Breathing blankets and broken dogs.....

Last week, The Nurse and I went to our local animal shelter to purchase dog licenses for out dogs. While we were there, we walked up and down the kennels saying hello to all the dogs that were there. The Nurse stopped at one kennel, and said: "Look that blanket is breathing." I looked in the kennel, and could see the blanket and the bed moving up and down in a rhythmic fashion, indicating something was alive in the kennel, but there was no dog to be seen. 

We were talking to the shelter staff about the dogs and cats, and st some point there was a discussion about me getting a puppy out to play with it. It was during that conversation that one of the employees said, "Go look at that dog in Kennel #6. She needs someone to get her out." 

The Nurse nudged me and said, "That's the kennel with the breathing blankets, but you can't see the dog!"

I walked back to the kennel, open the door, and lifted the bed. There was the most terrified dog I have ever seen in my life. Her fur was wet and yellow with urine, and she was laying in her own feces. I picked her up, and she instantly released her anal glands in fear. I carried her up to one of the "meet and greet" rooms and she coward on the floor under the bench, just trying to get away from us. 

The shelter staff explained that she had been at the shelter for a week, and that they had used a live trap to catch her, because she was running loose in some woods out in the country. The went on to say she was so scared that she wouldn't walk, hid behind the toilet when they attempted to work with her, and never even moved to urinate or deficate, she just voided and laid in it.

My heart broke.

There wasn't much discussion between The Nurse and I on what we were going to do, I think we both knew this dog was never going to recover in the shelter, and that was IF she could be rehabilitated at all, so we decided to take her home and try to foster her. 

In my 22 years of dog rescue, I have only fostered one other dog this broken and shutdown. That dog was Wigzi, whom I ended up driving to a sanctuary in Nebraska because he never recovered enough to make it in a home. Usually, when you have a dog this broken, they don't like people, but they like dogs. This girl was so shutdown that she didn't even like dogs. We have been working with her and where she makes no sense, she seems to be making some very small steps towards being a dog.

We will see where we go as we work through the idiosyncrasies that this little girl has, and my prayer is she will one day function well enough to at least live a life that is fulfilling to her. Really, that is all I hope for any of my rescue pups.....