About a brave girl

On August 22, I brought home a rescued labrador name Roxy.

I volunteered to foster her until she completes her surgeries and recovery.

When I got her home, she just had a hip surgery a few days before so she was really inactive, but was walking well and keeps wagging her tail.

I borrowed a baby gate from my doggie neighbour and place Roxy at our yard with the extra dog bed we had. I introduced Roxy to my German Shephard, Hero. She growls whenever Hero gets close to her, sniffing her and getting her to play. But poor Roxy, she’s injured lah!! How to to play with Hero?? And Hero is very rough when it comes to playing.  I think Hero doesn’t know how big he is.

It took a few days of growling at Hero, hiding at a corner, her head chucked below the sofa before this happens.

Awww…..

From then on, Roxy no longer stays in the Yard, she lies on Hero’s comfy dog bed because she chews up the old one in the Yard. And Hero has to make do with a small rug carpet.

As Roxy recovers from her hip surgery, we tended to her wound. There was once she bit off the suture when her wound nearly closed! We could even see the thread jutting out from her wound and blood was flowing out again! We rushed her to the vet. So we got her a e-collar.

About 2 months later after her hip surgery, she was once again in the vet for the other hip surgery. I brought her home in the evening and had the help of a vet assistance to transfer to my car. She was wagging her tail none stop when she sees me.

My ‘Ang’ helped me transfer her at home. We discussed for a good place for her to rest and decided that the yard is a better place because the water source and pee pad are all in the yard. If we put her in the living room, she would have to walk a longer distance to get to the water. But we left the gate open. It took us a lot of effort to transfer her to the Yard!

In the night, I was pretty worried so I checked her out at 2.30am. Guess what? She is lying in the living room!! I wonder how she managed to walk!

At 6am, my ‘Ang’ brings Hero out for his morning walk. Typically after Hero’s walk, it will be Roy’s. But now she is 3 legged, my ‘Ang’ decides maybe she should rest for a day. But hor…..she yelps and yelps when she didn’t get the chance to go out!!!

On the 2nd day afternoon, I see that she is already load bearing on the leg that just had surgery!! She is just a brave girl. No whining, no crying……and still wagging her tail. The vet even says her pain tolerance is really high.

Roxy actually comes from a puppy mill from Pasir Ris. A friend of mine bought over the puppy mill when the despicable owner decides to end the puppymill business. There were about 85 dogs altogether. Some had passed on when we got them. Some got rehabilitated and adopted subsequently. Some are still in foster care. Roxy is one of them.

A lot of times when I speak about puppy mill, no one knows what exactly is a puppy mill. A puppy mill is, according to Wiki,

a commercial dog breeding facility that is operated with an emphasis upon profits above animal welfare and is often in substandard conditions regarding the well-being of dogs in their care

This means that the dogs in puppy mills are there just to breed and give birth to puppies. The bitches bred everytime they are in heat.

Roxy, a female labrador, weighs about 22kg now and about 50cm high. Under American Kennel Club description, labrador’s minimum size for a bitch should weigh 25kg and 54.6cm high. From this, you can see that Roxy has either not fully grow to her size or does not have good pedigree.

Then think about it, since Roxy either has not fully grown or does not have good pedigree, what will become of her puppies? Roxy probably hasn’t recovered from her first litter and she is off to her second litter!! Roxy now suffers from hip dysplasia, cataract and teeth decay.

Think about it again….if you have bought one of Roxy’s puppies…..

Roxy has went through 2 major operations this year. Next year, we will be getting her spayed.

Despite where she comes from, she looks forward to her twice daily walks, she looks forward to her daily meal. She wags her tail continously whenever people approaches her, even strangers. She licks you, showing her abundant affections. And she does what dogs do best……lying around and sleeps…..and she snores….very loudly!!

And meanwhile, we are getting her adopted…..Good Luck ROXY! You are a brave girl.