Driving Miss Desi...our trail drive today...

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SWA

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CAUTION: Some may consider these gruesome photos...

The weather was so nice out this morning, the humidity was low and a nice soft breeze was blowing. It was such a beautiful morning out, that hubby said "Let's hitch up and go for a drive". With that, he hitched up his stallion, Rolex, and I hitched up my mare, Desi-Lu. We went for a nice long drive out on the forestry trails. We went to the other side of town though, where the fires were well off aways from us still.

We were going along well, and having such a nice time with open air, there was no sign of smoke left, as the humidity was low and breeze was blowing away from us. Still...as we went down this one trail we could smell the stinch of death, thick in the air. As we rounded a bend, there was this little dog in the middle of the roadway. It was pacing back and forth as if trying to block us off from our treck down the roadway, the closer we got to it, the more it paced back and forth as if it didn't know where to go, but didn't want to leave it's "ground" that it seemed to be guarding. So we kept going toward it to see what must have it so determined to fend of off, and the closer we got, the heavier the stinch of death got. It was horrible. Then we were right up to it, and we saw it. As we approached, it then hunkered down underneath a little thicket hut that it must have made for itself for cover, just a few feet off the roadway. There in front of it though was the skeletal remains of what must have been another dog. It's main carcass still intact, with it's shoulders hips, legs and possibly it's head with what was left of hit's hide draped over it, resting just beyond the body's skeleton.

We can only gather that this poor little dog must have watched his running mate die and he must have decided to take guard over it's remains, loyal to his lost friend to the very end. Bless his precious little heart. Well, we tried to coax him back out of his little hunker hut to see if he was "OK". He was so scared though, he didn't want to leave his lost friend. So Lee said let's go back home and get some food to coax him out. I was like, we can't just leave him here, my gosh he was so horribly THIN, nothing more than a skeleton himself with hide draped over his bones. Still alive, but only days away from death's door himself, if we left him there. Then Lee said if we can get him to come out of the thicket hut he was hunkered down in, then we could take him home...but we'd have to leave him at least for a bit till we could go get some food to come back with for him.

Well, as we turned to leave, he came right out and came right up to me as if saying...ok, I am afraid of you, but PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME????

Broke my heart to no end! Well he let me pet him and he began to feel less afraid of us, so I scooped him up and put him on my cart and we took him home with us. He had no collar on, so we don't know who he must belong to. He looks to be a Walker Hound, and was probably a runner dog during hunting season out there, and was left behind, he and his friend. Well, sadly, his friend didn't make it, heaven have mercy. But, I'm so thankful we found him before it was too late for him too.

Gosh, he must have stayed right there with his little friend so long that the stinch of death in the air was seaped into his own skin and coat, he wreaks something awful. Is all eat up with fleas and ticks, has a few cuts and scrapes, is a bag of bones...but other than all that, he's such a beautiful little soul. When we got him home, we gave him a little bit of food and some water. He dove into both bowls...so we gave him only a little in moderation at first, and throughout the remainder of the day, gave him a little bit at a time more. I gave him a good scrubbing bath, and I hope it gives him at least some relief from the fleas and ticks, but the stinch is still with him. I guess he'll need a couple more baths throughout the next several days for that to dissipate from him too, hopefully.

The bones of remains of his little friend, gosh, they were picked clean. Only the parts laying just above the skeleton still had bits of hide still on it. When I first looked into his sweet little eyes, he just looks so full of sorrowful dispair, that I wondered if he must have had to endure seeing the vultures devour his little friend as he was hunkered down under the thicket hut for cover. I don't know, but that's how I felt when I realized how devoted he was to staying there to guard over it's remains, even if not leaving meant his own eventual demise from starvation. God bless him.

But, SO THANKFUL that he's resting peacefully now, and has a HOME here with us now, for as long as God continues to grant us the privilege to love him and provide care to him. We'll be taking him to the vet this week to get him checked over and started on any needed worming regimen. Plus, we also want to see about getting him neutered, but that may have to wait till he's a little healthier. We'll see what our vet says, I guess, before we put him through too much though.

Here are the photos we took of his thicket hut, where he was hunkdered down when we first approaced upon him, it's just feet away from the remains of his little friend.

CAUTION: Some may consider these gruesome.

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Here are photos him, after we got him home with us.

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Poor baby, it hurts to look at him, he's so terribly skinny!
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He must have been out there just "surviving" all alone for months now, ever since the end of hunting season. I'm so thankful we found him, but I wish we could have gone down that trail weeks ago in time to have been able to save his little friend too. God rest his/her sweet little soul.

After we got him home and fed/watered and cleaned up, we went back up there to bury the remains. That's when we took the photos of where/how we found him.

Then after we got back home, we hitched the horses back up to go for another drive, since our first one was shortened, but this time we just drove around our home property here. That's when I took the photos above of "Tracker" (that's what we named him, since he must be a hunting dog, so we named him "Tracker")
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and while I had the camera out, I snapped a couple pics of hubby "Driving Miss Desi", coming up the back side of our property.
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That's Trixi, our border collie, as she ran out to greet them coming in, LOL.
 
