I am going to put up a warning right now that there are graphic pictures of Destiny’s injured leg in this post. If this type of thing makes you upset, you may want to sit this one out. For me, I want people to see and understand why dog ownership education is SO important and to prevent neglect like this from ever happening to another dog.

Destiny was born sometime summer 2012 (July 15, 2012 is her estimate birthday) on Moosomin First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada. Born to “potentially” to an Australian Cattle Dog mix and who knows what else, maybe coyote (very bad coyote problem here in Saskatchewan) parents on this Northern Saskatchewan reserve.

At some point between birth and March 14th her left leg got injured. No one who has dealt with her knows how but the theory is that it was caught in a snare. Normally if this happens on a reserve, when the trapper finds the dog he will shoot them in the head. But for some reason Destiny was spared. Either because of those big brown eyes or because she freed herself from the trap. The estimated date of injury was between November 20 to Jan 1st.

There were sightings of her on the reserve all winter but people failed to report anything to the RCMP or the SPCA. Apparently some local residents had attempted to shoot her to put her out of her misery but she managed to evade their shots. By the time my friend D had spotted her the injury was down to the bone and infection had set in. However it did not spread to her blood stream as we had an unusually cold winter, we were having minus 30 days until the beginning of April which even for Northern Canada is unusual.

As you can see in the above picture, this was an old injury. And she had been hopping around all winter on a populated reserve. Sigh, I still cannot believe that she didn’t died. Maybe she has cat mixed in there as well!

So my friend D seeing that this dog was in pain, contacted the RCMP. The RCMP didn’t have the resources to go after the dog so they told him to call the SPCA. Well no one picked up at the SPCA. So D was talking to his paramedic coworker and she suggested contact a local rescue called Lend a Paw.

Well Lend a Paw as soon as they could sent out a “search party” to find and locate this dog. It took this rescue two days to track and locate her. After catching her and seeing the extent of her injuries they rushed her to the Battlefords Animal Hospital.

These are photos taken of Destiny as they were admitting her into the Battleford Animal Hospital. I know just from the way these photos were taken that the rescue hopes that if they can find who owned her before me could be charged with neglect. But as we all know that is in the magical fairy world. Unfortunately in the real world people get away with this and far more evil abuse all the time.

Obviously seeing the extent of her injuries, the vet ordered an amputation at the shoulder and down. Her surgery went well and she was sent to be fostered with the local dog trainer (lucky for us!).

This is the first photo I saw of Destiny. I don’t know how someone could do/let something this awful happen to this dog. She is the most calm, even tempered well behaved dog I have ever met!

I have never met the vet and vet tech that ended up saving Destiny’s life, but I did save this photo of them with Destiny after her surgery so I can later print it out and place it in a scrap book.

Thanks Dr. Tom Schmidt & Kayla. Not many vets would try and save a rez dog with no family, running wild with an injury like this.

After having a month to recover from her surgery and to get spayed we were allowed to take Destiny home. Meeting Destiny’s foster mom was a really cool experience for us, and she told us she was having a hard time letting her go (her rule is, two dogs for her and one room for a foster). I really admire her for being strict with herself with that rule. I know I would have a hard time! And meeting the woman who runs this rescue was amazing. Such a kind, giving person who deals with so much neglect and abused animals yet can still laugh and see the bright side of things.

Destiny’s fees were 250 dollars. Included: Her shots, spay, 4 bags of Acana dog food (OMG thanks!), collar, leash, stuffy, microchip, and if we want to be technical her surgery. Now most of you on here know how much that surgery is. I don’t because they paid for it for us. As she put it, “This adoption fee does not cover most dogs.” Yet she still keeps it the same.

We are forever in debt to these people for their kindness and generosity in saving Destiny’s life and trusting us in giving her a good home. After all they have seen with her and dealt with it made us feel a little special that they wanted us to be her pawrents.

So this is Destiny’s story that we know before she came to us. Not the happiest of stories but I am the type of person who doesn’t let the past get them down. And my dog will be the same.

*Photos used in this post are property of Lend a Paw.

Hi,

Have no idea where to begin but I may as well start with myself.

I am a 25 year old retail store manager. Very interested in art, photography, cooking, writing, reading and travel just to name some of my interests. I got married last year to the love of my life who I have been with for the past 5 years. He is currently a tire installer, working on going to school at the moment for aircraft maintenance engineer.

Growing up with dogs my whole life I have always been passionate about them and rescuing them. My first dog, our family dog Nikki was a Malamute/Border collie cross. My mom and dad always expected that we take care of her and train her. While she wasn’t the best, most well trained dog she was ours.

She was with our family for 12 years. Gave us many laughs and many tears. She passed away in 2010 from advanced stomach cancer that was not treatable.

Nikki, 1998 – 2010. Hated bikes, old people, children, cats, other dogs…well you get the point.

I still miss her every day.

Moving out in 2009, my husband and I always wanted to get our own dog. But we also knew it was important to a) get the right dog for our life style, b) have some money saved for said dog, c) make sure we have enough time for said dog and d) have a stable job to support dog. At that point we did not have any of those things. The only thing we did have was our own Condo which allowed pets.

Between 2009 and now, we had both gotten stable jobs through promotions and hard work. Saved money towards a potential dog, and with the stable jobs came a much more stable schedule to possible have a dog.

The only thing left was to find the perfect dog. We knew off the bat we wanted a rescue dog that was being fostered. It is very hard to housebreak a dog when a) you live in a condo and b)when you work shift work. So that was a must. Age never mattered to us. We were willing to rescue whatever came our way.

Looking at different rescues we soon realized that we had another obstacle to over come. The stigma of living in a condo. We had many rescues that wouldn’t give us the time of day because we lived in a condo. It was very disheartening as we are both active people and our condo board is very progressive and supportive. Still, a lot of rescues would not reach out to us and judged us based on our living arrangements.

After a while we decided to give up. None of the dogs were really speaking to us, and the condo situation made it tough to even get questions answered by most local rescues.

Then we met our “Destiny.”

Easter 2013, Saturday night we decided to have a bit of a board game/drinking fest with a couple we are close friends with. As the night progressed, our friend D pulled out his phone and said “You need this dog in your life.” That was the first time I saw Destiny.

He explained to us that he was called out on a reserve one day (He works as a paramedic) and saw this little dog limping behind the rez dog pack. Upon closer inspection, he saw her leg was messed up and the bone was showing. Having to deal with a call, he couldn’t chase after her so he decided to call the SPCA.

He couldn’t get through.

He then decided to call a local rescue in the near by town. They sent someone out right away. It took them over 2 days to locate her but they caught her and brought her to the near by animal hospital. The leg was beyond saving so they removed it.

After we heard that story, we were hooked. The Monday after Easter I filled out my application form and sent it off. A week later I had a phone interview with the rescue. Impressed with my dog experience as well as my attitude towards her disability (I hate to call it that, if you have a better term let me know). Basically we don’t see it as a disability but a special ABILITY.

They were also impressed that I went to my condo board first before contacting them and had two people from my condo board contact them as reference.

After my phone interview we arranged the pick up. Meeting her the first time I knew we made the best decision in our life to date. She has only been ours for just over two weeks but so far she has brought a lot of joy to our lives.

Next: Destiny’s full story, with pictures.