Bella's Story

Bella is a rescue dog who came from a puppy mill. The conditions were so horrific that the Union County, NC animal control confiscated all the dogs at the end of December, 2008. In total, 27 dogs were taken and kept at the county shelter until the court made it's ruling on January 16th. Two of the dogs died from illness and one was being fostered by a shelter staff member. That left 24 dogs needing rescue.

After the judge gave custody to the county the dogs were given to a non-profit 501c3 organization.

Bella, a 4 year old Shih-Tzu, is pregnant. This is how she looked the first night I had her:

She'd arrived at the shelter so full of matts they had to call in a groomer to shave them off. There was no other way to clean her up.

You're probably wondering why she had a bandage on her leg. So was I. She had a gash on the back of her leg with puss so the following day I took her to the vet. After examining it the vet said she needed to go into surgery to have it cleaned out and stitched up.
This is how it looked once the vet got in there:

That's not the worst part either. The vet phoned after surgery to tell me she found Super Glue deep inside the wound! A puppy miller would do this instead of paying to take the dog to the vet. She was started on antibiotics and sent home.

It took four days before Bella wagged her tail. She was totally unsocialized and every time I'd touch her she'd nearly jump out of her skin. She's in a low ex-pen in the kitchen and that's become her safe haven.


She's sweet as they come and despite being so frightened she's never shown a hint of aggression. She loves her bed with her soft blankets. The "home" she had previously consisted of an above-ground wire cage with no bedding, no blankets; nothing at all for comfort.

Bella is coming along with her house training. It took over a week but now when I ask her if she wants to go out she'll come to the gate of the ex-pen.
Tomorrow it's back to the vet to have the stitches taken out. We'll also get an x-ray for a puppy count.

Until tomorrow........