HELLO DOLLY!

PRESS RELEASE: 6-18-99
FROM: UTOPIA ANIMAL RESCUE RANCH
by Nancy Parker-Simons

Kinky Friedman, our Gandhi-like figure for the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, located in Utopia, Texas received a certified letter on June 4 from Lori Smith of Austin, Texas. "A plea for help" was written on the front of the letter. Ms. Smith wrote telling us that she was in desperate need of our help and asked us to please help her. She told us about a dog named "Dolly" that she had rescued from the side of the road. Dolly's front foot appeared to have been broken and had healed crooked causing her to walk on the arm bone. She enclosed pictures. The Board of Directors for the ranch, Kinky Friedman, Nancy Parker-Simons and Tony Simons all agreed immediately to help Dolly, no matter what the costs involved.

After hours back and forth on the telephones to our veterinarian, Dr. W. H. Hoegemeyer and Lori, we had a plan. The next day Lori drove Dolly down from Austin to Dr. Hoegemeyer's clinic in Kerrville to be examined. Dr. Rydberg, who works with Dr. Hoegemeyer called to tell us that she would need an orthopedic surgeon and recommended we use Dr. Dudley , of the Austin Veterinary Surgical Center. We called Dr. Dudley and he told us that he would be glad to do it. An appointment was made for Thursday, June the 18th. On Wednesday, Tony and Nancy picked Dolly up from Kerrville and drove her to meet Lori in Johnson City. Kinky wanted to go but their was not enough room in the truck. Lori delivered Dolly to Dr. Dudley the next morning. Thursday afternoon, Dr. Dudley called the ranch to update us on Dolly. It turned out that she needed not one but two surgeries. The cost would be $2,376.20 even after Dr. Dudley had discounted us $475.00. We sent the check to him that day. Due to some emergencies Dr. Dudley will do the surgeries on Monday, June 21. He told us that she should be just like new after a month or so of recuperation. She will be up for adoption as soon as she has recuperated.

Please send a donation to the ranch so we can keep on rescuing and helping all of the "Dollys" that need our help. And remember, our motto is:

"A Happy Dog Means You're Living Right!"

UPDATE:

June 21, 1999HOORAY FOR DOLLY! The ranch has just received word that Dolly's operations were successful! The whole ranch is celebrating! We hope to have Dolly back at the ranch in a few days.

11/19/99

Hi Nancy!
Well, me , Dale & Zachary went to visit "Dolly/Ally" yesterday! She is
GREAT! They have 2 other dogs and they are all SPOILED ROTTEN! ha. They live inside in a VERY NICE HOME! There were stuffed toys all around that they play with. It's funny, the other dogs have become very protective of Ally. My husband was picking Dolly up for a picture and the other dogs ran over to see what he was doing to her! Very protective! She's very happy and remembered my son and would not stop licking his face. Her hair has grown back on her legs where it was missing from the mites. She's grown a little more, but not much bigger than what she was, so I believe she's full grown now. She was glowing she seemed so happy. They ran around and played and all the dogs got along well. We were so pleased to see her in such a loving environment. She's still limping some, the vet told them since she was forced to walk on that arm bone for those months, her leg bone was stunted from growing, so it's slightly shorter than the other one.