I'm going to be more than a little verbose here, so please bear with me. My wife and I met "Winnie"…read morewhile on a trip to Death Valley and southern Nevada. Having left our two dogs with a house sitter, we looked forward to fewer complications while camping, etc. Then we stopped at a gas station on the Oregon and Nevada border. There sat what appeared to be a miniature, mostly black German Shephard with a badly injured leg and paw, starving and very thirsty. Nobody at the gas station had any idea who the dog's owner might be; no name tag, etc. We could not leave this dog there to die a miserable death, so she joined us for two more weeks on our journey. We stopped at the nearest vet in Winnemucca, NV, and got her bandaged up for the short term. This vet indicated significant neurological damage to the leg and paw. Our next stop was an emergency vet in Las Vegas for further assessment. Same overall assessment, the leg would probably need to be amputated. Over the next two weeks, we learned that Winnie had never been on a leash before, loved people, and could travel for hours at a time in our vehicle without a complaint.
Upon arrival home, we had Winnie assessed again by our local vet. Same story, severe leg, paw, muscle, tendon and neurological damage. Amputation was suggested. I resisted all those assessments and decided to look for a vet who might be able to help Winnie keep her leg.
This is where Dr. Finn comes in. When we explained Winnie's situation and condition, her office indicated, "No! Don't amputate her leg! Dr. Finn can help her!" THAT was what I was hoping to hear! This is precisely the type of treatment Dr. Finn is dedicated to; for dogs and their owners. Winnie began undergoing a series of weekly laser treatments to allow her "frozen" elbow to gain flexibility, use stem cells to heal two toes that were mostly missing, a raw open wound in their place, and begin work for fitting a brace. Over several months, Winnie's progress continued, and her brace is currently being readjusted.
Unfortunately, the story does not have the ending we hoped for. While Winnie was very submissive with our older, larger male dog, she desperately wanted our younger, smaller dog to play, and was quite "in our little's dog's face", nipping, barking, etc., insisting on play. This resulted in endless growling and snapping from our other small dog, creating ongoing anxiety and tension in the house. We worked on this for several months without success. Then came a couple of aggressive attacks by Winnie on our smaller female dog. My wife contacted Dr. Finn who commented that the "female on female" aggression, and the fact that both come from a background of being "streetdogs" as pups, this can be very dangerous for the smaller dog. My wife's reading indicated the same. Now we had owner depression.
Earlier in Winnie's treatment, Dr. Finn and her husband said they loved Winnie and indicated that if we were ever unable to keep her, they would to take her. That time had arrived. With the saddest of hearts, buckets of tears, and way too much guilt, we came to the conclusion that the best outcome for Winnie was to live with Dr. Finn and her husband. She'll have a built in pack of male dogs where she will surely peacefully submit, horses to check out, a large rabbit who Winnie loves, acres of land to explore, an office staff who loves her, and endless sniffing opportunities. Logic dictates that this was a better "Winnie ending" than we had any right to expect. Winnie will require ongoing vet treatment which Dr. Finn can provide. Wow! This is a one in a ten million possibilitiy!
So... Winnie is no doubt the big winner here. We will try to focus on Winnie's gain and less on our loss; though that will be a challenge for me. We cannot adequately thank Dr. Finn, her husband, and her staff, for what they are doing for "our girl." May the force be with you, Winnie...
With endless love and memories,
Doug and Harriet LeClair
Anacortes, WA