For Susan and Mike Kelms, their four dogs were like their children. And they always hoped they would stay together if anything happened to them.
About two weeks after the Kelmses were both killed in a fatal motorcycle crash over the Labor Day weekend, their family and a Burr Ridge shelter is looking for someone to adopt the pack.
They've had inquiries about one or two of the dogs, but no one has stepped up yet to take all four, said Kathy Deets, manager of the Chicago Canine Club in Burr Ridge.
"Their last wish was that they could be adopted together and they are an interesting little pack,'' said Deets. "They're just best friends, these four dogs."
They are 6-year-old Anacortes, a 47-pound female American Eskimo lab mix; 3-year-old Cedonia, a 34-pound female husky mix; 7-year-old Tacoma, a 92-pound male lab mix; and Everett, a 4-year-old, 47-pound, male Austrian Shepard lab mix.
She said the shelter has been boarding the dogs since the accident as a niece of the Kelmses searches for a home. Deets said the dogs have an unusually close bond and tend to hang out together in the shelter.
According to a letter posted on the shelter's Web site by Kim Mayer, the Kelms' niece, the dogs were adopted over the past seven years.
"Their dogs were the only children they ever had,'' Mayer wrote.
Deets said she understands it will be difficult finding homes for all four dogs, and said they have had inquires from neighbors and friends of the Kelms.
"To adopt two dogs together is a huge challenge ... four could be impossible,'' said Deets.
But she said the dogs are very well-mannered and show signs that they were well taken care of by the owners. "The dogs are super sweet.''
The dogs, all rescued from area shelters, are spayed and neutered and are up to date on vaccines.
-- Carlos Sadovi
