Dee Jay **ADOPTED!**

I think I am going to write about each individual wonderful dog we have at the shelter waiting on his/her own family. They are amazing creatures and it's beyond my understanding why they haven’t been adopted.

One day our volunteer dog walkers came back off the path we have going through the woods to tell me there was a dog sitting in the woods and they weren’t sure of his intentions. I went with them to see and just off the path in a little clearing was a pretty red/tan bulldog mix looking at me. She was just sitting there not moving. We quickly determined that she couldn’t move because something was wrong with her back end. She let me pick her up and carry her out of the woods back to the shelter, washing my face with her giant-sized tongue the whole way (brownie points were scored).

We made an immediate trip to the vet and I tried to prepare everyone that she may not come back. Dr. Windham told me that there were no apparent injuries and that she may have spinal trauma and that it may eventually get better. She was able to control her bladder and bowels and that was a positive sign.

When I brought her back to the shelter everyone was told that we were giving Dee Jay (named after the volunteers who found her--Debbie and Jane---) one week to show some sort of improvement. During the day she was allowed to stay in the office with who turned out to be a therapy cat--little Ollie. At night we would carry her to a blanket in a kennel. She could scoot about and stand up long enough to do her business if we helped her. Then about a week in, she got up to get to Ollie, the cat. From there it was one thing after another. We encouraged her to stop scooting and she began to try to walk. It was a pitiful sight because she was having difficulties placing her legs, but we saw improvement on a daily basis.

One day, while I was inside cleaning, I heard all this whooping and hollering and clapping out in the yard. I thought surely someone had won the lottery. It was better than that. Dee Jay had wagged her tail. It could have been the breeze blowing it, the movement was so miniscule---but they saw it. 

From that day forth it was something new every day. Today Dee Jay runs and plays with the best of them. She has learned to put all of her weight on her hind legs so she can rear up on you looking for treats and she can get on the picnic table and play Queen of the Mountain with her best friend, Annie. 

During all this she never lost her excitement at receiving love and never for a moment stopped wanting to wash your face every chance she got. Her hind end is getting a lot of the muscle tone back and she is one buff and beautiful dog. 

She will occasionally still milk her past disabilities by sitting down during the middle of a walk as if to say, pshaw, --- I am crippled you have to carry me. A little coaxing usually convinces her it would be in her best interest to walk back to the shelter to get her ‘end of the walk treat’. 

She is a glow in all of our hearts and an example of spirit, gumption and perseverance we cold all use a dose of. ----- It would break our hearts to see her leave but knowing she has a good life in a good home would glue it back together. That is our Dee Jay

---The Poop

---