Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Yesterday I talked with the vet from Great Falls who had treated Bailey two years ago.  He said Bailey had both a slipped disk and a ruptured disk, and although he did the surgery, Bailey did not respond as well as the vet had hoped.  (I think he said there’s a 75% success rate for this type of surgery.)  He agreed with our veterinary surgeon in Spokane, Dr. Lawrence, that more surgery would not be an option at this point.  (See first post on Bailey here, and last week’s posts below.)

It turned out that this vet was asked by the local authorities to assess the conditions at the animal hoarder’s place a few months ago.  When he and his vet tech arrived at the scene, they found tiny Bailey with his crippled legs in an outdoor pen with 15 other dogs!  The vet said Bailey looked like he had given up.  He said, "You could see it in his eyes.  There was no hope.  He just wanted to die."  The other dogs were running over him, falling on him, and he was cowering in a corner trying to protect himself. 

The vet recognized Bailey as one of his former patients, and they scooped him up on the spot and took him back to the clinic. That was the first the vet knew his client had abandoned this little dog and handed him over to an animal hoarder.

Well, Bailey’s life has finally turned around, and we have fallen completely in love with this tyke.  I had written in an earlier post that he enjoyed playing with toys, and someone posted a comment asking for a photo.  Here’s one I took yesterday.  He has a "thing" about chewing on soft toys for a while and then burying his head in them … he lays there motionless, as if he’s sleeping … but in fact it’s a ploy.  He’s actually looking around while his head is pointed down. 

You can see his eyes are wide open and he’s looking over in our direction.  He is a real character, with lots of spunk and personality.  I think he is just reveling in his new life … it’s almost like he can’t believe his luck.  We are so glad he’s here.

(Click on photo for larger image.)