Elmo and new owner Greater Dandenong councillor Maria Sampey.
By Shaun Inguanzo
ELMO was facing doggy death row until Greater Dandenong councillor Maria Sampey saved the day.
The playful, well-trained and loyal Chihuahua-Pomeranian cross was counting his Shmackos at the Australian Animal Protection Society after his previous owners voluntarily handed him in.
But a pre-Christmas visit to the Keysborough shelter’s opportunity shop by Noble Park North Ward councillor Maria Sampey and husband Brian would change five-year-old Elmo’s uncertain fate.
Cr Sampey’s curiosity led her from the op shop to the shelter itself in search of a new companion. She originally chose a long-haired terrier – but that dog did not choose her.
“The shelter put us in a section of yard so we could bond with the dog,” Cr Sampey said. “But she didn’t want to know us, and she was instead going around doing her business, which then stuck to her fur.
“My husband said, ‘you’re not having that one’!”
But when Elmo entered, it was a different story.
“My husband saw this little one, with a cream colour, and so that I would fall in love with it, he patted on my knee and Elmo jumped up and started licking my face,” Cr Sampey said.
She this week encouraged residents looking for new furry friends to head to the Keysborough shelter, on Homeleigh Road.
“Elmo is five years old and I think adopting him was better than going to get puppy,” Cr Sampey said.
“He is already past the digging and making a mess stage.”
But good etiquette is not all that Elmo has brought to the Sampey household.
Cr Sampey said the couple encountered shades of Elmo’s former life.
“Whoever the owner was must have been a female,” she said.
“Because even though my husband chose the dog, Brian calls out but Elmo won’t go to him.
“ I say, ‘come on Elmo’ and he comes straight to me. He loves me!”
To inquire about adopting pets, phone the Keysborough Australian Animal Protection Society on 9798 8044.
