Pup travels to South Carolina for canine therapy
The overly anxious boxer puppy was an unadoptable mess of a dog.
Beautiful on the outside, the 5-month-old called Sophia was an emotional wreck.
East Tennessee Boxer Rescue earlier this month took in the dog. Amanda Asbury, ETBR’s director and founder, soon discovered the reverse brindle pup suffered the worst case of anxiety she’s seen.
Sophia yelped and urinated at a human’s touch when Asbury met her. Terrified of being confined and alone, the 30-pound dog cried endlessly, uncontrollably, in a crate. Not housebroken, Sophia urinated and defecated in her crate.
The young dog needed help beyond what love, patience and standard dog training could offer. That help arrived last week.
Scott and Jackie Evans of Bluffton, S.C., on Dec. 16 flew their single-engine airplane to Knoxville’s Island Home Airport. They picked up Sophia and took her to South Carolina. There, they’ll pay a dog trainer/behaviorist to rid the boxer of her problems.
When training is complete, Sophia will come home to Knoxville and ETBR will find her a forever home.
A RESCUE, A PROBLEM
How an East Tennessee pup found a South Carolina benefactor is a testimony to social media and a tribute to people who love and rescue animals.
It began with ETBR. Asbury learned of “this adorable little puppy” neither the owners nor breeder wanted. She took the dog into the ER rescue.
But soon after, Asbury noticed “some things weren’t exactly normal.” Something, she said, traumatized the dog and caused it to be severely anxious.
Sophia suffered the worst crate and separation anxiety her rescuer had seen. Digging in a bag she picked up with the dog, Asbury found anti-anxiety pills.
“For the first 48 hours, you couldn’t pet her,” Asbury said. “She would just scream, she would yelp, she would hunker down” and urinate. She was terrified of and cried in the crate. “That just really kind of broke my heart.”
HELP FROM A STRANGER
Asbury posted Sophia’s photo and story on the ETBR Facebook page. That’s how Jackie Evans, a volunteer with Hampstead, N.C., Carolina Boxer Rescue, learned of the dog.
Evans, who owns three boxers, sent ETBR a private Facebook message offering to help. Sophia, she wrote, needed to see a dog behaviorist, and she’d pay for it. That message led to conversations between Asbury and Evans about how to help the pup.
Evans offered to bring Sophia to South Carolina to work with dog behaviorist/ trainer Craig Simpson. Simpson had helped dogs Evans owns and has fostered; she believed he could do the same for Sophia.
To get Sophia’s help, Evans and her pilot husband Scott would fly their single-engine plane to Island Home Airport.
“I was like, ‘What? A stranger wants to fly here and fly my dog back and pay for training and bring her back here?’” Asbury said. “This is a little Christmas miracle.”
AIR PAW-TROL
It didn’t have to be Christmas time for Evans to make the offer. She’d have done so any other month.
She’s fostered for Carolina Boxer Rescue since 2010. Since 2011, when Scott Evans and a friend bought the Beechcraft Bonanza 36, the Evans have flown rescued canines to fosters or forever homes. On their trip to get Sophia, they also took two boxers from Spartanburg, S.C., to Richmond, Va.
When the plane came for her, Sophia was ready. In the few days she’d been with Asbury, she already improved some. But it’s a long progress, Asbury said, and the behavior training is a must.
FUN FLIGHT, OPTIMISTIC FUTURE
Since being crated crazed Sophia, Jackie Evans let the boxer sit by her. It was the first time she hadn’t crated a dog for flight. But Sophia seemed to enjoy the trip that, with stops, took eight hours.
“She was totally calm. I was petting her and talking to her. We really bonded. I think she learned to trust me,” Evans said.
Earlier this week, Evans took Sophia to start her training.
“I am just looking forward to seeing her progress,” Asbury said. “Any time you can watch a dog become healthy physically and emotionally, that’s what makes me happy.”