Kismet…one of the luckiest dogs south of the border!
Imagine you’re an American tourist in Mexico. You’re driving down the road and suddenly see an emaciated dog, clearly sick and almost unable to walk.
You don’t know of a shelter close by. You don’t have a local veterinarian. And you have no idea what you’ll do with the dog if you take it in.
But if you’re Reed Gallant, you ignore all those facts. You put the dog in the car and then get creative.
Today that dog, now named Kismet, lives happily with her and a Bassett Hound named Beauregard in Annapolis.
It’s an unlikely story, made possible by Reed’s determination. And just like Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Reed also relied heavily on the kindness of strangers.
Here’s how it happened.
Reed was in Mexico with a friend, and saw that emaciated dog as they drove to a local beach.
“He looked horrible,” Reed remembers. “Just scabs everywhere and flaky skin.”
She and her friend found a veterinarian who diagnosed mange.
Reed wanted to take the dog home to Maryland with her, but the vet said it was out of the question. He couldn’t provide a necessary health certificate for the flight.
Undeterred, Reed found an animal shelter about an hour away. There, a heartworm test proved negative. Other diagnostics showed the mange was treatable, as was a tick-borne illness Kismet had contracted.
The shelter director agreed to treat Kismet as long as Reed promised she would arrange to get the dog to Maryland.
Reed went home to Annapolis, then began scouring the internet for help. She needed someone to fly Kismet out of Mexico when he was healthy. She found a woman planning to fly from Mexico to Los Angeles who agreed to take Kismet with her.
Reed says another woman “took Kismet overnight in L.A., then drove him to the airport the next day, where she put him on a flight to Baltimore.”
Incredible.
The word, “kismet” means destiny or fate. Never was a name more appropriate. Today Kismet is a tail-wagging bundle of energy, beloved by the woman who found him suffering and alone on a road in Mexico.
To meet Reed and Kismet, and, oh yes, Beauregard too, just watch this short video.
This uber-friendly, sun-splashed town in the Colonial Highlands of Mexico has a lot going for it.
“Israel built a wall, 99.9 percent successful,” Pres. Trump said Jan. 25 in a Rose Garden speech announcing that he agreed to reopen the government. “Won’t be any different for us.”
A native of Mexico, Chef Ernesto Martinez of Points South Latin Kitchen says, “I grew up with an appreciation for food and the chemistry it can create, bringing family and friends together.”
Pairing Yiddish and dogs may seem strange today, but it would have been even more unusual 100 years ago, said Burko, who received a doctorate in modern Jewish history from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.