Saved dog in Anthem thriving

MARC BUCKHOUT~ 10/12/2011

The name Lucky seemed akin to the overweight guy who is nicknamed Tiny.
In February of 2009, The Foothills Focus reported on the story of an eight-week-old puppy trying to recover from a badly broken leg suffered when he was thrown from a moving vehicle in the median along I-17 near Anthem.
A samaritan, who saw the puppy pitched from the moving vehicle, picked up the injured dog and took him to Anthem Pets, the non-profit dedicated to finding homes for abandoned animals.
Lucky would undergo surgery to repair his leg, although the dog’s health remained up in the air as an amputation was a real possibility for quite some time.
After the article was published the Desert Hills Animal Clinic received a host of phone calls from members of the community interested in financially contributing to the cost for the host of procedures Lucky needed to undergo.
When one of the local television stations followed up the story in The Foothills Focus with one of their own Lucky’s story went national with yahoo.com running a piece on its front page.
On the other side of the country, in Long Island, New York, Gerette Verbanic says she remembers seeing Lucky on the news.
“Right at that moment I told myself I have to have that dog,” Verbanic said. “I saw this cute puppy struggling to get around, but looking very happy.”
After initially contacting the animal hospital she was led to Anthem Pets and the organization’s leader Barbara Ward Windgassen. After a couple months of correspondence, to keep abreast on Lucky’s recovery, Anthem Pets gave Verbanic the word that she had been picked to be Lucky’s mom.
Anthem Pets then made the gesture even more special when Mary Jones, a former Anthem Pets board member, donated 75,000 frequent flyer mile points to send Karen Brunette, Lucky’s foster mom, on a plane back to New York to deliver Lucky.
“I got him on May 14, 2009 and I’ve squeezed him tight ever since,” Verbanic said. “He’s the love of my life and spoiled rotten.”
More than two years after getting Lucky, Verbanic called The Foothills Focus to get the paper’s address so she could send photos of Lucky sporting a Superman costume, which he’ll be donning later this month for Halloween.
“He still has a limp, but he gets around great,” she said. “He jumps and runs and plays and does all the things that dogs do.”
She said it took Lucky some time to overcome his fear of riding in the car, but she said these days he jumps in the car when given the opportunity to go for a ride.
The former desert dog also has adapted well to life in New York and its four seasons.
“He loves playing in the leaves. He literally brings me two tennis balls in his mouth and drops them in the pile that I have just raked, jumps in the pile to pretend to get the balls back and I have to throw them and start all over again. It makes him so happy. That first snowfall, he goes bananas. He runs out back and looks up in the sky watching them fall on that precious nose. I can’t take him. Every day I come home from work is Christmas. In the summertime he loves to sit out back and watch the planes fly toward LaGuardia.”
She said he also takes great pleasure in going to Long Island Sound and finding, “every stinky horseshoe crab shell and then looking at me like he just won a prize.”
Getting choked up, Verbanic said she wants to make sure the people of the North Valley know how grateful she is. 
“Please thank all of your readers again for their compassion, good wishes and sacrifices they made for my boy,” she said. “I am reminded every day I look in those beautiful eyes. My love story with Lucky would never be complete without always thanking everyone. To all your readers and the wonderful residents of Arizona, we will always be grateful. Everyone is in our hearts and prayers.”