If you regularly check out our list of dogs available for adoption you know how full we are at the end of August, 2006. We have a limited number of runs so there is a limit to the number of dogs we can easily accommodate.  Fortunately, five of our runs are oversized, so by picking compatible dogs and moving in an extra dog house, we can squeeze an extra few dogs into the kennel runs.  We can also handle a limited number of dogs in our "sick bay" quarters in the house.  And when we set up a couple of crates in the living room, we can add two more.  We have done all of this in order to try to soak up the flood of Dobermans showing up at shelters in our area.  We are the last resort for the shelters when they are running full. If we can't take their Dobermans when time is up, the dogs are put to sleep.  So we are stretching our rescue to do everything we can in hopes that adoptions will pick up as they generally do in the fall when families are home from vacation and the kids are back to school.

With that as a backdrop, I'll explain what happened two us in the last two weeks of August.

On Monday, August 21, 2006, we received a phone call from a rescue volunteer who covers the Greenville, Texas, animal shelter.  Greenville is an hour east of Dallas.  The volunteer offered to transport a small blue Doberman puppy to us if we could take him.  At 11:00 p.m. that Monday night, Harry Potter arrived at Doberhof.  He was tiny.  His ribs were sticking out.  His belly was distended indicating he desperately needed worming.  And he was hungry. 

We brought Harry Potter into the house and helped him get settled in.  He made friends with Vince.  And at first he ate and drank well.  But on Wednesday we became concerned.  He stopped drinking and developed a high fever (104.2).  We started giving him electrolytes and medication to control his fever, combat any infection, and help him feel better.  On Thursday morning he awoke with only a slight fever and ate a hearty breakfast.  Thursday evening, he was a little more subdued.  On Friday morning, he barely touched his breakfast.  On Friday evening, around 8:30, he began to vomit and become dehydrated.  We knew we had a very sick puppy on our hands, one we weren't equipped adequately to care for.

In the meantime, we were contacted by Ginger from Fort Worth Animal Control late in the day on Thursday.  Shortly before 5:00 p.m. a citizen had dropped a sick Doberman puppy, possibly suffering from Parvo, at the shelter. Ginger was desperate for the puppy to get to a vet. We were able to respond within minutes and by 5:30 had picked up the sick puppy and were transporting her to Eastern Hills Animal Hospital, one of our rescue vets.  The puppy was a small black and tan female, maybe eight weeks old.  She was feverish and lethargic.  But she responded to caresses and kind words, her tiny little eyes looking up forlornly. She rode to the hospital in Bruce's lap, arriving before they closed, and was whisked back into intensive care.  We were completely shattered when we checked on her on Friday morning and learned she had died during the night despite the efforts of the team at the hospital. Bless her tiny heart.

So on Friday night, when Harry Potter started fading, we were beside ourselves.  As Julie said later, "How could anyone have looked into that little face and say, 'Sorry, we're going to let you go.'"  We felt we owed it to Harry, and to the memory of the tiny girl we had lost the night before, to do everything we could.  Julie and Angie wrapped him up in a blanket and raced into the dark to the Airport Freeway Emergency Clinic in Euless.  We called every few hours to see how he was doing.   Harry was deathly ill.  While he didn't have Parvo, nor symptoms that supported the diagnosis of Distemper, he was suffering from an infection that was taking his life.

In the early hours of Monday morning, almost a week after he had entered our lives, the vets at the emergency clinic were afraid they were losing him.  In a last attempt to save his little life, they transfused plasma from an adult dog, one who hopefully had some kind of antibodies that could in some way combat the infection that was stealing his life away.  He was still just barely alive on Monday morning when we picked him up and drove him to Eastern Hills.

On Monday afternoon, when Julie visited him, Harry was hanging on.

On Tuesday, he drank some water.

On Wednesday, he barked.

I am writing this on Wednesday evening.  Harry is not out of danger.  It could be another week or two before we know for sure that he does not have Distemper.  He appears to be headed for recovery, but we can't be sure.

So about that special appeal.  Please say a prayer for the little girl we lost last week.  She deserved to play in the grass, to chew a bone and snuggle in bed with someone who loved her. She never had that chance.  And then, please say a payer for Harry.  His little life hangs in the balance. 

And finally, some will criticize us for spending so much on one little life.  We watch our pennies carefully, we try to spend wisely.  Our treasurer is beside herself.  But we could not do otherwise.  We can't save them all, but each life is worth everything we can give them. 

The bill from the emergency clinic was over $2,000.  We don't yet know what we owe Eastern Hills.  If you can help us pay these bills, we would be very grateful.  And even if you can't help out financially, your kind thoughts for Harry and the little girl are appreciated.