Finding Chemo

by Carolyn Cothran

A couple of years ago, we took in this beautiful Pitbull mix. She was happy and did very well with other dogs. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted cancer called TVT- Transmissible Veneral Tumor. This is very treatable with chemo that is also used on humans. The only problem is that she needed to be isolated until her treatments were finished.

Well, as luck would have it, there was a world wide shortage of this particular chemo as poor Coffee was completing her treatments. As a result, she had to live alone and wait….. and wait…. and wait. We looked everywhere and even tried to buy the drug on the black market. Finally after close to a year, we found some! She finished her treatment and was ready to start her new life. The only problem was that our beautiful girl lost her social skills! She became aggressive with other dogs.

Not willing to give up on her, we contacted Jena, the amazing dog trainer, who jumped to the challenge immediately. She took Coffee and soon realized her aggression was based in fear. Jena worked her magic, and soon Coffee was doing fine with other dogs.

Coffee went on one of the bus trips to the States and was under the care of a very special rescue who is not afraid of this type of special dog. Very quickly, she was adopted and now our beautiful girl lives in a happy home with all the love she could ever want.