Suddenly Stover found himself without the ability to stand, walk, roll over, and control his urinary and bowel movements. As his condition progressed, a wheel chair was considered, but the muscle atrophy in his front made him too weak to support his body weight. He came to stay with us at Top Dog and loved going out to play with the dogs
5-6 hours every day. We would support his back end with a sling and walk him outside. Stover played with “the little guys”. He would lie on the turf and bark at all the puppies and the little dogs playing ball. When they were tired, they would come over next to Stover and nestle into him for a little afternoon lap. That made him feel important, and that his life still had a purpose. He loved his afternoon “Yappy Hour” biscuit, and would bark with delight, sounding a bit like Scooby Doo when he says, “Rutt Row” in his raspy little voice.

Like so many dogs, Stover stole our hearts. With the grace like every dog I have met, he did not complain, or feel sorry for himself, or give up on life . . . instead he simply adjusted to his knew challenge for mobility and gratefully accepted our assistance. What wonderful lessons we humans can learn from our canine blessings.

Libby spent the next week with me at Top Dog. The owner’s plan was to spend the next week getting caught up at work, and then take the following week off, hire a dog behaviorist and work with Libby on her severe separation anxiety. Libby’s history showed that she had been given up three times previously for reasons of separation anxiety, and each time she was given up, the anxiety became worse. Upon examination, Libby had no teeth, only stubs in her mouth. They were all ground down to nothing from her severe anxiety. As long as she was right with you, she was the sweetest dog ever, but if left alone, even for a short time, she would destroy anything is sight, would try to bite her way through walls and doors and kennels.

So, Libby stayed at the house with me and my (at that time) 4 Shelties. Within that week we became very fond of this sweet but emotionally troubled girl. The next week, Libby’s owner came to get her and then went back home. She and the behaviorist spent the next week working every day on her separation anxiety and the act of Libby’s mom coming and going from the house. The following week, she went back to work. Monday was OK, Tuesday was not so good, and by Wednesday, Libby was completely crazy and destructive again.

The owner called me back again in tears and told me that the humane society said she could return her, but she would be euthanized, as she was now considered “un-adoptable”. She asked if I knew of anyone who could provide absolute 24-hour per day companionship. I told her that I knew of no one but me, and that Libby could come to live with us. Nearly 7 years later, Libby is with us and feels loved and safe.

I received a call regarding a puppy-mill Sheltie mom who was at another rescue organization here in Minnesota. She came to them from a puppy mill with horrible stories of abuse. She lived her life in a crate stacked with many other crates. She was only let out to be bred and then again to deliver puppies. This went on every 6-8 months for years. She is a small Sheltie, only 12 lbs, and the word was that she was not a “big producer” in terms of the size of her litters, so the puppy mill operator would withhold food from her as punishment for not producing big litters. He would put the food outside of her crate but would not give it to her. She learned to survive by eating her own excrement . . . the part that did not fall through her crate on the dogs below her. She was dragged and picked up by the collar. She lived months on end with no socialization, no exercise, cold, damp, and hungry. She learned that people are cruel and not to be trusted.

When she arrived at this other rescue organization, she was let out in to a fenced area and of course, ran away from the staff. They claimed they could not catch her for 10 days. It was the fall of the year, October, and very cold and rainy. In the process, Hailey developed a case of pneumonia, infection in her mouth, became severely dehydrated and nearly died. In fact, she was so weak; she could not run away from the staff anymore, so they picked her up and brought her to a vet.

Once on her way to recovery, they called Minnesota Sheltie Rescue for help with her, and she was brought out to me. Hailey had to have several teeth removed and antibiotics to clear the infection in her mouth. She was deathly afraid of people and particularly men. It took me 6 months to get her to walk on a harness and another year to get her to walk on a collar leash. When I looked into her eyes, all I saw was blackness and I thought she had really dark eyes.

After 9 months of trying, another of my rescues, ten-pound Ziggy got Hailey to respond to him with his crazy antics of play. I actually saw a glimmer in her eye for the first time and then realized that her eyes were not black. They were, in fact, a beautiful hazel color. I realized that the blackness I saw that first 9 months was her pupils. They were so dilated with fear that they covered her entire eye. It has now been 3 ½ years, and Hailey is slowly coming around to realize that not all people are cruel and that no matter how scary it is you need to try to trust. She has learned to be a dog and to play, thanks to her best buddy, Ziggy. The pack (my Sheltie family) has been good for her. I have lots of dogs, so I never felt the need to put pressure on her to love and accept me. She simply learned by observing me with the rest of my crew. She is learning that people can give unconditional love just as dogs do and that she is safe and no one will ever hurt her again. These are big lessons for a little dog that was so neglected and abused.

Sidney lived the first 11+ years of his life on an unheated porch. He had never been socialized, and was surrendered to Pet Haven rescue because the owners were “tired of looking at him on the porch". Sidney not only survived it, but has shown us his true spirit in such a short period of time. We took him in at Top Dog Country Club, as his other option was euthanization. Pet Haven wrote regarding his stay, “After just one week of being pampered and given more one on one attention than he has ever experienced, Sidney is a brand new dog. It is so obvious how much he is loved there. He prances and holds his tail up high. He came running up to me wagging his tail and waited patiently for his dose of love and attention, and when I stopped petting him, he pawed at me to let me know, ‘don't stop -- I want more!’ “It just warmed my heart to see him prancing, wagging his tail and enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of what is all so new to this senior dog.” Sidney was adopted by a wonderful family and is a completely new dog.

Haley had a terrible mouth infection when she arrived. The previous owner would not authorize a dental because she was afraid Haley would not make it through the anesthesia. We tried to manage the infection with antibiotics, but that too could present problems long term. In addition, it was clear that Haley was in pain. After several consultations with Flying Cloud Animal Hospital, and pre-op works ups, we decided it was in Haley’s best interest to move forward with the surgery. She had several teeth removed and all the bacteria that had been causing the infection. She made it through like a champ and is a very happy old gal. We look forward to many years.