12/13/2024
On Oct 28 I opened my email to a message that would rob me of sleep for days to come.
Message: Hello, I'm hoping you can direct me to someone/group who can help rescue two large dogs that were dumped on a co-workers property. They have been without shelter for about 4 weeks and one is hurt and bleeding, panting heavily. The other has a leash around its neck where someone has tried to get it to safety. I don't believe these dogs can survive much longer. Is there someone or a group who can help with this situation?
The writer included a number so I picked up my phone and called.
Once the location of the dogs was identified in a neighboring county, I called the person who would change the course of their lives, Amy Kenney C**n.
Like me, she “gets on it” right away, but I do not have the expertise in trapping as she does, so I knew their fate was in her capable hands.
What transpired for two weeks was exhausting. Here is the information we were given, and forgive me if I am not exactly accurate as I am relaying what I was told. Two dogs were seen being dumped out of a truck on an isolated dirt road in the country. One appeared to be a Great Dane and one a Dane/shepherd mix.
They set up camp in a sparse grove of trees which afforded them little or no shelter. How two large , short haired dogs survived for six weeks is a miracle. There were no immediate neighbors although several houses nearby knew the dogs were out there, alone. At one point, they think the female was hit by a car and laid on the side of the road for days with no food. Then she was gone, and people figured she got up on her own.
One neighbor said she put food out three times a week if she saw them, but when I spoke with her she had not given them food for quite awhile as they had disappeared. When she finally saw them again, the female was skin and bones and when she did not see her the next day, she thought she had “passed.” However, when spotted again, she was able to stand, barely. Meanwhile, the weather was turning colder and heavy rain predicted. We needed a break, but we did not get one.
Amy had her trap set and baited, but she did not set the door to close knowing the dogs had to get confident first. However, the female was so starved that she went in the trap to eat right away and Amy texted she felt we would catch her the next day. But Mother Nature had other plans as that night a storm raged through the area bringing heavy rain and driving wind, and the dogs disappeared for three days. We did not know where they went or if they would ever return.
Our hearts were heavy.
Kelli and I drove up to the country with igloo doghouses which we dragged through the pasture to the grove of trees in hopes that the dogs would return. I cooked a pot roast which I put in the cage. Amy drove back and forth, walked for miles, and Lori and Kathi logged hours in their car doing surveillance only to see miles of empty pasture.
Three days later the sun came out, and Amy texted me,”They are back!!” My heart soared. And darn if she didn’t trap the female that night. The next day Amy brought her here and I had her room all set up to be as comfortable as possible. I call her Skye and she collapsed on the Kuranda bed and barely moved for days. Her eyes held the blank stare I have seen all too often of dogs who have lost hope but were still alive. One visitor looked at her and said, “she has given up” but I said “I am not going to let her give up,” and when she was too tired to stand, I fed her on her bed. Slowly, ever so slowly, we watched her pull ahead.
In the meantime the male was far more difficult to trap. He was not as thin but wary, smart and trusted no one. The camera showed him stretching forward, grabbing the food, and fast as lightening, he was gone. But Amy persevered and finally she got him.
That was two months ago and Skye has gained ten pounds and is now spayed and current on shots. Because she limps and I had been told she had probably been hit by a car, I asked for x-rays when she was spayed. The vet sent me pictures and here is what she said:
“Her pelvis is fractured in several places. It is amazing she can walk. I think her life expectancy may be short and she should probably not live with bigger dogs who might bump her and break what is trying to heal.”
And I thought of her long nights, hungry and cold in the wind, Lying in the mud, pelvis broken and I wondered how people could be so cruel.
I call the male Rocky, who is skittish and timid, but learning to trust and looks at you with such gentle eyes. He is a challenge and rejects collars and leashes, and still runs from us but he is getting better. He has no aggression and when I sit down with him, I can feel him sigh and he puts his head on my lap. Such a gift.
A few nights ago a storm came through here and the wind and driving rain went on for hours. Rivulets of water ran down my window and the gusts were so strong they rattled the windows, just the same as the nights the dogs were lost. But this time I knew two dogs were safe and warm, and I turned over and went to sleep.
