UPDATE 2/9/03 on the Montana Collies

Statement by AWCA President Jean Levitt

*Permission to crosspost*

Jean Be Back – Part I

By Jean Levitt

Standing at my front door, with luggage already in the car, I held Sir Austin’s inquiring face in my hand, made direct eye contact, and with a terrible tightness in my throat, said, “Jean be back.”  He maintained eye contact a moment longer, understood he wasn’t going on this trip either, then lowered his beautiful blue merle collie head, and stepped back one pace.  It was only the second time in our 7½ year service dog partnership that we were going to be apart.  I was off alone to Shelby, MT, again, just like in December.  Now it was January 20, 2003, my 63^rd birthday, and I was flying back up, this time to attend the trial of the State of Montana versus Athena Lethcoe-Harman and Jon Harman, the owners of the 188 animals in the care and custody of the Toole County Sheriff’s Office.  Only a collie rescue mission of this magnitude would separate me from my beloved service dog, Ch. Markos Aatuk Blue Austin.  (Because of the irrelevance to cruelty charges but never-the-less prominence of collie eye anomaly to this case, I will also tell you Austin is normal-eyed, sired by a champion normal-eyed noncarrier, and Austin is the sire of normal-eyed offspring.  In no way is he related to the Valiant collies.  There are many wonderful normal-eyed collies in the world, unrelated to the Harman collies.)

Austin and I have traveled throughout the world together in the cabin of planes to Africa, Europe, all over America, as citizen ambassadors for the Assistance Dog community.  He is always by my right side, balancing me, carrying our things in his backpack, or pulling them in his cart.  He has helped me up off the pavement in the middle of a busy intersection in the center of New York City, and he has pressed me against a granite wall with his body when I have lost control of the left side of my body, the frustrating, embarrassing result of injuries received in a car crash many years ago.  Austin doesn’t understand why I leave him to go to Montana.  He doesn’t understand he can’t go, because the 173 Valiant collies, 6 dogs of other breeds, and the 10 cats were infested with Giardia, hookworm, and other internal parasites when they were rescued from that terrible truck, and some are still infested.  He doesn’t understand the animals are still under quarantine, and his health would be jeopardized by going with me.  He does understand I’m leaving him for the second time, in the care of our housekeeper and my husband.

Although arrangements have been made for the airlines to assist me, and for a friend to meet me at the airport in Great Falls, MT, to help me throughout our stay, I feel a terrific loss of independence...I HATE that...but I deal with it for the sake of the Shelby, Montana, collies.

To be continued...

Calmly,

Jean Levitt, President AWCA

Lisa King, AWCA Director AWCA Rescue

Officers and Members of AWCA

If you would like to assist AWCA with this rescue effort, you may send a check to:

                                                Bethany Burke

                                                AWCA Treasurer

                                                2807 Lee Trevino Court

                                                Shalimar, FL 32579

Make the check out to AWCA and in the memo area note:  collie rescue-medical, collie rescue-stainless steel, or collie rescue-general.