Tales of Aussie Rescue in Illinois

Meet Holland, she is a 1 and a half year old black bi female Australian Shepherd, she is full of energy and spunk, but sadly she got into a fight with another Aussie in her home, and she took the brunt of the fight. 2 girls that wanted to be boss, and the boss was [...]

Meet Hannah Montana, this small, mellow, happy little black tri Australian Shepherd, Border Collie mix. Hannah is currently under going heartworm treatment and will be finished in another 6 weeks. Please help Hannah Montana with her Heartworm treatments by making a donation today. Reference NS 0616

Epoc, know as Shadow is a striking blue merle Australian Shepherd who came to us with her brother. She was adopted by a great family, she will need surgery and we would like to help off set those costs. If you can find it in your heart to donate a few dollars for her hip [...]

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!

ARPH # 11737 Bandit

Say hi to Bandit, he was an Aussie I personally picked up in Warren County with another Aussie, both were very feral and afraid and our foster mom Kelly has worked with Bandit to get him ready for a home.

Visit the Aussie for Available for Adoption, then select the Illinois Aussies.

Nick Ames, a new volunteer with Aussie Rescue has donated his time and talents to video taping our Aussies for adoption, he came to Lotto’s birthday bash to tape all the fun.

The little guy laying on the floor is Moose, a very cute blue merle, he is soon up for adoption.

We have been contacted about a senior aussie whose owner passed away on Jan. 4th. Ringo is a 14 year old male. He is house trained, does not need to be crated, and still loves to chase a ball. Ringo was groomed at a groomer regularly, fed a great diet and kept vetted. He is on the smaller side weighing around 40 lbs. Right now he is living alone at his previous owners home, with someone stopping over about 4 times a day. I can only think that he is feeling some loss at this time.

If anyone is interested in giving Ringo a home he would be very thankful. He is just looking for someone to love and take care of him for the rest of his senior years. It would be a small commitment for someone but would mean the world for Ringo as he still has love to share. Please contact me, david.e.thurman {at} gmail(.)com

We are looking to rescue this guy, his name is Walter, he is in Springfield, if you think you want to help this guy please let us know. He is a red tri male, around 5 years old, he is partially blind, and he is also partially deaf and he is a diabetic. Don’t let that stop you, it won’t us, as we want to get this guy into foster care, and then find the home that deserves this seasoned fellow.

Stay tuned as we hope to rescue him very soon.