Our first episode aired today, and we couldn’t be more excited!
EPISODE TITLE: RESCUE ME
RESCUE REALITY : ROCKY MOUNTAIN GREAT DANE RESCUE
RESCUE TALE: Grace’s Story submitted by Krista and Eric Kidd of Saving Saints Rescue in Genessee, Michigan.
SPONSORED BY: DR. DONALD DODGE and the amazing staff at JASPER ANIMAL HOSPITAL
As an added feature, we’ll present each RESCUE TALE in print here on our blog as a companion piece to the segment we air in every episode. Today we present the astounding tale of Grace, a St. Bernard saved by a conscientious shelter volunteer. Here is GRACE’S STORY:
Michelle volunteers at her local humane society in Indiana.
One day, during her shift, she was out delivering materials to a local business when her cell phone rang. A call from the shelter. The call most animal volunteers dread: a report of dog abuse.
Michelle said she would drive by the site on her way home and see what the situation was. What she found was horrifying.
There she found two Saint Bernards living in a tiny outdoor pen completely enclosed by imitation wood paneling so that they could barely see daylight through the cracks in the ill-fashioned structure. They each weighed about forty pounds and should have been 150, easy. Their bony haunches pushed against their skin like the frames of an old, dilapidated barn. They gazed at her with those soft dog eyes, too listless and malnourished to even bark.
Michelle called the Sheriff and stood by, waiting, sadness filling her at the callous treatment some humans dispense to animals, like gods deciding the fate of a lower race of being. After what seemed like hours, a time when Michelle was certain the two dogs would die, help arrived. Michelle cried as the officers extracted the dogs from their ramshackle prison. It would take a lot of time, patience and care for these two to survive, Michelle knew. If they survived.
The Sheriff delivered the dogs into Michelle’s custody. She took them home with a heavy but hopeful heart.
The female – who eventually came to be named Grace, and rightly so – was in such bad shape that she couldn’t walk. She’d been beaten so badly at one time that her spine had been broken and had healed wrong so that when she was finally able to stand on her own many months later, she listed to one side. But Grace didn’t give up. Over the next several months, she regained the ability to walk, but would always shuffle with a sideways gait, a quality that reminded everyone who met her of where she came from, and of the amazing resilience of dogs.
The male was in bad shape as well, but miraculously had not suffered the same punishment that Grace had for reasons we may never know. Michells sat with Grace and her canine brother for hours, reassuring them, giving them the love and attention they’d lacked for so long, perhaps all their lives. They would both require intensive medical care, money for which Michelle did not have.
Michelle’s elderly neighbor, a shut-in with whom Michelle had formed a friendship, was a sweet and caring woman who could not have dogs of her own, but who admired Michelle’s love and selflessness when it came to animals in need. The elderly neighbor offered to pay for the rescued Saint’s vet care.
Both dogs spent a week in the animal hospital hooked to IVs that slowly renourished their ravaged bodies and brought them back from the edge of certain death. Michelle called Krista of Saving Saints Rescue, knowing that both dogs would require extended care, a situation for which many people are unable to provide for financially.
Saving Saints immediately took the dogs in and continued the intensive veterinary care the dogs needed, using their network of volunteers and vets. The male was adopted soon enough, as he was young and in pretty good shape, and recovered more quickly. He regained weight, though there was no telling what inner scars he’d been given, and which might never heal.
Grace, on the other hand, was not as fortunate.
She did not put on much weight and continued having a hard time getting up and down. No one thought she was adoptable, and so considered her a permanent foster.
Grace was an older St. Bernard, and giant breeds don’t have the same life expectancy as smaller breeds. There was not much hope for Grace finding a loving family who would take her in and treat like one of their own. But that all changed.
A married couple saw her picture on the Saving Saints website and read her story…and fell in love. They had recently lost one of their Saints to old age and Grace was the spitting image, so their hearts went out to her. They inquired about adopting her.
Rescues are not as interested in simply getting an animal out of their care as they are in making sure that the potential new home and family are dedicated to the long-term care and love of any animal they adopt. In this spirit, the couple were told of Grace’s ailments and short life expectancy. But the couple were not concerned. They wanted to help.
The couple, practicing attorneys in Wisconsin, drove all the way to Michigan to meet Grace. It was so obviously meant to be. They adopted her; love at first sight. They spent thousands of dollars to fix her spine and put her on experimental medical treatments that helped Grace recover over time and eventually thrive in her new environment.
Saving Saints Rescue typically do not do out of state adoptions, but they thank God everyday that they took the chance…for Grace’s sake. It was truly meant to be.
The couple continue to send photos to the staff at Saving Saints, and the rescue volunteers laugh and cry over them, finding it difficult to believe that it’s the same dog that lay broken and near death so many months before.
Grace weighs about 140lbs now, and not only walks, but runs with her Saint Bernard sister in her forever home. She is so incredibly loved and happy, it is the best outcome she could have had.
For Grace, and for any animals that have been abused or abandoned, it shows that there are many types of “saints” in the world.
As a footnote to this story, the original keepers of Grace and her brother were arrested and did a lengthy stint in prison for felony animal abuse and neglect. Thankfully, these dogs survived their ordeal. Many do not. If you know of an animal being neglected or abused, do the right thing and call your local law enforcement immediately. Help those who can’t help themselves. And support your local animal rescue – they are the true saints of this world.
Krista was kind enough to send us photos of Grace with her new family, which we happily provide here.
We welcome your true stories of rescue dogs from anywhere in the world. They can be heartwarming or heartwrenching.
Please email them to us with photos to:
info@rescuetalesradio.com
Put the words “Rescue Tale” in the subject line. And thank you for enjoying RESCUE TALES RADIO!
