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| Name: | Ellie |
| Type: | Mixed |
| Color: | Black & Tan |
| Owner: | Richard J. Kardell |
| Veterinarian: | Dr. Steven Finch |
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She was the most pitiful little thing I’d ever seen . . . a little black and tan puppy barely eight weeks old. She was huddled against the garage door at our family plumbing shop. Her paws and tip of her tail were completely bare due to skin problems. But, worse yet was the sight of her poor little face. She was severely deformed. The right side of her head and face was pushed in . . . almost flat. There seemed to be an opening for her eye, but at the time I felt sure the eye was missing.
My wife and I are suckers for a hard luck story and Ellie, as she came to be called, had found her forever home. We took her to our vet and discovered the damage to her face was not due to mistreatment, but was most likely a birth defect. She had certainly suffered from neglect and had been thrown away like a broken toy. She did have an eye, though we were never quite sure if she could see out of it.
I suspect Ellie’s skull deformity had an impact on her development. Everything came harder to her . . . learning her name, housebreaking, basic commands . . . it all took longer. Early on she didn’t even want to interact with people. For the first 4-5 months it was like we were living with a feral little dog. But, with lots of love and patience we were able to turn her around. Before long she was couch lovin’, people food eatin’, spoiled 125 pound dog. I think my five adult children were jealous of her. Often my wife and I heard the lament of “How come we never got it that good?”
As she grew, her head straightened out a bit. But, it was amusing to watch how people responded to her when they first met her. They’d look at her face and hesitate a minute as their brain tried to reconcile the crooked brown spots above her eyes and the off-kilter muzzle. They knew something was off, but they couldn’t put their finger on it. Always polite, they’d say, “She’s a pretty dog.” They generally seemed quite relieved when we told them we loved her . . . crooked face and all.
Ellie was a special part of our lives for eleven years. Given her rough start in life – I’m convinced it’s a life she wouldn’t have had if she hadn’t scratch on that garage door so long ago.
We all miss her terribly. Okay maybe my kids don’t But, I certainly do. She was my Little El . . . all 125 pounds of her. |
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Missouri Veterinary Medical Association
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Phone: 573-636-8612 Fax: 573-659-7175 Email: mvma@mvma.us
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