Beauty is a gorgeous nearly 2 year old German Shepherd. She is owned by neighbors of mine. In an attempt to find a more appropriate home for her, she suffered a terrible accident. The owners felt they didn't have the time to devote to this rambunctious dog. They found a man on a nearby ranch who had acres of land for her to run on.
As the man put Beauty into the back of his truck, the previous owners asked him to let her ride in front as she had only ever been inside cars before. He tied her in and said she'd be fine. A short way down the road she jumped out as was dragged almost 1/2 a mile down the road with the original owners and their kids watching. When the man finally saw the family running down the road after him, he stopped the truck. Once the leash was loose, the badly injured Beauty got loose and ran away. The family searched all night. They finally found her and asked me for help. Having little money to spend and with time being urgent, I immediately contacted SCAF and was informed very quickly that they would be able to help. My boss and I also offered to have all hospitalization at no charge and my surgery time would also be donated.For the next 6 days, Beauty had to undergo general anesthesia for her dressing changes and wound debridement. The bones over the top of both rear feet were broken and exposed. Every toenail on all 4 feet were ground down to the underlying bone. All of her pads were rubbed off. Initially, she had lost all the skin on the outside of her right thigh. I repaired this using skin grafts on the first day. Finally, on day 7, she was able to go to an every 3 day regimen.
She was always a trooper. Always happy and even tried to go for her walks on the second day! After only 2 weeks, she was able to go home with instructions for every two day bandage changes.With lots of guidance on my part, I was able to teach the original owners the importance of regular exercise and mental stimulation for Beauty. They live on several acres but it is not fenced so she is only ever out of her kennel on leash. They now understand why she seemed so "out of control". I recommended basic obedience classes. I was very happy to see the whole family walking her down the street last week. They said she gets 1 mile walks 3-4 times weekly and all of the kids are feeling more comfortable around her since she is learning how to walk on a leash. She has made a full recovery and will hopefully go on to live a healthy, happy life!
Thank you SCAF for all of your generous help!
Dr. Karyn McCulloch, and current Wagster