Current name (changed): Bernie

Reason for coming to the rescue: Lava dog rescue from Hawaii trip on Season 1 of Amanda to the Rescue

Adoption Date: 2018

We will never know how our pup came to be in the situation that he found himself in but it was, in hindsight a fortuitous series of events. Then nameless, he was found tied to the gate at Rainbow Friends Sanctuary “abandoned”, scared, confused and very thin.
Amazingly, hours later, the Amanda to the Rescue crew showed up and he was spotted, named Spark by Jade and …

As a back story, in 2005 we adopted a Hurricane Katrina rescue (Mabel) and a year later our lovely Catahoula (Indigo) out of an abuse situation in central Oregon. They were best of friends and inseparable until Mabel passed at the age of ~ 13 from unrecoverable neurological issues related to severe arthritis. Indigo was missing her terribly.
We began looking for a dog that would be a good match, not only for us but with her approval. Not an easy task as she was a bit picky about her canine companions. Then we found Spark at the SW Washington Humane Society.
Spark quickly became part of our family. He has been renamed by our then 7 year old grand-daughter, who said, as only a 7 year old can: ” you need to name him Bernie because he was almost burned by a volcano”
Indy, while still giving him an occasional stink eye accepted him and they would sleep “near” each other.
Sadly, one week after Bernie joined our family, Indigo developed a gastric torsion/bloat and due to her age (12) and some co-morbities, surgery risks outweighed the benefits. We had to make the horrible decision to put her down.
Bernie was a godsend and made that terrible time much more tolerable.
He is a wonderful creature, has a great smile and knows when to give a snuggle (like all the time.)
He had some significant dog aggression that we were able to work thru and he remains a laid back, island kinda guy and pretty much a model doggie citizen.
We added another rescue to our family a few months back- Stray from south Texas. Bern-doggie has been a tireless mentor and great friend to her.

I can not imagine having gone thru all of this without him. So while we may have technically rescued him…..it winds up that he actually rescued us.