WINCHESTER — When Susie Linscomb retired from teaching at Indian Hollow Elementary School in Frederick County more than a decade ago, she had no idea her love of learning and her talent for teaching would lead her and her husband, David, to adopt multiple surrendered senior dogs needing love, comfort and a place to live out the rest of their lives.
At 79 years old, Susie herself is a senior and believes both she and her canine cohorts benefit in several ways, including getting regular exercise, affection and the continued opportunity to learn and discover new things.
It all began in an unexpected place. After retiring, Susie began volunteering at Bowman Library near Stephens City. A library patron asked for help finding a book about dogs. Susie helped the reader find what they needed, then continued to dive deeper into her own interest in canines. She had been thinking about adopting a dog, and her search for one that needed help began.
Lavenda Denney, executive director of the Winchester Area SPCA, says dogs are generally considered seniors when they reach 6 or 7 years old, but it depends on the breed. At the local SPCA, about 15% of the dogs available for adoption are seniors. Denney says most older dogs that arrive at the shelter are brought in when the owner has had a change in their living situation that prevents them from keeping their pet. She says most surrendered senior dogs at the shelter are in good health. When there’s a dog with special needs, Denney says the local SPCA (winchesterspca.org) shares its story online, and people in the community respond.
“What a wonderful community we have. There is an amazing group of adopters who look for senior dogs or dogs with medical problems,” Denney says.
Susie became one of those people years ago when she learned the Winchester Area SPCA had a female dog they called “Grandma” that had been at the shelter for a long while. Grandma was a hound that had been used as a breeder. She was sweet, but not very interactive. The Linscombs decided to bring home the despondent dog. They renamed her “Mamma Mia.”
“When we brought her home, she had no reaction at all in the car. When she got into the house, she went straight to a dog bed and just laid there. She wouldn’t look at us, wouldn’t wag her tail,” Susie says. That’s when the Linscombs discovered how much the breeding situation had affected Mamma Mia
“Her nipples hung to the ground. The vet said she’d continually get bleeding nipples from them hanging on the grass when she went outdoors. They recommended we have her nipples removed. So, we did that and had her teeth fixed,” Susie says.
Then, they waited patiently.
For a whole year, Mamma Mia wouldn’t look at them. “She’d go outside, go to the bathroom and eat her feces,” Susie says, noting that eating feces is a way breeding dogs protect their puppies. “It took time for her to realize that she didn’t have to do that anymore.”
But then something that might make other dogs hide brought out the best in Mamma Mia. Vet Trek House Call Practice, a mobile veterinary service in the Winchester area, paid a visit. Veterinarian Debbie Frank had gotten to know Mamma Mia and helped nurse her through her medical issues. That day, Susie says, Mamma Mia “didn’t walk, she pranced to meet Dr. Frank. She was acting like a puppy. Her tail wagged. It was like she realized she didn’t have to breed anymore!”
Susie recalls Frank telling her that she thought she would never see Mamma Mia that animated.
That was a game-changer for Susie and David.
“We saw such a difference in her. No one would take her from the shelter. She was in such bad shape. But, we were able to help her live the life she should have had earlier near the end of her life,” Susie says. “But we probably gain more from the dogs than they gain from us.”
“My husband and I are older. We don’t want to throw a ball and play all day. When you get a puppy, they need so much exercise! Old dogs are mellow. They like a walk, but they also like to rest. It suits our lifestyle,” Susie says.
While the Linscombs have taken in dozens of senior dogs over the years, the most they have kept at any one time was five — and that was years ago. Now, they keep a couple. “I think the dogs need each other. I like two at a time. I walk them,” Susie says. “And there’s no way I could walk more than two at a time.”
Currently, the Linscombs have two senior dogs. Maggie is 9 years old, which is on the young side for the Linscombs. She is a Treeing Walker Coonhound that came from Rescue Me West Virginia (rescuemewv.org). That organization puts senior dogs in foster homes for basic training and care to get them to a point where they are adoptable.
In Maggie’s case, the shelter treated her Lyme disease and corrected inverted eyelashes that had been scraping her eyes before putting her up for adoption. Maggie has some hearing issues, but her health is good.
Susie believes the foster homes and the people who ready dogs for adoption are heroes. “They train the ones that need it and teach them how to go outside to the bathroom. They work with the dogs to help socialize them and make them more adoptable,” Susie notes.
Before Rescue Me West Virginia places a dog in a new home, “someone comes out to look at your house and does a meet and greet with other dogs in your home to make sure it’s a good match,” according to Susie.
Every shelter in the region has a different approach to releasing dogs for adoption, Susie says. But the ones she has collaborated with have helped her find good matches.
Maggie’s previous housemate at the Linscombs died shortly after Maggie moved in about a year ago. So, the Linscombs started looking for another companion that would mesh with Maggie.
Enter Pip!
Pip arrived in the Linscombs’ home just a few weeks ago. He is a small 13-year old mixed breed cutie who came from Frederick County Esther Boyd Animal Shelter (fcva.us/departments/animal-shelter). Maggie towers over Pip. But it hasn’t taken long for the two to become compatible.
“It can be challenging finding a match,” Susie explains. “When Maggie’s previous housemate died, it was a little difficult to find a dog that wouldn’t boss Maggie around. So, we worked with the shelter to find Pip. Pip is sweet with Maggie. But, Maggie can be a little uncomfortable in her new role as a leader sometimes. But, it’s working out well.”
Pip’s current challenge is getting over his fear of men wearing caps, but Susie, having watched many senior dogs transform over the years, is certain he’ll change. “Maggie was afraid to go to people. She’s getting over that — realizing I can go to people and it will be okay. I’m starting to see a change in Pip too. He can bark! He came from a hoarding situation. But he’s starting to realize that it’s quiet here and that ‘I can be quiet.’ So, he’s becoming used to looking out of a window and not barking at everything.”
Susie regularly shares her enthusiasm for how caring for senior dogs can invigorate one’s life.
Denney agrees. “I think senior dogs are lovely. Ninety-eight percent of them that come into the shelter are surrenders because of a change in living situation, not because of their age or health. Most are house trained, settled into their personalities and through the chewing stage. Most people who want to adopt pets want companionship and that makes senior dogs the perfect choice.”
For Susie, walking her beloved dogs daily takes precedent over other activities. That’s the time when she knows she’s pleasing the dogs and connecting with neighborhood friends in Cross Creek Village (an age 55 and up community). She laughs about the fact that many people in the neighborhood have started to refer to her as “that lady who will tell you to get a dog.”
“I see people here all the time who are lonely that are alone. I think they could use something. Maybe a senior dog could help,” Susie says.
It certainly helps her stay positive about one of life’s certainties: change.
“I expect Pip to be different a year from now. It’s going to be while. It’s a challenge. But I like the challenge. Other people don’t see that. They just see the part about senior dogs and death. But that makes me sad. It’s about giving these dogs a good end of life, so they can become the dogs they are meant to be and live the lives they should have had. It’s about giving them comfort through the end — a warm bed to sleep on, a clean space. It’s about life.”
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