We took Jezzy to our own vet to begin planning her heartworm treatment. While she was on antibiotics and steroids, a pretreatment to build her strength before starting the toll taking heartworm treatments, Jezzy became very ill and we almost lost her. She was hospitalized for more than a week and on Sub-Q antibiotics and fluids just to keep her alive, while our vet ran various tests to try and figure out what was making her so sick. It turns out that Jezzy was suffering from a severe hookworm infestation in addition to having heartworms. A double whammy for this beautiful and sweet girl.

Being a brand new and small rescue with very limited resources, we were faced with a heartbreaking decision. We had another dog in our program too, and we were desperately trying not to exhaust all of our resources to treat Jezzy, but to also get her healthy at the same time. Our vet team had fallen in love with this girl, and the clinic stepped up to offer us a true miracle. A vet tech had grown attached to Jezzy and wanted to adopt her, so our vet offered to take Jezzy on as the "clinic dog" and treat her free of charge in hopes that she would make a full recovery. It was a slow process but she did recover, and the wonderful tech adopted her and Jezzy was able to go to her new forever home at the end of April. She has been treated for the hookworms that nearly cost her her life, and she has begun her heartworm treatments and is doing beautifully!

Update October 30, 2008

Jezzy's mom tells us that she is doing beautifully! She just tested negative for heartworms after the last 4 months of treatment. She is a wonderful girl....pictures were taken just yesterday.

Jack was an absolute dream to work with. He is such a smart guy and it didn't take long before he had gained enough weight to be placed for adoption. Jack found his forever family in May and moved into a new home with a doggie friend and 10 acers to call his own. Now he spends his time walking with his new family through the forest surrounding their property, and exploring all sorts of new things. Thank you Bo and Bree for giving Jack a new home filled with love and happiness.

We brought Beacon into our program in June where he learned obedience and good manners. He was housetrained and he learned to be a loving member of a family, something of which it was clear he had never experienced before. Never having been shown love and attention really took its toll on Beacon, and he began to suffer from severe separation anxiety. A lot of time and continued behavioral modification has gone into this boy, but it's worth it because he is just amazing.

We actually had an application come in for another dog in our program, which led to Beacon finding his forever home. Beacon, now Jack, was adopted by a WONDERFUL couple and their sweet girl (dog) Jessie. Talk about a "rags to riches" story. I couldn't be happier for this sweet boy! Jack has gone from what looks like he might have been a bait dog, to living in what can only seem to him like a palace complete with his very own bedroom and full size bed!

A huge THANK YOU goes to Katie and Luke for looking past all of the scars and seeing the amazing dog that's inside. Beacon/Jack will forever have a special place in my heart. And it just goes to show how truly amazing and FORGIVING these dogs can be!