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Winter Issue 2007 Tributes |
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Scared, Scarred, Starving and alone........ In their short lifetime these four pups suffered a tremendous amount of abuse. Some heartless individual had thrown the pups out in Messenger Woods Forest Preserve. We had no idea how long the pups had been out there, but it was obvious that they were literally starving to death. Fortunately a good Samaritan had spotted the pups, and knew she couldn't leave them out there, especially not with coyotes in the area. After rounding them all up, upon closer examination the woman was sickened at the condition the pups were in. It was apparent the pups needed a lot more care than she could possibly give to them, so she brought them to TLC. When we examined the pups, we estimated them to be about three months old. They were in horrendous condition. They were pathetically thin, and had scars all over their bodies. Due to being so malnourished the pups were also suffering from rickets. The physical abuse the puppies had endured was bad enough, but it was obvious they had suffered severe mental abuse too. We knew putting weight on the pups would be the easiest part of our job, but gaining their trust was going to be an entirely different matter. Two of the pups would plaster themselves up against the back wall of the puppy cage, cowering and shaking if you would go to touch them, while the other two pups would growl and go to bite...they didn't trust anyone, and looking at their scarred bodies you can understand why. It was so pathetic... due to the abuse the pups had suffered, it had robbed them of their puppy- hood, they did not act like normal puppies at all, they did not play with one another, they did not bark, all they did was watch every move we made, with fearful looks on their faces, all the while wondering if someone was going to come in and hurt them. We worked with the pups every day and ever so slowly they started coming around. We knew we had made great strides with them when the pups started wagging their tails, something we had never seen them do. The transformation was something to behold, the turnaround was like night and day. The pups repaid our kindness many times over as they would nestle up to your neck and lick your face, as if to say thanks for all you did to help us. Two of the pups were ready for adoption within a few weeks after they were brought in, but the other two pups, which we came to name Scout and Sweetie Pie needed additional medical care, to get them back on their feet. It turned out that Sweetie Pie had a partially crushed growth plate in her right front leg, and needed orthopedic surgery which was very expensive, but without the surgery Sweetie Pie's leg would get worse as time goes on which would cause her a great deal of pain. Thanks once again for donations made to the Bertha Fund we were able to provide Sweetie Pie with the surgery she needed. We are hoping by the time you read this article Scout and Sweetie Pie have found loving homes, but if not you can check our website to see if they are still available. We can guarantee whoever the lucky person is who adopts these pups will be rewarded with a whole lot of love. We wish to thank these foundations for their generosity. We want to thank the following people for their help with the Texas Hold 'Em and made everything go smoothly: Carol and John Walters, Mary Bower, Donna Laik, Brooke Nighsuander, Chuck and Sandy Peters, Paula Bickel, Michele Chalifoux, Sarah Ahlberg, Janice Lane, Deb Haslinger, Denny Carter, Patty Robinson, Kristen Himlin, Jason Miller, Brad Anthony Zych, Kristin Heinlen, and Officer Jason Miller. We wish to extend a special thank you to The J. Edward Mahoney Foundation for the grant, Lockport VFW Post 5788 for the free use of the hall, and to Sedona Staffing for providing all the pizzas for the event, Erica Follkie for the 2 huge liquor baskets she donated for raffle prizes and also to Andy Avalos the meteorologist for channel 5 for mentioning the event on TV for us. |