I occasionally get to work with rescuers; these unheralded people do a terrific job on behalf of the animals often at their own expenses.
When I received the call from Danielle Scruggs about a chihuahua in trouble, I jumped at the chance to assist.
Danielle raises therapy goldens and has rescued many dogs with chihuahuas being her specialty. A few years ago she rescued little Jersey from an irresponsible breeder. We got him his shots, had him neutered and found him a good home. Her call was about another dog from this same breeder, this one a product of a mother and son.
“Lennie, he looks just like Jersey and who knows how deep the inbreeding has gone,” she said.
I could sense the tears and frustration in Danielle’s voice as she went on, “he doesn’t have any front legs and these sick people named him Lieutenant Dan.”
I have since renamed him Joey and I never want to hear that name again for there isn’t anything heroic about his condition. Joey went to Landrum vets and became one of Lennie’s Kids as Danielle saw to it that every one of the breeder’s six remaining chihuahuas were spayed or neutered.
When he got to Landrum he became the new special baby for the staff, this time it was Elaine who became super momma.  Sad as it seems, after we lost sweet Lucy, Joey became a healing force for the girls. Speaking of Lucy, thank you to the dear people who found the dear soul on the side of the road, they contributed toward her fee, which showed me they cared beyond life.
Joey is slightly past one year of age and with the help of Danielle we had him showcased on Channel 7 news with Kimberly Kelly so folks could witness the product of inbreeding.