Bonnie's story is a true rescue saga. To say she's come a long way is simply an understatement. This sweet little girl was a victim of a failed rescue turned hoarding situation. The first 3 years of Bonnie's life were spent entirely outdoors in a makeshift wooden pen in rural Kentucky. She was surrounded by dozens of other dogs all living in their own filth and suffering this same fate. When they were lucky enough to be offered food and water, the dogs ate and drank out of rust-coated mud-filled dishes. In addition to having minimal human interaction, none of the dogs received any veterinary care.
The discovery of the dogs in this Kentucky nightmare came by way of another tragedy. The man responsible for the dogs in these deplorable conditions was electrocuted while working on his property. When the coroner came out to the premises, the dogs were discovered. The man's wife wanted nothing to do with the dogs and said they could be sent to animal control. The local animal control said all of the dogs would be put to sleep if they were impounded, so in an effort to try to save the dog's lives, animal control reached out to local rescue groups for help.
One local rescue group eagerly took action. Due to the large number of dogs, the timid nature of most of them, and the amount of veterinary care needed, the rescue of these animals was not going to happen overnight, and this rescue wasn't going to be able to do it alone. First, the rescue convinced the widow of the hoarder to allow the dogs to stay on the property while homes were found. They offered to have volunteers come out to clean the pens and provide fresh food and water. She agreed. Then a nation-wide S.O.S was sent out to other rescue organizations, including SDR, for help. With everyone working together, some dogs were adopted out locally; while others made trips on volunteer transports to other rescues in New Jersey, New York, and Minnesota.
SDR agreed to take any of the dogs 20 lbs and under. Because SDR and other rescues can only take as many dogs as they have foster homes available, many of the dogs still had to wait for their turn at a new life. At least once a month, one or two new frightened little furbabies would arrive on a 2-day volunteer transport, more afraid than when they had been discovered. In just 48 hours, they were pulled from the dirty pens they spent the first part of their lives in, given collars and leashes, a ride in a car, a trip to the local vet, and then moved from car to car, and an overnight indoors in a volunteer home, on a 2 day volunteer transport to arrive in MN and begin their new lives in SDR foster homes.
The dogs that were the most timid were left to wait the longest, as it was hardest to place them in foster homes. Bonnie was reported by local volunteers to be the most afraid. She was also said to be 40 lbs. After a year of working on this case, there were just 3 dogs left living in the dirty pens. They were all terrified and had been waiting far too long for their turn at a better life. Since Bonnie was reported to be 40 lbs, she was not a candidate for SDR. After seeing countless email pleas sent out to dozens of rescue groups across the country, and no offers to help Bonnie, SDR stepped in. The two other dogs left behind were coming to SDR, and the organization couldn't bear the thought of leaving Bonnie in Kentucky to die alone in a shelter. SDR's Board of Directors unanimously voted to accept Bonnie into the rescue, despite her size.
The day the last 3 girls left Kentucky on transport was a very exciting day for everyone involved in this case. When Bonnie arrived in MN, she came with a $300 donation check from one of the volunteer transport drivers in Kentucky who had been following her story. She was so thankful that SDR had accepted Bonnie and wanted to offer all the support she could.
When a rescue pulls a dog from a shelter in another state, they never know what to expect. With Bonnie, the foster home was prepared for a very scared dog, and that is what she was. The unexpected discovery about Bonnie was not her temperament, but her size. Though she was literally skin and bones when she arrived, Bonnie only weighed-in at 17 lbs at the vet, nowhere near the originally estimated 40 lbs. Along with being severely underweight, Bonnie had an intestinal parasite, which is not uncommon for a dog that had lived outdoors and never had vet care before in her life.
Even though Bonnie was now in a safe, warm, loving home that provided her with fresh food and water daily, she was still terrified. Bonnie was so scared that she refused to venture from the laundry room of her first foster home. She would go to the bathroom in her bedding since she didn't know a life where she didn't have to lie in her own filth. After a few months of very little progress, Bonnie was moved to a new foster home that had more experience with working with timid dogs. Here she came out of her safe spot and interacted with the resident dog and even learned to walk on a leash, but was still very timid towards humans. Bonnie still needed another foster home that could work more intensely with her to help her come out of her shell.
While waiting for her new foster home to become available, Bonnie spent a few weeks with a family that had watched her while her previous foster parent had been on vacation. Bonnie immediately took to the father of the family, and showed signs of progress, so she went to stay with them until being moved to a foster home with more resources. While with the temp foster family, and with the help of their resident dog (another from the same Kentucky nightmare that Bonnie came from), Bonnie began to come out of her shell. She quickly picked up on potty training by following her foster brother's lead, and would snuggle on the couch with her foster dad. When the time came for me to take Bonnie, she was much further along than when she had arrived at SDR many months prior, but she still had a long way to go.
When I went to meet Bonnie and pick her up, I saw an extremely fearful little girl. But in less than half an hour, she warmed up to me enough to let me pet her and walk her on a leash. Once we got home, she hunched in the corner for a few minutes, and then to my surprise, she promptly jumped up onto the couch and snuggled up right next to me. I couldn't wait to get started on working with her to come even farther out of her shell.
Over the first few weeks with Bonnie, the only way she would let me touch her was if I was sitting down and she approached me. Once she was there, she would let me pet her, brush her, or carry her. She would start out tense and eventually melt in my arms. Within a few weeks, she allowed me to walk up to her and attach her leash, or even pet her. She even started coming to me when I called her. Now she wags her tail, wiggles her butt, and trots right over to me when I come home or when I have meals or treats for her. She sleeps curled up at the foot of my bed and licks my face to wake me up in the morning. She's still fully house-trained and is learning to sit on command. She loves going on walks or playing with her foster brother at the dog park. Now at a healthy 25 lbs, Bonnie is finally ready to start looking for her forever home.
To find out more about Bonnie or other dogs available for adoption, please visit
www.smalldogsminnesota.org.
