Dog Town Canine Rescue
Stories to learn from
STORIES
Honey's Story
In May 2007, we had a call from a lady who lived out in the desert just west of Fallon, NV. She had found a small, scruffy young dog wandering in the sagebrush. She had been dumped by some crappy people.
As if that weren't bad enough, she was packing around a HUGE, nasty mammary tumor. The tumor weighed 5 pounds... Honey only weighed 20 pounds. She was in surgery for 5 hours, and lost a lot of blood because this tumor had its own blood supply and the vet had to be careful to clamp off all of the blood to the tumor. It would have eventually starved her to death.
Following her surgery, Honey went to one of our foster homes to recuperate. It was a long struggle for her, but gradually she regained her strength. She was finally happy, free from that terrible tumor, and really knew what it was like to be loved, and to be a part of a pack. Her foster siblings loved her, as did everyone who met her. She enjoyed "hunting" in the backyard, and went for long walks every day with her foster family.
On June 14th, Honey went back to the vet because her foster family noticed she had been gaining weight and that her stomach was bulging. She had also begun wheezing a bit and spitting up water after she drank. Our worst fears were confirmed when the vet took x-rays which revealed the cancer from her mammary tumor had spread throughout her lungs and liver. Our Honey was going to die.
Honey did not have to die. Had her people thought enough of her to have her spayed, she would not have gotten mammary cancer. In fact, with each heat cycle a female dog goes through, her chances of getting mammary cancer increase. She was a very sweet and smart little girl who certainly deserved better. Our only consolation is that she had a wonderful month of living in a home where she was cared for and treasured, and that when the time finally came, she left this world knowing that she was loved.
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Jorja On My Mind...
Here's a story with a much happier ending...
Above: Jorja enjoying the cool, green grass in her forever home.
Right: Jorja snuggled up with brother Mickey while Sassy munches on a toy.
Big sister Sassy and brother Tyke,, showing Jorja just how to relax..
When Dog Town moved to Churchill County, Jorja got to go stay with Mary Ann and Jerry, two of Dog Town's fearless foster parents. While staying with them, she was kept busy by two new "brothers", Reno and Shadow (both adopted rescued dogs), and learning how to use the doggie door and to run up and down the stairs! She was getting along just fine without her leg and it just barely slowed her down.
But Jorja needed a "forever" home, so we thought we would take a chance and show her photo to some great people we know up in Washington state. Bill and Veronica had adopted two other dogs from us, so we knew what awesome dog parents they were. It was Jorja's lucky day when Bill flew down to meet her. How could anyone resist that face?
Jorja now lives with her adopted brothers, Tyke and Mickey, and her big sister, Sassy. She's one lucky pup considering what her fate would have been had we not seen that email.
After her arrival, Jorja went directly into one of our foster homes, where she had to rest up and recuperate from her ordeal. She was a hard one to keep quiet, she wanted sooo badly to play with her foster siblings, and run around the house!
The shelter could not keep her because she was going to need to have the remainder of her leg amputated, so unless someone rescued her, she was going to be put down. That's no way to start our new year off, so we stepped up to the plate and agreed to take this little sweetie. The vet in Merced did the surgery and the next thing we knew, Jorja was on her way to Nevada!
In January of this year, we had an email from some rescue friends in Merced California about a young female Pit Bull who had one of her hind legs severed and three weeks later was surrendered at the
local shelter. Somehow this amazing dog had survived the huge amount of blood loss and shock,
no thanks to her irresponsible and cruel owners. They told the shelter workers that she had "been
hit by a train" and that they no longer wanted her.
I know they'll go to heaven because they've already seen hell.
On December 20th 2007, Dog Town took in two male Pit Bulls from a local shelter. These dogs, now know as Wilbur and Orville (the "right" brothers) were terribly emaciated and we just could not leave them behind in that condition.
After getting the "okay" from the vet to bring them home, both dogs went to a Dog Town foster home where they are both recovering nicely. They have wonderful personalities, are friendly and get along great with the other dogs. They also were caught giving kisses to the cat at the vet's office, and they absloutely love people, despite what they have been through.As soon as they are strong enough we will be finding "forever" homes for these boys, where they will never go hungry again.
update... Orville was adopted by an AWESOME family from Fallon, NV on January 20th! He now gets to go running and to work with his new dad, and he even got to go to California with the family to a SKATEPARK! How cool is that? Wilbur still needs a home, though, so why not make his dreams come true like Orville's did?
MORE GOOD NEWS! Wilbur was adoted by a wonderful family in the Dayton Nevada area! He has a canine brother and loves to play with him. His new family knows a lot about this breed of dog, so we know that Wilbur has a home for life!
You are my Sunshime, my only Sunshine...
In February 2008 we had a desperate email from the San Bernardino County Animal Shelter (CA). It was from a volunteer, begging us to help them with this girl. We saw the somewhat blurry photo they had taken there, and what the heck, how could Dog Town turn down helping this poor unfortunate dog? They said that they tried finding her puppies but had no luck, so they were either dead or someone had taken them and she was allegedly a stray living on the streets. The volunteers had named her Sunshine due to her sunny disposition, and it fits her to a tee!
Sunshine is only about two years old, but she is blind, only has three legs,and is missing most of her hair. She always has a wagging tail and is not at all bashful about kissing strangers. We welcomed her into the fold and she has quickly stolen our hearts. She had some serious damage to her tail, probably from whacking it against the cage at the Pound. It was bloody and beaten nearly to death. We tried wrapping it, but dogs being dogs, she would not leave it alone. We tried putting the dreaded "lampshade" on her head, but she would still whack the heck out of it on the walls. We checked it one day and saw that the tip of her tail was black, and cold. Her tail was literally dying. So the vet said "the tail has got to go" and that was that. She had surgery on March 5th and is now freed from the nasty thing. She actually looks like a Pointer with her cute bobbed tail, always in motion.
