On Tuesday May 8th a horribly neglected, almost hairless female Rottweiler was found wandering the steps of a business in Mansfield, Texas. Her body was ravaged by various ailments - mange, malnutrition, entropion in both eyes. She roamed the streets trying to find some scrap of food to sustain her for another day. Yet despite her pained exterior, a hint of light and hope shone in her eyes. Below you will read the story of Sheila-E's rescue.

May 9, 2001 ~ The day she was found

Tom,
Tuesday we found a badly undernourished Rottie on the front steps of my office. She is now at my vets, but I need some help with her. I have 8 dogs at home and cannot take her home with me without running the risk of someone getting into a fight. I spoke with Lisa Keye about her. She suggested I contact you to see if you or your organization can help. I am attaching some photos, so you can see what I am working with.

The vet confirms that she has sarcoptic mange. She weighs 61 lbs. When we found her, she showed no fear or anxiety. In the car, she seemed quite content, and in fact, tried repeatedly to get into my lap. At the vet’s she did not hesitate to go in, did not react to his cats, other than to just sniff and turn away, and has shown no aggression or fear. She seems to have been well socialized. We do not know yet about her heart worm test.

She is not spayed, as you can see, and she seems to have no hostility toward the cats at the clinic or other dogs there. She showed no signs of fear or nervousness when we approached her and once in the car, she made it very clear she was not only comfortable with it but wanted to be in my lap for the drive. At one point, I left her in the car while I went into the grocery store to get a disposable camera and she showed no anxiety when I left or when I returned. She seemed quite confident and calm. She did not want to get into the cage at the clinic and her response both times I tried to put her in was to melt down to the floor, legs splayed, and go completely limp. When I lifted her up, she did not offer any resistance, beyond being totally limp. I only got a quick look at her mouth, but what I saw was a clean, young mouth. I do not think she is very old.

Personally, I know little about Rotties and am concerned about being able to place her with someone who will know what they are doing and who will be willing to do what she will need to recover. I would feel much better if she were in the hands of someone who knows the breed. My vet is holding her now, but he is not very happy with it, so I need to get her out of his clinic soon. If I take her home, she will end up in a cage, albeit a large one (I used it for my Great Dane). However, I am gone 12 hours out of the day, so it is not a good choice, and I fear for the relative peace at my house.

If you can help, I would be most grateful. She needs all the experienced help she/we can get.

Sheila Vose

May 10, 2001 ~ The Temperament Test

Hi!

I went to check this girl out and she is quite sweet. She is a little independent probably party due to her lack of attention as I am sure she was in a back yard (or less). I took her to Bob's and he went ahead and pulled blood for her heartworm test. Bob and John put her up on the table to exam her and pull the blood. If she wanted to bite them from being unhappy about having a needle put through her skin she had more than plenty of opportunity to do so - she wasn't all too sure about any of this and they had to restrain her to pull the blood. She is heartworm NEGATIVE. Her stool was FINE, and she PASSED her temperament test w/ us. However, both her eyes are entropion. The procedure to correct this simple and inexpensive. He started her on a round of antibiotics and gave her a dose of ivomec (sp?). He will keep her over the weekend, treat her skin and get some good food in her and continue with her hips next week.

Lisa Keye

May 11, 2001 ~ Our stray gets a name

I thought of Sheila, too. I actually talked to Sheila Vose last night and suggested that to her.

Sheila-E

E for extra lucky
E for effort from those who care
E for easy street from here on out
E for entrust
E for enhancing a life
E for an end to the misery
E for embracing this breed
E for extra lucky!

Lisa Keye

SSRR would like to thank two individuals who have played and continue to play a large role in Sheila-E's rescue and recovery - Lisa Keye and Sheila Vose. Had it not been for Sheila V taking the time to help a homely and homeless, less fortunate Rottie, Sheila-E would still be alone on the streets of Mansfield. Lisa Keye is responsible for spearheading the effort to get top notch veterinary care for Sheila-E. We would also like to thank the DFW Rottweiler Club for providing financial assistance for Sheila-E's medical care that she so badly needed.

