I was away for 9 mo's and my off and on boyfriend took care of my 4 yr old
female mini schnauzer, along with his brother. When I get back he is
unwilling to give back my dog. Arrangements are made for a specific pick up
date to be accompanied with 2 "civil stand-by" officers to insure the peace.
Two weeks prior to the "re-union" date, I receive a phone call at midnight
from the Animal Hospital..and the story goes like this;
When the 911 civil standby police were at J's with me.I had agreed during
the first 911 cop encounter, to pay J for the vet expense he'd covered while
I
was in WRA as she had to have some teeth pulled.
I called the vet hospital to
have a copy of all charges for the past 9 mos sent to me so I could pay J
back. They agreed to send it to me and at the same time I updated my new
phone
number and address for the record.
.....only 10 hrs later, at midnight, my phone rang and the message woke me
and
as I sleepily listened to a kind female voice saying...I called to give you
an
update on Charm, she is completely anesthetized and will be through the
night
as it 'is the only way we could control her severe convulsions, tremors and
seizures. We will try to take her off of the anesthetic around 8 am and if
the
seizures return, it's a clear sign of major brain damage. I FLEW OUT OF BED,
as you can imagine, and called the hospital back, asking what was happening.
They asked me who I was and I said I was the owner, I'd been away, J and bro
took care of my dog and then refused to give her back. He was
violent with me and I had to call the police and then again have civil
standby
come when I moved my things out of his storage room. What was going on? I
asked.
She said that a man had brought her in 3 hrs prior in critical seizures and
convulsions. Tthey pumped her stomach and found tons of snail bait, knocking
her out was the only way they could control her convulsions and seizures.
Then
she told me about the plan for the next morning and see what her little body
did, watching for all the signs of major brain damage.
I couldn't sleep and called every 2 hrs for an update, Charm was the same as
they were controlling her life right now.
I was catching a bus to go to the animal hospital, as I can't .
On the bus trip the vet called me and told me that
the man who brought her in was going to be at the vets also. I thanked them
and then called for civil standby, to meet me there. Police arrived
and they listened to my story as to why I needed them and we were about a
block away from the hospital. J had been at he vet and when leaving, drove
past us, seeing me talking to 2 cops. The officers went to the vet with me,
we
talked with the vet, my story was again told and it was confirmed that J was
claiming Charm as HIS dog. The microchip was there but reading no numbers.
Then the vet asked me, in front of the officers, if the dog has ever been
licensed. I said yes but it was out of date as the renewal period was up
when
I was in WRA and a rabies vaccine was required for renewal and I'd not
gotten
the dog yet. She said that was enough proof of ownership, so I called SPCA
and
had them fax a copy of this record to the vet. The police heard this and
announced to the whole hospital staff that the dog was not to be seen by J
and
defiantly released to nobody but me. I finally felt heard, I felt
acknowledged as Charmie's owner. I'd agreed during the midnight call to
cover
all expense which then was $1200 and was told it could double. I said it
didn't matter.
I remained with Charm, she was brought off the anesthetic and was given a
strong muscle relaxer before hand to try to avoid any tremors that might
start
up. She didn't convulse, didn't tremor, didn't go into seizures. I was
hopeful
yet she was still knocked out with the muscle relaxer. She woke a bit, tried
to lift her head but slept all day long. Around 2 pm, I grew weary and went
outside for a break. During this very very time frame of 15 min's break, J
came to see her. The girl at the desk didn't see the NO VISITORS notice on
her
file and she was the one who admitted the dog the previous night, so she let
J
go back and see Charm. Because everyone knew the police were in on this
case,
the vet's office called the police immediately. Yippee!. The police knew
clearly by now the dog was mine and they went into the back to talk to J,
who
was still claiming the dog as his. The police finally said to J "either you
tell us right now that the dog is hers or we're taking a ride to jail".
Music
to my ears. J left, I returned to harm's bedside.
The next morning I rode the bus back to the animal hospital and there was
Charm,
standing up, in a full size single dog kennel and she acknowledged my voice
and presence when I approached. She wobbled to the chain link kennel door
and
leaned her precious little head against it so I could rub & scratch and she
moaned as if she was telling me her big tale. I cried with joy, sorrow and
pain. I opened he kennel door and went in, sitting right on the floor,
picked
her up with all the tubes still connected to her little body and put her on
my
lap. She moaned with pleasure to be in my arms and I back to her. I told her
I'd never leave her again and how much I loved my little baby girl. She
slept
in my lap.
She had been fed and didn't throw it up, she drank some water and with every
hour passing, someone would open the kennel and remove a tube until finally
all were disconnected from her. I asked if we could go outside and "widdle"
and it was permitted. Charm and I went outside, did some business, looked
around and I was pleased that she was aware of passing cars, noises, my
voice,
all of these signs indicated no brain damage. They told me that lack of
awareness would be the indicators of damage. That afternoon, WE were
released,
paying the bill ($2400+) and calling for a friend to come pick me and my dog
up to take us home.
Charm was glad to be back with me and my pampering babying ways with her,
she
slept a lot for two days and then, she brought her little tennis ball and
tossed it to me. Did I melt? Would you melt?
She is fully recovered now, playing ball and Frisbee all she can.