The day before we were to leave on vacation last week I was talking with CCHS Shelter Manager Michelle McKnight about some last-minute details. Our original intention was to take a few weeks off fostering after our vacation to allow some time for work to be done on the house. But before I could tell Michelle about our plans she threw me off when she casually said, “Oh, by the way, I have your next foster dog already here. A puppy that’s been pretty badly injured. She needs medical attention, but will be ready when you get back.” What could I say to that?
Ingrid was relinquished to the Champaign County Humane Society by her “owner.” I use that term loosely. He’s what’s called a “dog flipper,” a person who scours newspaper and craigslist classifieds looking for ads from people who want to get rid of their dogs. Like a person who buys a fixer-upper house or run down car, a dog flipper will get the dog for free or low price and then turn around and sell it on craigslist for a profit. In the mean time, the dogs live in squalid conditions with no care.
Dog flippers are popping up all over the place. Some claim to be rescues, rescue transporters, or other humane workers so they can get the dogs free. Here a story about another flipper in Michigan.
As I understand it, our county Animal Control (AC) department as well as CCHS had been watching this guy’s activities on craigslist. They finally found out where he was located and went to pay him a visit. What they found sounded pretty horrible -- eight dogs were living in a tiny, filthy apartment. All intact. Five-week old Ingrid, who weighed all of 4 pounds, had been mauled by a nasty Pomeranian, supposedly in a fight over food. Both of her eyes were swollen shut and a golf ball size abscess was over her right eye. The flipper’s story was that Ingrid had been injured 2 or 3 days before CCHS and AC showed up, but he hadn’t done anything for her wounds. His story changed a few times, though, so who knows for how long she had been injured. He relinquished her to Michelle along with three other dogs.
The day after we got back from vacation we got a call from Ingrid’s foster mom who told Harriett Ingrid was ready for us. She been taking Ingrid to work so she could apply hot packs to her face a few times each day and generally keep an eye on her. A local vet had successfully treated the abscess, but the prognosis for Ingrid’s left eye is grim. There will be a checkup next week to decide what to do, but it’s looking like Ingrid’s going to lose her left eye because it is too badly damaged.
Ingrid is a delightful little puppy. She’s friendly and very playful. Gertie’s back with us and has reverted to “mommy mode.” She alternates between trying to take care of Ingrid and playing with her. Sidney and Ingrid have had a few nice plays as well. Ingrid’s crate trained and her housebreaking is progressing nicely.
We’ll have Ingrid until the issue of her left eye is resolved. We’ll know for sure next week, but for now the assumption is that she will need surgery to remove her eye. Once that’s out of the way Ingrid will be available for adoption through the Champaign County Humane Society. Inquiries about Ingrid should be directed to either the adoption staff or Michelle at CCHS.
She is just darling--with one eye or two! Any idea what breed/mix she is or what size dog she'll likely be? Awful story about the flipping. I had no idea that sort of thing even existed!
ReplyDeleteWe're guessing she's going to be small, maybe 25-30 lbs. She's the same weight as Gertie's pup Barbara was at the same age. As far as breed, we'll go with Beagle/Lab as a guess.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of flipping either. What a horrible practice. Little Ingrid is in good hands now. Will we get to see her on the cam?
ReplyDeleteWow, that's horrible. I never realized how common this was. I read the pets post on CL all the time, and always see lots of flagging but never quite understood why. Thank you for sharing this. I will make sure to educate people about "dog flipping" at my organization's events.
ReplyDeletePS: Loved the lecture you gave in Dr. Fischer's class a few weeks ago.
Anon... We may have her on the cam on Friday evening, but we won't have her on every night. I will tweet when we set a date/time.
ReplyDeleteGustavo...Not many people know about dog flipping and don't understand why it's never a good idea to give a dog "free to a good home". The dogs are not treated well and are sold into sometimes terrible conditions. There were also people in this area who would take free or low cost dogs and sell them for medical experiments or product testing. I hope you'll be able to pass the word about this practice. We're glad you enjoyed our talk. We like speaking to Amy's classes.
I also hear that FTGH dogs and cats are used by people in the dog fighting industry as bait. Simply monsterous.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I didn't know about your plans to be foster-less when you got back from vacation. That being said, I'm glad you and Harriett have Ingrid:) She deserves nothing but the best!
ReplyDelete