She's on the mend

by Matthew Hoekstra

Tears are still just a memory away, but they're never as close to the eyes of Amanda Muir as when she remembers the uncertainty of returning to work.

Muir, a Delta SPCA animal control officer, endured four surgeries and spent nine days in hospital while recovering from a vicious Rottweiler attack two months ago that left both her arms ravaged.

It was within the first few days of her hospital stay that a doctor told her she might not work again.

"That's the only time I ever saw fear in her face," says Jennifer Muir, her

younger sister. "She's scared of not ever being able to go back."

Muir, 33, was transporting Brutus, a guard dog from West Coast Engineering Group in Ladner, to a Tsawwassen animal clinic, where it attacked her June 18.

Each day her condition is improving, but grasping anything more than a toothbrush is still a challenge.

"It's shocking to see she still has that glow and spark in her eyes. You'd expect that to be gone, but it's not," says Jennifer.

She now wears tensor bandages around her scarred forearms. Doctors grafted skin from her thigh to close up her right arm, where two bones were broken. Her left wrist was shattered, and because of the extensive bone damage, permanent plates and pins hold bones together in both arms.

Muir doesn't remember the pain of the dog's teeth, but does remember her time in hospital, an experience she calls surreal.

Besides the barrage of media trying to get an update on her condition, people she didn't even know arrived at the hospital to offer their support. So many flowers, cards and pictures were delivered to the hospital for Delta's most well-known SPCA officer that hospital staff were forced to use the hospital loading dock for storage.

When Muir requested donations to the Delta SPCA in lieu of flowers, money began pouring in to the shelter to fund the surgery for pound-dog Jasmine. Two other shelter animals also had their surgeries paid for through extra donations.

She says the support from family, friends and the community helped her through her first days in hospital.

"There was a couple days that were bad. We didn't know what was going to happen."

The Rottweiler responsible for her injuries was euthanized days after the attack. Muir agreed to transport the guard dog because she believed it was well cared for - it just wasn't socialized.

"I know when to back off, and I know when something is more than I can handle, but I didn't feel that with him."

On Monday Muir returned to her Delta Cable show, Live at the SPCA, but only to thank the community for its support. She'll return as the regular host only when she's able to have the dogs, which are paraded in front of the camera, jump on her. Monday's show, where the animals were "on their best behaviour" was "very boring," she jokes.

As for returning to the SPCA, she's unsure when that will be. She has little movement in her wrist, which might require more surgery.

But Muir is quick to focus on the positives of her experience. It has brought her family closer together, and her love of animals is only greater.

"It's made me even more committed, even more passionate about what I do."

It has also hardened her resolve to help rehabilitate guard dogs. She says there are more guard dogs - often just dogs kept chained in backyards - in Delta than many think. She hopes dog owners will learn from her experience and open their back doors, get rid of the chain and call out: "Come on in."

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