Harley was a stray dog who lived in overgrown bushes with his brother Quinn. When I came to feed them they would jump out of the bushes barking and wagging their tails to greet me. Harley was the most confident of the brothers and would sometimes be brave enough to come close to me when I brought him food.
One night, I noticed Harley had a problem with his back right leg and it looked very serious. I asked some friends for help and we managed to bring a catcher with us. After crawling around in the bushes for a while we managed to back him into a corner and a catcher used a dart to tranquillise him. It was quite intense and even though he fell asleep fast, it was a very traumatic experience for Harley. in the video below you can see that Harley clearly has a problem with his hind leg.
At the vets Harley was in pain. The vets did an x-ray and found that his femur was broken and that it needed surgery immediately. If he didn’t have a surgery the wound would become infected and may have pierced other organs and killed him. We transferred Harley to a different veterinary practice that could do the surgery and he had the surgery.
Harley was very shy and clearly had a lot of trauma from everything that happened to him. He didn’t want to eat so I encouraged him by putting food on the side of his cage as close as possible so he could smell it and tempt him to eat. It took a little patience but soon enough Harley was brave enough to begin to lick the tasty food of the side of his cage.
He then grew in confidence and would take chicken from my hand. It’s important to help dogs to get used to your scent and feeding them from your hand is a great way to bond and help them overcome any fear they might have. tIt builds trust and you can much more easily control how quickly they take the food from you s they can learn to be more gentle and take the food more slowly.
Harley recovered well since leaving the vets earlier this year. He is shy and is a little nervous and afraid around new people and animals but once he knows you he is loving. Harley is looking for a home where he can enjoy being loved and learn to trust people. If you can help Harley find a home or would like to help with his boarding costs please use the links below.
We would love to find Harley a home. He is a gentle dog who has had some tough experiences and been through trauma with his badly broken femur. He would love to find a new home where he feels safe and loved and can spend his days bonding with you, wagging his tail and have his first experience of home life.
If you would like to donate towards Harley’s boarding costs, are interested in giving him a home or know anyone that is then please use the form below, click here to visit our donor box page or email us using the email address on the about us page. Harley’s boarding costs are around $100 per month. Any help will be greatly appreciated.