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Name traits: Joshua is described as a handsome man, who is shy, smart, dependable, and religious.
Little Joshua came into this world a fat, happy, trusting Golden Retriever puppy. But faith and trust can sometimes be misplaced and things don't always turn out as we expect.
Joshua was adopted by a couple who at the time thought they wanted a
puppy. For some reason things just didn't go right for Joshua and
his new owners didn't care for him as proper owners should
with love, affection, and kindness.
Lil' Joshua - new bandage at Midway A.H.
At five months of age this puppy suffered abuse beyond our imagination. We don't know why or how this could happen.
That Tuesday night, January 31st, 2006, Joshua (as we named him) came to us as a badly emaciated and broken puppy - but we soon saw his spirit could not be dimmed!
When Joshua arrived he only weighed 20 pounds (at 5 months he should have been 45-50 pounds).
He had 11 broken bones in total. Those included both his femoral heads - fractured in half, numerous ribs, and both of his rear legs.
Bandage off his right rear limb
After his owners had broken both of his rear legs they then applied an Ace bandage to the right rear leg. That bandage was too tight and after cutting the circulation off for an extended period of time, the right rear leg could not be saved and needed to be amputated.
That Friday (3 days after arriving into rescue) we had his right rear leg amputated at Midway Animal Hospital.
Radiograph taken at Midway Animal Hospital when Joshua arrived into rescue.
The following Wednesday he went to Affiliated Veterinary Specialists in Maitland, FL, for surgery on his left hip. The fracture could not be repaired so a surgery called an FHO (femoral head and neck ostectomy) was done. This surgery involves cutting off the femoral head (so you don't have bone rubbing against bone causing pain and arthritis). Afterwards the limb is then supported by only muscles and ligaments.
This poor boy didn't have a good rear leg to "stand on"......even with all these surgeries happening within one week's time frame his little Golden heart just kept shining through.
Joshua was a fighter - he wasn't willing to give up so how could we????
After surgery at AVS
Immediately after surgery at AVS resting in the kennel run.
Joshua continued to gain weight and get stronger.
Post-op rehabilitation at AVS
While at AVS he had post-op rehabilitation (massage, icing, passive range of motion, assisted sling walking, and standing).
Post-op icing at AVS.
Joshua really enjoyed his post-op rehab. He relished in the attention, kind human touches, and the TOYS (yes, his golden puppy-ness was coming out <G>), oh, and staring at himself in the mirror!
Rehabilitation at home.
Once his sutures were out it was very important to build up the strength and muscle in his remaining rear limb.
Joshua then went back to AVS for a few good workouts in the underwater treadmill and doing numerous land exercises.
However, since he was being fostered with Ellen (who lives 2.5+ hrs away from AVS), it was agreed upon that swimming at home would do the job well!
So swimming and more swimming was done.................
It was very important for the next few weeks for Joshua to be walked at all times assisted by his sling - to protect that one remaining limb.
He truly loved being outside with Ellen's other dogs, not understanding, of course, why he couldn't run and play with them - so chewing up leaves was a favorite past time.
Two months after surgery!
After almost 3 months of caring for this poor emaciated, abused puppy, through numerous surgeries, helping him gain weight, confidence building, and so much more, he had worked his way permanently into Ellen and her husband John's heart and home. So Joshua's forever home remained with the Pavliks.
While he was out with Ellen field training her other Golden Retrievers for competition, Joshua got to do water retrieves - remember SWIMMING, SWIMMING and more SWIMMING <VBG>.
Little did she ever expect that the "Primarily a Hunting Dog" part of the Golden Retriever breed standard would show up in this little rescued guy! Boy did he LOVE his birds!
Happy ending for Joshua, but not so for many others........
Joshua endured suffering beyond our wildest imagination. People that abuse animals should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Abusing animals is being proven to potentially be the stepping stone for a person to eventually turn their anger on another person.
We all need to stand up for the rights of the "Joshuas" around the world. They can not stand up and defend themselves.
****** APRIL IS ANIMAL ABUSE AWARENESS MONTH******
Let's all do whatever we can do to help the ones that can not help themselves! Get involved!
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