Hi,
I want to tell you about our 4 year old border collie Xander
who we rescued in July from a rescue organization.

We knew he was the dog for our family as soon as we saw him.
He was smart and knew a bunch of tricks and was a very friendly dog.

We had him just a couple of weeks when my husband was out working in the yard cutting firewood with a chainsaw.

Xander was also in the yard just hanging out and enjoying the day.

Barry was just finishing up and for a second set the chainsaw down
to move a branch. Xander jumped up and ran to him and tried to bite the chainsaw and somehow it got his mouth and left front leg.

It was a Sunday afternoon and of course we didn't have a vet close by
that was open, so we had to rush him to an animal hospital 20 miles away.

It was a long and scary ride, but we got him to the hospital before he lost much blood. The doctor rushed him to the back and came out a few minutes later to tell us they would have to amputate his left front leg and remove both his 1 canine tooth and also the tooth beside it.

Despite only having him only 2 weeks, it was an easy decision to make.

We didn't even have to think twice about whether to put him down or remove his left leg.

We brought him home after 3 days and he is getting better and better.

The vet wants him to take it easy for awhile, but it's hard because he wants to play with his balls so bad.

We just had his stitches removed and he is adjusting to being a
3-legged dog.

We love him and he still loves us...

Tana Fitzthum
Tuesday August 26, 2008

When our daughter was born in 2003, my husband and I decided to get her a dog that she could grow up with.

When she was 6 months old, we found some people who were giving away some mixed-breed puppies.

We sat our daughter in the grass to play with the puppies and all of them ran from her, except one.

Needless to say, that's the one that we brought home that day.

She was 7 weeks old when we got her. We named her Maddy.

She has been all our BEST friend since that day,
from playing with our daughter, fetching the ball,
and just being the most adorable dog that we have ever known.

On Friday Aug. 29, 2008 (yesterday)
when I got up to take our little girl to school,
I couldn't find the dog.

When I got home, I found her lying on the porch of our home in very bad shape. I rushed her to the vet, where they checked her.

They stated that they thought she had been attacked by some wild animal. Half of her left hind leg was gone, and she was beaten up pretty badly.

Last night she had surgery to remove the rest of her leg and is doing fine today. We hope and pray that she has a full and speedy recovery.

If nothing happens, we get to bring her home Tuesday.
We all love her more now that we ever did, if that's possible! I wanted to find some people who have been through this before, so that I might get some advice.

I'm scared that I might not do something right, to help her! I was so glad to find this website. So if you feel that we can join, it would be an honor! We will forever be the family of our SPECIAL 3-legged baby!

Amanda Taylor
Saturday August 30, 2008

UPDATE:

Our baby girl, MADDY got to come home today and is doing really well!

The vet thinks it was a coyote that did this to her. Thank goodness that she WAS up to date on ALL her shots. The vet expects a FULL recovery. I have to take her back in a week for a check up and then she may get her stitches out in 2 weeks.

As for why she was outside, she is an outside dog! We have a fenced in yard, but SOMEHOW she got out. So now she is a house dog.

I let her go out to pee and exercise for a while during the day, but at night, she will be inside with me. She is an incredible dog. We love her A LOT!!!!

We did call the local Wildlife officials. They have had reports of black bear, coyote, and bobcats in our area, so it probably could have been any of those..

I worry about my little girl going out into the yard to play. Thinking of putting up a larger fence.

Thanks for your concern!
I'm sending a new pic of her....
An hour after we brought her home today!
Tuesday September 2, 2008