Sunshine's Story
Click picture to see large image.
Sunny held her head up for this picture, taken ten days after rescue by the Lawrence County Humane Society in Ironton, Ohio. She want's you all to know that she is a very sweet girl who loves and trusts everyone she meets.
Sunshine, Sunny as we call her, came to the shelter on August 29, 1999 as an animal abuse case. Sunny is a Golden Retriever, about one year old.
When I first saw Sunny she was huddled in a pet carrier with a chain around her neck. Her owner had placed the chain around her neck so tightly that it had grown into her skin. The pictures taken of Sunny on that first day are extremely graphic. It's the worst case of abuse I have ever seen. If you had to turn your head away from the picture above DON'T go HERE TO SEE THE ORIGINAL PICTURES.
Sunshine was in kind of a shocked condition but you could still see that she was pleading for help. She was quickly rushed to a vet. We did not expect to see her return to the shelter.
When she did return she was groggy, but in surprisingly good spirits. The wound to her neck was indescribable. It was at least two inches deep and went all the way around her neck. She was also suffering from mange. When she scratched herself it pulled on the wound and hurt her terribly. We vowed to see that Sunny's owner be brought to justice.
Debby Scarlotti
UPDATE OCTOBER 15, 1999
The Herald Dispatch has kindly granted permission to reprint their article on this webpage. Go HERE to read the article.
UPDATE OCTOBER 28, 1999
Justice for Sunny ~ Judge O. Clark Collins, Jr. sentenced Homer Friend to 90 days in jail, a $250 fine, $60 court costs, and one year's probation, during which time Mr. Friend is not allowed to have pets. The humane society will be picking up any other pets Mr. Friend has. Thanks to everyone who wrote on Sunny's behalf. Because of all of you, things may be turning around for abused pets in Lawrence County.
UPDATE NOVEMBER 6, 1999
Sunny went home to Illinois with her new mom, Jennifer.UPDATE NOVEMBER 7, 1999
Sunny arrived safely in Illinois where she enjoyed romping on two acres of fenced in land, playing frisbee, and sleeping in a bedroom for the first time in her life.But all is not well. Last night Sunny had a seizure and had to be rushed to the vet...Jennifer's vet said this could be a permanent condition caused by lack of oxygen to the brain when her air was cut off by the chain.
UPDATE NOVEMBER 12, 1999
Letter from Jennifer:Hi! All is well. Chloe went into the hospital yesterday to begin her heartworm treatment. She received her last shot today. I saw her xrays, and her heart was not enlarged, Thank God, but she did have one artery that was enlarged, probably due to the worms, so we got her in at a good time.
UPDATE NOVEMBER 13, 1999
Jennifer wrote "I brought Chloe home tonight. Boy, was she glad to see us! Wagging her tail...very happy girl. I think she feels better already...She still has a lot more to get done.....UPDATE NOVEMBER 27, 1999
Sad news. Sunny continued to have siezures and had to stay at the vets through Thanksgiving.Due to circumstances beyond her control, Jennifer had to give Sunny up to Golden Retriever Rescue in Illinois.
UPDATE NOVEMBER 28, 1999
Letter from Golden OpportunitiesSunshine officially entered Golden Opportunities' rescue program this morning. Sunshine is now in her foster home which does have other Golden Retrievers, though she will not meet any of them until after she completes her heartworm treatment program which won't be until 12/15 or so. She then will be spayed and microchipped.
Once she gets the rest of her medical treatment taken care of, her foster family will begin to very slowly socialize her with very laid back goldens to see how Sunny responds. It is quite possible, and my guess at this point, that Sunny is not dog aggressive, per se, but instead just unaware of how to appropriately play with another dog. Typically very doable for us as a group and this foster home in particular - but we'll wait and see how Sunny tells us she feels.
In the meantime, Sunny will be getting a lot of love and attention and she'll begin to learn the basic obedience commmands. I have to tell you when I picked her up today, she was in much better shape than I had expected she would be. And what a delight! She is a sweet little girl, and we will do everything humanly possible to find out who she is and what her perfect home will be made of. I'll try to keep you posted on how she is doing.
Beth
UPDATE DECEMBER 5, 1999
Just a quick note to update you on little Sunny's progress.First and foremost, she is absolutely ADORED by her foster family which is composed of 2 humans and 6 golden retrievers (3 fosters, 2 fosters that were adopted, and the family's "original" golden). Sunny has met 4 of the goldens she lives with, and seems to have taken a liking to the older males. She even had a very short play session, which did her good, but had to be cut short because of her heartworm status. Her exposure to the other dogs has been in short intervals and closely monitored.
