five years of age when he was found wandering the streets of South Carolina and taken into the Charleston Animal Society.
He was handsome, healthy, athletic and exceptionally friendly so the staff at CAS had no doubt that he would be promptly adopted.
And so Gumby was adopted. The only stitch up was how long he’d be adopted for. The first adoption lasted an entire three days. The next, a mere six. His adoptive families just didn’t know what to do with him because he would constantly escape.
According to Bark Post, over the course of the next two years, Gumby would be adopted and shortly after, returned to CAS by his adoptive parents a whopping eight times. Another three times he was returned to CAS from wandering the streets. That’s a total of eleven times between God-knows-where and Charleston Animal Society.
The staff at CAS tried every possible solution to find Gumby his forever home – from working with rescue groups to training with the shelters exemplary behavior team, to even pairing him up with a female hound and making them a package deal. After all their attempts and wondering what would be Gumbys future, they finally realized what he’d been trying to tell them all along – as far as he was concerned, CAS was home.
It was discovered that Gumby had a skill, a very special skill at that. He was an empath; he would change his behavior to suit and soothe any new dogs that were feeling fearful and anxious. He was their comforter.
“He knows he has work to do” – Behaviour Team Leader Donya Satriale said.
So CAS gave up on finding his new adoptive family and adopted him themselves. He now lives in the shelter full-time and works with Satriale on her team. He serves as the “Ambassa-dog” and helps with behavioral classes and comforting new dogs while they adjust to the shelter.
He also holds down a second job at CAS in aiding kittens with eye infections. He donates blood every two weeks which is then used to help medicate kittens with infections.
“Gumby gives back! Remember Gumby the white hound who returned to the shelter 11 times and now is our playgroup King?” the Charleston Animal Society wrote on their Facebook page. “Well, he is now a blood donor for kittens with eye infections! We draw his blood every two weeks extract the white blood cells from his blood and administer to the kittens’ eyes! (Healing eye drops) The serum of his blood has healing properties! Opie will heal faster.”
Gumby is an amazing example of the benefits of supporting No-Kill shelters such as Charleston Animal Society. The people who persevere and continue to give animals, like Gumby, the chance to grow and live the happy lives that they so deserve.
