It’s a simple story, really.
The tale of a twice-rescued mutt with the ignoble name of Keto in need of a forever home at Christmastime.
On Dec. 9, Keto’s adoptive 78-year-old owner died, presumably asleep in his bed. Once again, Keto was alone — easily a candidate for euthanasia as a former rescue dog minus a permanent home and a strong advocate.
But at the moment the 5-year-old beagle and husky mix was a terrified canine standing sentry alongside the body of his dead owner, Michael K., a widower whose wife, Maggie, had died several years earlier.
“The police were trying to figure out how to remove the body without hurting the dog, who refused to leave his side,” said Edison Park neighbor Jeanie Kacprzak. “It was so sad.”
Let’s unwrap this dog’s story.
It begins in 2019 with Crackle, a little foundling pup abandoned in Nashville, Tenn., who was sent to Chicago Canine Rescue, a highly respected no-kill shelter in Jefferson Park.
The pup was immediately given a microchip ID by the shelter, adopted quickly, ostensibly given the name of Keto by his new owner, whose name Sneed discovered recently did not match the last name on the official adoption card at the shelter.
“It’s a mystery, but not unusual, Keto was likely given to someone else later on,” said Abby Matzke, Chicago Canine Rescue's treasured lifeblood.
On Dec. 9, police conducting a neighbor-requested wellness check at the Edison Park residence, encountered Keto aggressively guarding his dead owner and refusing to let them near, said Kacprzak, a rescue dog advocate and next-door neighbor.
Kacprzak, who often let Keto frolick in her back yard, had a chat with her husband, Tom, and the 16th District Jefferson Park police about ways to handle Keto in order to get the body to the morgue.
“Nobody wanted to hurt Keto,” she said, describing him as a brave, loyal sentry.
“So I grabbed a hunk of smelly salami from my fridge and headed next door to coax what had to be a hungry Keto away from the body,” she said. “It worked.”
She also managed to slip Keto’s collar on while he ate and then took him for a walk while police removed the corpse.
Then magic happened: A confluence of dog rescue avatars joined an unexpected crusade to keep Keto alive in hopes of finding him a forever home.
Police at the Jefferson Park police district, where Keto was frantically howling in a cage, invited Kacprzak to care for him at the station. It worked.
Bravo! Retired Jefferson Park Police Lt. John Garrido, co-founder of the Garrido Stray Rescue Foundation, tracked relatives who might want Keto. Nope. He checked contacts at Chicago’s Animal Care and Control agency, where Keto was now being held, and he wrote about Keto’s rescue dilemma on Garrido Facebook.
Bingo! On Dec. 12, Animal Care and Control checked for a microchipped ID on Keto. It saved his life. Chicago Canine Rescue’s non-kill shelter had inserted the chip when Keto was a pup, so euthanasia was bye-bye because Keto now had a bona fide residence: “We turn none of our dogs away if adoption doesn’t work and they are sent back,” according to Matzke, the shelter spokesperson. “That’s why we ID microchip.”
Hurrah! Kris O’Malley, who read Keto’s plight on Garrido’s Facebook on Dec. 12, adopted Keto on Dec. 14!
“It was meant to be,” said O’Malley, who has had six rescue dogs since childhood. “Within 10 minutes of meeting him, Keto was on my lap and licking my face. At home, it took less than two days before he found our bed and has been on it ever since.”
In the meanwhile, Chloe, 3, a brindle-colored mountain cur mix at Chicago Canine Rescue, faces a similar Keto future, said Matzke. “The elderly man who adopted Chloe two years ago died six months ago, and she has been here since then."
It can break your heart. Chloe for Christmas? Fingers crossed.
Visit chicagocaninerescue.org to see pets available for adoption.
Good Golly, Ms. Leslie! Chicago’s legendary auction maven Leslie Hindman welcomed a battalion of buddies to Paris recently to celebrate her 70th birthday, turning the three-day extravaganza into a major “do whoppa do!’
From the Left Bank to breaking the bank, La La Leslie treated her cadre of 80-plus close friends to Parisian day trips; fine dining at the legendary 1930s Hemingway haunt Les Deux Magots; camaraderie amidst fossils and stuffed animals at the legendary taxidermy shop Deyrolle; and dinner on chef Alain Ducasse’s boat on the River Seine. It was truly too, too … and over the top! Who was there? Just about everyone swell … and I’ll never tell.
