A tale of hope

By Stephanie Fellenstein | | No Comments »

Fiona’s soft brown eyes peek out between floppy, caramel-colored ears. Her tail wags, cautiously at first, but picks up speed as she sniffs around her new yard.

But it’s her painfully thin body and the bumpy line of her spine leading past protruding rib bones and hip bones that tells her story.

Fiona is the latest addition to an already too-long list of dogs rescued by Dan and Cindy McGill, local representatives of Dogs Deserve Better, a nonprofit organization aimed at rescuing abused dogs, specifically those chained or penned.

“This is something we feel very strongly about,” Cindy says. “This is important for the dogs who can’t speak for themselves.”

Fiona’s story

It began on a Friday with a single phone call.

“The call started out, ‘I have four puppies,’ and then I asked about the mom,” Cindy says. Finally the caller admitted, “she’s a little skinny.”

The McGills got permission from Dogs Deserve Better to pursue the case and headed to Akron.

As soon as they saw Fiona, not her original name, Cindy says she knew they had to take her, too.

“I looked at Dan. We didn’t have to speak. He rounded up the puppies and I told the family ‘I’m going to take the mom, she has some problems.’”

Fiona’s first stop on her journey to a new life was a visit with “Dr. Greg” and his staff at the Twinsburg Veterinary Hospital and Pet Lodge.

“Dr. Greg and his staff are awesome,” Cindy says.

Dr. Greg Lozanoff has known Cindy for about seven years.

“The work they’re doing is excellent,” Lozanoff says. “The animals they bring in are truly a mess — cuts, bruises, heartworm — just neglected. They’re trying to save what they can.”

After visiting Dr. Greg, Fiona headed to her new (temporary) home with the McGills.

“We like to keep them until they’re back to health,” Dan says. “Ideally we like to find a home within a month so we can treat another dog.”

Dog Days

Dogs Deserve Better began about seven years ago when founder and Pennsylvania resident, Tamira Ci Thayne saw her neighbor’s black lab tied outside day in and day out. While the group supports all animal issues, its focus is on chained and penned dogs not receiving proper care. There are 150 representatives, like the McGills, throughout the United States, Canada, Portugal and Spain.

While the McGills are fairly new to the organization, joining this past May, Cindy easily rattles off their list of success stories — Annie, Belle, Clyde, Daisy, Eva and now Fiona. Only Bear didn’t make it.

“A dog is not a lawn ornament. It’s important that people understand the results of neglect,” she says, looking at a picture of Bear, a skinny dog, with pleading eyes and missing patches of fur. “The reality of neglect is that this dog is now in a box on my mantel.”

Cindy worked with a rescue group about seven years ago while living in Pennsylvania.

After hearing about Thayne and Doogie, a dog she rescued, Cindy considered volunteering with Dogs Deserve Better.

“That was put on hold with Dan in Iraq, and then he was injured,” she says.

Dan is now retired from the Marines and this past spring, the time was right to volunteer.

The McGills say they already have heard all kinds of excuses for chaining a dog outside — it’s a guard dog, it’s too big, too playful or the kids are tired of it.

“We see a lot of Rottweilers/Rottweiler mixes,” Dan says. “People get a cute puppy and after about six months, they’re not so cute. They’re big and they end up outside, chained up.”

Rescuing chained dogs is a risky venture.

The dogs can be aggressive, have back leg problems and are likely to bite, the McGills say. The Dogs Deserve Better Web site adds trust issues, terror and neediness to that list.

“We always offer help to the dog owner first,” Cindy says, mentioning the group’s resources — access to dog trainers, help in building a fence (on the condition the dog is not outside 24/7), and finally surrendering the dog and finding a new home.

Dan and Cindy experienced chaining first hand at the Chain Off, a Dogs Deserve Better fundraiser, in Covington, Ky., this summer.

While the McGills spent 12 hours wearing a collar attached to a chain, some Dogs Deserve Better representatives endured three days of captivity.

Cindy says the experience was “humbling.” Her husband says, “maddening.”

“For just a couple hours,” Dan says. “I can’t imagine what it’s like for years. The dogs can’t forge for food or run away. They’re defenseless on the end of a chain. It’s sad that there are things like this that continue to happen.”

Rescuing dogs has become a family affair at the McGill’s house.

“We talked about this before we got involved,” Cindy says. “There is a lot of heartache.

Kayla, a sophomore at Ohio University; Kyle, a senior, and Cody, a junior at Hudson High School, don’t seem to mind.

Cody already talked his mom into keeping one of Fiona’s puppies.

“I think it’s really cool; helping the poor animals,” Kyle says, as the puppy sits in his lap and Fiona climbs onto his knee to lick his face. “The sad part is letting them go. But at the same time, I feel good because I know they’re going to a good home.”

The McGills are also connected with Save Ohio Strays, another non-profit organization, headquartered in Wadsworth, aimed at helping every homeless pet destined for euthanasia, their Web site says.

“They took Fiona’s three other puppies and have foster families for them,” Cindy says.

Future plans

“We need foster homes,” Cindy says, adding that is a good way to get to know different breeds of dogs. “We love ‘foster failures,’ which means the foster family decides to keep the dog.”

Cindy encourages people to volunteer at events or walk dogs.

“Someone will come up to me and say, ‘I can only donate $5,’ she says. “Well God bless you. If 10 people donate $5, it’s a dog bed.”

Today, the McGills get regular updates about their rescued friends.

Two of their first “clients” were Mastiffs — Annie and Belle — rescued from the Kent area.

Annie now lives in Columbia Station and it’s even easier to keep an eye on Belle’s progress. She now lives right next door with her new family. Clyde’s new family had a welcome home party for him.

Fiona’s ears perk up and she bounces after Cindy who is carrying a package of dog treats.

“She needs to be spayed and treated for heartworms,” Cindy says. “We plan to see this through to the end.”

And that is a plan that seems just fine with Fiona.

Tags: Dogs Deserve Better, Save Ohio Strays, Twinsburg Veterinary Hospital and Pet Lodge

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 12:00 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.