LULING, La. - Animal lovers in St. Charles Parish have banded together to try to save the life of a lovable chocolate lab named Dasher but they say they need more help.
It was mid-December when a woman in Paradis saw a chocolate Labrador Retriever get hit by a car on Highway 90. The driver kept going, but a Good Samaritan called St. Charles Parish Animal Control and he was picked up off of the highway and brought him to the shelter in Luling.
"He couldn't walk, couldn't stand up, he had a lot of head trauma, was kind of out of it and (the veterinarian) said, 'Let's sedate him,' because he was so painful," said St. Charles Humane Society Veterinarian Tech, Ashley Champagne through tears.
Champagne decided she wanted to save him. A few days later the Good Samaritan found the owner putting up flyers looking for his lost eight-month-old Lab, but when he came to the shelter and realized he could not afford the $5-6,000 surgery, he signed his dog over to the St. Charles Humane Society.
"It was very rough the first few weeks getting him through it, but you know, I had help,” she recalled. “My husband helped me and made sure that if I was exhausted, because I slept on the floor with him when he was upset and stuff. I would sleep on him so he had someone with him."
A call went out for donors to help. Dasher went to a Mandeville canine orthopedic surgeon to get his broken leg and crushed hips fixed. Today he acts like a typical adolescent Lab.
Dasher is now neutered, but at the time he was hit by the car, he was not neutered and veterinarians say that it's more likely for an unneutered male dog to be hit by cars because they like to roam.
But now there is a new problem. $2,000 is still owed on the original surgery, and a second surgery costing around $3-600 is needed. Dasher’s bones are healed but the pins and screws that helped his bones heal are coming out and causing pain. They need to be removed. So again, they are turning to the community for help because his veterinarian says he has a long future ahead of him.
"Prognosis for being a normal functional dog that can walk on a leash and not do strenuous activity is excellent. He won't be an agility dog. He won't be a hunter. He does not have full range of motion in one of his back legs. He can't fully extend it," said Dr. Jena Troxler, a Veterinarian with the St. Charles Humane Society.
Dasher will live without pain. He knows his obedience commands and will make an excellent pet, she says, for someone willing to adopt this furry bundle of joy, who pulls on everyone's heartstrings.
For more information call 504-275-5932, or go to www.stcharlesparish-la.gov/pets to donate.
You can also watch the video of other pets up for adoption, including another chocolate Lab that is about a year and a half years old.
