JUSTICE'S STORY

Justice came to DAR&E thru a MD Animal shelter in Sept 2001. He had been picked up as a stray, with what we were told was a gunshot wound thru the left front leg - there was an entrance and an exit wound but he seemed fine, just held the leg up. When DAR&E picked him up, we took him straight to Aldie Vet in South Riding, VA for x-rays. It was actually a typical hit by car broken leg - both bones were broken. Dr Luce told us he needed surgery to repair the leg quickly, as he had already been in the shelter for 5 days. Dr Langenbach of Dulles Care Group performed the surgery the next day, repairing his broken leg with a plate. Dr Langenbach called after the surgery and asked if we were sure he didn't have an owner, as he was such a nice dog. She said that the injury was likely 10 days or so old, as it had really started to mesh itself together at that point.

At this time, we didn't have a foster for him and Asia, my DAR&E girl, was having some health issues at that point. I had taken her in to Aldie the day after Justice's surgery was done. At this point, his name was Broken Leg Boy J I remember walking in to Aldie to get Asia and hearing this very humorous, woeful moaning and groaning coming from the back. I said to the girls at the front desk "Please tell me that's not our Dobe doing all of that" and they laughed and said oh yes, it was. I went to the back to get Asia and saw Justice lying in a crate, head flat on the floor of the crate, sighing and moaning and sounding bored or miserable, it was hard to say which. I tapped the front of the crate and told him to knock it off, and he just looked at me like "Who are you?". I had to laugh at him and told them that I could certainly deal with gimpy boy since Asia was gimpy too and he would have to be crated and leash walked for 8 weeks - I knew I'd hate to tie up another foster home with a dog that couldn't be adopted till the rehab was done and he could be neutered. I told the staff at Aldie that I'd get him the next day.

They had bandaged his leg (since it was plated, it didn't need a cast, but the incision did need to be covered) and since it was the week of the Sept 11th attacks, they had vet wrapped it in red, white and blue stripes with stars also cut from vet wrap and appliquéd onto it. We named him Justice as we wanted something patriotic. We had to return several times for bandage changes and x-rays to make sure everything was healing properly.

He had this huge head and we laughed about it …till he grew into it and we realized that he wasn't 18 months, as everyone had guessed at the outset, but probably not even a year old. I don't generally like puppies - give me a 3 or 4 yr old any day, but he has never been destructive or had an accident in the house - he loves everybody and everything but he did need training. We guessed that his leg had been broken because he was a bolter - any chance he got, he'd bolt out the front door or the gate. He just wanted to go out and say hello to everyone, but I could understand that if people hadn't worked with him, that habit would have been a big issue and would have gotten worse. Now he waits at the door to go out and has learned a few other manners, as well. This is a typical reason that people get rid of Dobermans - if they're not occupied, exercised, or trained, they will do things that drive their owners to frustration.

So after 8 weeks with us, I talked my husband into keeping him. When Asia was sick, had her leg amputated that Christmas, he made me laugh. He is a big clown - will try and convince everyone that he never has any fun and is bored to death. He has playgroup at his house, he goes to class, he goes for long walks and accompanies me on home visits, but he's still bored J My husband said he wasn't very nudgy or Doberman-ish when we got him but I think no one had really worked with him, spent time with him, or trained him and he has certainly become the epitome of a Doberman now!

Thanks, DAR&E, for rescuing this great guy!