HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

Often, dogs with mange get overlooked at shelters.   Some shelters make it a practice to euthanize a dog immediately if he/she has mange.   The reasoning is at some facilities to protect the condition, which can be infectious, from spreading around the shelter.   If the dog does survive the first “cut” so to speak, often adopters are uneducated will naturally pass by a dog who seems guaranteed to have lots of medical bills attached.  Some rescues will not take dogs with mange unless it is in the very beginning stages to protect the other dogs in a foster home or kennel from it.  Or, some small scale rescues find that they can save more lives by rescuing two relatively healthy dogs than one requiring lots of treatment.

For all those reasons, Zeke is a Christmas miracle this year.  Though you may not be able to tell from the pictures, Kaylene, the assistant ACO saw Shar Pei wrinkles in his face.  

Each week, several volunteers, including myself, post the photos and stories of the dogs and cats at Heard County Animal Control in Franklin, Georgia, on the internet in hopes it will give them extra exposure to a rescue or an adopter.    Emily, in Alabama, was especially focusing her time on this sweet boy.

Little did she know that three hours away from the shelter, a husband turned to his wife and said “Hun, what do you want for Christmas?”   And she replied by showing him a photo of the saddest dog she had ever seen.   Because her present dog had had a skin problem when she found her, she was especially atuned to see a diamond in the rough.

Now Zeke is home for Christmas.   His photo, above, was taken by his new mom.   He looks like he is counting his blessings.

Sometimes doing something you think is very small, like sending one email, or posting one note on a bulletin board can change lives forever.  Thank you, Emily.

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