It was goodbye for Dull and the neglected border collie that slowly had started to trust her as long as strangers weren't around.
"I am so happy for the dogs," Dull said after the Hull's Haven Border Collie Rescue left on the two-day trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba. "They need to go to rehab. They desperately need it, but that doesn't mean we haven't grown very, very attached."
Graham, along with six other border collies taken from breeder Thurman "Randy" Sanders Jr., arrived at Crystal Creek Kennels on a cold Feb. 23 afternoon, covered in feces and suffering from urine burns on their skin from having to lie in their own filth. They had lice, worms and other ailments.
Graham's left eye was painfully infected and had to be removed. Through it all — the pain, the new environment, the new people, the poking and prodding of medical exams — Graham never showed any aggression, Dull said. It's a promising sign.
Sally Hull, who runs the rescue, knows of Sanders' neglected dogs firsthand. She and her staff have rehabilitated some of the socially backward and timid dogs that Sanders gave up after a court order last fall limited him to no more than three dogs. Hull's foster pet owners turned them into wonderful pets that now are in loving homes, she said.
"I have no doubt that every one of them is going to end up in a really good home," she said. "It's just going to take some time. It's going to take a lot of patience, but we have excellent foster homes."
For now, all seven dogs — along with an eighth dog taken from Sanders last fall and who hasn't adjusted well — will be inside Hull's home and introduced to the older dogs that, in human terms, become mentors.
"The best things for dogs like that is to live in a home with dogs that are not fearful, dogs that are outgoing, well balanced," Hull said. "That's basically how we start them.
"They pretty much show them that people are kind, that people can be loving and affectionate and not abusive and neglectful, which is what obviously they're used to."
Rehabilitation for some of the dogs might take six months, perhaps longer, Hull said.
"Every dog is different," she said.
Hull and two of her friends left Crystal Creek about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, bound for Minneapolis and an overnight stay with eight restless dogs. They will set out for the Canadian border on Friday and plan to arrive in Winnipeg by the afternoon.
While the dogs receive their first glimpse at a promising life and human companionship, their former owner has a date in court in Tippecanoe Superior 2 on Monday to explain how he might pay the nearly $50,000 in fines and court costs assessed on him after a Board of Zoning civil case from last fall. Sanders also will be called to defend himself against a contempt of court allegation for having five more dogs than the court allowed in its order.
Monday's hearing comes almost two weeks after Tippecanoe Superior 6 Judge Michael Morrissey severed Sanders' ownership of the seven liberated dogs after affirming 30 violations of the county's animal control ordinance.
Sanders has another hearing before Morrissey on July 14 to determine if Sanders will get to keep his dog, Spud, who lives inside his mobile home and is not neglected.
The recent cases involving Sanders comes after years of complaints of animal abuse and neglect against Sanders.
He was acquitted of criminal animal abuse and neglect charges in 2013, and ordinance violations tied to that case were never pursued after the acquittal.
(JC Online - April 16, 2015)
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