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OMG that's horrible
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I'm so thankful you went down that trail today! Poor little guy
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You are a hero. He never let one creature feed on his friend, he defended her to the moment you came along but nature takes the dead and with heat and insects it doesn't take so long......this is a fine dog, loyal, loving, devoted. He's been gone a long while and hadn't much time left. Coincidence you found him? I don't think so.... You found yourself an angel. Well done!
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Bless you heart for saving and giving Tracker a new life and home. You just have to wonder what his eyes all seen and what is going thru his mind. Poor poor baby. I am so glad you found him
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and a extra ((hug))) for going back and burying this pals remains. Corinne
 
Ohhhhh that is so sad. He must have thought was never going to end. I am so happy you saved him. He is going to be so pretty when he fills out again.
 
Poor little guy...so glad you found him and are taking care of him.

About 5 years ago, hubby was hunting and saw a dog on the side of the road. There was a couple feet of snow on the ground and the dog was shivering and pacing just like how you said tracker was. He approached the dog and she came right to him and there on the side of the road where she was pacing was her mate, apparently hit by a car from what he could tell..the dead dog was frozen. She was alittle skinny but not like Tracker. Don't know how long she was out there but she was very cold and did not want to leave the body, my husband had to pick her up and carry her. Both dogs did have collars but no tags. He brought her home and we took her immediately to the vet. She did have worms and fleas (even in the cold weather). I didn't know fleas would live on a dog in the winter outside. My dogs are indoor and never had fleas. Other than that the vet felt she was healthy...he gave her yearly shots and treated her for the fleas (with a pill) and wormed her, he estimated her to be alittle over a year old. She was an australian cattle dog as was the dead dog. She was a wonderful, very obedient dog, just by nature though, didn't appear to have any training. She loved women and took to me immediately..would not leave my side. We named her Aussie and planned to keep her if no one claimed her. We put up flyers all around where we found her, called the local humane societies and put an add in the paper...no answer. We wanted to keep her so bad, but she hated my lab and she would jump on him if he was within 5ft of her. We thought it would get better and she would adjust to him, but she never did and after 3 weeks we had to give her away. She was such a beautiful dog but we did find her a wonderful home.

Good luck with Tracker...you are an angel for taking him in. I bet he will be a wonderful dog for you!
 
Oh, BLESS YOU for taking that poor boy in!! He's going to be a gorgeous dog when he gets some weight put on him. I bet that he will be devoted to you forever for saving him from the same fate of his buddy.
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Awwww....poor little Tracker!! God Bless you for being there and taking him under your wings!! Poor little puppy-dog looks so forelorn in those pictures. I know with your love and good food this boy is going to do a big turn around. I'm so glad you found him.....
 
Tanya that is the saddest story. Hunters here loose their dogs left and right and just leave them and don't even attempt to locate them just like Tracker. Maybe sometime you can get back to that place and bury the bones and dump amonia on that area just in case Tracker wants to return there. Boy am I ever glad you picked him up the poor thing would have been dead if not rescued by you. I'll bet he's going to be very loyal.
 
Hi Marty, yes, that what we think too, that he must have just been left behind by hunters this past season. Oh, we have taken care of his little friend's remains.
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Thanks so much to all of you for your kind words and encouragement. Tracker is such a love muffin, and thankfully, is already showing signs of improvement. When we first brought him home, he was so dehydrated along with his evident starvation. His skin/coat is already showing much improvement with ample water alone. We are feeding him in increments of small amounts of food throughout the day, and his BM's are showing signs of better hydration now. They do still dry out quickly though, but nothing like they were the first day, a couple days ago. He's only been here 3 days now, so it's slow going, but he's already showing improvement, in that regard. Oh, and he's MUCH HAPPIER!
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His eyes are much brighter and his tail wag has gained speed, LOL.
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He goes to the vet tomorrow, and we hope to get him better evaluated then, on how soon we might can neuter him, and also have him checked for heartworms and any other wormings he might need.

All in all though, he's doing well so far.
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I read this story earlier today and it has just stayed on my mind, so I had to come back and

post......

It was such a moving story!!

The world would be a much nicer place if there were more people like you!!!
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Kudos to you and your husband!!

That was a very heart-warming story and I would bet $ that Tracker will be very loyal to you both now.

This is the kind of story that one would read about in those "Chicken Soup for the Soul" Books.....very touching, .....you and your hubby have wonderful hearts. To think what poor Tracker must have gone through, but I am so happy to hear he is perking up and doing better.
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This forum and members like you are turning me into a big cry baby! That story just has me weeping. For the loyalty of poor Tracker standing by his friend in death as he had in life and for you and your husband who cared enough about a starving and flea infested dog to help him when he could no longer help himself. Thank you, people like you help restore my belief in the human race.
 
What a sad story, I am so happy to hear of a happy ending to it though. It breaks my heart, the cruelty of some people, not caring any more than that for their pets, breaks my heart.

I am so happy that you and your husband crossed paths with Tracker (love the name you gave him, BTW).

I hope that the vet checks him with a clean bill of health.
 

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