Reesie's Story
Reesie along with several other animals were rescued from a local county shelter by a local rescue organization after learning that these animals were slated for euthanasia. Liz Reid one of the founders of Reesie's "Project Outreach" who at the time was working with this particular rescue group was permitted to remove Reesie along with the other animals so that she and other members could begin the task of finding these lovable companions "forever" homes. Finding a home for "Reesie" however would soon prove to be a very difficult task. Reesie's story actually began after he had been returned from several fosters for exhibiting unusual and at times very destructive behaviors. His displays included overprotective behaviors, particularly with females and children, his emotional state would escalate whenever he saw a crying child, he would growl at men with certain physical appearances and he always appeared restless and unsettled. His last and only adoptive family regrettably had to insist that he be returned after having had him for only 6 months. They too stated that Reesie was possessive over particular people, in particular females. They also stated that his destructive behaviors were unpredictable all except for one; they stated that each night around 7:00 pm like clockwork, he would become agitated, start pacing and began to whimper as is he were anticipating "something". As this behavior escalated, he would become destructive as if he were using the destructive pattern as a way to calm himself down.
Reesie soon became the foster of Terri Porterfield who at the time served as a board member of the organization that took Reesie from the shelter. Her time with Reesie gave rise to several concerns. One concern in particular being that Reesie may have sustained something of a very violent nature in his past. Terri recalls taking Reesie for walks around the neighborhood and when he encountered certain men he would growl and shy away. She recalled that in one instance, she had Reesie on leash getting ready to walk him and a child at the daycare across the street started crying after falling on the ground, Reesie starting barking in the child's direction and was lunging in the daycare's direction as if he were trying to get off leash to the child. Terri also recalls the nighttime behavior where Reesie became extremely agitated and paced and cried almost right at 7:00pm on the dot. Terri also observed Reesie rubbing his head a lot and crying. Thinking this may have been an ear infection, she took Reesie to the vet only to discover that he was fine and they could not find anything that would prompt the behavior. After speaking with previous fosters and the adoptive family, Terri learned that although the root of the issues could not be "pin pointed", these individuals shared this same possible concern, there was something in Reesie's past that was disturbing. Terri decided that more expertise was needed if Reesie was to ever have a chance at rehabilitation and finding a home.
Upon hearing Reesie's story, Ellen Broomfield of the local "Wash and Wag", was able to connect Terri with two local reputable animal healer/communicators, Sandy Rakowitz of One Heart Healing Center of Charlottesville, VA and Thayer Drew of Gordonsville, VA who agreed to work with Reesie. The information that began to emerge through these two incredibly gifted women was heartbreakingly painful and tragic. Sandy and Thayer worked independently of each other in order to properly assess the situation and to compare information. Remarkably, despite working apart, they both brought forth and communicated on Reesie's behalf almost the exact same information. Each saw Reesie in a family with children, each saw fighting between the adult male and female and saw children crying. Each saw Reesie trying to intervene in order to control the emotional state of the family. In one instance they both received images of Reesie being clipped or kicked in the head by a boot and stated that as a result he suffered with headaches from time to time. The information that Reesie was relaying to his healers was both astonishing and heartbreaking. Although certain members from the rescue organization were skeptical and did not believe this information, Reesie's rescuers were certain that most of the story that unfolded from the Communicators was in fact true and correct based on Reesie's behaviors. For her own clarification, Terri decided to take Reesie to the vet once more to investigate the behavior with Reesie whimpering and rubbing his head however this time Terri told the vet about the healers and their story about the clip to Reesie's head. Hearing this story sparked much curiosity from the vet and so an x-ray was taken of Reesie's skull and sure enough a hairline fracture that had already healed was spotted. It was at the vet's office that Terri cried the first of many tears for Reesie and made a solemn vow that he would never suffer again at the hands of a human.
Terri decided to take Reesie's story public and in doing so; the story would be coupled with the announcement a new program inspired by Reesie's story. The "Reesie Project" initially was to be a program that would house animals of domestic violence and this program would be run through the organization on which Terri was currently serving on the board of directors, but fate would soon have Terri facing a new direction.
Reesie's story soon caught the attention of the "late" Jeri Bradley. It was Jeri who brought Reesie's story to the local television station and the segment aired periodically on the local station. At this time, Terri's daughter, Lindsey worked as an OBGYN tech at a local hospital and it was in this arena that "fate" decided to intervene. A local woman had been admitted to the hospital for delivery of her new baby. The woman's mother, who had relocated out of state, had come to be with her. While in the room with her daughter, the Reesie segment with Jeri Bradley was airing. Terri's daughter walked into the room to check on this patient just in time to hear the mother say "Oh my god, I know that dog". Lindsey responded with surprise "Well the woman being interviewed is my mom." Lindsey provided this person with Terri's contact information and shortly thereafter Terri received a letter from this woman in fact "validating" Reesie's story as previously told to Terri and others by the communicators. The imagery painted through the words of this letter depicted one horrific event after another; about the family, about the female victim and the two children who suffered mercilessly at the hands of an abuser and of the valiant dog who also suffered trying be the "savior". The letter ended in that this woman had been the one to set Reesie free but it was totally by accident. The family had moved and abandoned him in the backyard. She heard him barking and went to get him after she was sure his family had vacated the property, when she opened the gate, he jumped on her and knocked her out to the way and ran off, no doubt to find the victims he had been so loyally trying to protect.
Thus Reesie's "Project Outreach" is born and "celebrates" in the courageous brave spirit of this remarkable dog. RPO continues to take animal advocacy to a new level by reaching out to both animals and humans in need. RPO is receiving positive public praise and exposure and gaining continual momentum through the hard work and efforts of its founders, Terri Porterfield, Liz Reid, Natalie Allio and Ken and DD Lecky with the assistance of a dedicated and compassionate Board of Directors and ever growing group of volunteers.
As for Reesie, he will forever remain with Terri and has found a forever loving inseparable bond within the organization and among his founding members and volunteers. His emotional and physical state has improved tremendously! His destructive behaviors and his 7pm "pacing" have all gone away. He has also gained the much needed weight that he was unable to put on due to his restlessness. Terri uses the T-Touch massage techniques taught by Sandy, which helps reduce his headaches.
