Happy Tail: The puppy had been tightly bungee-corded to a bicycle

Satch was getting old. The 11-year-old black Lab was not as peppy as he used to be, and his zest for living was at low ebb. 

The Ruthemeyers of Mount Vernon, Wash., wanted to bring another dog into the family to liven things up.  "We knew that, before we lost him, it would do him (and us) good to bond with another baby," Laura Ruthemeyer writes. She also thought it would let Satch "impart all of his doggy wisdom" to a newcomer.

Laura, her daughter and her sister were sending Petfinder pups' photos back and forth. One day her daughter saw one particular pup that really caught her attention. "Mom," she said, "you have to adopt her."

The pup in question was 14 weeks old and was rescued after a good Samaritan saw her bungee corded tightly to the back of a bicycle. After first offering to take the puppy off the bike owner's hands and being refused, the Good Samaritan offered him $15. The deal was done.  The puppy was taken to Yelm (Wash.) Animal Alliance and posted on Petfinder.

Laura agreed with her daughter and the adoption was completed. "Within a week," she says, the puppy, whom they named Sophie, "was making herself at home with Satch and has been a bundle of love and energy."

Sophie gave Satch a new lease on life, Laura says: "He has become a puppy again." Nothing like a little blonde to pep up an ol' boy.