Case Details

Dog severely neglected
Wellington, KS (US)

Date: Dec 22, 2004
Disposition: Alleged

Abuser names unreleased

Case ID: 4566
Classification: Neglect / Abandonment
Animal: dog (non pit-bull)
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On Dec. 22, 2004, a Rottweiler, Labrador and Shepherd mix named Jake was chained to a pole with a three-foot leash, emaciated. His ribs and back bone were showing when he was rescued by Wellington Police Animal Control Officer Joe Ballard.

"We felt the dog was totally neglected," he said.

His owners were cited for animal cruelty, which carries a $500 fine in the city's municipal court. He never went back to his former owners, who live in the 1200 block of North H.

Alda Boyd, a volunteer with the Wellington Humane Society, said she looked for someone to take Jake in. It was just before Christmas and he would need to take medications and stay indoors. It was quite a load to put on someone.

Boyd said the woman who accepted the request to foster Jake did not want her name included in this story. With three dogs of her own already, Boyd said it has "torn her up" to have to let him go at this point.

Boyd said it has taken Jake months to become "good and healthy."

"He was so thin," she says, shaking her head. And while he was just skin and bones over Christmas, he is now about 70 pounds.

"Now he is at a place where he is ready to go to a good home," she said.

After receiving his initial vaccinations, immunizations and de-wormer from the Wellington Animal Clinic, he was brought into the home of a volunteer with the Wellington Humane Society. He would later be neutered once he was feeling stronger.

It took a week or more for his stomach to be able to hold any amount of food.

The first time he was fed in his new home he ate into the plate his food was served on. Boyd chokes up when she says he was just that hungry. The vet told them he wouldn't be hurt by the small amount of porcelain he actually swallowed, Boyd said.

He refused to go outside or was terrified of being left alone if he did go outside.

"I've never seen a dog afraid like that and I've been around a lot of them," Boyd said.

It was a difficult but endearing struggle for the volunteer, who soon found herself a companion and named him Jake. They got to the point where they would have breakfast together. She would make toast for him, too, each morning while she ate breakfast and read the paper.

Since his rescue, Jake has been pampered. He sleeps indoors and is now happy to spend the days romping around the back yard.

Boyd says whatever home he goes to will need to have a fenced yard for some time while Jake learns his boundaries. It would also help to curb his immense curiosity of cats, she said.

Jake loves car rides, and is good with other dogs. He has been taught to sit, stay and fetch boomerang toys. He is also going to the door when he needs let outside, now.

Jake is the first dog the Wellington Humane Society has rescued from an animal cruelty case.

Boyd said they will screen applicants to make sure they can provide a good home for Jake. Above all else, it will be required that he will have an area inside he can stay during the winters, Boyd said.

They are also asking a $50 contribution to the Wellington Humane Society from Jake's new owners.

Boyd said the Wellington Humane Society is always looking for more volunteer homes for animals which may be rescued.

If interested, contact Boyd at 326-7188, or Linda Stewart at 326-2614.

References

Wellington Daily News - May 12, 2005

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