This is a story that I hate to tell, but here goes . . .
About a week ago, I was told by my neighbor that his upstairs neighbor (William Penn) had moved and abandoned his dog on the porch. This poor dog was on the porch, in his crate, with no sign of having had food or water in at least a day. So, I went and got a supply of dog food and a leash for the poor baby, hoping that he’d feel like eating and taking a walk.
He felt like eating, but he wasn’t strong enough to walk. I’ve lived next door to this dog for a long time, and he’s a beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback, and a rather large dog. So . . . I tried to find a home for this dog . . .preferably one who wouldn’t put him to sleep. I stumbled across the Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue Society online (www.ridgebackrescue.org) and talked to a great woman (Kathy Bakken), who is the Regional Director of the organization, and jumped right in to help me get him and find a home for him.
Before the rescuer (Joanna) could get here, William (alias the jackass) returned home and I berated him for abandoning his dog (which might have been a mistake, in retrospect). Joanna, her friend Mike and I were on a stakeout, waiting for William to leave so that we could take the dog. After his car was gone, we went over to the porch and the dog was gone, which meant that he’d either taken the dog, or locked him up.
A day later, I still wasn’t sure if he’d taken the dog, or just locked him up. The downstairs neighbor said he hadn’t heard the dog in a while, so we were thinking that William had taken the dog with him — which wasn’t necessarily good news, but better than the dog being locked up with no food.
In the meantime, Kathy, who was very worried about the dog at this point, didn’t trust that William had taken the dog (and to be honest, neither did I, but I was in denial that someone could be so cruel and heartless as to abandon their pet). She found out that William had abused dogs before (tight little network, that Ridgeback society), and that our sweet, skinny, malnourished porch waif had once been a top ranking show dog named Neiman Marcus! This didn’t surprise me. When I met William, he told me that he was a breeder. At one time he had three of those dogs in a 3 bedroom condo. The puppy kept escaping and almost got hit by several cars. He never walked them, or cleaned up after them. He’s a terrible person.
Two days later, the landlord showed up, pried the door open with a crowbar and found the dog, a cat (or evidence of the cat, who was hiding) and abandoned fish. Of course this all comes to a head at the worst possible moment for me. I had to be at Second City, I was on a difficult deadline, and the Taste of Chicago was going to prevent me from getting anywhere in a hurry.
Despite all that, I went over to the apartment (which was disgusting, by the way), and got the dog (I couldn’t find the cat). Anyone who would have seen him would have wanted to cry immediately. He was so happy to get food and water. He couldn’t eat fast enough. He could barely walk. I hated it that I had to leave, but the rescue people were on their way, so I knew he would be in good hands.
Kathy called me later to tell me that he had been safely delivered to her house, and that he was in the worst shape she’d ever seen. She called Animal Control and took pictures of his condition. After a visit to the vet, she learned that he was 30 lbs underweight, malnourished, but surprisingly not dehydrated, and that his hind leg muscles were atrophied from abuse and lack of exercise. We know that he’s going to be 13 on Halloween (found on one of the Ridgeback sites), which means that we don’t know if he’s going to fully recover, or how long he’s going to be around.
I visited him yesterday at Kathy’s house and surprised he and his three new Ridgeback brothers with a few treats and nutritional snacks. He gets better by the day. Kathy and her husband Chris are great people with a big hearts and 1/2 acre of doggy heaven. Neiman, who they’re trying to rename, is a sweet dog who is just so happy that someone’s being nice to him and feeding him regularly.
Hard to believe that the world is a good place when there are people who would abuse defenseless animals. But I guess it’s balanced by people like Kathy and Chris who rescue the abused. William has been reported, and I’m sure there’s a special place in hell for him.
The best thing that came out of this is that I have new friends and dogs to visit.
