MY
NAME IS SISTER
Greetings from Alaska! My name is Sister, and I am a 3 year old blind black Chow Chow, who is living a very happy life with my human and canine family in Delta Junction, Alaska. It is quite cold here, but I love it and they have snow, which is one of my favorite things (next to FOOD). My life hasn't always been so happy, and the last year I've moved around quite a bit. I have some very special humans in my life who took an interest in me over a year ago, and I am a very lucky dog. I am proud to say I traveled from Illinois to Fairbanks, Alaska, almost all by myself -- well, okay. I had a little help. Here is my story. Email from Sally, September 2006: My neighbor, John, found a small female black Chow in November 2005 in the trees opposite a truck stop near Effingham, Illinois, scared and cowering in the bushes in the cold. John stopped to see if she needed help and noticed her cloudy eyes. He called animal control for assistance and they came right out. They told him they would not put her up for adoption because of her eye problems and would most likely just put her to sleep. John told them to put her in his car and he took her to his veterinarian. She was examined, given all shots and spayed. Luckily, she was heartworm negative. John named her Sister Cindy. He took Sister home, tended to her and gave her a good home for almost a year. John had another dog that didn't like Sister so he kept them separated, putting one out on the tether and rotating their time outside. Sister had no trouble with this dog, she was just young and playful. I am John's neighbor, Sally, and I fell in love with Sister. We went on long walks, and I marvelled at her keen sense of smell and joy of life. She likes to give me hugs and put her head underneath my chin and make happy Chow noises. John had a medical problem which necessitated that he sell his house before October 30, 2006, and move closer to the clinic to continue treatments and eventually to assisted living arrangement.
Email from Sandy, September 2006: I received a copy of Sally's original email to rescue groups in September of 2006. Thus began a back and forth email 'conversation' and a new friendship. I was curious about Sister's personality, if she was in any pain, and was hoping, at that point, to bring her to my home in Maple Valley, Washington, near Seattle. I currently had two dogs - an almost 13-year old male Chow, Ferdinand, who had severe health issues, including cataracts and arthritis, and a younger Chow/Lab mix, Whoopi, who is about three years old. After much discussion (and I use this term lightly) with my husband, it was determined I could not bring Sister to my home in Washington. I set about doing the next best thing, which was helping Sally find her a home through whatever resources we could gather between the two of us. The vet at the University of Illinois who saw Sister called me long distance to tell me Sister is in no pain and was a doll. I took the paper to my regular vet on a routine visit for Ferdinand, and she confirmed this as well.
In early October of 2006, Sally found a foster home in Arizona. It was thought to be ideal - Sally could visit Sister weekly and the foster mom was going to school to be a dog trainer. She and her husband had three other dogs - one of which was quite aggressive. Unfortunately, there were some issues over eating and treats, and several fights between the dogs. In late December, Sally and I got the worst possible news. Sister's foster dad came home late the night before, Sister was chewing a bone in a doorway, he went to step over her with groceries, dropped some near/by/on her, bent over to retrieve them and stumbled over her, wherein she got frightened and snapped and caught him in the nose. He received a puncture wound to his septum (nose area), but no stitches were required. The other dogs were loose at the time, there was quite a ruckus and they attacked Sister and hurt her quite badly. The authorities were called. I received an email at 4:00 a.m. from Sally with an urgent message to call her on her cell phone. When I spoke with her, she had arrived at the foster mom's house and the officers were there. Sister was turned over to Animal Control for a mandatory 10-day rabies quarantine, which was up January 2nd. Sally and I were understandably devastated. Was this the end of the line for Sister? |
Concerned
with Sister's eyes (we thought she might have cataracts) we took her
to the University of Illinois Vet school in September 2006 and they
did extensive testing on her. We were hopeful her eyes could be
operated on. Lo and behold, she had glaucoma and her eyes were
completely scarred - she was blind. The vet at U of I determined she
had most likely been blind from birth, was in no pain, and she had no
reason to believe Sister would be in pain in the future. The doctor
went on to say she was a very tolerant girl, a very nice Chow, and
suggested we look for special needs rescue groups and try to find her
a home.
Sally
and I spent countless hours contacting Chow rescues and special
needs rescues on the Internet for about two months. We even
approached family members, acquaintances - anybody we thought could
help with a foster or permanent home or provide a good lead. We had
several generous offers of temporary foster, but none very close to
Illinois or Arizona, where Sally spends the winter months.