RIP Goldie

** COURTESY POST FOR PAT THE DOGS - 

INTERNATIONAL THAI DOGS RESCUE **

[Please direct all adoption inquiries and questions to our dear friend, 

Patarin Phadungpisuth, at zhen.design@gmail.com. Thank you!]

I am Goldie.

I am a girl of many names, actually…and no name at all, once upon a time.

My story began where I was born, on the streets of Bangkok, Thailand. I was nameless then.

I lived and roamed near urban Lumpini Park. This was the neighborhood where I was born, and where my mother raised me - and then, where I stayed, eking out an existence by begging for scraps of leftover food, and perpetually hunting for puddles and fountains to quench my thirst in the heat of our scorching days.

My mother taught me life lessons the best she could about surviving as a street dog, and I really did try to be obedient and learn, but I was a happy pup, excited about this wonderful new world, and easily distracted.

I guess I didn't pay as much attention as I should have, because although I learned the basics about speeding traffic, I kind of missed the boat when it came to her warning that ALL vehicles were potentially dangerous.

By the time I was six months old - and long since on my own - my sensitive ears were already super-attuned to the whizzing and honking sounds that signified DANGER, but I didn't pay very much attention to the slow-moving dinosaur trucks that grunted around our area.

I wish I had known better, but hindsight is 20/20...and unfortunately I cannot turn back time. If I could, I would whiz the hands of a watch backwards to that horrible day four and a half months ago when I was snoozing in the midday sun of a hot day, trying to ignore my ever-present hunger and thirst pangs.

It was as good a way as any to while away the hours.

I guess somewhere in the back of my mind, I heard a faint beep…beep…beep that signified a dinosaur creeping around nearby, but it wasn't noisy enough to wake me from my heat-soaked slumber.

When the big ice truck backed up right over both of my rear legs, though…well, then, I did wake up. I woke up in a fit of agony - actually, I can hardly remember anything about that moment, or the tormented days that followed one upon the other afterwards. 

I was thankfully unconscious for portions of that time, as my body knew its only chance of survival was to shut me down. But in my conscious moments, I could not focus on anything but the excruciating torment of my two useless, crushed legs. 

When I finally regained a little strength, instinct informed me that I needed to find food and water - and quickly - or I would surely perish. My only means of mobility was to stagger up onto my two front legs and drag my crushed limbs behind me. Already covered in open wounds from the ice truck, I endured fresh agony as they dragged behind me over pavement and gravel.

Still - I am a survivor, and I wanted to live. If I gave into the pain, there would be no hope for a future for me - and I am an optimist, so onwards I dragged, somehow managing to procure enough staples to survive against all odds.

I had no human family to help me, and in my weakened state, I became the victim of other street dogs. Most thankfully ignored me...but some reacted quite badly to my helpless state, my frequent cries of pain, and my inability to escape with any speed whatsoever, so I was bitten badly time and again.

The community had witnessed my tragedy unfold, and the ongoing sad story that was my life now. Because I was so slow-moving, I often found myself in dangerous and compromising positions, such as partially in the street - and nearly the victim of another traffic accident. Additionally, they witnessed the way other dogs mistreated me badly, and were concerned that I had no recourse to escape. 

No one knew what to do with me. No one wanted me to be their very own dog, but they also did not want to watch me suffer and drag myself about, inevitably to end up dead some day in the very near future.

Well-meaning neighbors, who called me Thong-dang (which means "Bronze" in English), set up a rusty metal cage at the side of the road. It was very small, and I did not have the head room to properly stand up inside it, so my neck and back muscles ached from the half-mast position I was forced to hold if I didn't want to lie down constantly. 

Though a thin towel was laid on the bottom of the cage, it hurt my bloody and dragged limbs to sit all day upon those hard metal bars. 

A compassionate person draped a towel partially on top of my cage, which gave me minimal shelter from the sun and recent torrential rains and flooding - but for much of most days, I still suffered from the elements.

People tried to stop by once a day to bring me food or fresh water, but I was at the mercy of humans' memories and time constraints, and I lost weight and muscle mass rapidly as I languished uselessly inside my four cramped walls.

I was a prisoner inside this claustrophobic cell for FOUR LONG MONTHS. 

120 days - and day after day, each 24-hour cycle seemed to last longer than the last one. 

