Good deeds seldom go unpunished.
It's a convoluted story of how in July, Dax, Micah and I ended up in North Alabama to pull a dog out of a bad situation.
Wasn't supposed to be permanent, but I should've known I'd be foster fail!
This cantankerous, nippy English setter was cooped up in a 3x3 earthen chicken pen at a "rescue". This place had pit bull mixes everywhere, running loose, in crates, in large pens. All barking to deafening levels and standing in their own feces. One of the larger ones lunged over a fence and grabbed a pony by the leg. A donkey rushed over and kicked it. The owner, unperturbed, said they 'played' like that all the time. She wanted me to let Dax and Micah out of the truck to play with her dogs. Oh, F#@* no. Then she let this shell shocked English Setter out with a bunch of bigger dogs. "She just needs to socialize" . I grabbed her by the halter and threw her in the truck, wet dog crap all over her feet. I didn't care. We were leaving.
She had raw spots on her head, neck and paws.
Through some detective work, I was able to get her history from a kennel employee at her old vet clinic. Her owner was a young man who had her as a puppy and had hunting aspirations. Well, "this dog don't hunt".
...thanks to being a genetic misfit and having juvenile cataracts . Never diagnosed until now, but it doesn't take a genius to observe her running into trees. It seems that she fell out of favor with her master who then dumped her on his ailing mother who could do no better than keep her locked up in a laundry room with pee pads for 2 years. That's the story I got.
She also spend weeks at a time being kenneled at the vet clinic, which is why I suspect she was relinquished to them. Boarding fees add up... And that's how she ended up being sent to a hell hole to live in dirt crate and how I wanted to do better by sending her to a pure bred rescue group.
Realizing she was severely vision impaired, I notified the rescue group who would have to make special arrangements for her. Could I hold her a little longer?
Can I hold her?
https://youtu.be/KpMDJs0w4tQNow I can. Vixen savaged me three days in a row, biting me. It took her about 2 weeks to adjust and accept being held.
She will always a special child. But she's mine now. Sun sensitivity and all.
And Micah is quite smitten with his little sister, Pippins.
https://youtu.be/80ZuK402AbI
To try to get over her psychotic rock eating disorder, I started taking her on daily runs with Dax and Micah. She took to it so well that after a few weeks, I started to let her run off leash because she never strayed more than 10 feet from me.
Until one day, the four of us gathered at dawn at the gate. I unlatched it. As per normal, Dax and Micah went flying off in the direction of the Boonies. Pippins took a 90' left turn and went straight as an arrow out the gates and up the county road. Bolting right up to the paved road. I couldn't chase after her without risking Dax and Micah following me and all three dogs getting hit on the road. So, I had to call the two pointers back, throw them in the house, get the golf cart and begin my pursuit. By the time I was pulling onto the county road, Pippins passed me, heading North this time.
 |
| I'm innocent, Your Honor. |
Having newly developed cardiovascular capabilities, missy outran the golf cart for another half mile before she abruptly turning around. As she ran past the golf cart, I pounced and wrestled with her, she stayed busy poking holes in her captors hands.
That's when I decided these cataracts had to go. She could see large figures, otherwise, she was a danger to herself. D-Day: Oct 4th for cataract surgery (also her 4th birthday).
(Cataract surgery paid for itself: one night she raised the alarm at 2 intruders who'd come in the back door as I slept) Maybe a good deed does have karmic rewards after all.
She's in identity crisis mode and believes she's a cat.
We're all a little 'special' around here, she can be what she wants to be.
She'd worn an Elizabethan collar for almost 6 months between the eyes and the non-healing wounds.
Her eyes still aren't what they could be, but she's now living her best life. She sleeps in custom flannel pajamas.
And is the side car to this crazy pointer duo.
