Well today is Hagar’s birthday. Since I didn’t know when he was actually born, I decided it was the day he was rescued from the shelter I pulled him from. Hagar’s story is a tough one, and I have told it before, but will do it again.
Hagar was running wild in Woodford County Illinois for a while when one day he ran across a busy highway and was hit by a car, a county officer saw him get hit, and saw him keep running across an open field. Animal control tried to find him for a week and finally caught him and brought him in. He was supposed to be treated with pain medicine for his injury. Sadly this didn’t happen and he spent 10 days in a dark, cold, concrete cell, with no human contact, no sunlight, and no other dogs to keep him company.
I went to evaluate him and was horrified by his conditions and the fact that he wasn’t treated for his injury. Hagar was paralyzed from his mid-back on, he couldn’t stand on his hind-end, only balance on his front paws. He also was not able to hold his bowels and was loaded with worms. It was a very scary 20 minute ride to my vet’s office, who wasn’t open for another hour, and I was frantically calling over and over, with Hagar crying the whole way.
When we arrived, he was still un-able to hold his bodily functions, and the concern was he was going to have major nerve damage. Once on the table we sedated him, and began the process to see what would be the end result, only to have him have a major seizure, something I had never seen before. I was scared with him, and worried I would be requesting he be put to sleep to ease his pain. My rep at the time said that they made little wheelchairs for dogs, and my vet felt he deserved a chance to recover. So it was decided to dope him up, keep him immobile for 2 weeks to allow the swelling to recede, he had a broken back, and was in a spot that was probably the worst place for a dog to suffer a broken back.
I took him home, stopping at Petsmart to buy a special crate that allowed access to him from every angle. The next 2 weeks I came home at lunch and checked up on him, changed his bedding and gave him medicine and sat with him. I set goals for this little black tri:
- He had to eat, and drink
- He had to hold his bowels and bladder
- He had to sit up, he had to stand
- He had to crawl
- He had to walk
- He had to run
- He had to bark
- …And he had to wiggle his butt like any good and happy Aussie would do
Then I would consider him healed, and ready for a foster home in Chicago, only he never made it that far, I failed, and I failed big time, he wasn’t going to go anywhere, he had met and exceeded every goal, and became part of my pack, and now a year later, Hagar’s having a birthday, he is not only getting pizza, along with him brother’s Cruise and Mocha, he is now officially my Aussie, I adopted Hagar today, 1 year after that fateful day in February of 2009.
Welcome home Hagar!
