Jack Flashback 2012: Pippa
It’s Christmas Eve and we all love a little miracle, so here’s a beautiful one.
Despite years of neglect and physical ailments, Pippa has an unconquerable spirit, a beautiful smile and is full of unconditional love for humans.
Pippa arrived at the ranch in September. She had spent her entire 7 years of life in a concrete run with two bigger dogs who ran all over her. Her feet were flattened and deformed because of it. Her owners also decided that heartworm medicine was something that didn’t really matter much, so her little heart and lungs were swimming with worms. She was gasping and limping and we’ll be honest – we didn’t think she was going to make it.
She showed us!
We took her to Dr. Wright and he presented us with the difficult choice: Give her a massive heartworm treatment and pray she could withstand it … or put her down. We don’t want to subject any dog to pain and suffering, but this girl’s spirit was huge. She woke up every day, loving life and bringing joy to us and the other dogs. She didn’t seem to know anything was wrong with her.
You may remember this little video from a few months ago that captures her spirit in a couple of seconds:
There was no way we were going to let this sweet girl die without a fight.
So, with our hearts in our throats, we decided to move forward with the heartworm treatment. She came through the first round of shots like a little champ, wondering what was wrong with us for being so worried. The second dose was no biggie to her, either.
Donna and the volunteers all fell in love with this little beacon of light and hoped like heck she would at least find a foster home, if not a forever home. But, of course, not many people come to us, looking for a heartworm-recovering, gasping, aging, limping dog. It’s just our reality.
That said, imagine our delight when Kasey and Kimberly, the girls who stepped up to the plate in September to transport Ginger all the way from Georgia to Ohio, decided to foster her. They already had a special-needs rescue; they understood the trials. They waited several weeks for this girl to go through all of her heartworm treatments, but on Dec. 20, they picked her up and brought her home.
And now? Here’s some photos and an update that will make all of us smile tonight …
Pippa Update
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“I saw Pippa’s pictures and stories on the Facebook page and remember reading the story to Kimberly and talking about how awful this dog’s life had been. We hadn’t talked about fostering since we just adopted one in April, but after getting involved with the rescue and all these wonderful people, we thought we should step up to the plate. We talked about it and decided Pippa deserved to be spoiled a little. 🙂 We had to wait 2 months so she could go through heartworm treatment but right before Christmas, went to pick her up.
Pippa has an amazing attitude, we could all learn from that. And I call her ‘lalala’ because she is so happy-go-lucky. She’s settling in with zero issues, aside from licking her brother’s face once and getting a little snapped at. She loves food and takes begging to a whole new level. She loves standing on all furniture, including end and coffee tables. She jumps from the table to the ottoman to the couch like a rabbit and with minimal stumbling, lol. OK, so all these things are the things that make us laugh and make me tell her she has no manners, but she is also insanely cute and loving. We have a feeling she won’t be a ‘foster’ for long.”
– Kasey and Kimberly