My own waste products had nowhere to go but on my thin towel, or the ground just below me. I am a clean girl, and it was devastating for me to have to live in my own filth for all this time - though I tried my best to do my business as many inches away from my body as possible within my caged constraints. 

I had no medication for my open, insect-attacked wounds or for my pain. Worst of all, I began to lose my ability to move at all, since I had no room to inch over more than a foot or two in any direction inside my prison cell.

A concerned local spotted me and called Patarin Phadungpisuth, who immediately investigated. She was horrified at my state, and arranged for me to be transferred to a local veterinary clinic.

I have been here for over a week, and I wake up each morning in awe at my changed surroundings. I am in a large, well-padded, clean crate. 

Kind doctors and assistants tend to my every need, and take me out often so that I can exercise my atrophied muscles and get moving again. I receive pets and gentle belly rubs, and I am held, carried, and loved whenever possible. 

Measurements are being made so that I can get my very own set of wheels and begin really moving again, unlike the slow drag that I have re-taught myself to do here in this wonderful place. Although…even without a wheelchair…I have made up for lost time in a hurry, and can scoot myself around quite admirably just by pulling my body with my powerful two front legs, which are regaining muscle mass every day, thanks to exercise and proper, regular nutrition. 

So just think of how fast I will whiz when I get my wheels!! I could tap-dance just to dream about it!

I am no longer "Thong-Dang" or "Bronze", because the community in Thailand and abroad who are banding together to help me agree that that name should be left behind, along with my terrible past. 

They wanted me to have a fresh, new start in life. And they all agree that I am a true champion - not a bronze, and not a silver. I am a Gold - Goldie.

Thank you for reading my story, and for considering sharing it. Maybe your share - or a share of your share - will cross paths with that very special someone, somewhere out there, who will look into my eyes and decide that we are destined to be together.

I am so happy to be safe from danger now, and out of my rusty, claustrophobic imprisonment, but I hope it's not too much to dream for something even more wonderful than that - to dream of a home and a special human or family to call my very own. (I told you I was an optimist!)

If I didn't dare to dream, I never would have made it this far. Please help me make my dreams come true…please share me far and wide.

Thank you with all my heart.

Love, Goldie

* * * * *

Goldie is a small-to-medium sized dog, weighing approximately 12 kgs (26 lbs). She is a female, spayed, vetted and vaccinated. She is approximately 10 to 11 months old.

Goldie can use her two front legs to drag herself, but her muscles have atrophied from four-plus months in a small cage at the side of a road. They are being built up again with regular physical activity at the vet clinic where she is currently staying to recuperate.

She can urinate and defecate without assistance. Both hind legs, however, are fully nonfunctional from her accident, plus her subsequent extended confinement. 

She will benefit from the use of a wheelchair in future, as well as a drag bag for when she is mobile inside her home and garden without the chair (to prevent developing sores on her hind limbs). 

** THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts to Patarin's friend, Onanong Kwan Pilun-owad, who donated 5,000 Thai baht to have a wheelchair built for Goldie! Overwhelmed and so very grateful...khob khun! **

** THANK YOU to Angus DMT Survivor, a Facebook page dedicated to helping dogs in dire need around the world, who have generously offered to raise funds for Goldie by means of a Facebook charity auction that will run from November 10 - 24. Please consider bidding to help her, or donating new and gently-used items to the auction. Thank you! **

Goldie needs a loving home with understanding humans who can offer her the assistance she requires to live a full life. She is dreaming of a forever home, via either domestic adoption, or a home overseas - and Patarin and other global supporters of Goldie feel that funds can be raised to help offset some of her travel costs if the perfect place is found for her.

Goldie is a little nervous around other dogs because she was the victim of aggression after she was hemi-paralyzed. She may do well in a home with other dogs who are handicapped and/or calm, gentle, independent types, as they are more likely to give her the doggie "personal space" she may need at first, to overcome the intimidation she learned in the past - but she is young, and eager to start her life, so a little encouragement and the right kind of dogs will probably go a long way!

Patarin Phadungpisuth is Goldie's guardian angel and her adoption contact. She can be reached at zhen.design@gmail.com with any questions or interest, and she is able to help Goldie travel to anywhere within the USA, Canada, UK, or Europe.

Thank you so very much for taking the time to read this sweet survivor's story! 

We pray that she will find her very own happily ever after, after all she has endured…she certainly deserves all the world has to offer.