SPRING LAKE, NC....We were contacted early Wednesday to see if we would take a pitbull that was in critical condition that had been picked up the night before.  The dog had been mutilated by someone with a Samurai Sword.  We sent someone immediately to pick up the dog in North Carolina that had been in an ER facility for the night.  Gunnar was transferred to the  ER facility that we thought would be best able to give him the best possible chance.  I had received pictures of the dog but the pictures did not do justice to just how horrific the injuries were that sweet Gunnar endured.  I spoke to the AC officer and the Detective that had investigated and seen the dog to see exactly what had happened and what they were doing about arresting the person that did this.  Apparently on Sunday, a man had been locked out of his house in Spring Lake.  He saw a man walk by and asked if if he could use his phone.  He said he didn’t have a phone and he walked away.  A little while later, he returned with a phone for him to use and also a sword.  The man commented that he was tired of dogs running around his neighborhood and was going to take care of it.  The man got in his house and then came back outside.  He heard animals screaming and realized the man was attacking the dogs.  Two of the dogs got back over the fence where they came from and Gunnar was too injured to get away.  It appears the person tried to sever the ears off Gunnar and missed and sliced off a huge chunk from his ear to his left eye.  He then proceeded to stab and slash at the dog and tried to remove his right rear leg.  The injuries are unimaginable.  The owner found his dog on Sunday and thought he had been hit by a car until the man told him what had happened to his dog.  The owner did not get medical treatment for Gunnar.  Tuesday night he called Animal Control to come and get his dog and told them what happened.  Animal Control and the Sheriff’s Office are working with local law officials to get an arrest warrant for the person that did this.  Gunnar is in critical care for his injuries.  His wounds are large gaping holes and slashes.  Yesterday he was sedated for most of the day getting his wounds cleaned and debrided and  to access his injuries.  Later today, if he is stable enough, surgery will be done on his rear leg.  What is this world coming to that it is okay for a man to walk down the street with a deadly weapon that could almost remove someone’s head.   The authorities have assured me this person will be charged with a felony for the abuse he caused.  We will post as we learn more information.  Right now, we need to focus on saving our sweet boy and turning his life around.

Sweet GUNNAR is doing wonderful.  Since he has so many large places that do not have any skin on them, he has to have special surgical bandages that are sewn in place.  The bandages are replaced every 24 hours based on how much drainage they are getting from each one.  Since he was not allowed medical care for three days, every opening became infected.  Gunnar is handling all of his love and care with cautious optimism.  I think he is beginning to realize we are the good guys and all we want to do is get him well and give him lots of love and affection.  He is beginning to warm up to us. 

The other good news is that there has been an arrest warrant for the person that did this.  He is turning himself in tonight with his Attorney.  We are giving the authorities all the information, pictures, medical reports, etc. to convict this person so he will never hurt an animal or anyone again.

Thanks for all the outpouring of love for dear Gunnar.  He is a wonderful dog that will make an incredible member of the Family once he has healed.  He will be in the hospital for about a month healing.  The picture above is him taking a break outside from the hospital environment.  He has been through a lot with the incident, surgery and all of the pain he has been through.  He is comfortable now and that is exactly how we want him.......RELAXING.

Sweet Gunnar is improving each day.  His wounds are still draining a lot more than we anticipated but that just shows us how bad his infection was.  Gunnar gets his bandages changed every 18 to 24 hours based on how much drainage he has had.  It is a major production because he has big gaping open areas that do not have any skin on them.   The bandages have to be sewn and threaded on each time to keep the areas as sterile as possible.  We are making lots of progress given how bad he was in the beginning.  Our dear boy will end up being in surgical care for close to a month.  That is the only way we can guarantee he will not re-infect the area and get a super bug such as MRSA.  We are taking every precaution to make sure that does not happen.  It appears Gunnar has been a yard dog all of his life.  Being inside was very strange to him at first.  He is now beginning to realize that nothing bad is going to happen to him while he is inside and is slowly adapting to his new surroundings.  He is definitely starting to feel better.  Since Gunnar is not neutered, we have had to move him all over the surgical center since he wants to mate with every female dog that comes into the facility.  It is amazing how he seems to have a one track mind when it comes to that.  That is probably why he and his buddies were out roaming the streets.  He can be neutered in a couple of weeks when he has gained his strength and is stable.  We will do our best to do several updates each week on our Facebook page.  If you need more info, just drop me a note.  We greatly appreciate your generosity and caring about sweet Gunnar.  He is a wonderful, laid back boy that will make a wonderful companion for anyone.  Thanks for caring.

Our adorable Gunnar is doing incredible.  We had a wonderful surgeon fly in from Houston that we had worked with before to see if he could close Gunnars gaping wounds.  The doctors have been stretching his skin since we put the first bandages on.  There was enough extra skin created by this process that wonderful Dr. Balara was able to close all of the wounds on our dear boy.  His large wounds are stapled so they will not open up.  You have to know what you are doing to close wounds as large as this or the tension that is created will completely work against the staples and the wound will open or possibly tear from the tension.  I am happy to say, none of that is happening.  We have a small amount of swelling but that is to be expected.  Gunnar will remain in the emergency facility until next week.  If all goes well, he will be able to walk out without all of his bandages.  If we couldn’t close up the wounds, he was going to have to remain until we could do a skin graft or close the wounds.  The risk of infection was too great to allow him to leave.  We are now taking applications for Gunnar.  He will be evaluated with our trainer but it appears he loves everyone and doesn’t have any problems with other dogs.  He is an incredibly sweet boy that got into trouble because he was so loving and trusting.  He didn’t realize what horror awaited him when he went up to the man that did this as a happy go lucky boy.  His life will forever be changed.  He is taking it all in stride and is now very comfortable with everyone loving on him 24 hours a day.

The top picture is my Daughter Jori looking after Gunnar and the one below that is Gunnar right after his wounds were closed up. 

Here is adorable Gunnar in his foster home recovering.  He is another Miracle boy.  His wounds are healing beautifully once we were able to create enough skin to bring all of the open areas together.  Sweet does not even begin to describe this incredible dog.  The fact he survived being sliced up with a Samurai Sword and is still as sweet and loving as ever just goes to show how loving he has always been.  The person that did this is out on bail awaiting his trial.  I think he is a danger to the community and should be locked away for a long, long time.  We are still taking applications for our dear boy and will soon pick the best candidate for him.