We had some blood work done at the vet's office, and she is pretty much a normal healthy dog. Her white blood cell count was elevated but that was attributed to her yukky tail, so it should be back in the normal range soon. They also did a glaucoma test on her eyes, but that wasn't the cause of her blindness. She's doing great and we love her. She's got a home at Dog Town forever.
Fast forward to November 2008... Her hair has grown back in and she's soft and white. She's found her place on the couch!
At one time, Virgil had a home and family, because someone took the time and expense to have him neutered at a young age. As Virgil grew, some problems became apparent. Virgil has an eye condition which we believe affects his vision. It also appears that Virgil is deaf. Once these problems were obvious, his owners cruelly dumped him in the forest.
We believe that Virgil is a Homozygous Merle (sometimes called “Lethal White”) puppy, a condition that occurs when someone tries to breed two merle coated dogs, commonly Australian Shepherds. Luckily, he was picked up by some compassionate people and he ended up at the vet office where we were called in to help. The vet estimates that Virgil was born in late July '2008
He is not house trained yet, but he is crate trained. He did okay with cats in his first foster home; he actually didn’t always notice them. He loves to play and is a very active little guy. He can see well enough to run up and down stairs, up on the couch, and to jump and wrestle with his new foster brothers. We think his largest hurdle right now is going to be his hearing loss, he seems to be completely deaf, but it certainly does not slow him down.
UPDATE - Virgil found his forever home, and is living happily ever after!
Blind, Deaf, and Dumped
Acting Judge Glasson heard three hours of testimony before taking only a few minutes to find Sabrina Lohr GUILTY, thanks to the awesome prosecution done by Kris Brown of the Douglas County District Attorney's office. Alligator tears from the defendant failed to produce the desired result and although the prosecution had asked the judge to sentence the defendant to ten days in jail - one day for each day poor Rocket wandered, frightened and cold last November, Sabrina Lohr did end up getting a two day jail sentence, a fine of $1132.00 and fifty hours of community service at the Douglas County Senior Center. She also now has a criminal record and some nice publicity in the local newspaper.
We were allowed to make a statement on behalf of Rocket, since the victim typically is allowed to testify, but unfortunately mere words could never descibe our grief or the hell that poor Rocket went through, frantically searching for his former owner after she admittedly left her car door open and allowed him to run off. It seems that Rocket was not getting along with her other dog, Spike, and when the Douglas County Animal Shelter could not take him, she decided to let him loose so she could hurry off to her vacation in Spain with her parents.
There is still a higher judge Ms. Lohr must face one day, and will have to answer to an entity who knows exactly what was in her heart that fateful day she condemned a frightened animal to a lonely death on a frozen roadway.
REST IN PEACE, DEAR FRIEND. WE WILL MEET AGAIN SOMEDAY!
Convicted DOG DUMPER, Sabrina Lohr in court. She sacrificed his life in order to go on vacation. Hope you enjoyed your time in jail.
Rocket as we like to remember him... a big, silly, fun loving dog with a big heart. He never deserved to die.
JUSTICE FOR ROCKET
GUILTY!!!
On April 17th, 2008 justice was served. Sabrina Lohr was found Guilty of abandoning Rocket which led to his death.
Here at Dog Town, we see the worst of it. Dogs that have been abused and neglected, dogs barely alive. And this poor boy is no exception. He was found on March 30th, 2008 out by Lahontan Reservoir in rural Churchill County. He was weak and dehydrated, just barely alive. Our volunteers tried getting this horrible trap off of his head, but had to cut it off with bolt cutters. This poor dog had been starving and had a nasty abscess on his throat from the trap.
Dog Town welcomed a new friend this past winter, his name is Tripod, and he's got quite a story to tell.
Tripod was first seen about SEVEN year ago, he was living in a vacant field next to the Fandango Casino in Carson City, NV. One of our friends, Pam, would see him several times a week, existing on the fringe of society. She saw that he had a damaged front leg and tried to catch him, but he wanted nothing to do with humans. For the next several years, Pam would leave out food and water for Tripod, and even had a warm bed hidden for him in the underground parking garage at the Fandango. She would see him off and on, but he always seemed to come back for the fresh water and stew she left for him.
This past winter, Tripod was starting to slow down and Pam got really worried about his health. A feral dog living out in the extreme climate of northern Nevada does not have much chance of dying from old age. The elements were starting to take their toll on Tripod. Pam contacted Dog Town and thanks to the trust she had built with him over the years, Tripod allowed himself to be leashed and was brought safely to Dog Town.
Tripod was taken to the veterinarian right away for a check up. The vet said that it appeared that although his leg had been damaged for a long time, it did not appear to be causing him any discomfort. He was weak and suffering from exposure to the cold, but once he arrived at Dog Town, he soon regained his health and spirit. He even uses his deformed leg to help go up stairs and to balance when peeing on trees! We love this special boy and he is going to live the rest of his life with soft blankets, warm food, and lots of love. He is still apprehensive of strangers but is gradually learning to trust visitors.
Tripod quickly made friends with the other resident dogs and he's even discovered the joys of furniture! He's a regular couch potato now, and we love to see how relaxed and secure he has come to feel here at Dog Town.
