Will You Be My ... Valentine?

Written by CP's VP of Intakes

The relationship between millers and rescues has greatly improved and come a long way over the past few years. Thousands and thousands of dogs that have spent their life in puppy mills who would have been destroyed after their usefulness was up, now get a chance at freedom and enjoying life. Likewise, those puppies born into a mill with a medical condition also received the same fate for being less than perfect - death. But, how sad is society when a family buys a beautiful little puppy, takes her into their home, then discovers she has a medical condition that IS treatable, but still chooses to return her to the miller for a replacement. That's exactly what we believe happened in this case. CP has been working with a group that takes dogs from PM releases and then finds rescues to take them. They contacted us to take a 5 month old female. In the back of my head I'm always suspicious when a PM wants to release a young female and unfortunately most times my suspicions are correct.

Last night, or should I say early this morning, Deborah C. and her husband Lanny met a transport at 3:00 AM near their home filled with dogs from the PM. Out came our beautiful little 5 month old girl. The first thing Deborah noticed was she didn't smell, she was clean and looked like she had been groomed with even her ear fringe plucked. Strange, why would such a dog come from a puppy mill? Then Deborah got her home ... her little eyes had green goo oozing out of them and were crusted over. But that's not the real story, while we won't have conformation until she sees the vet tomorrow, based on what Deborah has seen, described and we both know, we believe she has CMO, Craniomandibular or Lion's Jaw. This is caused by excessive growth along both mandibles (lower jawbone) and can include other skull bones and occasionally forearm bones. This condition appears in puppies generally between 4 weeks and 10 months of age. It is very painful and extremely difficult to open their mouth. There is treatment which generally lasts 4-10 months. The good news is most recover, although they can have lasting, permanent effects of enlargement and impaired chewing. The condition is caused by a recessive gene and is generally found in Cairns, Westies and Scotties.

My guess is the miller sold this little girl to a pet home and when they discovered she had the condition, they had her bathed, groomed and returned her to the breeder to get a replacement. I'm sure they didn't realize this could have meant her death and as a credit to the miller, they did release her to rescue rather than destroy her. Whatever happened to this baby girl, she is very lucky to have found her way into the loving arms of Col. Potter!

Please help me welcome Valentine. Deborah C. said she felt like an expectant mother waiting for delivery of her baby last night and Valentine will be her baby to foster and care for through whatever treatment is needed. Again, we won't have confirmation of CMO until she sees the vet tomorrow, but if it is, Valentine will be entering the Guardian Angel program and will need your help and support. I'll give everyone an update tomorrow just as soon as we know.

In the meantime, CP received a very special, early Valentine this morning ... WELCOME to the family!