At the end of May, we were contacted by a community member who got a dog from a person who was trying to sell her in the parking lot of a store. She was in a small dirty kennel and the sweet lady just wanted to rescue her from that situation. Unbeknownst to her, the little dog was very pregnant and soon gave birth to five tiny puppies. Right before the dog gave birth to the surprise babies, the good samaritan also rescued two more older puppies from the same person. With the birth of the puppies, she found herself with 8 new dogs in her home! She wanted to keep the puppies’ sweet mama, but due to a recent injury was unable to care for everyone sufficiently at the time. Understandably, she was quite overwhelmed and reached out to us for help. We quickly found a foster home for each of the older puppies and one for the mom and her little three week old babies.
Before surrendering them, she had made us aware that it seemed one of the puppies, Auggie, had an issue with his legs. She assumed it was an injury of some sort. We told her we would get him evaluated by our veterinarian as soon as she got them to us. Once we did, we were not expecting the diagnosis we received.
When the puppies arrived, it was clear that Auggie wasn’t suffering from an injury. It was much more than that. His rear legs were completely limp and he could not control his bodily functions. We were able to get him in with our friends at Cottonwood Veterinary Clinic right away where x-rays were performed. None of us, including the veterinarian, had ever seen anything like it. This poor sweet little boy was afflicted with a severe birth defect and was missing the entire lower section of his spine. He would have had no real quality of life as he grew and we had to make the hard decision to euthanize him. One of our staff, who had known him less than an hour, stayed with him, cuddled and kissed him, and told him how sorry we were that this was the hand he was dealt but that he was so very loved.
Auggie’s X-Ray
The two older puppies, Latte and Melody, and mama Frankie and her remaining babies, Mr. Big, Miranda, Charlotte and Carrie went to their foster homes. For the first few days, it seemed everyone was thriving except for Carrie. She didn’t engage with her littermates like the others did, she was listless and couldn’t move around much, and their foster mom was starting to notice that Charlotte, too, was not walking normally. The two girls went to the vet for x-rays and exams. Again, the news was not good. Carrie was also missing a portion of her spine and was most likely blind and deaf. It was recommended we end her suffering and we did. Charlotte’s exam also revealed a defect; her tail was not connected to the rest of her spine and she was unable to move it, luckily she seemed to be doing fairly well aside from her odd gate and the inability to lift her tail when she used the restroom. She would be okay! We decided we would amputate her tail at the time of her spay surgery to help her keep clean and then we would just need to find a home for her that understood she may have some special needs in the future.
We were so sad and angry about all of this. And, one of the many reasons why spaying and neutering your animals is so important. This is something that could have been prevented. But, someone chose to breed these dogs with no regard for anything other than how much money they could sell them for. Backyard breeding has so many consequences and severe genetic defects is one of them. If you are considering breeding your pets just for fun, or because you need extra cash, or because you think your dog or cat wants to be a mom, or because you think your kids need to experience the miracle of life, please reconsider. The outcome can be devastating and shelters and rescues are left to pick up the pieces.
We understand that some people may prefer to buy from a breeder than to rescue, and that’s okay. But, we implore those people to do their research and find the most reputable breeder they can. A reputable breeder would never breed a puppy missing part of their spine, let alone try and sell it to you.
At this point, we’re sure you’re wondering if there is a happy ending to all of this. And, there is! Six happy endings, in fact! Of course, in addition to being vaccinated and microchipped, all of these dogs were spayed or neutered. Mama Frankie will never have to have another litter and everyone else’s genes will stay where they are. After their surgeries, everyone was adopted by wonderful, loving families. Latte’s new mom is hoping to train him as a service dog to travel the country with her and detect spikes in her blood sugar, Miranda was adopted by a long-time foster and volunteer, Charlotte found the perfect family that understands she may require a little extra throughout her life and in return she is providing therapy to her new mom as she undergoes cancer treatment, and mama Frankie went home with the kind person who saved her from that parking lot in the first place.
In situations like this, we can’t help but wonder what would have happened to Auggie and Carrie and the others if Black Dog Animal Rescue didn’t exist or we didn’t have the resources at the time to say “Yes!” to this family. Because of your donation to our WyoGives campaign today and all the love you show us every other day of the year, we will hopefully never have to find out.
