DORKA

Mazie, a retired widow, lived on a country lane which contained about 5 spaced apart homes. She had called about a high light bill and I was there to investigate. I knew her very casually as I lived in a small community and every one knew everyone else to some degree. I hadn't seen her in a long time so the sight in her front yard was new to me.

Attached to a tree tie-out cable that allowed the animal to circle the large oak with out getting tangled, was a bizarre looking dog. He was huge, thin, mostly hairless and circling the tree at a steady, determined pace. He had done the repetitive motion so long that he had sculpted a 6 inch deep trench about 10 feet from the base of the tree. Round and round he went.

Mazie was sitting in a lawn chair with some friends, drinking tea and watching the dog run in circles.

"What is that?" was about all I could manage.

"Someone gave Dorka to me but he is really nuts." Mazie laughed. " I need to get rid of him before he digs his way to China."

I thought I was seeing a dog who was only in desperate need of exercise, mange treatment and worming so I told her I would take him if she were serious. She was delighted so at lunch time I picked him up and dropped him at my veterinarian's office for evaluation.

Jim, my vet, was shaking his head when I went to collect my new dog. He said that the whole office had tried to identify the dog but were stumped till Jim's wife came in and thought he might possibly be a Giant Schnauzer. Not having hair makes dog ID difficult but that was the general consensus after consulting dog books.

Giants are fairly rare and in my small town, nonexistent--till Dorka that is. They are large, square dogs ( as tall as they are long) and can get to about 80 pounds. He had Sarcoptic mange which is an easy cure, was indeed wormy, but in other wise appeared in decent health. The main thing wrong with him would not show up till I got him home.

This is what a well put together Giant Schnauzer looks like. With a lot of care Dorka eventually resembled the breed quite closely.

When I got him home and turned him loose in the pasture, I hoped he would run joyfully till he would almost drop from exhaustion when he realized he was no longer chained to a tree. I so looked forward to bringing some normalcy into his life. Scenes like that were what made all the expense, time and energy of rescue work worth it. However, that did not happen. Nothing did. For a long time he just stared at the ground. Then he started a very strange behavior.

Dorka never responded to my voice or touch but he definitely was not deaf. As long as he was awake, he would dig dirt with his front paw and try to catch it in his mouth as the dirt or sand flew by, consistently failing every time. Dig--try to catch, dig--try to catch-- with his stub of a tail wagging furiously the whole time. Petting and attention never stopped the process only eating and sleeping did. Fortunately, he slept a lot. Rarely, he responded briefly to his name but his eyes would quickly glaze over. Most often his world contained only him.

Dorka was mentally damaged or at least that was Jim's evaluation when he observed him in a free roaming setting. Jim suspected severe autism which he had never seen in a dog but the repetitive motions sparked that diagnosis. Perhaps it was congenital or perhaps he had suffered a brain injury. We would never find out. I could only keep that shell of a dog as happy as he was capable of being and that was supplying him with and unending supply of soft dirt to attempt to catch.

He was allowed to free roam 2.5 acres with my horse and pony as I was worried about putting him with the other dogs. He never acknowledged the other dogs and would not even know if one were getting aggressive towards him. I put two of my Miss Congeniality types of dogs with him but he totally ignored them. He rarely explored the 2.5 acres, never ran, never played, he just spent his days, nose to the ground, looking for new dirt to catch. I just filled in the holes.

His hair came back and he developed into a quite handsome dog who lived in a totally different world. Dorka was most likely a victim of a puppy mill. They have no problem with brother /sister breeding or he could have suffered severe abuse. His stint tied to that tree and Lord knows what happened before that tree episode as people tried to deal with that strange dog, could not have helped his condition.

Several wanted to adopt the striking looking dog but that was out when his problem was explained. People wanted a dog they could interact with. As he was totally unadoptable, he stayed with me for about 4 years when cancer, which is inherit of the breed, finally took him.

Dorka was the poster dog for the need to spay/neuter pets and to put puppy mills out of existence. There needs to be serious laws. Just another quiet reminder. I know my readers know better as many of you are thoughtful animal lovers. Just be sure to remind your friends. Thank you.