Luke Bryan's 18-Year-Old Rescue Dog Dies Weeks After Adoption
It’s not often that you hear a biblical case for animal welfare. Still, it’s right there in Holy Scripture.
The book of Proverbs says, “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.” It’s a verse that one Nashville-based, no-kill shelter takes to heart.
On its website, the aptly named Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue says that it is “committed to ‘Helping His Helpless’ through quality care and healing, adoptions, and population control awareness.” And the case of an old dog the group recently took in proved so captivating that it gained national attention.
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, an 18-year-old dog name Poochie had been surrendered to the group in the twilight of his life. In fact, Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue didn’t expect him to find a home.
Fortunately, they were wrong. In a Facebook post, the shelter wrote, “Poochie, the 18 year old who was surrendered to the pound when his family became allergic and whom we pulled was expected to be a forever hospice foster with Proverbs (like many others in our care), but God had different plans.
“After reading about Poochie on our social media, Luke Bryan and his beautiful wife, Caroline, applied and adopted Poochie this past Saturday! He is pictured here with his new mom, Caroline and his previous foster, Lacy Marie!”
The post concluded with an appropriate hashtag: #CherishTheOldForTheyAreTreasure.
We all love a happy ending, don’t we? Of course, an adoption is less an ending than a new beginning.
Yet in the joy over Poochie finding a new home, few paused to think about how little time the old dog had left in his story.
On Feb. 20, Caroline Bryan made an announcement on Instagram that Poochie had passed away. She started off the post with an all-too-appropriate quote.
“‘If the kindest souls were rewarded with the longest lives, dogs would outlive us all,’” it read. “My heart is sad but full to post this.
“Our sweet Prince Poochie has passed away. He lived 18 years and was loved by so many people.
“My kids especially loved to hear him snore when he slept! Thank you @proverbs1210animalrescue for giving our family the opportunity to love this sweet dog.”
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The Bryans are no stranger to animals. KMBC-TV reported that the family created an organization called Brett’s Barn in memory of Caroline Bryan’s niece. Through the organization, sick children can be comforted by animals such as alpacas, kangaroos and ponies.
Yet Poochie seems to have truly made an impact in their lives. It certainly did for Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue.
“While we would have loved for Poochie to have lived another 18 years, we are grateful for the time we gave him with our foster, Lacey Marie, and with his adoptive family, the Bryans,” they said. “Poochie enjoyed his time with the Bryan family.
“He even felt well enough to stroll in their pastures and be a dog again. He sadly passed away a few days ago, but he was loved and passed in his sleep on a big comfy bed.”
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