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That's Amore!

PART II ABOUT FRANKS STRUGGLING

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Earlier on our blog, you could read about Frank the German Shepard that was left to die on a busy street. But he was found by Italian volunteers Francesco and Merlina. Frank underwent surgeries and AWL was contacted by Chiarra, asking if Frank could stay two weeks at the hospice. That would give him time to heal and them to find a home.

But he looked like a mess with the wounds full of dripping, oozing fluid. Even if he ate well I felt that something was wrong even and so did Martina. I called Dr Damiani to ask when he would be at the clinic.
Could we bring in Frank for an examination?

Since Frank is stitched up everywhere and especially under his belly I would have difficulty carrying him into the SUV myself, I needed help.
Pio, Martina and Chiara stopped by at the hospice this early morning and helped me load him in the SUV with help of a big bath sheet.
Nicolle helped me with Frank at the clinic.


Frank was in a lot of pain, he was swollen everywhere. Dr Damiani had misty eyes when he greeted Frank. Could he be saved?

GUARDIAN ANGELS FOUND HIM

This is Frank, a beautiful German Shepard probably between 7-8 years old.

Frank was found on a busy street (highway), in Neaples. He had been hit by a car, and left to die. Francesco and Melania, two volunteers from Naples, just saw Frank, stopped to see if he was alive... Frank was sick, very sick, but he was alive. They took Frank to a veterinarian were he had to go through several surgeries. The vet had to remove the spleen and stop internal bleeding.

15 days later a new surgery; fracture of his right paw, he has the joints completely pulped. The operation appears successful, but we do not know if this giant will be able to keep the leg,

His left front leg is fractured, so far no surgery on that one.

Chiarra and Francesco came with Frank to Casa dell'Amore (hospice & recovery center) and what a trooper. He will stay for two weeks and hopefully a home will be found.

He is such a big sweet loving guy who need a forever home that can have him and pet him all day long.

Tomorrow we are bringing him in to get checked at dr Damiani's clinic. Keep your paws.

A big warm hand to Francesco and Melania for stopping and checking if the dog was alive. I get scared of thinking how many that are still alive laying on the highway.

Chiara Ricci for helping Frank and taking care of him and thank you ALL for your support so Frank can recover at Casa dell'Amore AWL. Without your donations we cannot exist.

That's Amore.

BUSY DAYS

Such busy days, it's been crazy here. We went out to Lega Pro Animale and picked up the whole Great Dane family that we have "rescued." Lega Pro was the only place who could fit in 2 adults and 8 puppies for a health check. They are wonderful dogs, but jumping in the car? Oh no we had to lift them in. Suddenly my big SUV seemed small.

5-6 weeks old.

The same day, we took over 4 German Shepard puppies that were put in a dirty bucket and abandoned at an American recreation area. The Military Police called me before calling the dog catchers, since then they would go to the "not so good' shelters. What could we say? Of course, we would help.

We took them to have their poop checked, and they had some patches without fur, which we wanted to have an analysis done on, to make sure it is noting serious. And it was not Demodex, its "just" bacteria. Thank you, Dr Gigi.

12 Puppies, yay! And I am not a puppy person. It is so much work, they are constantly pooping and walking in it, and of course on me too. They are cute, but my passion goes out to oldies, but AWL helping all four legged animals, young or old. That's Amore!

Thank you Kendra for calling about the German Shepard Pups, Tammy for getting them and fostering them for a couple of days, then handing them over to me. We hope we can find forever, loving homes.

RANGER RECOVERING

Today my family and I went to visit Ranger. Remember, the German Shepard from earlier blog this week? He had been abused/neglected, and Dr. Longo had to remove half his neck since his chain had "grown into" his neck. Ranger is getting his strength back but we have to have some blood work done on him. And it also seems like his eye vision is not the best.
He is curently staying at a wonderful, warm home with a great animal-loving family. Ranger is such a sweet old man.

Someone Kicked Him Out

This beautiful German Shepard was found abounded. His fur was horrible but Eric and the AWL team did a great work giving him a bath and brush.

Rossella brought him into her shelter. You can tell she does a hard great job. Amore work Rossella!

Its Not Right!

(look at earlier blogs)

I didn't feel right to leave them back out on the street again. From being strays, to rescued they were now back to being strays.

Cucci and Grace are the sweetest dogs I ever met. So says the others who met them too. But why can we not find anyone to help out by fostering them, or even better up, adopt them?

My husband and I even said that if somebody would foster them for one to two years, we would pay the bills if needed. And then we could take them back into our home. Right now we have 12 dogs and in a month we will foster a dog for two months before he goes to Sweden! There is a limit, after all!

It's wonderful that some are making the call to tell us about animals in trouble, so we can help them... and to a man, they all profess a great concern for the animals. Yet, they never seem to consider helping with the expenses, very few does (my hat off to Michelle and Maria). Even a small amount would go a long way to providing the assistance these dogs need. Ok, I shouldn't say never. Mario and Lupo's former "parents" did make a $300 donation in connection with us helping to find a new family for their dogs.

Grace would need "only" to be a stay-at-home dog. Lay in the yard, have some one who pets her and tells her how pretty she is. She needs very little exercise, because she simply can't do it. Right now she walks three meters and then must lay down (but with right treatment she will do better), thats how difficult she is having it living on the street.

Put her to sleep? It is only her difficluty getting food on the street that she is having a problem with.

According to Dr. Gigi, she is ok now but when it gets cold here, is when she will really have difficulty.

Cucci --- what a guy! Holly Molly he stole our heart at the clinic and people around. Rottweiler mix, so happy, so sweet, so gentle. He sat in the waiting room amazed looking at all the dogs that passed him, right in front of his nose. Absolutely no aggressive or territorial moves at all.

