The Adventures of Rodeo

On a gloomy Saturday afternoon in November 1998, the Hollingsworth family and a

3 month old border collie/blue heeler puppy named “Joker” found each other at the Teton Valley Humane Society. Life would never again be the same for any of them.

Before he even left the shelter he would be dubbed “Rodeo” in reference to his being abandoned with his brother at the Driggs rodeo grounds. Rodeo quickly became the number one fan of his big brother, Bailey, the Hollingsworth’s 11 year-old Australian Shepherd, adopted from the Phoenix Humane Society in 1990. Bailey was not equally enthusiastic, but the two soon became inseparable.

It was immediately clear that this little dog was incredibly intelligent, and possessed tons of charisma. Misty soon became accustomed to the sight of a crowd surrounding her truck, entranced with the young Rodeo, whenever she came out of the post office or grocery store. Today however, Rodeo is quite protective of his truck when his family isn’t in it. So if you see him waiting patiently for his “mom” he will show you his protective side if you get too close to the window.

Only weeks later, on New Year’s Day 1999, these two dogs, who had been abandoned by previous owners, saved Rick Hollingsworth’s life, by whining, barking, and scratching at the door to alert Misty that Rick was unconscious. Rick was only minutes from certain death, from a previously undetected tumor. Without Rodeo and Bailey’s life-saving actions Rick would not be here today. For the next two years, Rick cooked pancakes for “the boys” every morning – even if no one else in the family was having pancakes!

Rodeo was soon a favorite attraction at Jackson Signs, where he is employed as “Chief Executive Shop Dog” in charge of Security and Customer Appreciation.

Rodeo and Shelby, his human sister, have become a highly successful team in Agility with the Grand Teton Kennel Club, and 4H Pet Partners. Last summer at the Teton County Fair, Shelby & Rodeo took home Grand Champion in 4H Obedience, and Reserve Grand Champion in 4H Showmanship.

Rodeo has learned a number of entertaining tricks, and generally only requires about 10 to 25 repetitions to learn a new trick. He has won “Best Trick” in several pet trick contests. You may have seen Rodeo in last year’s television commercials for Valley Feed & Pet’s Tent Sale. On cue, he leaps up from a snooze on the couch, runs to the truck with his pals and “drives” to the annual tent sale.

All in all, Rodeo and his family are proud to be an example of one of the many successful adoptions that have been made possible by the Teton Valley Humane Society.

A Happy Ending

King was found in Victor, Idaho in February 2002. He was a little worn and tired but otherwise in good shape. After spending a few days at the shelter we realized that he had to be someone’s pet. We placed him in the Teton Valley News, in our found ad with this picture. It was not even an hour into our workday when we received a phone call. “I think the cat in your ad may be mine,” the lady stated. After talking to the woman for a few minutes, we didn’t feel that the cat could be hers. After all, her cat was missing from literally the other end of the valley. We advised her that it would be best to just come out and take a look at the cat. A few hours later she came out and identified the cat as hers. No one could believe it because of the great distance the cat had traveled and because the cat had been missing since September 2001.

King is now back at his home after his 5-month journey. Owner and cat are happy to be back together at long last!

It took her 5 months to recover…

Dear TVHS,
Last summer I was working in the kitchen when all of a sudden I saw this very large fluffy thing walking into our backyard. I called to my mom and asked what it might be so we walked out to find out. To my surprise it was a small, starved-out black Persian female cat who was very lucky to have stopped in or she probably would have died soon without food. So we took her back to the house and gave her a bowl of milk and some dry and wet cat food to eat. It took her 5 months to recover but when she did she was a heavy, healthy cat in our home. Her name is now Goldie Hawn.

Rachel Mock
Age 11
MEEOOW!!