PCAWL Rescue Stories: Mia
Mia and several other severely malnourished animals were seized by legal
authorities. Some of the animals were deemed past 
hope of recovery, but
PCAWL was asked to help Mia, a young adult German Shepherd dog. Mia
weighed just 35 pounds. Her coat was coarse ad extremely sparse.
Several points along her spine showed bloody, open sores and what looked
to sickened PCAWL volunteers like bone poking through her fragile skin.
She was filthy and barely able to walk and, once she was able to eat,
she had horrible diarrhea as her digestive system struggled to function
again. Mia was very near death. She spent a week in the vet's kennel
and a few more days in a local boarding kennel while waiting for a spot
in foster care to open up.
By the time Mia moved to the foster home, she was frantically gulping down 12 cups of puppy chow each day. Foster mom added supplements to this, adding cooked egg and codliver oil as well as other supplements reputed to improve skin and coat. Her stamina was understandably very poor at this point, but foster mom decided a slow evening walk down to the creek would be a reasonable first outing. The 1/2 mile was almost too much for Mia, but by the time foster mom realized this it was closer to the creek than it was to go home so they slowly moved down the path and into the shady corridor around the creek. Mia gratefully collapsed in the shade, panting so hard foster mom was seriously concerned about heat stroke.
Rosie, Mia's foster sister, came back and encouraged Mia
to get up, walking slowly beside her toward the water. When they got
there, Mia just
stood staring as Rosie waded out into a pool and flopped
happily down. After a moment, Mia slowly and gingerly stepped into the
water, apparently for the very first time. She was clearly uneasy, but
determined to join Rosie. When she got to the pool, she carefully
lowered herself partway into the water and a sudden look of delight
crossed her face...she flopped down beside Rosie and clearly would have
stayed there in complete bliss, only Rosie wanted to explore. Mia
followed along and learned at least a few of the joys of being a dog
that summer afternoon. She and Rosie were great friends after this.
Mia's health and energy levels increased rapidly. When she was a skinny 65 pounds, she was spayed and the first families wanting to adopt her started sending in applications. Her first placement looked very good, but ultimately failed. Her adoptive sister, Sydney, was much smaller than Mia but determined to push her around. One day Mia had enough and fought back and injured Sydney badly. Her adoptive family agonized over giving Mia back because they had come to love her dearly. They eventually managed to decide that Sydney had a prior claim on their protection and hearts, so Mia was back in foster care.
There were more applicants interested in Mia, and more home visits. Mia
would politely way her tail once at the people, then explore the
surroundings eagerly. Mia rather liked one home, but both the applicant
and foster mom thought Mia was too dominant a dog for the home. Another
home Mia just wasn't interested in at all. Then came another home
visit. Mia walked in the front door and within seconds was trying to
wash the man's face and climb onto his lap--all 100 pounds of her. She
wasn't being polite, she really liked this family! She eventually
looked around the house, then came to foster mom and very clearly asked
to have the leash removed. Then she climbed on the couch to sit happily
between the two people SHE had chosen. Mia kne
w she'd found the right
place at last.
Submitted by Georgia