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Neighbors come to rescue of unexpected, furry friends

On Christmas night, Scott Schaeffer rescued nine abandoned puppies and delivered them to the warmth of local families' care.

By STEVE THOMPSON
Published January 30, 2005

	[Times photos: Lance Aram Rothstein]
	Brooke Marotta's puppy, Max, was found abandoned with the others near Baillie's Bluff Road on Christmas Day.
	The nine puppies that Scott Schaeffer found abandoned have all been adopted, mostly by families in his Key Vista neighborhood. Seven of the families gather Thursday. Clockwise from left are Taylor Schaeffer, 9, with Vixie, Hannah Schaeffer, 2, Lauren Boudreau, 10, with Odie, Amber Flynn, 8, with Sable, Brooke Marotta, 5, with Max, Andre Piche, 9, with Bacardi, Burgandy Mills, 11, Jazmin Mills, 6, with Red, Caitlin Mills, 5, and Anthony Marotta, 8, with Miller.

HOLIDAY - Christmas night was raw, but Scott Schaeffer wanted to show the Gulf to his brother-in-law. As they drove down Baillie's Bluff Road, motion caught their eye. Rats maybe? Schaeffer slowed.

Puppies.

Two of them had wandered onto the pavement. More were gathered by the bushes near the side of the road. He turned his SUV around and passed again. But there was no place to pull off the narrow road, and headlights appeared in the distance.

Even if they were going to rescue these dogs, Schaeffer reasoned, they would need a box. So he drove home and asked his wife Crystal what they should do. She jumped from the couch.

"Let's go get them."

The wind picked up as they returned.

They drove back and forth along the road. Yelping led them to the spot.

"The sound of it was probably more horrifying than anything," Schaeffer said. "I mean they were all just really crying loud."

Eight puppies huddled in the cold. A ninth shivered in some standing water a few feet away. A dirty sheet lay nearby.

"There were so many places they could have left these dogs," Schaeffer said. "All they did - it looks like they threw them out the window in a sheet. They were just left out there to die."

Scott and Crystal Schaeffer moved to their new home in Key Vista from Trinity in September. Scott sells mortgages. Crystal stays home with their 2-year-old daughter, Hannah, and 9-year-old son, Taylor.

The subdivision is full of families. Most afternoon, kids shoot hoops and ride bicycles in the street. Parents babysit for each other, host sleepovers and occasionally go out together.

That morning, the Schaeffers had given Taylor a bicycle for Christmas. He also had discovered the basketball hoop and pole they had intended to give him a few days later for his birthday.

When Scott and Crystal went back for the puppies, they brought the box that the basketball setup came in. One by one, they loaded the puppies into the box inside their SUV.

On the way home, about 9 p.m., they stopped by Randy and Nicole Marotta's house down the street. They were in the front yard chatting with Gene and Cami Piche. The couples followed Scott and Crystal back to their house on Jay's Nest Lane.

Soon, the garage was filled with people. Kids crawled into the box with the puppies.

"The puppies are cuddling and licking them, and everybody's screaming about what dog they wanted," Scott Schaeffer said.

Some of the puppies looked like Shar-Peis, some like Labrador retrievers, some like Rottweilers.

"Kids were just going crazy," Schaeffer said. "Everybody was picking them up, hugging them and loving them."

Their cries filled the garage as the adults explained to their children how the puppies had arrived.

"We told them this is a cruel world sometimes, and this is what people do," Schaeffer said.

But the world wasn't looking so cruel to Taylor, who had begged for a puppy of his own for Christmas. His dad had told him the two dogs they already had were plenty.

Schaeffer called an emergency veterinary service to find out what the puppies should eat.

He answered a technician's questions. The puppies' eyes were open, he said. They had teeth. The technician guessed they were about 6 weeks old.

A neighbor brought over a big bag of puppy chow. They ground it up in a food processor and mixed it with warm milk to make a gravy. Schaeffer boiled some rice. The puppies dug in.

"I mean they ate," Schaeffer said.

The Marottas adopted a puppy on the spot. So did the Piches. As the puppies ate, the Schaeffers called other neighbors. Two more puppies found homes.

The Schaeffers crated the remaining five together in their garage. They wrapped blankets inside for warmth. Taylor again asked if he could keep one.

This time, dad said yes.

That night the wind gusted to 50 mph, strong enough to close the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Rain pelted the windows.

Scott Schaeffer dreamed of a hurricane. He thought of the puppies out by the ditch.

"They definitely would've been doomed out there," he said.

The next day, the Schaeffers made some more phone calls. By that evening, seven of the puppies found homes in the neighborhood. A neighbor later found homes elsewhere for the last two.

After a few days, Schaeffer and Gene Piche rounded up all the puppies and drove them to Pet Luv, a non-profit animal clinic in Brooksville. The clinic's director is a friend of Piche's mother. All of the puppies got free shots and certificates for free spaying or neutering later.

To repay Pet Luv's generosity, Piche's mother, Linda Piche, donated $1,000 to the clinic.

Now when kids around Jay's Nest Lane go out and play, Vixie, Odie, Sable, Max, Bacardi, Red and Miller play with them. The veterinarian says they are probably half-siblings. As varied as they look, different fathers must have been involved.

Six-year-old Jazmin Mills holds Red tight.

"I think she is a cute one," Jazmin said, "and the greatest one for me."

The pair sleep together most nights.

Taylor and Vixie play catch.

"She can pick up a tennis ball and she brings it back," Taylor said. "I try to teach her to sit, and lay down, and come, and stay."

Taylor doesn't think much of whoever abandoned the puppies.

"They just threw them off to the side where nobody could barely find them."

But his dad told him sometimes good comes from bad.

"He said there's always a reason that something happens."

[Last modified January 30, 2005, 00:55:11]