# Heidi's losing her leg today - Eastern WA state



## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

We got a call yesterday about a 1yr. old female GSD who came in with a wire wrapped around her R. hind leg. 

She'd previously disappeared from her home, and was gone for "at least 3 days", came home with this wire choking off and killing her leg.

The vet said someone placed the wire deliberately on her leg - it's twisted around and there was no way it could have gotten on there itself.

The owner, even when presented with over half off discount, was unable to afford her bill so surrendered her for euthanasia or a rescue to take her. Luckily we have a spot. 










So at the tender age of just 13mos, Heidi is going to be a tri-paw'ed. She's at the vet right now and we'll pick her up tomorrow afternoon.


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## Draugr (Jul 8, 2011)

Good luck to her! It's good she's so young, she'll be able to adapt to three-legged movement much more quickly.


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## Falkosmom (Jul 27, 2011)

Poor girl.


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## CeCe (Jun 1, 2011)

Poor baby! But I've seen a few three legged dogs and they don't even seem to know that they're missing a limb and they live full, healthy lives.


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## boiseno (Oct 20, 2011)

Poor pup. It always amazes me that people are capable of doing these things to animals. Hopefully she will find a good home soon.


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## Scarlettsmom (Jul 12, 2011)

Poor girl. She's beautiful. We almost lost a dog when I was a kid due to someone putting a rubber band around her mouth. She was a poodle and you could not see the band until she began to get ulcerated around her muzzle. What kind of a person does stuff like this??


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## Beau (Feb 12, 2012)

Stories like this remind me why I could never work in law enforcement or Animal Control. I wouldn't be able to control myself.......


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## Daisy&Lucky's Mom (Apr 24, 2011)

Thank you for helping her. Thank God for rescues so this little girl can find a forever home.


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

Poor baby.  Humans are so, so, so ROTTEN. Was that their way of tethering her? UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.


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## RebelGSD (Mar 20, 2008)

OMG that is awful. She will adjust quickly to being a tripod.
I rescued a tripod, through this board quite a few years ago, and had many applications for him.
He was amazing, much more agile and athletic than most dogs. He moved and jumped like a cat.
Good luck to beautiful Heidi.


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

That's a awful thing to do to a dog  I suppose it could have been worse, but that really ticks me off

I'm just glad she's going on to a much better life where she'll be loved and cherished, I hope you find her forever home soon


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## Anitsisqua (Mar 25, 2012)

Poor girl! 

I hope she finds a home where she won't have to encounter that sort of cruelty ever again.

This is very sad, but I've encountered plenty of tripod dogs that had great quality of life and didn't even seem to notice that they were missing limbs. I hope she adjusts well, and that this is the case for her.


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## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

Poor baby, I'm glad you are taking care of her. My boy Garth (RIP) had to have a front leg amputated at 4yrs. They adjust in no time. She will do great!


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## jakes mom (Feb 29, 2012)

Poor little girl. Is she back home yet? I do hope she'll recover well and find a nice new forever home. 

I do admire you msvette and thank you for helping these dogs. 
_____________
Sue


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## kbella999 (Jan 6, 2012)

Poor baby, I'm glad she is getting taken care of and I wish her the best in recovering. I'm sure she will adjust. She is such a beauty too.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

She did wonderfully. 

She looked so wistful on the way home. 



















My pick up is broke down. The engine pretty much blew up - thank God it's under warranty, it's an F-350 and we're getting a virtually brand new engine.
I can't put a dog in the rental, and so was going to take our old Mercedes (how we got her there) but wanted my folks to come, so they offered to bring their Mercury w/the leather seats, God bless them. Heidi's coat's in horrid condition and she was filthy too, and chunks of undercoat are coming out. I tried to keep her on the blankets but she kept moving around and finally they said to just forget it, the seats will be okay and they can always just vacuum the car.

Pretty face--









She finally relaxed, commandeered my arm, and let out a big sigh and dozed off.









She is the sweetest pup on earth, despite the less than ideal circumstances, she's just got such a lovely personality...


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Wow, how can people do these things? So glad she is rescued.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

I know, I wonder too, but once my boss (the Police chief when I did a/c) told me to not even try to think of "why" or their thought process because "they aren't like you or me, and they don't think like you or me". 

She did wonderfully yesterday, was up and walking around this AM, went outside and pee'd like she's always just only had one back leg.

Dogs are amazing. Could one of us withstand an amputation and go home the next day!?


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Beautiful Pacific NW
Posts: 5,225

For those contemplating breeding your dogs who are not titled (sometimes not even registered) or health tested...think about Heidi.

She was most likely bred under the same circumstances - although a beautiful girl with a sweet temperament (and a FINE family companion!) she isn't anything special that when I look at her I can see that the breeder had specific goals in mind. 

Most likely they just like the breed, they love their dogs and wanted to create more like them. Maybe they wanted to earn back some of the money they spent on the parents, or maybe not. I've heard that sentiment too many times to completely disregard it. 

