The care and transformation of Harley Ely

 One early September morning, a good Samaritan brought in a little dog for humane euthanasia. He was skin and bones and was so emaciated and malnourished that he couldn't stand up. Upon examination, we found him to be just a puppy, and his eyes told us he was willing to get better if we were willing to help him. We told the finder, if we could find someone willing to help him, we would not put him to sleep and the finder was glad. But who? Who would be willing to financially and emotionally take on this little guy. Several of us had the same thought....our friend Lisa. But the timing was bad. It had not been that long since she lost her friend Jack. Would she be ready? All we could do was try. So I made the call. Her initial reaction was "no, I can't" but by the time we had finished talking, she had decided to come see him. So she made the trek from Illinois to meet the sweet, sick little boy. She sat down on the floor and he belly crawled and put his head in her lap. It was then, she knew that she had to help him. It had been exactly a month to the day that she lost Jack and she knew that he would want her to help him. 

   We quickly got to work to get him healthy enough to transfer into Lisa's care. And she prepared for a new baby in her house. One who was going to need extra care. First thing was to give him a name. After much consideration, she named him Harley Ely.  Because he was so malnourished, he would require small, frequent feedings. He would need extra nutrition, but in small amounts. When she was finally able to take him home, she added goats milk to his food for extra protein. Bringing up his weight needed to be a slow, steady process. She would also have to teach him the basics of house training, leash walking and basic puppy stuff. 

He was so skinny and his hair was so thin that she kept a sweater on him. As time passed, he got stronger and healthier. 

  

He continued to grow so much that we all began to wonder what kind of dog he was. All bets were on Irish Wolfhound however, DNA testing reveled that he is actually a standard poodle mixed with a staffordshire terrier and Labrador. Regardless of his crazy breed mix, he has grown into a big, spoiled baby. He loves his momma and especially loves his daddy. His favorite thing is to talk to his daddy on the phone when he isn't home. We are looking forward to watching this boy as he grows to his full potential. This boy started out a 15lbs and he is now a whopping 67 and still going. We are so happy that Lisa agreed to take on this challenge and we think she is glad too