
survive against all odds. Here is the story of Cora the Akita. The dog in the picture below is named Cora. This is how she looked when she was taken from the shelter on June 28th, 2009. She was left in a deserted part of the shelter in a kennel with 2 pit bulls. All 3 of them were scheduled to be put to sleep. The pitbulls were put to sleep but somehow they forgot about Cora. She was left alone in her run for 2 weeks with no food, until someone happened to wander back there and realized that she was still there. She was picked up on a Sunday, someone kind passed her through the back gate of the shelter even though it was closed. She snarled and growled and tried to bite me twice the first time I met her. After I took her into my backyard, she leaned into me and started licking my hand. The next day she wagged her tail and would wait at the gate for me. After she had her dinner, she snuggled right into my lap and rolled over so I could pet her. She was very thin, her rib bones and hip bones and spine were sticking out, but her stomach was bloated. She looked kind of like one of those kids you see on the "Save the Children" ads with flies on their eyes and the stick limbs and pot belly. We figured she had worms and gave her a deworming medicine. We fed her a lot, as much food as she wanted and she started to eat and put on weight. She was sick with kennel cough and we had to find new and creative ways to feed her her medicine like peanut butter, hot dogs, and cheese. We scheduled her spay appointment after she was well enough and had put on enough weight.
dogs and seemed to be really loving it. She was still very frightened of men in uniforms or who carried poles and hoses, and it scared us when she growled and lunged at the pool guy and the landscaper, but with a little assurance she would settle down. We realized that Animal Control Officers wear uniforms and carry poles and that kennel workers hose down the runs at the shelters and we knew she remembered her experience in "doggie jail".
surprise in store. |


