Here at Sunrise Homes, we are all about family. And of course, that includes our dogs. Friday is pet day and frequent visitors to the office are Buddy and Scarlet.  Both were rescues, and took circuitous paths to reach Larry and Mary Kevin! Buddy was born in January, 2012.  The older couple that owned him were quickly discouraged by his bad (i.e destructive) behavior. By the time he was 3 and a half months old, they had turned him into the Jefferson Parish animal shelter. The shelter turned him over to the Gulf South Golden Retriever Rescue. It happened that the Kornmans had recently lost two of their four Goldens to cancer, and Mary Kevin was mourning her missing puppies. When asked if she’d like to adopt Buddy, she said yes. She knew Larry wouldn’t agree, so she told him they were just “fostering” Buddy until he found a home. After a week he asked, "When do we have to give him back?" And Mary Kevin said, "Never. We can keep him!" That was how Larry found out they had acquired another dog! Buddy is the kindest, most loving dog. He is very sensitive and smart. He always shared his food with his Golden Retriever “sisters”, Sonya & Lucy. When Sonya was dying of cancer, he never left her side. He licked her face, and cleaned her ears. After Sonya died, Buddy and Lucy became very close. And when Lucy died, Buddy became despondent, and was mean to other dogs. He needed a new “pack”.  Enter Scarlet. Mary Kevin met Scarlet and her foster mom at the park. Scarlet ran up to Buddy and grabbed a stick away from him. He snarled at her and grabbed it back.  Not a great first encounter.  Scarlet’s foster mom said that Scarlet had already been promised to someone. But one day, Mary Kevin got a call that the other family couldn’t take Scarlet, and she needed to be adopted. Scarlet was found on the side of Hwy 71 in St. Landry Parish near the Atchafalaya River by two ladies. She was skinny and in bad shape. The ladies took her to the local vets and animal shelter to see if they could fine her owner.  No owners were found, and the ladies fell in love with her and named her Scarlet. They couldn’t afford to keep her, so they contacted Gulf South GR Rescue. (They made the rescue promise to let her keep the name Scarlet.) Scarlet arrived at the rescue in August, 2014, and was estimated to be about 2 to 3 years old.  She came to live with the Kornmans in December 2014. Though she is totally house broken and heels when on leash, Scarlet is a serious retrieving machine. (She may have belonged to hunters when she got lost in the Atchafalaya Basin.) When she first came to the Kornmans, Scarlet was a real country dog – treeing every squirrel she saw, catching mice and rats, spotting things in the trees that Buddy never noticed – like raccoons. Once she even went into a crawfish mound and pulled out a live crawfish and ate it! Scarlet’s prey instincts got her into trouble, though, when she couldn’t distinguish between a squirrel, a rabbit or a 4-pound Papillion. (How was she to know that these small creatures were not to be hunted, chased and caught?) They’re working on that. After rocky starts, these two furry friends have found a loving family with the Kornmans – and the rest of us here at Sunrise! Buddy and Larry definitely have a mutual love fest going on. And Scarlet adores Mary Kevin. But, in true motherly fashion, Mary Kevin says she loves them both equally. No favorites. For more information about either of these homes, call Sharon at 985.639.1958 or visit sunrisehomes.net! Drop us a line with feedback or questions. Don’t forget to check out our Facebook page, too!