Monday, December 1, 2008

Doesn't anyone want an old Rottie?


When one of our volunteers saw two dogs running down the streets of West Philadelphia, she of course stopped to see if they were ok. They were both petrified and one of them was dragging a chain behind him, but other than that they were both friendly and healthy. After a few days of looking for their owners, it became pretty clear that whoever had lost these two dogs didn't want them any more. Momma Bear (as we named her) is a sweet, old Rottie. Her son, Buddha Bear, was mixed with mastiff. Being young and healthy (he was only around a year old), we found Buddha Bear a home pretty quickly, where he is being spoiled just like he deserves. Poor Momma Bear, however, hasn't gotten her lucky break yet.
When we first brought her in, we noticed that she always had a lot of nasal discharge and that her eyes seemed pretty uncomfortable. When we had our vet look at her, she was diagnosed with entropion, a condition where the eyelid folds back over the eye, causing her fur to scratch the cornea of her eye every time she blinked. This poor old lady lived the first few years of her life with painful eyes. Now that they've been surgically corrected, her eyes are much clearer and she's a much happier dog. But being a happy dog doesn't necessarily get you a home, especially when you're an old lady rottweiler. Momma Bear loves to be snuggled; she will curl up in her foster mom's lap for hours at a time. She doesn't ask for much; a few scratches, a few minutes of play time, and she's pretty much content. And yet, she sits in foster care, still waiting for her new family to come take her home. She's not a spring chicken, so we cross our fingers that we'll be able to find her a home soon, that she gets to enjoy being the love of someone's life, even if it's only for a few months or a few years. She deserves that much.