Murrysville couple helps fulfill Heart's Promise by fostering therapy dog

Bullet, a 5-year-old Shetland sheepdog, is what Mike Lamont refers to as “a real rags-to-riches story” when it comes to dog adoption.

“His former family was on a camping trip, and Bullet broke his leg at four months old,” said Lamont, who is founder and executive director of the nonprofit Heart’s Promise Sheltie Rescue. “They brought her to the rescue and just said, ‘Well she broke her leg, she’s basically damaged goods, so here she is and we’re going to go get another puppy.’ ”

Luckily, Lamont helps oversee a network of 15 foster homes throughout Pennsylvania, and he found a foster home for Bullet in Murrysville with Eloise and Ray Milligan.

These days, Bullet is doing regular agility training, works as a certified “Canine Good Citizen” and therapy dog and recently made it to the quarterfinals in Paws.org’s “America’s Favorite Pet” contest.

“He’s the happiest dog,” Eloise Milligan said. “He’ll play all day with a soccer or tennis ball, and he loves catching Frisbee.”

Bullet is certified with the Alliance for Therapy Dogs and makes regular visits to students in Shaler Area School District, where Milligan is the curriculum director.

And while he won’t earn the $5,000 grand prize and cover story in Dogster magazine, Milligan said she is happy to have the opportunity to promote Heart’s Promise and the good work it does.

Lamont founded Heart’s Promise in 2011, after he had to have a previous adopted Sheltie put down.

“I’d adopted Muff-Muff from Yukon, and they told me she probably wouldn’t live much more than a month or two,” Lamont said.

Muff-Muff lived another six years, to 16.

“The day she died, I made a promise to her that I would dedicate my time to founding a rescue and making sure these shelties don’t languish in shelters or bad homes,” he said.

Shelties are sometimes confused with collies or border collies, and their endless energy and drive to work can overwhelm an unprepared family.

“That’s happened on more than one occasion,” Lamont said. “A family doesn’t know much about the breed, and they find out that shelties are very active and need a job. They’re a herding breed.”

On a warmer-than-average day in late March, Bullet is still running around with his Frisbee long after Ray Milligan tires of chucking it down the hill for him.

Lamont said the Milligans are just one example of the outstanding foster homes who work with Heart’s Promise.

“They’ve adopted a couple shelties from us, and they’ve fostered as well,” he said. “They took in a senior, Bobo. A lot of folks won’t take in an elderly dog with a lot of issues. We thought he might only have had four months to live, but the Milligans really turned his life around.”

Heart’s Promise takes in and places between 40 and 50 shelties annually and, as a nonprofit, supports itself through donations and several auction fundraisers each year.

And, while Bullet might not be “America’s Favorite Pet,” he’s certainly a favorite with the Milligans.

“Thankfully, he found his way to rescue at Heart’s Promise, and then to us,” Eloise Milligan said.

For more on Heart’s Promise, see PASheltieRescue.org.