Rescued Dog Deserves a Loving Forever Home

From The Aiken Standard

Submitted Article

It began with children from the neighborhood. They saw the large, golden dog tied to the front of an empty dwelling with nothing but a nylon ski rope. They saw that the rope was eating further and further into the flesh of his neck each time he lunged against his tether.

Thank God those kids told their parents, and the parents called the sheriff. The sheriff notified Animal Control. It was after hours when Officer Ford went to the scene.

By that time, a collar had been conveniently inserted between the dog's neck and the nylon rope, but this ruse could not conceal the lacerations.
"The dog was almost decapitating itself," said Officer Ford.

But what Ford found most notable was that, despite the abuse, this handsome dog was, "Very loving, with no sign of aggression."

Ford took the dog and called the county vet tech, Sandy Larsen, to let her know he was bringing in a seriously wounded animal. Larsen came immediately to the shelter and called the county vet. Following his instructions, she not only attended to the injured animal, but seeing how special the dog was, she immediately tested him for heartworms.

"If he was heartworm negative," she said, "I was determined to save this dog.

They named him Roper.

Roper's original owner was cited for animal cruelty and custody of Roper was awarded to the county.

Roper is now completely healed and sports a beautiful wide red collar of which he is quite proud. The volunteers all love him. He's very much the dog that he appeared to be on that fateful night: alert, intelligent and loving. He deserves a safe, devoted, forever home. We have high hopes for his adoption. Roper's already a celebrity and has been on TV.

The lessons we can take from Roper's story are many. It's unfortunate that we must begin with the fact that it is unlawful to tie a dog in any way that it can harm itself, or leave the animal without food, water or shelter.

We obviously hope that no dog has to be tied at all, preferring a good fence, but failing that, there are humane ways to ask a vigilant dog to safeguard our property. We could think of ourselves as their guardians, and demonstrate that we appreciate the jobs these loyal creatures do on our behalf by the way we treat them in return.

As a community we can learn from the initiative of the children who first reported Roper's condition. If you see an animal suffering from cruelty or neglect, call. Roper's life depended on it and, sadly, so will the lives of others.

The County Shelter's Dispatch number is 642-1537. You can also use that number if you are interested in adopting Roper. The Sheriff's number for non-emergency calls is 648-6811. For emergencies the number is always 911.

It is upon all of us to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Let's not let them down.

FOTAS volunteers work with the Aiken County Animal Shelter, 411 Wire Road. For more information, email info@fotasaiken.org or www.fotasaiken.org.