I want you to meet Amy - an exceptional dog, but not in the traditional way. She will never be one of those search and rescue dogs featured on national news and it is not likely she will win awards in confirmation or agility trials any time soon, but Amy has won our hearts and we are so proud of all she has accomplished.

Amy’s story starts off like so many other dogs: born for the sole purpose of breeding, she was one of nine Great Danes we pulled from a bad situation southeast of Dallas.

Amy lived in a makeshift kennel secured with rusty wire, surrounded by broken down buses that once transported show dogs across the country littering the lawn. She lived in cramped quarters with other Great Danes, Standard Poodles, Dachshunds, Yorkies, Italian Greyhounds, cats, lemurs (yep, lemurs), and birds. And they all lived with fleas....thousands on each animal. When we arrived, almost all the other dogs jumped up and down in their rusty runs and tried to stick their heads through the holes they had bitten in the fencing - but not Amy. She was so scared we had to carry her out.

Living inside a home was a challenge for Amy. Not because she didn’t like it – in fact, she loved being inside so much she wasted no time with her potty breaks outside and high-tailed it right back inside as quickly as possible. Amy’s challenges inside came from all the strange sights and sounds. A ceiling fan would send her running for cover and a doorbell would freak her out. Unfortunately, instead of getting better as time passed, Amy became progressively worse. The best way to describe her behavior in human terms is Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

After a while, Amy would not let anyone closer than 3 feet away from her without a very slow delicate approach, and even then she would run if someone attempted to pet her anywhere other than her side. She cowered almost constantly. It was common for her to walk along cautiously and then suddenly bolt back toward her crate, running so low to the ground it was impossible for her to be any lower. Eventually, Amy would only come out of the crate to go potty or for food.

Even when Amy laid down she never truly rested - she would always lay on her stomach, legs beneath her, ready to hop up at a moments notice.

Amy’s foster mom, Stacie, met with Dr. Cassie Epstein, DVM and was given a specific program to follow to help build Amy’s confidence and pull her out of her shell. There was a lot of discussion within the group about Amy’s ability to overcome her issues, but Stacie and Dr. Epstein saw some small shred of desire in Amy’s eyes that made both of them think she could pull through. As Dr. Epstein described to me, “Amy looked over at us humans like she was trying to figure out how to get close to us, but was too scared to try.”

Luck was on Amy’s side because Stacie is one of those foster parents that all rescue groups wish they had - she followed Dr. Epstein’s instructions to a “T” and her dedication has made a true success story out of Amy.

Dr. Epstein explains her follow-up visit with Amy like this: “The dog I saw when I went back could not be described as the same creature. She barked like the other dogs in the house did and came running up to greet me. She leaned on me while I sat and talked to her foster parents. She let me pet her head and she had learned to respond to her name. She was a dog again.”

Thanks to Stacie’s hard work and Dr. Epstein’s well thought out plan, Amy is no longer scared of her own shadow - and a perfect example of this is the email Stacie sent to me after the terrible time we had with Ruby and Oscar (and some others). This email was meant to cheer me up - and it did! - but it also highlights just how far Amy has come.

Stacie wrote: “I know GDRNT has had a rough few months. You deserve a smile, so I am sending you a tidbit on AMY. We bought her a new pretty girly collar the past weekend. Amy got a big pretty red heart with her name.

The collar has a tiny paw print tag on it, the two tags jingle loudly. At first, Amy was scaring herself every time she moved-jingle noise, cower down.... this went on until evening. We debated removing the tags. Somewhere in this time frame, Amy became “Tinkerbelle”. She was running----FULL DANE ZOOMIES. She was hilarious. She would shake her head and jingle, then run around.

Now she is walking around confident, making all kinds of noise. I like to think Amy may have channeled some of the spirit(s) of the dogs we have lost recently.”

I agree with Stacie, Amy might be getting a little help from the dogs that have crossed the rainbow bridge recently – but I know that without Stacie’s hard work, love and dedication Amy would never have come out of her crate long enough to let Ruby and Oscar live vicariously through her.

Amy and foster mom, Stacie, enjoying a walk.