Misty’s Happy Ending

Only a puppy ... a smashed leg ... filled with beebee pellets ...

Misty's Story:

I never knew about your organization until searching on the net. My sisters and I have always been involved in rescues everything from snakes to eagles, horses, dogs, cats etc. After a while you feel burnt out and sick to death of people who are cruel to God's critters. My husband and I have three rescues all from reserves. Our second rescue is a Shi-tzu who at 8 weeks old had been given to a mentally disabled teenager because the pup did not seem right and they wanted to keep it away from the mom and litter, (yes he is from a puppy mill). His name is Elmo and at eight weeks old he had three broken ribs, seizures, didn't know how to eat, blind and screamed in pain because of his intestines. To make a long story short Elmer is 2 1/2 years old now and although high maintenance (we also think he is autistic). He has cost us a lot of money but we love him like our little boy. Our other dog, Ratty is 5 and a Heinz 57 who is in good health now and Elmo's loving big brother.

Here is our problem. Recently we were up for the day at the beach beside the reserve. I saw a native man walking with a dog following him. She was limping badly and I asked if it was his dog. He told us a guy on the reserve owns two of them, never feeds them and abuses them but will not give them up. He said some teenagers had hit her in the leg with a 2x4 and the guy won't take her to the vet. She was soon attacked by another dog and that was it for us. I ran over picked up her matted skinny body and put her in our truck. She smelled so bad that our eyes were watering on the way home. She was fed, bathed and taken to the vet the next day. The vet took x-rays of the one leg and showed me. The leg had been broken in two spots approximately two months ago was deformed from the breaks and healing that way. He said it would have to be re-broken and the surgery would be $2000.00. The leg also had three b.b. shots in it. If I had the money I would have slapped it down without a second thought but we don't. The vet put on a splint to ease her pain and see how it goes. I also got him to give her shots. This cost $300.00. Misty is a sweetheart full of affection even with the other dogs. Ideally she needs the leg surgery and more x-rays to check for b. b.'s plus she needs to be spayed. Turns out that she is only 7 months old and we thought by her appearance that she was around four or five years old. The SPCA will not take strays anymore and the pound said she would be put down. We need help! We can't afford to fix her and do not need another dog especially with one who is already high maintenance and cost. I'm sure you can understand we could not leave her there. We are doing the best we can right now for Misty but we know it is not enough and she so deserves a home with kids. Please let me know if you can help.

Thank you for your work and your time.

Misty was brought to AAS the next day though it took four hours for her kind rescuers to drive her here. She will be seeing our vet today and we will find out all the other things that are wrong, and we will start the process of getting her leg fixed by specialist surgeons. She has already gone for a lovely walkies in the woods and is now happily asleep with a full tummy.

Progress report: February 27, 2005

The x-rays have gone to Dr Teri Schiller at Animal Critical Care, a terrific bone surgeon. Teri will decide if natural healing or surgery is best. Natural healing has started, with the formation of new bone and connective tissue but only time will tell if it will be adequate in Misty's case.

Misty is in her new home now, and in three months she has to be x-rayed again to see if Nature's healing is as good as surgery, as we hope for her sake it is. But if surgery would make her leg even better, then we will pay for the surgery. Thank you everyone who donated to Misty's medical bills and if you would like to help all our dogs, you can see how here.

Hi AAS,

Just thought I'd send you this very cute picture of Misty.... and two of her latest habit... impersonating a mountain goat .... (we're trying not to encourage this one, but it was kinda cute and I happened to have the camera handy!)

Also, she's loving her dad more and more every day... sometimes she just won't stop kissing him! Although she's still fairly leery of other men, she gets more accepting of Gene as each day passes... I'd say she's 90% there...... Tonight on the dyke she actually came back to Gene and Maggie when two people were approaching on their bikes. (We've always taught our dogs to come and sit by us when bicycles are approaching so as not to startle anyone off of their bike)... And for the first time, she got directly into the truck all on her own at the end of the walk! Usually it take about 5 minutes to convince her to get in... my little baby is growing up! So we are very proud of these new changes... she's just the best girl.... very confident and independent but still so loving and snuggly...

Regarding x-raying Misty's leg.... We don't think it's really necessary at this time as her leg seems to have healed well. Now on her walks she doesn't limp anymore and could literally run forever if we let her... We go up on the dyke behind our place and let her and Maggie run free... we were pretty nervous initially letting her go as she gets quite far ahead of us, but always comes back... Maggie is pooped long before Misty and can't even keep up with her.... Misty never shows signs of getting pooped at all! She is a whole different dog when she's running free on the dyke than she is at home... it's like she has memories of the days when that was her life... running free and trying to survive... We weighed her the other day at the vet, when we had to take Shelby in for her checkup and Misty weighed in at 47.7 lbs and Maggie was a whopping 67.7 lbs...! When we look at old pictures of Misty and how she is now, it's like night and day... she has filled out and is so healthy and happy... she's a mischievous little thing though and is always getting into something... she's curious about everything! Misty and our Granddaughter Sadie, have become very good buddies; they love to play in the yard together and especially in the wading pool.

August 2006 — a letter from Misty's family who also adopted Maggie the Bernese from AAS....

Hi AAS!

I just wanted to update you on Misty and Maggie and Shelby.....

They are as happy as can be... We go for walks every day out in the bush and they just LOVE it! Judy, Misty has blossomed like you wouldn't believe! You wouldn't recognize the amazing girl she has become! I love all my dogs to pieces but she is something else... She has personality plus! She is soooo happy, curious about everything and LOVING like you wouldn't believe! Every, morning she kisses her dad for a good solid 10 minutes, while he contemplates getting out of bed... she just can't love him enough... truly amazing changes from that fearful little creature that we took in. She is so funny too... when we're working in the house (we're doing a bit of remodelling), we leave the back door wide open, so the dogs can come and go as they please.... She'll peek around the corner of the door to see if you're noticing her and then she'll dash in grab a shoe or whatever is handy and then dash out the door with it... she'll do this until you stop what you're doing and go and chase her around the yard. Because it's been so hot here, we also leave the back door open all night long.... Well when we get up in the morning, there will be an assortment of items on the lawn that she's dragged out... she never ever chews anything up, she just enjoys the game (well she still has that paper/cardboard fetish), but that's nothing.... She is just hilarious! Thank you again so much for her, life just wouldn't be the same without her!

Maggie is a very happy and loving girl too. She is very low key though, compared to Misty. It doesn't take much to please her, she is just happy to be where ever you are. We've had her to the groomers twice now, since we've been here. She has a beautiful coat... you'll have to tell Diane that Maggie still has her baby curls!

My old girl Shelby is doing much better than when she was at the coast... it seems that the dryness here has helped her arthritis incredibly. I really thought she was at the end there, but here, she's perky as can be! She is 14 this year, nearly at the end of her life span, 3/4 deaf and blind, but she's a happy girl and she loves her sisters dearly.... Maggie tends to run her over a lot, poor Shelby! But Shelby gets up like nothing has happened and interestingly enough, when Shelby needs help to go out in the middle of the night, Maggie is the first one to wake up and starts whining to let us know; so in her own way, she watches out for Shelby.

I hope all is well with you and thank you for everything you do for those that can't help themselves....

Cathy & Gene

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