Lenny lands in Niwot

When Lafayette, Colo., nurse Kara Plese traveled to St. Lucia for vacation in April, she assumed she'd come back with a few souvenirs. But she certainly never expected the one she actually brought home.

On a walk near the resort where she was staying, Plese and her friends came across a small dog who looked scared and emaciated. "He was so skinny," she said. "He ran past us and almost got hit by a car. He was so mangy – I felt really bad for him."

Plese wasn't sure she would see the dog again but went looking for him later with food in hand. She eventually found him but he was looking even worse, Plese recalled. "I thought he was dead - he was laying on a box. So I gave him some bacon and I cried. I couldn't stop thinking about the poor guy." It was then she knew she had to do something to help him.

Armed with a box and a towel from the hotel, Plese went searching again for the dog and found him alone in some bushes. She wrapped him in the towel while her friend hailed a cab. Together they took him to a local veterinary office where they weren't surprised to learn he was malnourished, dehydrated and had numerous infections.

The vet agreed to keep the dog, whom she named Lucian, to get him healthy and give Plese time to figure out the logistics of getting him to the U.S. In the meantime, she found a local island rescue organization, The Bruno Project, run by a Canadian woman. The Bruno Project helped take over Lucian's care and helped Plese get him to the U.S.

Travel turned out to be no easy feat. Lucian was slated to fly into Miami but if the temperature was over 85 degrees at the time of the flight, he wouldn't be able to fly. In that case, Plese was prepared to rent a car and drive him back home. The weather luckily cooperated, and Lucian finally made it to Colorado on May 17.

But the trials and tribulations didn't end there. Plese already has two rescue dogs and wasn't sure she was ready for a third. But she said, "I really wanted him to go to someone I know and somewhere I'd be able to see him regularly."

In stepped Plese's good friend, Niwot resident Melissa Sherman. Sherman, who had recently had to put her two dachshunds down, had followed Lucian's progress and had contributed to his care. The two friends made a plan to have Sherman foster Lucian to see if it was a good fit for both of them.

"I planned to meet him as a foster," Sherman said, "but I was already obsessing over him." She said Lucian popped out of the car and "was so chill and so sweet." She said he hopped up on the couch and immediately started snuggling. "I was completely sold,'' she said. "I texted Kara 30 minutes later and told her I was keeping him." She said Lucian, now named Lenny, was exactly what she wanted.

Lenny now lives the life of a pampered pup in Niwot. "He loves socks," Sherman said, laughing. "He just runs around with them in his mouth like a prize." She said he also loves to crawl across the grass to scratch his belly, something he certainly wasn't able to do in St. Lucia.

While on walks around Niwot, Sherman said she thought he was a bit clumsy. "He trips on the sidewalk a lot," she said. After a check-up at Left Hand Animal Hospital in Niwot, they recommended a canine eye specialist. Sherman said she found out Lenny has cataracts in both eyes. "On his right side," Sherman said, "he can only see shadows. His left eye is a bit better but not much." Cataract surgery is planned this summer for Lenny at Colorado State University. A lucky dog indeed.

But Sherman feels she's the lucky one. "Lenny is like my doggie soulmate," she said. "He is exactly what I was missing and he's just what I needed." For more information on the Bruno Project, visit them at http://www.brunoproject.org/.