Rescue Story of the Week

It was a BIG adventure for this tiny doggy. When I first went out to Cullen Drive, he was nowhere to be found. They were having a big conference at the church, so I think he took a hike in the freezing rain. I decided to drive around Cullen with the warm, roasted chicken on top of my car. Sure enough, as I was pulling back in the parking lot of the church, he came walking up cautiously.

I was out there for 3 hours with my famous roasted chicken and he was following me around the lot and up to the crate they set up for him. He wanted nothing to do with the crate b/c the church people tried to trap him in there and he bolted before they could shut the door. Aleida was great and helped me open a side office door to lure him in, but he was very leary of that, so back to the basics of hand feeding.

He would come up to my car and eat at my feet while enjoying the heat off my car engine. He was soaking wet and shivering non-stop. Candy V. and her hubby Jason came over to help me catch him, as he was getting full of chicken and wanted to start roaming again.

He was pretty timid of males too, so I wasn’t sure what he was going to do when Jason showed up.
Then, a homeless guy tried to join in, and then some girl that was living at the motel came running over to see what we were up to and this made this tiny fella very nervous and me too!
I hate working on busy streets b/c dogs will just dart into traffic to get away. And that is what happened. He darted across Cullen to the Fingers’ parking lot and Candy blocked him from running down 45 S feeder. We were all terrified for him.

He then ran back across Cullen into a field and we thought all was lost and that he would never go to the church again. So, I thought I would drive to the church to get him to follow me again and he tried to follow me as I was feeding him chicken through the fence, and then I noticed that he was near a corner of that big field and we could block him in and leash him.

SI called Candy to come back to help. She and Jason joined me in the field and we slowly walked towards him. He came up to me and I almost had him, but I couldn’t make my thumbs move so I could get the leash around him. I just sat there and baby talked him to calm him down.

Then, we realized it was now or never as we were losing light. He was cornered now, but not in a good way. The over grown field had not only big Aloe Vera plants everywhere, Palm tree leaves were hiding the razor wire at the bottom of the fence. He crawled right through it and sat there with his back to us.

I first tried to get him, but my jacket kept getting caught on the razor wire – it was everywhere – down low, mid level near our faces when we squat down, and up above our heads. It was like a booby-trap.

Jason wasn’t afraid, so he went in and was getting poked and nicked by the razor and the sharp plants. He didn’t care – it was a “leave no man behind” kind of mission. Candy was right behind him pushing the fence away to give Jason more room, so he could just squeeze in a couple of more inches to get a better grip on him. This tiny fella was shutting down, closing his eyes and curling up as he was trying to make himself disappear.

As Jason grabbed him, he went limp which made more difficult to get him out of this maze of razor wire, but Jason just kept calm and worked him through it. That little dog was holding on to Jason as tightly as Jason was holding on to him! We finally got a leash on him and he rode all the way home hugging Jason and even fell asleep on Jason! He is nice and warm, wearing a doggy winter jacket and his belly is full of chicken.

He is resting nicely and will soon go to a foster home until he is vetted, and boy does he need vetting! He needs to be neutered, shots, and get heartworm tested. Candy said he was covered in fleas, so I gave him a Capstar and I will bathe him in the morning.

He had NO interest in leaving the crate for a potty break. He wagged his tail when I came in to check on him and cried just a second as I left. Aleida said he would cry up at the church too.

I think he was dumped or got lost by someone staying at the motel. He has been at the church since New Years’s Day, but the homeless guy said he had been out there for 2 months. I betcha he took off running from fireworks on NYE and couldn’t find his way home.

He weighs about 10 lbs and could gain 1-2 lbs. Very scared, but sweet. It turned out to be a good day! His name is Eddie Cullen - B/c he has the body of a tiny JRT like Eddie from Fraiser, but looks like a Wire Haired Terrier and he was on Cullen. Hmm...wasn't the vampire named Edward Cullen?!!