Sally - a dog of miracles

by Michelle Minaar

A year ago we were praying for an adult female dog that we could get as a companion for our hyperactive male German Shepherd, Zake.  Sally was found frightened, wet and cold in a residential complex.  She was running around in all directions and looked very confused – no-one could catch her.  The SPCA was closed (it was a Saturday night) so somebody called the police.  They chased her around and around the complex for over an hour scaring her almost to death.  They eventually gave up.  A lady named Joan was watching this whole episode and her heart went out to the little dog.  She tried to coax her in, but the dog just ran away.  The next morning Joan found her shivering at the complex gate, frozen stiff.  She had been lying in the pouring winter Cape Town rain in one of the worst winters ALL NIGHT.  The poor little thing was so tired and cold that when Joan went up to her she didn't try to run away.  Joan managed to get her onto the backseat of the car.  She took her back to her house in the complex and tried to get her out the car - but she wouldn't budge.  Joan bought her food and water and let her stay in the car the whole day, free to come and go as she pleased.  At the end of the day the dog trusted her enough to follow her inside the house.  Joan fed her and gave her a warm place to sleep.

Joan went on a mission to try and find the dog's owners.  She noticed the dog had stitches in from what looked like a sterilisation.  She went to all the vets in the area asking if they had recently performed a sterilisation on a dog that matched Sally's description. All the vets knew nothing of her, besides, they all used a different colour thread to stitch up after operations - which meant that Sally had come from a completely different area.  Joan put up notices and alerted the animal welfare and SPCA - and waited.

Sally tried to escape the first couple of days and pulled down Joan's blinds and dug huge holes at the walls of the garden.  Eventually she learnt to trust Joan and she let her stroke her and she started to wag her tail a little bit.  Joan kept her for 5 weeks and nobody responded to the search for her owners. Joan couldn't keep her because she stayed in a small complex, so she brought Sally to dog training to find out if anybody wanted her.  I "happened" to be there that day with Zake.  When I saw Sally I knew she was the dog we had been praying for.

Sally was extremely nervous and was petrified of all the dogs and people at the school.  She cowered behind Joan and had her ears tight against her head.  She seemed to be afraid of everything around her. 

Joan brought Sally to me the next day.   

Although the 2 dogs got on fine, she still did not want to interact with myself or Zake, and she was petrified of Pieter (my husband).  She ducked whenever he came near her.  We think she must have been abused by a man in the past, because she had an irrational fear of all men.  She used to hide by her bed all day and only came out for food. After about 3 days she started coming to me when I called her and she played a bit with Zake (between lots of growls from her side).  She was scared of any fast movements and loud noises.  Gradually she built up confidence and within a month she was happy with Zake and played a lot with him.  She also started sleeping with him at night.  She fell in love with me and followed me everywhere. 

After about 2 months I started taking her to puppy school to socialise with other dogs and do a bit of training.  She loved the training part, but really didn't care much for the dogs!

We loved and prayed her to the dog she is today...this is how she is now: She adores my husband and any other man who glances her way.  She runs with joy and excitement to puppy school and greets all the people with a big tongue-wagging smile.  Her tail spins so fast you can hardly see it.  She still doesn't get on with all the dogs, but has her few selected friends she just adores.  She is completely in love with Zake and they do everything together.  They play together, sleep together and eat together.  They are like soulmates.  She loves to sleep between me and my husband on our bed when she can and she is overall just a very happy dog.

She is much more confident in herself. She loves people and loves going out.  Her tail wags with every step she takes and when I see the change in her I see a miracle. It is amazing how far a little love and prayer will go.

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