Stubby
The Lone Survivor

A Good Samaritan contacted Gayla Evans, Rottweiler and Boston Terrier Rescuer, regarding a three-legged, thin Rottweiler-mix she had found along the roadside guarding her puppies. Being a rescuer, Gayla had received many calls like this and readily agreed to help. She inquired about the condition of the puppies and sadly learned that the mother dog was the only lucky one. Every single puppy had been run over and killed by oncoming traffic on the busy road.

She was told that the dog (later named "Stubby") had been found lying beside her puppies, doing what comes natural -- being a protective mother. It tore Gayla's heart into knowing how awful it must have been for Stubby to have watched this terrible thing happening to her babies - one by one. How she must have felt, sensing the danger and trying to hide her own fear as she tried in vain to keep her puppies safe.

Stubby and her puppies, like so many other dogs in this world, had been dumped and left behind because they were no longer wanted -- dumped like a piece of trash in the ditch. Left behind to fight the odds. Left behind to likely die a lonely death.

When Gayla arrived to pick up the lone abandoned dog, she only had to hold the vehicle door open for a moment. Without hesitation, Stubby immediately climbed onto Gayla's lap and started giving her puppy-dog kisses -- her nub tail never missing a wiggling beat. Right then Gayla whispered to her, "Alright,you're coming home with me; you'll never be dumped again." Stubby was assessed to be about a year old. Only one year old and already having puppies while she was just a baby herself. She was still full of milk for the babies she would never again nurse, and her front leg missing from a previous trauma. What a way to start out her life. How tragic this poor dog had never even enjoyed her own puppyhood.

She was named Stubby because she uses her nub leg to hug and wave at you, which is quite humorous. After plenty of TLC, Stubby was restored to her former glory. Her missing leg doesn't slow her down. Her nub tail never stops wagging and Gayla jokes that she should have instead named her "Eveready" because her tail "keeps on going and going."

It ceases to amaze us how people just disregard their pets by dumping them along the road, in a field, or wherever is convenient. The most common rationale we hear is that the pet owner is giving their animal a "second chance." A second chance? At what? Getting hit by a car and lying in a ditch with flies as their only company? Suffering for days before starving to death? Getting attacked by other animals? Falling into the wrong hands again?

We have domesticated them and they cannot survive on their own. Stubby's litter would have had a true "second chance" if the thoughtless owner would have just been taken them to a humane society, shelter or animal rescue group. There's never an excuse for dumping a pet. It's a very cowardly act, which no animal deserves.

But fortunately for Stubby, she beat the stacked odds and is ready to start her new life. She has an awesome personality and loves everyone. She plays ball and thoroughly enjoys belly rubs. Stubby is cage-trained, housebroken, good with male dogs, and ready for a great home with a fenced yard. Stubby would be a loyal and loving companion.

If you'd like to give this dog the happy ending she deserves, please contact ORR. We HOPE you will open your heart and home to her.