Sunny is not completely housebroken yet, but she's trying, and as you would expect of a little girl who did not start out having the homelife we expect our goldens to have, she is still investigating many things in her home, and chewing on them whether she should or not!
Sunny is not crazy about being in her crate when the family is away and barks quite a bit to voice her displeasure. But she's coming along, and now listens to doggie CD's which seem to help soothe her. She also has goldens keeping her company outside her crate which prevents her from feeling lonely.
She is learning the basic obedience commands and I'm sure will make everyone proud with a little more practice.
I know so many people care about Sunny - she's stolen the hearts of everyone who has met her and many who have not. She is in great foster hands and we at Golden Opportunities are honored to have been given the chance to help her on her journey to a perfect life. Beth
UPDATE DECEMBER 23, 1999
Sunny is doing fine. We had her spayed last weekend, and she came through the spay just fine. She did seizure again several days before her spay, so the vets did a special procedure when they spayed her to make it easier on her. She was back in her foster home that same evening. Sunny is playing ok with some of the other dogs in her foster home, and is more comfortable in her crate. She is not housebroken, we have discovered, and so that will keep her fostered a little longer while we try to get her housebroken. She is doing very well in her foster home...Sunny is not ready to be adopted out yet - we aren't even sure she's on the right dosage of phenobarbitol yet, since she's had a couple of seizures. We are going to run whatever tests we need to and will foster her as long as necessary until we feel we can give her adoptive family a complete medical picture of her. Beth
UPDATE ~ JANUARY 18, 2000
Reba (Sunny) should hit our webpage this week. We thought that Reba was ready to be adopted to the right family now and started going through our applicaitons to see if anyone could provide her what we are looking for when just yesterday, out of the clear blue, she had three seizures in a 12 hour period of time. Her 3rd seizure last night took her 20 minutes to recover from. She is now at the vets and they are monitoring her and taking more blood samples to see if she is on the right dosage of pheno. Her foster family expects to bring her home tomorrow night. She hadn't seizured for us in almost a month so we were hoping she was on the correct dosage of pheno, but perhaps not. We also talked about doing an MRI on her - our thoughts are that there was neurological damage done to her when she went through all of her abuse. Her foster parents have noticed that after she seizes, she completely forgets everything she's learned for quite a period of time. Unfortunately the vets explained that when MRI's are done, they very seldom give very useful information - so we probably won't do one. Because she seized again and they were pretty severe, we are going to plan on fostering her for at least another month. She is doing much better with other dogs in her foster home - I saw her on Sunday morning - she was playing with an 18 month old female and an 18 month old male. Anyway, she'll be with us for awhile longer and we'll keep working on trying to figure out the seizures. In the meantime she is well loved and cared for. Beth
UPDATE ~ FEBRUARY 4, 2000
Sunny (Reba) goes to the University of Illinois for testing at the end of February. We are also currently trying some new anti-seizure medications to see if we have better luck. She is doing very well with the other goldens in her foster home - she LOVES playtime!! I saw her about two weeks ago and I don't think you'd recognize the confident little wiggle-butt she has become. She is soooo happy all of the time. she is gojng to make some family very happy - once we get the seizures under control. Beth
UPDATE ~ March 6, 2000
Reba's MRI came back normal, so there was no apparent physical neurological damage done as a result of her abuse. So bottom line is she is epileptic, and may need one more heartworm treatment, but other than that, there are no medical needs we are aware of. Reba's foster mom is diligently working on housebreaking, which Reba is NOT picking up on very quickly (even though it's already been 4 months). Reba is not a quick study, but she is in the best foster home she could possibly be in and is having a blast playing with the other dogs. I see her regularly and she is just a very happy pup. We think she is experiencing now, at 18 months, what she should have experienced much earlier in her life but probably didn't. There is no need to worry about her - we will find a perfect permanent home for her - it will just take awhile. But time is not an issue for us, and we learn more about her everyday.If Reba is still with her foster family come June, she will begin formal obedience training. In the meantime her foster mom is working on the basics whenever she can. Reba also is hypothyroid, a very common medical condition, so she started her meds for that this week.
Rest assured, Reba is safe with us until her perfect permanent home is found!
Beth
UPDATE ~ Sunny has finally been adopted. She has been seizure free for over a year.
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