UPDATE 3/16/03 on the Montana Collies

Statement by AWCA President Jean Levitt

*Permission to crosspost*

Medical. AWCA has sent checks this month for $4,435.79 in medical bills for the Montana collies. We thank Dr. Manzer and Dr. Clark for the many services they donate. We also paid medical expenses for collies-in-need in Texas, and Louisiana from our basic rescue fund, which is for collies everywhere. We thank you all for your trust in AWCA, and the generosity you have exhibited by helping us to provide for these animals.

Volunteers. Volunteers at Camp Collie asked me to express their thanks to you all for supporting this rescue in so many wonderful ways. In rescue, it always seems that as we are thanking THEM, they are thanking US. Engineer, Debi Pace, your author for today, told me: “When you’re there, and cold, and exhausted, and worried, and 150 dogs are barking at you, and they need to be fed, and watered, and cleaned, and walked, it helps SO MUCH to know you all are out there, and we aren’t alone.”

Shelby Guest Book. If you haven’t already done so, perhaps you would like to express your thanks and support for the volunteers in the Shelby Guest Book. Go to http://www.shelbymt.com/ scroll down the page and click on “Sign Shelby Guest Book.”

BC
By Debi Pace

The first time I saw BC was in early November and I had been at Camp Collie for all of 5 minutes. Not sure what to do and looking lost, a volunteer handed his leash to me and asked if I would take him. BC was a filthy, ragged dog, cowering and very scared. The note on his pen said, “BITE CASE CAUTION.” (That’s how he got his name at Camp Collie, Bite Case or more likely, Basket Case.) My heart broke for him. I knew that whatever caused him to bite was not meanness, it was fear. His eyes were full of fear and distrust. After talking with him and trying to coax him, I put him back in his pen and went to walk another dog. But he and other dogs like him stayed on my mind long after I left that day. I knew I had to keep coming back to help with the animals. To turn my back on them was not a choice.

Over the weeks I would try to spend some time with BC and the other dogs that were distrustful of people. But at one point in my weekend visits to Camp Collie, I started to ignore him, figuring he was a lost cause and there was nothing I could do to help. There were so many other dogs that were responding to the kindness and love of the volunteers and so much work to do, that I could rationalize not trying with him. But my inner voice wouldn’t shut up and let me forget about him.
No one would walk him; he was too frantic at the end of the leash. But I did see people trying to spend time with him in his pen, petting him and trying to gain his trust. BC got as far away as possible from them and just trembled in his pen, hoping they would go away and leave him alone. But no one did leave him alone. I remember the first day we got him to the outside runs. After getting the leash off, he raced down the pen doing something completely foreign to him, he was having fun. BC ran, jumped and played with the other collie in the run, wagging his tail and rejoicing in just how wonderful it was to be a dog. The transformation was amazing! I vowed to get him out in the runs as much as possible.

During the months of December and January the wonderful ladies that were in Shelby to bathe and groom the dogs and cats transformed the many filthy, matted animals into the gleaming, proud creatures they were meant to be. I watched each week to see if BC had been groomed and was saddened to see that he had not. I knew the ladies would be gone soon and wondered if they would be willing to take a chance on him. He was a handful and I figured they did not want to stress him out even more than he already was. So it was a surprise to me when they asked me if I would stay with him while he got groomed. I was so touched to be asked and looked forward to spending some time with BC.

He did great!! After some initial apprehension, he seemed to understand that we were trying to help him so he relaxed and gave us his trust. The bathing, drying and brushing process was long since his coat was in such bad shape, but he tolerated it better than any of us would have imagined. Unfortunately the coat on his belly was too matted to brush. Clipping was the only way to remove the mats. We were all concerned about how he would respond to the noise and vibration of the clippers. Well he astounded us by not only allowing his matted coat to be clipped, he fell asleep in my arms as I held him. Every few minutes he would raise his head, look around peacefully, and then close his eyes as if to say, “Let me know when you’re done, I’m trying to catch some ZZZZZZ’s.” It still brings tears to my eyes when I realize the enormous leap of faith BC had to take to do this. I’ve always known dogs were amazing, forgiving creatures, but BC really reinforced this lesson with me.

Since that weekend, he has continued to make great progress. I and many other volunteers have a special place in our hearts for this dog, and try to spend time with him. When we go up to his pen, instead of cowering, he comes to the front and sniffs. I’ve even seen his tail wag. And the heartbreaking look of fear is gone from his eyes. A few weeks ago he started licking my hand. It could have been the remnants of the peanut butter sandwich I had for lunch, but I like to think he was telling me we were friends.
BC has taught me so much about trust. I know that if I had been through what he has been through, trust would not be an option. I tend to lose trust in people for a lot less. So maybe the lesson I’ve learned from BC is to give people that unintentionally or even intentionally hurt me a second chance.

We will all continue to work with him and the other dogs that need special time and extra TLC. I know it works; BC is the proof of that.

P.S. Oh yeah! BC now stands for Beautiful Collie!!!

Debi, you are not alone.

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.