| 
|
Chapter 14: "Coby, The Abandoned Dog."
From Good Housekeeping, August, 1995
by Linda Brown
Patty Adjamine and her friend, Anita Mackey, saw the battered dog walking unsteadily toward them, and when Adjamine called to him, he raised his head, revealing a bloody face and a smashed right eye.
The women moved slowly toward him, but he ambled past them with a slow, defeated gait. They followed him up the block in East Harlem, N.Y., but by the time he reached the end of the street, said Adjamine, "he just seemed to run out of gas. as if he had given up."
Adjamine belongs to New Yorkers for Companion Animals, a small group that rescues homeless dogs and cats. She and Mackey were on their way to feed some abandoned cats when they spotted the dog.
When he stopped moving, Adjamine cautiously offered him some cat food, while Mackey went to a nearby hardware store for rope to loop around his neck. When they were able to examine him, they were able to see blood from his smashed right eye running along his scarred muzzle; a damaged ear; some broken teeth; and a filthy, smelly and matted coat.
They were only five blocks from the ASPCA, and the dog wouldn't -- or couldn't budge. When they called the shelter, they were told that there was no pickup service for animals.
They couldn't get a cab to stop for the big, dirty, bleeding dog and he was too heavy to carry. They stood on the street corner for almost an hour. Finally, a young couple in a car offered to take them to the Animal Medical Center.
Adjamine fully expected the worst -- a recommendation for euthanasia. But, to her surprise, the vet told them that except for the smashed eye, dehydration and malnutrition, he was basically healthy!
The AMC took care of the dog for five days, giving him painkillers, tranquilizers, antiobiotics, food and much-needed-bath -- but they couldn't do much about the three puncture wounds in his right eye (in which he eventually became permanently blind).
Adjamine and Mackey visited the dog daily and were most troubled by his unresponsiveness. Then a miracle happened -- Mackey asked Adjamine if she thought the dog would give Mackey his paw, and he responded immediately. "Something, deep inside had clicked. We finally reached this dog, " said Adjamine. Now, that they knew he would recover, it was time to give him a name -- Coby.
While Coby recuperated at the AMC, Adjamine desperately tried to find him a home -- but she got no takers.
So she began to consider adopting him, although she already had five cats. She wondered how they would respond to a big dog like Coby, but she shouldn't have worried. The cats welcomed the gentle dog and Coby settled in.
Vets estimated Coby to be around 10 years old. He was housebroken, well behaved and loved to be petted.
As Coby's scars healed, so did his psyche. His recovery was completed when Adjamine brought home an abandoned female dog in need of a permanent owner. But, when she saw how well the two dogs got along, she decided to keep her.
Her relationship with Coby remains very special. "If I had gone to a dog show and bought the most expensive animal there, I couldn't have gotten a better and more loving dog than Coby."