Luca

Saying goodbye to you was not what I had planned, Luca. But that very first hello was one of the luckiest moments of our lives.
We first saw you on a Facebook page, living in the most horrid conditions imaginable in the wet markets of China. We looked at your picture, looked at each other, and without hesitation, we both said yes.
And just like that, our lives changed forever. Henry was about to get his twin and you two would be soul mates taking over the guest bedroom that I just cannot seem to keep organized.
We followed your journey to freedom, anxiously watching and waiting through that long plane ride until we could finally pick you up in Pennsylvania, not too far from my parents’ house in Milton PA. It was there that we met Yvonne Roadarmel who held you safe and secure until we could get our arms around you. We met Yvonne and her husband with others she was keeping safe u til their respective adoptive parents could arrive.
Krissy Anderson we will forever be grateful to you and the National Bozo Rescue Foundation. You came to our humble home, you looked at us, you looked at the life we had created for our animals, and you decided that we were worthy of being entrusted with Luca to make sure his time was in a place of nothing but an abundance of love and peace.
Then, on Christmas Day, we drove up to get you.
And we brought you home.
Home to Atlanta, Georgia.
Home to your new and forever family.
Home to our little herd of fur babies.
The rescue entrusted us with a little soul who had already endured more than any dog should ever have to endure. And we made a promise to you—and to Luca—that we would love him, protect him, and give him the life he deserved.
We only wish we could have had more time to keep that promise.
We so wanted Luca to know what it felt like to be loved—To have a warm bed. A full belly. A safe and quiet home. Gentle hands that waited for you each morning.
After spending the first two years of your life hearing Chinese, suddenly you were surrounded by an entirely different world. Different voices. Different sounds. Different words. Even our language must have sounded strange and frightening to you as when I spoke to you in my constant baby voice, your ears would go back and you would return to your room only to try to come out again.
It took you almost three months to overcome that shock—to begin to understand that these new sounds, these English words, were coming from people who loved you and wanted to keep you safe. Three months of learning a new language. Three months of learning a new family. Three months of learning that the world you had entered was different from the one you had known and that was no world I ever wanted to witness or know any animal has been victim to.
But perhaps the thing that will stay with us most about you, Luca, is how hard you tried. Every damn day you tried. Not once did you give up.
You tried to love with such fear. You tried to trust with such fear.
Even after everything you had experienced, there was still a part of you that wanted to believe that people could be kind and at least you only ever saw kindness and compassion in your home with us.
And little by little, you let us in.
Everyday I looked at you wondering if a dogs mind could ever forget that past. From every time you pooped which always required coaxing, you made us proud. You hated and feared your paw and legs being touched, but when I sat down next to you and you extended that long pony arm over my wrist every single morning, I accepted that as your outreach of love and trust.
We allI wanted more time with you, Wookie!
So much more time and every time we adopt or rescue, I always count our time with you.
But Luca, you were loved. Every single day you were with us. You became our boy. You became part of our family. You became one of our little herd.
You taught us that courage isn’t always the absence of fear. Sometimes courage is being afraid and trying to love anyway and you did that.
You came to us from halfway around the world, from a place of unimaginable suffering, and you made your way into our hearts.
You were no longer just the dog we rescued—you were our heart that has so many pieces of other pets along with you. Spread the good word up there that our home is a place to end up when the world fails animals.
And we hope that somewhere along the way, before you left us, you finally understood what we had wanted you to know from the very beginning:
You were safe. You were loved. You were home.
Run free now, sweet boy in a place where there is no more fear or pain.
Luca, thank you for trusting us, even when trust was difficult and for trying to love us, even when love was frightening.
And loving you will always be one of the greatest gifts of our lives.
We love you, Luca. Everyday I watched your magestic, fairytale like and whimsical presence and witnessed so many others stare in awe of your breeds presence. If you have never been in an arms reach of this breed, I encourage you do do so.
Forever and always and until we meet again. ❤️
🐾
Agnes, Barney, Ernie and your two dads. Jason Stump September 2026