Doggie discipline: Rescue dog finds purpose mentoring foster pups
Courtesy Marodi Media
Lucy is a rescue dog who has embraced a role as foster dog for puppies and dogs at Bridge to Home Animal Rescue.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Puppies delight in learning to play with their mentor, Lucy, center, at Bridge to Home Animal Rescue in South Strabane. Lucy, herself a rescue, enjoys teaching puppies how to play politely and mind their manners.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
A new-to Bridge to Home puppy hurries to join in on the fun, led by mentor Lucy, center. Lucy teaches puppies to play politely while they await adoption at Bridge to Home Animal Rescue.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Lucy, center, leads the playful charge at Bridge to Home Animal Rescue, where she delights in teaching rescue puppies how to play politely and mind their manners.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
A puppy tries rough-housing with mentor Lucy, right, who teaches Bridge to Home rescues how to play nice and respond to commands. Lucy was rescued two years ago by owner and BTHAR co-founder Tracey Crompton, and found purpose as a mentor.
Talk about second chances.
Two years ago, Lucy, a scruffy, scrappy terrier mix was left at a West Virginia animal shelter by an owner who labeled the 6-month-old puppy as wild and untrainable.
The shelter’s director feared Lucy, who likely had been abused, would never leave the shelter because she behaved so badly.
But today, the 25-pound mutt has found a home and a purpose as a mentor dog for abandoned and unwanted puppies at Bridge to Home Animal Rescue in South Strabane Township.
“When Lucy arrived, she was petrified of people. She was afraid of everybody, especially men, and she hadn’t been socialized,” recalled Tracey Crompton, co-founder of BTHAR, who adopted Lucy on Feb. 27, 2021, about a month after her beloved dog, Sophie, died at the age of 14. “But what’s amazing is that this scared little girl has become a foster sister to all of the puppies who come into our program. She’s one of our most important volunteers. She has a job and a purpose teaching the puppies how to be dogs.”
Crompton said Lucy had big shoes to fill when she was adopted. Sophie had served as a momma dog to hundreds of puppies since BTHAR was founded in 2017. Crompton yearned for a dog of her own after Sophie’s death, but her priority was to find a mentor dog.
Lucy turned out to be up to the task of filling both roles.
“She’s like my soul dog,” said Crompton. “She is such a good girl.”
It took Lucy nearly a year, though, to realize she was a born dog mentor.
During those first months with the Cromptons, Lucy’s confidence slowly grew, but there weren’t many puppies around because Bridge to Home was in the middle of moving to the South Strabane Township location.
Then, in January 2022, BTHAR resumed fostering puppies, and Lucy fell in love with her job as “foster dog,” serving as a role model, playmate, and socializer for hundreds of puppies.
Every morning, Lucy wakes up and races to the puppy room in the basement of the Cromptons’ home to check on the foster puppies.
Lucy has taught hundreds of puppies to mind their manners.
She spends hours each day playing with the litters that arrive at BTHAR, patiently rolling on the ground and fending off the puppies as they jump on her, and nipping at them or placing a paw on their backs to keep them in line.
Crompton said Lucy spent Saturday morning “straightening out” a food aggressive puppy who bullied another puppy.
Lucy also loves people, enthusiastically greeting the more than 40 foster volunteers and the visitors who drop by BTHAR.
Since Bridge to Home opened its doors, the nonprofit has placed 3,356 puppies and dogs in loving homes throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania. And Lucy – whose likeness is the logo for the nonprofit – has been indispensable.
“I never imagined I’d get a dog like Lucy. She’s always with me. She steps right in to help me,” said Crompton. “She loves to play with the puppies and teach them manners. There is no doubt in my mind that this scared little girl that didn’t listen had a bigger purpose in life, and she was meant to be ours.”