Guiness' Story

Guiness is a 7-year old Great Pyrenees rescued from Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. His foster mom saw his picture on Petfinder and immediately knew she had to help the skinny Pyr with the sad eyes. Guiness arrived on our September, 2008 transport. He was severely underweight and had a noticeable limp.

With lots of good food and TLC, Guiness gained weight but with the added weight, his limp became worse. He simply couldn’t support himself comfortably. Rogers’ Rescues was committed to giving Guiness every chance at recovery so off he want to see a trusted specialist and wonderful friend of the rescue: Dr. Carlos Hodges at Valley Central Veterinary Referral Center.

X-rays confirmed Guiness had a fracture and a large free floating bone chip in his elbow joint. The fracture was definitely old – meaning poor Guiness had been living with constant pain, possibly for years. Almost immediately, he underwent surgery to reconstruct the elbow.

Guiness traveled to the hospital every two weeks to have his cast changed. His foster mom made so many trips up the PA Turnpike, the toll-takers, who came to know him, would hold up traffic to feed Guiness cookies and get the latest update.

 

Two months after surgery, x-rays revealed a pin had broken and Guiness headed back into the operating room. It was a very disappointing set back. Watching all this from the sidelines were Rogers’ Rescues volunteers Bob and Beth Britton. With two Great Pyrenees of their own – one rescued from Rogers’ – and a deep love for the breed, Bob and Beth offered to help with Guiness’s prolonged recovery. In January, they took Guiness on as a foster and, started their own trips to the hospital with him.

Frustratingly, the leg simply would not heal. Unless they took drastic action, severe pain was sure to be a constant part of Guiness’s life. In April, after consulting with Guiness’s doctors, Bob and Beth made the tough decision to amputate the leg.

Despite everything he has been through, Guiness hasn’t let his “tripod” status slow him down at all. He enjoys patrolling the fence line, barking at deer and neighbors, and surveying his kingdom from the front window. Unable to let him go, Guiness officially became an adopted member of the Britton pack in May, 2009.

 

These days Guiness is happy and free of pain!

UPDATE: Sadly, Guiness crossed the rainbow bridge. Here's the update from his family.

Guiness was our first RR foster failure. While he was originally supposed to be "just a foster" when he arrived at our home, we quickly realized he probably wasn't going anywhere, especially after his amputation surgery. G-man never let his "handicap" get him down and had the heart of a lion until the end - unfortunately his body gave out before his heart and spirit did. But we had 4 wonderful years with him, more than we'd dared hope for after his surgery due to his size, and we wouldn't have traded a moment of them for anything. We love and miss you Guinny but know you and your "sisters" are always watching over us. 

Bob and Beth