Music for Truly

When Truly, a six-month-old mix breed dog, was located, abandoned in a Corning home, she was literally starving to death, her skin was riddled with sores and her hair was falling out.

Truly's horrendous condition was the result of a divorce, according to Debbie Eaglebarger, Corning Animal Shelter caretaker and director of Second Chance Pet Rescue.

"I received a phone call Sunday night from the wife who said she had not been at the house for a while because she supposedly was ordered not to go to the house," Eaglebarger said. "The woman said she knew her husband was gone and so she went to the house to retrieve some items."

According to Eaglebarger, the woman claims when she got to the house she found the dog inside with no food or water and starving.

"I told her to immediately call the police to get the dog taken care of," said Eaglebarger. "She didn't call until the next day and the dog didn't come to the shelter until the following evening."

Truly's abuse has been opened as an animal neglect case by the Corning Police Department.

"I have about 40 pictures that were taken the evening she came in. Her condition was beyond simple neglect, it was terrible abuse. We took her to the vet the next day," Eaglebarger commented.

Because of her extremely poor condition, Truly has been placed on a special diet of pumpkin, rice, ground turkey, and cottage cheese which she gets every couple hours.

Eaglebarger said Truly has to be put on this diet so her system won't be shocked with commercial dog food.

The cost to Second Chance Pet Rescue to pay for this diet is about $120 a week.

"She will need to be on this diet for at least two weeks and we'll gradually wean her over to regular dog food when her system can take it," Eaglebarger explained.

Truly has also been confirmed to have demodex, a debilitating skin condition, but the extreme loss of hair has not happened overnight or even over a couple weeks, according to Eaglebarger.

"The emaciation is the same. This has been ongoing starvation and lack of medical attention to treat the demodex for at least a month or two in my opinion," she said.

During a visit to see Truly by the Observer, the pup was so hungry she was constantly rummaging through garbage cans looking for food, the whole time with a wagging tail and quick stops to say hi to Eaglebarger and the Observer reporter.

"She is literally starving," Eaglebarger emphasized.

Another dog Eaglebarger has rescued from an abusive situation is Stanley, a young Foxhound/Border Collie mix.

"Dogs come into the shelter with collars, some come in with no collars. Some come in with chains," said Eaglebarger. "We weren't prepared for what we saw around Stanley's neck."

Stanley, a medium sized dog of about 40 pounds, came to the shelter with a heavy logging chain doubled and padlocked around his neck.

"It made us cry to see this small dog, head bowed down due to the weight around his neck. And yet he still had a wagging tail," Eaglebarger stated.

While a visit to the veterinarian showed no ill effects caused by the chain, it has now been placed on the shelters "wall of shame" along with the myriad of other chains and abusive items dogs have come to the shelter with.

She said fortunately for Stanley, he has not been claimed by his owner and has since been neutered and is waiting for a new loving home.

Both Stanley and Truly (as soon as her health permits), along with all of the other dogs at the Corning Animal Shelter are in need of kind and living forever homes.

For more information call Eaglebarger at 824-7054 or go online at www.second-chance-pets.org.