Adopted: Gemma

My name is Gemma (like “gem”) and I am one miraculously lucky and amazing pup!

Quick Facts:

  • Breed: Lab mix
  • Gender: Female
  • Age: 6 months
  • Size: 30 lbs
  • Good with…
  • Dogs? Yes!
  • Cats? Yes!
  • Kids? 12+ years

History

On July 4th of this year, I was a homeless puppy in rural KY. One night, I ran across a rural road and was hit head on by a car doing 60+ miles an hour, ending up being lodged in the grille of the car that hit me (check out that crazy photo and get the whole story). Worst day of my life, right? Nope! Sort of the best day, because that is the day that I went from being a lost, starving, scared and homeless little puppy, to having all sorts of wonderful rescue people and doctors and volunteers and donors and pilots, all wanting to help me! Totally amazing!

To make a long story not too long…I was painfully skinny and had a belly full of rocks and stones because I was so hungry I was eating anything I could get my mouth on (which was mostly dirt and rocks). I was infested with fleas and ticks. And now I had 2 badly broken legs. On the up side…no internal damage (a miracle), and no intestinal obstruction from the rocks (another miracle)! The wonderful rescue folks in KY did what they could for me for those first few weeks, but without resources for expensive vet care, and without orthopedic specialists in the area, they knew they had to get me to a rescue with generous donors and to a region with orthopedic specialists.

This wonderful nonprofit organization called Pilots n Paws, who donate their time (and fuel) to fly special needs dogs and cats to rescue organizations, flew me to Ithaca to join the Cayuga Dog Rescue foster program! I arrived at the very end of July and have been having a marvellous time in several foster homes since. I’ve been to see the orthopedic specialists at Cornell a bunch of times, and I am happily on the mend. More on my medical status below!

Personality

I love everyone!! I am a happy-go-lucky, sweet, silly, playful, affectionate, fun and adorable little girl! I am very eager to please and try hard to learn whatever you ask me to. I LOVE kisses and belly rubs and lying on the floor with a person! I also love chewing on a bully stick under the dining room table…it’s sort of my fort!

I love to play! And I am told that I am very clever at entertaining myself if you’re not free to play with me. I tussle with my stuffed squeaky toys, and have a blast doing so, I play hide-and-seek with my favorite blanky (too adorable!), and I spend serious time studying all of the activity at the various bird feeders which I can see out of the back windows (there is a lot going on at those feeders)!

I am generally a good eater, but if I don’t like the flavor of food you’ve given me (or if I suspect that you are hiding a pill in my food!), I use my nose to push the dish away, or I drag a rug or blanket or towel over to the dish and cover it up! I never beg for food when my people are eating their own meals, and I never jump up on people. I do make a super funny “yowly” sort of vocalization, which is a cross between a whine and a yawn, when I need to go outside! Since my foster mom understands this and takes me out every time I do this, I have had no accidents in the house! And though I am very averse to taking pills willingly, my foster mom has figured out that if she puts a pill in a little bowl with some ice cream (which I love) and some cottage cheese (whose bumps look a bit like a pill does), I will eat it up without realizing there is a pill in there!

My foster mom says that I am a very smart girl, and will already often respond to “come” and “sit” and “shake!” I get a treat every time I do this, which means I am motivated to keep doing so! “Come” works well in the house, but as I have some hound in me (we think), and have a strong urge to follow scents when I am outside, I will need to be on leash when we are outdoors. I sleep quietly all through the night and am up and ready to meet the day at 6:30 am or so!

Given my playful nature, I so much want to run and play and chase balls and go for long hikes and play-play-play with other dogs, but unfortunately the doctors don’t want me jumping around or running on my hurt legs yet, so I have to try to be content with playing with my toys in a more quiet manner. It’s been hard for me, but I am being a total sport about it! Everyone keeps telling me that if I take it easy now, my legs will heal best, and I’ll get to run and play like a normal puppy someday!

Cohabitation

I am great with all people. I would probably be great around kids too, but since my legs are still a bit fragile, I shouldn’t be in a home with kids who are too young to be very gentle with me, and understand what I am and am not allowed to do.

I love all nice dogs, but can be nervous with new dogs at first meetings. Once I get to know a dog a little bit, I always want to be best friends!

I’m very good with cats and am in a foster home with 2 of them!

Medical

So, overall, I am in fantastic shape! And more than most dogs, we know this for sure, as I have been seen by about 100 veterinarians since coming to Ithaca! Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea. I’ve been checked out in every way, and other than my broken legs, I am in tip top shape.

So, about those legs…since it was 3 weeks between being hit by the car in KY and arriving into the CDR program in Ithaca, I lost the good window for immediate surgical repair of my legs. Though CDR got me into the orthopedic surgeons just a few days after I arrived, the surgeons said that it was really too late (might do more harm than good) to go in now and put in plates and screws, as might have been helpful immediately after the accident. Instead, I’ve been on exercise restriction and have been having radiographs and examinations by the orthopedic specialists every few weeks to assess the healing. So far they say that my bone growth and healing are incredibly impressive! They say that the bottom line is that it is possible that I might go my entire life without needing a surgery on either leg, but it is also possible that at some point in time (could be in 3 months or 3 years or 10 years, they can’t predict ) that things might deteriorate and that I might need surgery for one or even both legs. For certain, in either scenario, I will have arthritis in the broken legs when I get older, so I should a) always be kept at a good lean weight, b) be maintained for my whole life on medications like Dasaquin and fish oil and c) be fine to run and play like a normal dog, but probably shouldn’t do super intense exercise athletics like running long distances, hiking up huge mountains, or skijouring.

Favorite Activities

  • Playing! With you, with another dog, with my stuffed animals or my blanky!
  • Snuggling next to you on the couch, being petted, and getting kisses!!
  • Exploring the world! On leash or in your fenced yard! I’m so curious about everything, it’s all so cool!
  • Playing with dogs!
  • Learning new things!
  • Greeting the morning! And saying hi to the birds at the bird feeders!

Summary

They tell me that I am a miracle dog! And that I still have lots more miracles to come, like finding the most wonderful adoptive home ever!! I can’t wait to meet you, so apply for me today!

If you are interested in adopting me, please fill out an online adoption application and live close to Ithaca, Syracuse, Binghamton, Rochester, or Elmira. We do home visits on every applicant, and can’t do home visits where we don’t have local volunteers.

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