Ingrid - Almost Two Years Later

We love hearing about our foster alumni. Tonight Emily, the person who adopted Ingrid, one of our foster pups, sent us a picture that really made my day. The picture on the left above shows Ingrid when we got her in April 2010. The photo on the right shows her a couple of days ago. She looks fantastic!

You can read Ingrid’s story by searching this blog, but here’s how it started:

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.

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.

Though damaged, Ingrid was able to keep her eye and was adopted by a great family who could see past her wounds. It’s great to see how Ingrid turned out. Thank you to Emily and her family for giving Ingrid a chance.