Oops, I did it again. I named a beagle after a Silent Film Star!

First Clara-Bow…now Theda Bara!

What can I say? I'm just an old soul in love with the golden era of Moving Pictures!

Fun Fact: Theda Bara and Clara-Bow shared a birthday!

Another Fun Fact: The greek meaning of Theda is 'Supreme Gift'!

But the original Theda Bara was quite controversial in her time, often described as a She Devil!

Mmmm…Supreme Gift on one hand, She Devil on the other.

The perfect name for a beagle, don't you think?

And now, to the Star of our Show…meet OUR Theda Bara!

It's been a rescue in the making ever since we received the first message from the shelter back in January.

"We have a 10 year old female beagle that we are hoping to place into rescue. She came in as stray so we do not know much about her.  

What we do know is she is a lovely girl that gets along with other dogs as well as cats.

I have attached her medical information for your review.

She has not been spayed yet, however we will be doing that shortly.

Please let me know if you are able to place her into your rescue."

Of course, we were already rising to our feet in a standing ovation.

She would have been our first Rescue of the Year but Theda's story got a little complicated after that first introduction.

In the meantime, we welcomed Donald into the BOB Family Circle!

But back to Theda.

The shelter wanted to run a medical assessment first. Not all shelters do this, but we're very grateful if they can.

If only the results of those initial tests had been better.

Theda tested positive for Heartworm.

Not great news given the lengthy, costly, and delicate treatment protocol involved.

But here's the thing about these promising understudies. The moment someone shines a spotlight on them, we become their captive audience. We want to watch their transformation into the shining star they're meant to be.

But the bad news didn't end there.

More tests run by the shelter revealed Theda was also Lyme Disease positive.

This broke our hearts. We know the trials and tribulations a dog can be challenged by with Lyme Disease.

But again, we were not daunted. The Show Must Go On for Theda!

Weeks went by as the shelter continued with diagnostics and consulting with various specialists.

As if the Heartworm and Lyme Disease were not enough, chest xrays revealed an enlarged heart.

That's when we decided to consult with our own vet about what we might expect taking on this complicated beagle. While the shelter has done so much already, there's still a long road ahead for Theda as we work towards completely eradicating the Heartworm and fully stabilizing the Lyme Disease. We would need to work with a specialist too, run tests, continue treatment, run more tests.

The estimated medical care costs could climb as high as $5K or more.

But we were drawn to Theda like moths to a flame.   

On Friday March 24th, we finally made our way to the shelter to pick up Miss Theda Bara.

It's been a Hollywood movie ever since!

There's been a dash of Romance (between Theda and Little Tony Soprano no less!), a sprinkle of Comedy (between Theda and her foster home's big screen TV which she's convinced is actually a door that leads to the elusive cats starring in a certain commercial she fancies. To her disappointment, they've always left the building by the time she pops her head around the "door"), and there will no doubt be a bit of Drama (which is of course yet to come when she goes for her visit to our vets later this week to take up where the shelter has left off).

We can handle the drama, tissues in hand. After all, the best movies have a little bit of everything.

With any luck though, there will be more Romance & Comedy than Drama to this twinkly tinsel town tale!

While Theda's tale is far from over, I'd still like to run the Credits if you don't mind.

In BIG BOLD LETTERS on this silver screen, we'd like to thank the good people behind the scenes at Brampton Animal Services for going above and beyond for our young-at-heart starlet.

Together, we will make sure this is only the Beginning of Theda's career lighting up the stage while her audience begs for more!

There will be nothing but rave reviews for our rising star!

TO BE CONTINUED…