Spotlight Terrier: Callie

Hi, I'm Callie, and I hope you read my story below. I was hit by a car and taken to a shelter. My hip was dislocated and I need a Femoral Head Osteotomy. I need your help.

Progress updates are posted below.

Running. Running. I love it. The smells are great since the storm last night. Pretty dark out here. I think I am lost. Maybe I went too far. Oh no. TOO FAR. I am lost. I will cross that street and maybe I can find my way. Running, white lights, I am so blinded by that white light. SCREECCHHHHHH……………………..bam what happened? What Happened? OH NO my leg is hurt. It is killing me……I am in so much pain. I need to get out of the street. That car that hit me is driving off. No. COME BACK! HELP ME! Not another car. No that is bigger. Looks like a white truck. White lights again. I can not get out of the road. I am in too much pain. Man gets out of the truck. He is in a uniform. Is he a policeman? No, it is Animal control. "Got an injured one here". Yea, I am injured. He picks me up and puts me in the white truck. In a metal box. Door is slammed. There are a few of us in here. Another one is hurt too. Man gets in the vehicle. I hear him talking about us on the radio. Now we start to go. I wish we could go a little slower. Every time we hit a bump in the road my leg hurts. TAKE IT A LITTLE SLOWER! He can not hear me. We make another stop but do not pick anyone up. Now we start to pull into a parking lot. Where are we going? Oh I see. We are going to a shelter. I am scared. Shelters are where 7 million of us are euthanized every year. He puts me in Isolation 6 along with the other dog that is injured. There are several of us here. I am scared.

I wake up early. Two women are walking around cleaning cages and giving us food and water. They look at me thru the bars. "Poor thing, she is injured". My leg continues to hurt but I am not going to complain. If I complain, something bad might happen. I go to sleep. I am really tired.

I wake up again. More dogs. I get moved to the cattery. Now, I am around a bunch of cats. I don't pay too much attention. I watch the people who work here. They clean the cages, put food and water in the bowls. They seem really busy. Apparently, they have a lot of dogs and cats here. The people who work here come up to my cage to look at me. They just shake their heads. She is injured they say. No one will adopt her. What I am going to do? I need HELP!

Miss Gina, the shelter walker comes to take a pic of me. I think she puts it out to Rescue groups. At least, that is what I hear her say. Not sure exactly what that means but maybe somehow I can get some help.

Russell Rescue calls Miss Susan who works at the shelter. Russell Rescue asks all kinds of questions such as, what kind of temperament and injuries I have. Miss Susan tells her that my nickname is Sweet Pea and my time is up tonight. Maybe I can get out. Maybe I can get some help. My leg is really hurting. But I am not complaining.

Russell Rescue comes thru the door. "I am looking for the injured female Jack Russell Terrier." "You will need to have the ID no." ID NO.? No, here I am. Over here. Why are you looking over THERE? Those are the cats. No, over HERE! One lady comes up to my cage. "Here she is." FINALLY. "OH SHE IS CUTE!" Yes, I am. "Do you want to take her out." "Yes, please". Yea, I think maybe I am going to get some help! Take me out. Get me out of here. "Can you take her". "Yes". "You will have to leave her here in order to do the paperwork". NO. TAKE ME WITH YOU. OK OK. I am getting outta here. Now for the paperwork. Something about a new computer system and all the information has to be reentered. It took longer that I thought it should. But I am not complaining. You got to love these humans. They LOVE their paperwork.

My foster Mom took me to see Dr. Norris. He thinks my hip is dislocated. I am left for XRays to be done on me. Miss Jessica and Dr. Norris both say what a nice dog I am. Very sweet. I lick their hands for paying me such a nice compliment.

I wake up. My foster Mom is here and she is coming to get me. Good. I am not getting dumped again. However, this is very nice place. They seem to really like me. Miss Jessica shows my foster Mom my XRays. It does not look good. She tells her that I need a Femoral Head Osteotomy. Sounds painful.

My foster Mom and I are sending a plea for donations. These donations will go to pay for my operation. I know you don't know me but I really need your help! I am a great dog. I will be forever grateful!

"Come on Callie, let's go outside. Time to go potty." Food, Food. Yea. "C'mon. Time to go out." What? Get the food in the bowl. OK, OK. I will go outside and potty. That way I can eat. "C'mon. We don't have much time. C'mon." OK OK OK. All done. Now, time to eat. "Get back in your crate." WHY? YOU DID NOT FEED ME! I will stare at her. Not sure what the deal is. If I stare long enough at her she will remember to feed me. My foster Mom seems in a hurry. Why is she forgetting to feed me? "Callie, I can not feed you this morning. You are having surgery." WHAT? NOT FEEDING ME? What is surgery? Oh I bet I know. It is that Femoral Head Osteotomy thing. What ever that is. My foster Mom seems all in a dither. Not sure I am ready for this.

"Hi, I am dropping Callie off for surgery". "Ok, let me get the paperwork on her." Here we go with that paperwork thing again. "We have a dog coming back for surgery." OH NO! I am not ready for this! My foster Mom is leaving me. I need to be brave.

"Dr. Norris, are you ready? Yes." I am suddenly so sleepy. Bye.

Who are those blurry figures peering in to my cage? Looks like Miss Jessica on the phone. "Hi, Miss Petersen, Jess here. Just wanted you to know that Callie's surgery went well and she is waking up. You are welcome to come see her this afternoon but we will be keeping her overnight."

"Hi Miss Petersen. Come on back. Callie is awake". "Hey, Sweet Pea. How are you doing? NO, NO. Don't get up……..stay down………..stay down………….."

All is quiet here. I am getting sleepy. I can not keep my eyes open. I am out for the night.

Getting a little louder here at Dr. Norris' office. Several people work here and seem to be coming in and getting everything ready. Feeding dogs and cats and getting ready for surgeries. I am up wagging my tail at them. Maybe they will remember to feed me.

Dr. Norris has checked me several times this morning. All seems to be going well. I did get to eat. YEA! "Let's get ready for the staff meeting." Staff meeting? What is a staff meeting? Everybody is lining the chairs up back here where I am. I think I am going to put on a show. ARF ARF ……..ARF ARF…….. Everybody is starting to stare at me. I will get them again…..ARF ARF ARF………………….. ……….I think I am disturbing the staff meeting. This is soooooo much fun! "Maybe we need to move Callie to the opposite kennels". ARF ARF ARF…………………. I love the attention I am getting! Humans are so fun to mess with.

I hear my foster Mom. She is coming to get me! "Callie's surgery went well. She will need to do range of motion exercises. Let's go back and we will show you what she needs to do." Got that over with. Now, my foster Mom puts me in the crate in the vehicle. I am glad to be going home with my foster Mom.

Life is good. My surgery went well. I am SO THANKFUL that RRI came to get me. I am SO THANKFUL MY LEG will heal. AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST I AM SO THANKFUL TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO DONATED TO MY VET BILL! Goodnight. More later.