The problem is, any good potential buyers who can easily afford a dog up to (and sometimes over) $1200 aren't going to be surfing craigslist or the want ads searching for a puppy! No, they'll be asking about good breeders here on places like this, or going straight to AKC's websites to find good, quality breeders who breed to better the breed - not just because they have a male and female, or a female and their friend has a male. These buyers know what a crap shoot puppies can be, and want to stack the odds in their favor by going with breeders who health and temperament test their dogs. 

So...dogs like Heidi wind up in a home where she was quite probably always an outside dog - maybe a fence, maybe not. 
And one day she wasn't there. Either wandered off, or maybe even stolen.
A few days later the owner notices she's back, with a bad injury this time. 
And now she's in rescue minus the leg which some idiot managed to damage irreparably. 

For most breeders who breed their dogs just because they can, this is the fate of quite possibly half or more of the puppies in the litter. 
Sometimes they wind up in great, lifelong homes. Most often, I'm willing to bet not. 

This scenario repeats itself daily in our country. Shelters are overflowing with the surplus puppies and dogs that people had little to no commitment to in the first place, and those dogs must go somewhere. 
I read statistics a while back that said an average person would have to own like, 5-6 dogs (per person in America) to take care of all the dogs already in this world.
I mean - per person! A family of 4? 20 dogs. Per family. 

It really makes you stop and think, or it should.
I know the fates of dogs like this, because we're called daily to try to help them. We face, daily, the results of irresponsible breeding


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Heidi's getting around wonderfully!






And she's so beautiful. I normally don't like female GSDs but this one has me smitten. And no, she's not staying


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## Daisy&Lucky's Mom (Apr 24, 2011)

Msvette I agree with every thing you said. She is very lucky . Thank you for all you and your rescue do. Happy Mother's day
PS She looks great. Heidi your beautiful.

Maggi.Daisy and Lucky who says Im a rescue too.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Aw back-atcha


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

She looks so relieved to be out of pain. There's no other description for her than 'sweet'. I hope she finds the loving, caring home she deserves


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## jakes mom (Feb 29, 2012)

Wow, she's just incredible - and beautiful. I just wanna cuddle her :hug:

Thanks msvette for looking out for her.
___________
Sue


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## GSDGunner (Feb 22, 2011)

Just goes to show you how resilient these beautiful creatures really are. She looks like she's getting along just fine. And no doubt she'll be perfectly happy without that leg. 
Glad to see she's in capable hands. And don't forget, Art has a tripod and could give some advice if needed.


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## Falkosmom (Jul 27, 2011)

Happy Mother's Day Msvette2u,

Glad to see she is doing so well, especially so soon after surgery.


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## Draugr (Jul 8, 2011)

Wow! She seems to be moving around just fine! I'm glad she's recovering so quickly.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Thanks, all - and Happy Mother's day, what's left of it!! Hope you all had a great day, even if your only kids are 4 legged and not 2 

I think I have a placement for Heidi already, a former adopter is very interested :thumbup:


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Heidi went to her new home! Her healing is going so well, we sent her with them.










I think she is a patterned sable. I thought her colors were just washed out but now that I look at her more, I think she's sable.


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

That's so great!! I love happy endings.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

It is great, they are repeat adopters so it went very smoothly


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## jakes mom (Feb 29, 2012)

That's great - hope she settles in well. 
_________
Sue


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Geat update on Heidi!

_Yvette - we visited the vet today for stitch/staple removal...it went very very well. The wound is healing just fine. They didn't charge us for the removal since we adopted her from a rescue/shelter! That was very nice. We did get more antibiotics just to be on the safe side (the vet recommended it) and will take her back in two weeks for a recheck._


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Awww, I'm glad she's settling in so well  She deserves it!


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

They just are smitten with her


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## NWHeather (Oct 29, 2010)

How horrible that someone would do that to her! 
I'm so glad that she found her way to you & found a new home that will love her as she should be!
She looks really happy in her new home!
I would be smitten too! That pic of her resting on your arm melted my heart!


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## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

threads like this make me cry.....I am appalled of the cruelty shown to animals by people.....the post about the numbers of careless breedings and fate of the pups should be pinned somewhere.....

I am so glad that Heidi was rescued and is in good hands....she is a lucky girl and I hope she lives a long and well loved life...

Lee


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

Heidi's update! Oops, she's "Roo" now. 










Playing with her buddy, Anubis, adopted from us, too, last year. 

Beauty by any other name! 









And - the remains -









_We renamed Heidi...her new name is Roo (like Kangaroo). I am attaching some pics, most of her, but a couple have Newby in them. They get along great! Some times when I go for my exercise walk I will only take Newby, because it is hard for Roo to go long distances still. I am told she is not happy until he gets back. My daughter has a huge king sized bed and they both will hop up there with her. Roo does not let her three leggedness get her down - she can run faster than Newby._


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## starburst (Jun 9, 2012)

What a wonderful ending for this amazing dog.
I know you have been told this many times but thank you for being there for these dogs.
You make a wonderful difference in this world


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## Loneforce (Feb 12, 2012)

Thats an amazing thing you did for Roo. Thank you for doing what you do for these dogs.


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