Tales of Aussie Rescue in Illinois

We were very lucky to have these 3 Australian Shepherds come to New Spirit 4 Aussie Rescue. They were all from an owner turn in. All 3 are people lovers, and should be good with children, as always, toddlers can create an instant herding instinct when they run, they are Aussies and they do like to keep thinks in order.

Sundown (Sage NS 0627) is a 2 year old black tri female who will probably be best as the only dog in the home, so far that seems to be her desire.

Symbian (Boomer NS 0629) is a red tri male around 2 years old, he is a very happy and lively boy who is looking for a home. He is currently still with his Mom and Dad, who need to re-home him as soon as possible. Stay tuned for more on Symbian.

TACS (Lola) is a 2 year old blue merle female who’s owners couldn’t take her with them as they lost their home. She is said to be an all around good girl. All these Aussies are available, but not officially listed. Please send an email to AussieRescueIL {at} Gmail(.)com for more information.

am receiving 1 to 2 requests a day to rescue an Australian Shepherd, many are in Hi-Kill Shelters, meaning they have 3 to 10 days to be claimed by a rescue. many are just good little guys and girls that had owners that didn’t want them anymore, so no fault of their own, they will be dead by the end of the week.

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If you think you have time and space to help foster and Aussie, PLEASE contact us, or better yet do an application and get on board to foster this great breed today. If you are thinking of adopting, what better way then to kick the tires and see if instead the reward is to save a life and help another family find that best friend.

New Spirit 4 Aussie Rescue Volunteer Application

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!