Rescuing
Our dogs come from everywhere! Some are happy, healthy pets that come from homes that just couldn’t handle the high energy and exercise demands of a typical herding dog. Others have stories of neglect and abuse that are quite sad. Every dog has their own story. When we accept a dog, the first thing we do is a full examination with a local veterinarian. We ensure that they are spayed or neutered, and are brought to current on all of their shots. If we find the dog has physical or health concerns, we ensure those problems are addressed before we make the dog available for adoption. We want to be sure that the dog you adopt is ready and rarin’ to go from day one! For those who feel they need some special support, we also offer training assistance for adopters.
If you have a herding breed dog that isn’t working out in your home, please contact us. Our organization may be able to help you place your dog in a new home or give you the resources you need to keep your dog in your home. Unfortunately, we are unable to take dogs with a history of biting or serious aggression. We can work with you to determine if your dog is a good fit for our program when you contact us. We have a requested donation of $100 when a dog is surrendered to us to help cover the cost of caring for the dog, but if you are unable to afford the fee, please contact us and we will still do our best to assist you should you need to surrender your dog.
Lady’s Story
Lady’s story is one of luck, love, generosity and her sheer will to live. Her story begins in a shelter in Odessa, TX where she was an owner surrender. She came in extremely thin, her ears were crusted and covered in fly bites and she had small sore all her joints from having to lay on a cement floor. Lucky for her the shelter worked with an outside organization ran by Hope Elliot called The Friends of the Odessa Animal Control which posts pictures to Facebook of shelter animals that need homes. This is how I found Lady.
When I saw her picture I fell in love but thought that there was nothing I could do with her being in TX. Her picture kept popping up and each time I saw it, I felt a stronger need to help this dog. Short of driving to TX what could I do? On a whim I contacted Flora at Herd U Needed a Home and she was quick to say yes to helping Lady. But how?
This is when one of Lady’s many angels came into the story. Rena Colton works for an airline and on her time off she flies animals in need to rescues that can help them. Through coordination with the Odessa Animal Control, Herd U Needed a Home, myself and Rena we were able to get Lady on a plane to WA by the weekend. Rena used her days off to fly into TX and drive an hour round trip to pick up Lady and then wait on standby to fly back to WA where I met them at the Seattle Airport.
Picking up Lady was nerve racking as I really had no idea what her condition really was as well as her demeanor. As soon as I opened the crate Lady was looking for love. Without hesitation the dog that had every reason to not trust humans was offering love to all of us. Her condition was even more shocking in person and there were tears shed and the doubt crept in that we could really save her.
After the 3 hour drive home we settled Lady into a large kennel in the garage to keep her quarantined from our other dogs. She made herself right at home and ate the food we offered her. I sat with her most of that evening and late into the night to make sure she felt safe and loved.
That Monday she visited the North County Animal Hospital in Ridgefield, WA for a thorough check up. Her overall condition was not good but her eyes were bright and we came up with a refeeding plan, got her up to date on what the Vet felt was necessary and safe for her. Bad news came a couple of days later when blood work showed very high liver levels so we started a liver supplement and antibiotics with a plan to recheck in 3 weeks.
In the meantime, Lady was still not eating well but she was blossoming in all other ways. She was happy and showed more energy. Lady started to enjoy being a normal dog taking short walks, playing with toys and just being loved on. Her favorite thing to do was ride in the car when we went weekly to check her weight which was not going up.
3 weeks later her blood work was worse and an ultrasound was suggested. At this point Flora suggested that I bring Lady to Bend to see Dr. Taylor Douglas who works with the rescue. A couple days later Lady and I packed up and made the 3 hour drive to Bend for her appointment. True to Lady form she made the entire staff fall in love with her instantly. The ultrasound showed that Lady had a diaphragmatic hernia and that some of her organs were slipping into her chest cavity causing them to not work well and putting pressure on her heart and lungs. We headed home not knowing what would happen next. Lady’s only chance would be to see Dr. Dojo and specialty vet in Bend but we had no idea if he would see her.
Flora worked hard to coordinate with Dr. Douglas’ office and contacting Dr. Dojo’s office to see if we could get Lady another miracle. Monday morning at 8 am I got a call from Flora asking me if I could get Lady to Bend by that afternoon for an appointment with Dr. Dojo with surgery possibly that day or the next. After some frantic planning Lady and I were on the way to Bend again.
Dr. Dojo and his wonderful staff did a full exam on Lady and he determined that he could do the surgery for her and scheduled her for the following morning. He explained all the risks but was confident that she had a good chance of recovering. It was going to be very expensive even with the rescue discount that they were graciously offering. This is where Lady gained more angels.
From the very beginning of Lady’s journey the Facebook community was following and supporting her. Everyone was so supportive and generous donating towards the medical costs that were piling up. The night before Lady’s surgery Flora and I were frantically trying to figure out how we were going to cover the cost of the surgery. This is when the Facebook community really amazed us. We needed a large donation to cover the cost of the surgery and an Angel stepped up and offered the full amount. Then another angel and another! We had the full cost of her surgery covered by these generous amazing supporters of Herd U Needed a Home.
So Lady and I settled into a hotel room for our last night together. Bright and early we were back at Dr. Dojo’s office where Lady was taken back for surgery.
The surgery went well and Dr. Dojo found that her liver was halfway in her chest cavity which was causing the liver levels to be high. Lady spent several days in the hospital and I was able to stay in Bend until they knew she was stable. The day I was to leave Dr. Dojo’s wonderful staff arranged a room where Lady and I could say our goodbyes. She seemed to know we would not see each other for a long time and was leaning into me soaking up all the love I could give her. With tears flowing I left her in the more than capable hands of Dr. Dojo’s office and the loving heart of Flora and all the supporters of Herd U Needed a Home.
