Injured dog looking for a good home
Chocolate Lab, hit by SUV, currently recovering in foster care
BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer

KATHY CHANG One-year-old Sammy No, a chocolate Labrador retriever, suffered brain trauma, a fractured right front leg, and a left leg that veterinarians have said needs to be amputated, when he was hit by an SUV on New Year's Eve.

WOODBRIDGE - Marge Petrow said her heart broke when she laid her eyes on Sammy No, a chocolate Labrador retriever with bright green eyes, for the first time since last year when she had named and helped foster him for five months.

Sammy No, who is a little over a year old, was hit by a sport-utility vehicle on New Year's Eve and suffered brain trauma, a fractured right front leg, and a left leg that veterinarians have said needs to be amputated.

"Fortunately, his brain trauma reversed itself," said Petrow, who has five dogs and three cats of her own. "I picked him up on Saturday night and I said 'Mommy's here' and he went crazy."

Veterinarians said it would take 12 to 16 weeks for his fractured right front leg to heal.

"There's extra plates, rods and pins inside his right front leg, which has to heal, and the only way for it to heal is for him to use it," said Petrow, who picked up Sammy No on Jan. 19. "He's on antibiotics. He's allowed outside only four times a week, but unfortunately his other leg is dead."

Petrow has set up an open crate for Sammy No in her living room.

"He hates the crate, but he's getting used to it" she said. "He also hates the collar he has to wear, but he needs to wear it because he chews at the bandages. I have a Walkabout [harness] on him, which I purchased from California … it is great because we can keep it on him and help lift him."

Six days after picking Sammy No up from the Veterinary Emergency Specialty Hospital in Ocean County, Petrow said she has seen a lot of improvement in him.

"He's eating very well … I cook steak and chicken for my dogs, and when I gave him the food, I thought he was going to choke to death," she said. "He jumps up and barks when he's in the crate because he wants to play with the other dogs."

Petrow said Sammy No has taken a liking to her husband.

"When Sammy No saw my husband for the first time since we fostered him, he went to jump on him," she said. "It would just break your heart."

Petrow, who continually advocated township officials for a public animal shelter for five years, and saw the fruition of those efforts in the shelter's opening on Dec. 21, first met the Labrador retriever in June 2007.

"Mercedes Lopez [an animal control officer for the township] asked me if I would like to foster a small dog," said Petrow, who is now the volunteer coordinator for the shelter. "I said sure, as long as he is friendly. That's when I saw Sammy No out of the corner of my eye."

The 5-month-old chocolate Lab was in a crate in the van. He suffered from cage paralysis and demodex mange.

"I toldMercedes that I was taking him, and thankfully the mange that he had was curable," said Petrow. "It took a month to cure him from cage paralysis and the demodex mange, and then I sent him to be neutered and to get all his shots … I named him Sammy No because he wouldn't listen to anybody and needed to be housebroken and trained. It really only took two days to train him, because he would learn from my other dogs."

Petrow fostered Sammy No from June to Oct. 26, 2007.

"I fattened him up … he was a gorgeous 78-pound Lab when he left me," she said. "I found the perfect home for him, and I visited him three times since he left me."P

etrow said that on New Year's Eve, Sammy No just ran out the front door of his owner's home in Toms River and was hit by an SUV on Route 37.

"The owners were devastated, the driver of the SUV was devastated, and I was devastated," she said.

The costs of the damage that Sammy No suffered were too high for the owners to keep him.

"I understand that money is tight," she said.

Petrow said the worry of money went out the window when talks of euthanization surfaced.

"I remember saying, 'What for?,' " she recalled. "He just turned 1 on Dec. 18 and deserves a chance … there was no reason to kill him, and he was definitely worth saving."

Petrow called her veterinarian, Dr. Philip DeBaecke at Banfield Hospital, located inside the PetSmart on St. Georges Avenue, and he agreed.

"Sammy No gets his bandages rewrapped every week with Dr. DeBaecke, andMargaret Chambers, who is a surgical nurse, comes over to check on Sammy for any swelling," she said.

Petrow said she is doing the best she can and plans to take care of Sammy No until he is all healed.

"I hope we can find a special home for him," she said. "He is such a sweet dog and will need only minimal medical care after he leaves my home. I have been looking online for a brace that he could use. I would keep Sammy No, but I feel like I have five dogs already and he could do so much better than with me."

Petrow said if anyone is interested, they can e-mail her at margepetrow@comcast. net.