May 16, 2001 ~ Update on Sheila-E's progress

Hello!

I went to visit Miss Sheila-E (yes, Sheila V, we named her Sheila-E!) yesterday and she is doing SO GOOD!!!! She greeted me at her kennel door w/ wiggles galore. We said hello for a moment and I noticed that she still had some food in her bowl. I asked her if she was done eating as I was told by the staff that she was eating everything in sight. After I asked her this, she was like "Oh yea, I was eating before you walked up" and finished her meal. She is very sweet and very cute. They are going to dip her tomorrow and then she'll be ready to go. I haven't talked w/ my vet this week (he was off yesterday when I visited), so I'm not sure what his next step is. He did want to fatten her up before he put her under and perhaps w/ these doses of Ivermec this can't be done. I'll find out more and let you know. I really just wanted to write and tell you how well she is doing. She has livened up some since I first saw her. She has been great for the staff and they all just love her.

Will continue to keep you posted,
Lisa

June 20, 2001 ~ What a difference a month makes!

This girl continues to thrive and grow healthier with each passing day. It has been about 6 weeks since her initial rescue, and she has been in foster care for about one month now. Her fur is growing back, and she is slowly putting on weight. Her mammory glands have dried up and are looking much more normal. She is an absolute jewel at her foster dad's house, and she is fitting in quite nicely with the motley crew of dogs there. She gets along with females, males, pups, older dogs, goats, etc. She is quite contented to live indoors, but she does tend to get a little panicky when left outside. Other than that she is such a happy, well adjusted girl who loves life and loves being part of a family again. She will soon be ready to go to her forever home.

July 21, 2001 ~ Struttin' her stuff

On July 21st Sheila-E participated in the Rescue Parade at the Astrohall World Series of Dog Shows. She strutted her stuff around the ring. After such a tiring experience, Sheila spent most of her time snoozing in front of SSRR's booth. Most of the time we had to wake her up to visit with folks! It was such a delight to actually put my eyes on a dog whom I've watched morph from a walking, hairless skeleton, into a beautiful Rottweiler. Not only did she win the hearts of non SSRR folks, newer volunteer Kara Edwards absolutely fell head over heels in love with her and begged if she could foster Sheila. Never being an organization to be insensitive to the desires of its volunteers we said yes! :)

Rachel

August 15, 2001 ~ Sheila-E Rottie Ambassador!

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that Sheila-E was the perfect ambassodor for rotties today. My boss let me bring her to work and she wowed everyone. I work in a close knit 6 story building where you run into everyone all day and everytime I took her outside, she would shock someone else. Of course, I got the usual: Will she bite? Is she mean? Boy, that sure is a scary dog! - To which I replied: She will only bite you, if you bite her first. And as far as the mean question, well she answered that one herself, when she walked right up to them and proceeded to drown them in slobberingly sweet rottie kisses. I even had a lady down the hall go and check out the website. She came to my office later to let me know that she visited and filled out an adoption app for Kali.

Just thought I would let you all know that this lovable girl did her breed proud.

Kara

September 24, 2001 ~ Sheila-E goes home!

I really would like to thank SSRR for giving me the priviledge of fostering Sheila-E. The first time I met her, I fell in love. To see this girl's beginning pictures and then to see what she has become are a testament to what Rescue is all about. She went from neglect and despair to a loveable and playful bouncing Rottie.

The first time I spoke with her new forever mommie, I knew that is where she belonged. And actually getting to see her meet Kate for the first time could not have proved my point more. She made her self at home from the first time her paws hit Kate's backyard till the time I walked out the front door and she was laying on the living room floor playing with toys. She didn't even get up when I left. Just looked at me like "I'm home, Thank you".

I will definitely miss this girl, but I know she is home and safe and sound.

Kara