Dog hurled from moving car makes impressive recovery
COCOA -- Hurled from a moving vehicle, Chance the helpless puppy suffered three broken legs when he crashed into the rock-hard Michigan Avenue asphalt.
Whimpering with pain, he was left in the middle of the road to die.
That was five months ago. Today — after four surgeries, laser therapy on overstretched tendons and chiropractic massage on back muscles — Chance has bucked the medical odds and overcome his crippling injuries.
The frisky 8-month-old American Staffordshire terrier should be available for adoption Friday following one final surgery to remove a bone fragment from his right rear leg, said Kevin McMullan, Central Brevard Humane Society kennel manager.
"He's happy. He's a happy-go-lucky puppy. I think he's grateful," McMullan said, playing with Chance inside the Cocoa animal shelter.
Chance wobbles a bit nowadays on his repaired front legs — "it almost looks like he has basset hound in him now," McMullan remarked. During a FLORIDA TODAY photo shoot Sunday at the CBHS "meet and greet" fenced dog playground, Chance played with tennis balls and chewed on a tree branch.
Mona Motz, a foster mother with Purrs and Whiskers Shelter, has overseen Chance's recuperation. The Melbourne animal rescue group has raised more than $5,400 to cover the dog's medical expenses, which have exceeded $5,800.
Chance was thrown from the vehicle April 4, when he was 13 weeks old. The brindle-and-white puppy suffered a broken left front ankle, right front shoulder and right rear knee, said Eileen Cole, CBHS spokeswoman. He was also so thin his spine was visible.
"He was just in so much pain. But his activity level increased as he got feeling better. We had to take him for bandage changes pretty much every week, because he would chew them," Motz said.
Indeed, Motz was forced to wrap duct tape around Chance's casts — "it looked like Redneck Dog Rescue," she joked.
"Once he got used to running on those suckers, man, he was little Mr. You-Can't-Stop-Me. He felt good, because he had some support," she said.
Contact Neale at 321-242-3638, rneale@floridatoday.com or follow @RickNeale1