What a difference a year makes

Girlie plays patty-cake with her owner, Lorie Roberts. Page Dowdy/Chesterfield Observer A puppy born with a severe deformity is now holding her head up high after a year of physical therapy and lots of loving care.

The puppy, called Emily early on, was one of a litter of four born to a 20-pound mixed-breed dog in Mississippi. Her owner, a well-meaning but irresponsible woman, allowed the dog to mate with another pet in the house, an 80-pound German shepherd. The result was puppies too big for their mom to carry. Space in the cramped womb was at a premium, and too much of it was claimed by Emily’s siblings. As she grew inside the womb, Emily’s position caused her head to bend completely to the left. The muscles on that side of her neck never fully developed. The other three puppies were born normal and healthy.

Emily had a hard time of it. At 6 weeks old, she still couldn’t hold her head upright and wasn’t able to stand or walk like the other puppies. Her caretakers at the Mississippi shelter that took the canines in didn’t have the resources to care for her and were considering euthanasia. But a chance visit to the shelter from Sharon Cornett, president of the Richmond Animal League (RAL), changed Emily’s future.

Prior to physical therapy, Girlie was unable to hold her head up, stand or walk like normal dogs. Photo courtesy of Richmond Animal League Cornett wanted to save the puppy if possible and contacted a Richmond pet trainer, Jemi Hodge. When Hodge heard Emily’s story, she was confident she could help the pup. Emily made the trip home with Cornett and spent a brief time at RAL before going to live with Hodge for a couple of months while the trainer developed a physical therapy routine to stretch the dog’s neck muscles.

During that time, staff and volunteers at RAL were encouraging one of their own to adopt Emily. Lorie Roberts has volunteered at the shelter for the past 12 years and had already adopted a dog from there, 2-year-old Charlie. RAL staff felt Roberts was a natural choice to give Emily a home.

But she had to be convinced. “I didn’t know if I wanted the responsibility of a special-needs dog, but I kept thinking about it,” Roberts said. “They [RAL staff] wanted to keep her in the family.”

Roberts thought Charlie would get along well with the puppy, and though her husband, Gilly, wasn’t quite on board in the beginning, she made the decision to take Emily home.

“He was a little hesitant at first,” Roberts said of her husband, “but he knows me and my commitment to and love for dogs. He knew I wouldn’t take on something I couldn’t handle.”

Once Hodge had a therapy routine in place for the puppy, one that had already worked well to stretch the affected muscles and straighten the dog’s neck, Emily was ready to go to her forever home at the Roberts’.

They renamed her Girlie because “she looks like a girl,” Roberts said. “She looks like she’s wearing eyeliner. She’s beautiful.”

There was hardly time to be concerned about how Charlie would adapt. He not only accepted Girlie into his domain, but he seemed to know she was special.

“[Hodge] told us to play tug-of-war with Girlie as part of her physical therapy,” Roberts said. “She said it would keep the muscles stretched. Charlie started playing tug-of-war with her right away. It was like he knew exactly what to do.”

At a year old, Girlie’s neck is “usually perfectly straight,” Roberts said. “When she means to bend it, it bends a little further than it normally would.”

“[Girlie is] a little athlete,” she said, love and pride in her tone. “She can do anything. She’s fast, she can leap and she loves to catch the Frisbee.”

Gilly has adapted as well. “He helped with her therapy too, and fell in love with her,” Roberts said. “It’s almost like she’s his dog now.”

Having been given so much tender loving care by the first humans in her life, it’s a good bet Girlie has enough love to share with each member of her family.