This is a true story. I wish it weren't.
A couple of days ago in Butte, Montana, a lady named Denise S. saw a little Yorkshire Terrier in the street. As cars whizzed by, she dashed out to rescue the dog. Suddenly she saw a man by the Yorkie, kicking it. Denise ran up, grabbed the dog off the pavement, and clutched it tight. The man was drunk. He said to Denise, "That's my dog!" Then he walked away.
The tiny dog was filthy, its fur matted and its eyes crusted over. But that wasn't the worst of it. The Yorkie's two front legs were paralyzed. She couldn't walk. But she tried anyway, propelling herself with her back legs, only to fall on her chin. Then she would push off again. It was heartbreaking to watch.
Denise took the dog to a vet clinic, where they clipped her, cleaned her eyes and ears, and started her on some eye medication. The vet wasn't sure what had happened to the dog's legs. I can only imagine.
Denise called us yesterday, told us about the dog, and asked if we could take her. We didn't hesitate. Denise's parents drove the Yorkie up to us today. They were already taken with this amazing little girl.
We found her legs knuckle over at the same spot on each limb, and there's no reflex at all. It's not like they're lifeless, because they don't flop around, but they're stiff. It's very odd. She's been like this for quite some time, judging from the bald spots and wear marks on her legs.
I took the photos this evening in our Welcome Center. In the second photo she's trying to walk off the dog bed, and you see what happens -- she just falls forward. You can see her front feet sticking out underneath her rear end. But she'll pick herself up and try again. She has enough pep that when we took her outside, she barked at all the dogs by the house, and she was fascinated to see the horses in the corrals across the drive. She clearly wanted to go explore!
She has a respiratory problem of some sort ... very slurpy, congested breathing ... which concerned us as well. We had some volunteers here from Seattle this weekend, and they were heading back to Missoula this evening, so they're dropping her off at the emergency clinic for the night. We want to make sure her respiratory issue is treated right away. Our internal medicine specialist in Missoula, Dr. Dave Bostwick, will do a complete examination tomorrow.
If her front-leg paralysis is not medically or surgically correctable -- and I bet it isn't -- we still have the option of a wheelchair. Our friends at Doggon' Wheels in Bozeman, Montana, have a front-wheel drive wheelchair for dogs with this kind of problem. Since the flooring in our house is entirely linoleum, and she's so small, she would be able to cruise around just fine.
Oh. We named her Spirit.
(Click on photos for larger image.)
Wow! Gulp. What a girl...
Posted by: Karen SA/TX | August 28, 2006 at 06:31 PM
poor little sweetheart :(
I'm so glad she has found safety at the ranch.
What is wrong with people?
Posted by: Sarah | August 28, 2006 at 05:16 PM
poor little sweetheart :(
I'm so glad she has found safety at the ranch.
What is wrong with people?
Posted by: Sarah | August 28, 2006 at 05:16 PM
She has such a darling face!
and spirit indeed, along with quite a bit of tenacity.
This reminds me of the Faith the two legged dog (google her for the video). She was born deformed and trained to walk on her back legs by her owners using peanut butter as a reward. It worked!
According to the Vet's, Faith would have had severe and probably fatal respitory issues had she ended up scooting on her stomach as a permanent means of getting around.
I hope Sprit comes back with a positive report from Dr. Dave and her respitory problem can be cured by simply being in a cart up off her chest.
I'd love to see her experience a wonderful life, probably for the first time!
Welcome sweet Spirit!
You're in the best place you could possible be!
Posted by: Leilani | August 28, 2006 at 04:40 PM
The poor baby. Thank you for taking her.
Steve and Alayne: can you use more collars? Can you give me the sizes you need and a favorite color?
Posted by: Linda Lee Balkin | August 28, 2006 at 10:11 AM
What a heartbreaking story! Its still incomprehensible to me how some people can be so evil and cruel to animals. Thanks goodness for Denise, and thank goodness for RDR! You can see the spark in her eyes - now she will have a chance to blossom!
Posted by: Heidi & the kitties | August 27, 2006 at 11:56 PM
Oh, bless this little girl, Spirit; and sincere gratitude to Denise for rescuing her, her mom for driving her to the ranch, the Seattle folks for driving her to Missoula; Steve and Alayne for not hesitating to say 'yes' to her.
But don't even get me started about this guy kicking her.
Posted by: Roz | August 27, 2006 at 11:54 PM