Driving them back after one week at the vet clinic, it was with a sad heart I had to leave them. During the 30 minutes drive they sat like two saints in the back seat.

When we were back on their old "home" street they went out in the grass and pee'd and poo'd. I was so impressed that they "knew" to hold themselves in the SUV, until we stopped.

So easy to have, so loving, and so fast learners, why doesn't anyone ......

Broken Painful Amore

Today I went out to the vet. clinic to pay some bills and to hear how everything went with Grace and Cucci. They were doing fine, and again I am amazed how strays are so friendly, brought from the street into a very strange, possibly threatening area. A lot of dogs around them and no one knows their own territory. They can hear a lot of other dogs barking, but not see them.

It seems like Grace's problem is not her hips. It is her two front legs. Her front "wrists" are not right, and it causes her to wobble when she tries to put any weight on them.

Some time ago, she probably jumped down and broke both "wrists". That explains why she suddenly became a skeleton, she couldn't walk to find food. Poor thing.



Tomorrow am I going out there again and we are going to do some x-rays to determine a good solution for her. It is so painful in my heart and her wrists to put her back out on the street again. It doesn't feel right! (For either of us.)



Later on this afternoon it was time for Olivia's riding lesson. I sensed something was wrong when we came back home. Most of the dogs were out, but one I couldn't see. She was laying under the back stairs bleeding. My heart ached when I saw her, Shiloh. (She is the one that narrowly survived getting hit by a car last year this month.) Jack, our kind of new-comer was bloody over his chest and legs. I was so disappointed, and my head was spining around. WHY?

I gave Shiloh a bath so I could spot all the wounds and see how bad they were. Luckily not too bad, but this poor girl hasn't had it easy since we arrived to Italy. Poor Girls!

Freedom Better

His male part looks like it would fall off any day.

Look at his claws

If you blow this picture up you can count his vertebra's

You know that on a picture you gain weight.

All the fur on his back part is gone. Some parts of his ears are gone. His confused and still so kind.

Today's mission was horrible. Down by the beach locked behind big gates stood a skeleton. So sick that half his fur was gone. His claws so long he couldn't walk well.

Water and food he received through the bars from me. I saw there was a gate..open...I got him out. On his whole body was wounds, fresh.

Suddenly I was surrounded by 5 men who told me to put the dog back. I explained. That the dog needed care right away!

"No he is "just" old" they said

"But let me take him for treatments then I return him. AWL will pay. this is not a guard dog, let me make him healthy and he can be a great guard dog"

We argued! I lost, the dog lost....he was put back to his terrible place not long from death.

Dognapping

Let me tell you a true story of four dognappers.

Two would-be dognappers wake up, look out their window, and see two beautiful young German Sheppard's. As they watch through the morning, the two are joined by another, for a total of three young German Shepherd's, "guestimated" to be about 7-8 months old.

Through the course of the morning, the couple watch the dogs in the large field between them and the next house. Sometimes the dogs are at the fence nearest the couple, sometimes they are lounging around near the neighbor's house... and the neighbor is not home.

Eventually, the couple feed the dogs when they are near their fence, and with the couple next door, even give them a bowl of water (which, after the water is gone, the dogs chew to pieces).

Calls and SMS messages to the neighbor who is gone, and who's house the dogs seem to be congregating at, are unanswered. The dogs, on close examination, have no collars, are dirty and seem to be un-owned, or at best, owned by a "farmer" who has a number of dogs, and doesn't really care for any of them well. It should be noted, that the neighbor who's house the dogs are centered on... isn't known for liking dogs.

So, as the day goes by, the two watch the dogs lounge about, and roam about randomly. They hatch an idea.

Surely, they say, these dogs must be strays. All the signs are there. No collar, no tags, dirty, kinda thin. Yes, that's it. No owners.... or owners who don't deserve these beautiful creatures, and won't miss them.

We'll "rescue" these creatures. We'll make sure they are neutered, inoculated, and cleaned up. We'll adopt one, and our neighbors (not the one who doesn't like dogs) will adopt another. They seem to be pure-bred German Shepherd's, so surely the other one will also be adopted quickly... or maybe we'll adopt two.

So, the plan was hatched.

The couple enlist the unwitting help of their underage accomplices, as well as their dog-friendly neighbors.

Unable to go through the gate, the dognappers cut the fence that adjoins their property and the next. They slip through, entice the dogs with food, and off they go with the dogs in cages, to the nearest veterinarian to "do" the dogs.

All is arranged. The accomplices have fallen in love with the dogs already. So, too, the next door neighbors who have decided to adopt one. The dogs are at the veterinarian, ready to be spayed/neutered and vaccinated within days. The two "ring leader" dognappers congratulate themselves over a bottle of formula (for one of the accomplices).

Then, the phone rings.

It is the neighbor whose house the dogs had been hanging around. The one whom the dognappers had SMS'ed and called, to no avail.

It seems the dogs were supposed to be there, a friend or relative had left them there. Where were the dogs now?

Oh no! What to do?

Since the dognappers would still have to live there for another few years, and the neighbor temporarily with the dogs is also their landlord... it seemed the best thing to do was to take the dogs back rather than make a run for the border with them.

So, off the hapless dognappers went. Carting the dogs back along the same roads they'd happily traveled a short hour before. Soon, the dogs were back with the apparent owner, not seeming too happy, and the rest of the neighborhood had turned out to see just what sort of crazy people would dognap three German Shepherds in broad daylight... from someone who may well have mafia ties?

The dognappers were released to the custody of their underage accomplices.

And we'd do it again in a heartbeat. That's amore!