SHEILA A. MATHEWS :::
Jake the Dog is now a smiling frisky pup, but most importantly, he is safe and fighting his way to good health.
Jake was discovered and rescued by the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office when deputies attempted to serve an arrest warrant.
He was located in the back yard of a residence with a chain bound so tightly to his neck that it had deeply penetrated his skin.
Animal Control was notified and Jake was transported to North Griffin Animal Hospital, where he is now recovering from his significant injuries and multiple illnesses.
“He’s doing extremely well. He has his sutures out and everything is holding, so he’s not going to have to have any additional surgery at this point,” said Kimberly Blanton, of North Griffin Animal Hospital (NGAH). “He’s done so well. He’s such a fighter. We’re very pleased.”
Jake’s injuries and illnesses were critical, with some still posing significant risks to his life.
“Just like when he came in, he had a raging infection and his temperature was 105 degrees – sky high. The collar was so tight it had broken the skin barrier,” Blanton said.
She compared the injury to his first layer of skin to skinning your knee. Then, there’s a deeper level of skin that’s maybe a quarter of an inch thick. The third layer of Jake’s injury is about another inch deep on him, and it was approximately three inches wide.
In addition, the wound had damaged much tissue that had started dying off. Overall, Jake’s wound was approximately seven by four inches. Fortunately, Jake had enough skin to construct the necessary repairs, but Jake required both internal and external sutures.
“The initial work opened, so we went back in, stapled and sutured it again,” Blanton said. “He ended up with 58 sutures and 12 staples when it was all said and done. He was also thin and very parasitic with three main parasites. More than anything, it was the infection. He is also heartworm positive. That’s how he arrived to us.”
When presented with Jake, Blanton said the previous owners acknowledged his injuries.
“The owner started telling us basically what he had done. He said they saw the police there, became frightened and began trying to remove the chain with pliers,” Blanton said. “The dog was signed over to me for care, and that relieved them of any financial responsibility at that point. At that time, all we wanted them to do was sign him over so we could treat him and take care of him.”
While the NGAH staff sees animal abuse on a regular basis, Blanton said it is both a “blessing and a curse.”
“I look at it – this is my passion – and we started this hospital because I wanted a hospital that was different. Animal hospitals across this county and the United States and world, they do this on a daily basis. It’s just a lot of times, finances do come into play because they are a business. I tell my husband all the time that we have been blessed. It seems like where there’s a will, there’s a way, and God has always provided,” she said. “We have just been very blessed with every case. Sometimes we don’t know how we’re going to pay for it, but we’ve always been on the receiving end of when you reap, you sow. People come through. There’s cases where people – and even the police – have been great. We see the bad side so often. This restores our faith in humanity.”
Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix reiterated that sentiment.
“It shows that the people in this county care. They took it upon themselves to donate. There were already staff members at the S.O. who were talking about doing this before I even put the press release out. Even before we put the story out, people were wanting to step up to the plate and help,” Dix said.
As for Jake, despite such cruelty, he is now thriving.
“From day one until now, he wags his tail, he jumps up and licks our faces. No matter what he’s been through, he still has love to give and wants to be affectionate. Not many humans are like that. His demeanor, he was cowered in the back of the truck, but he was wagging his tail. You could tell he wanted affection and attention,” Blanton said. “In fact, before we did his surgery, I sat down in the floor with him. He crawled over, rested his head in my lap and sighed like, I’m okay. Nobody is hurting me. For the first time in probably a long time, he felt safe.”
They did neuter him while he was under for the original surgery on his neck.
Once he’s completely healed, hopefully we can start interviewing for adoptees.
If we can save them, that’s what we do.
At the end of the day, I have to live with what we’ve done and he just had too much life still left in him.
The officer was choked up about it, too.
That’s what we see. We see that side of the animal, not what these monsters had done.
