September 22, 2023The loyal dog stayed in the water for more than 11 hours to find his owner and rescued him

Everyone enjoys a nice dog video, but the first photographs Jackie O'Sullivan saw of Spencer the Doberman were anything but cute.

"He looked like he'd been snapped in half," recounts the co-founder of Rescue Dogs Rock New York (RDRNYC).

Spencer was brought into a South Carolina animal shelter on January 4 and appeared impossibly bent and genuinely unhappy in the videos. Shelter personnel recognised that this dog required resources that they did not have, therefore Jackie's phone began to light up with notifications hundreds of miles up the east coast. When she checked her messages, she saw two videos of a malnourished fawn Doberman.

"They asked if we could take him, and I said yes," she says.

Spencer had been eating road dead on the motorway when he was hit by a car, according to Jackie. Spencer, a one-year-old boy, was then brought to the shelter, where officials quickly realised that this was not the first awful day in his life. His damaged physique and cruelly cut ears revealed the narrative Spencer couldn't — his rescuers questioned if he'd fled a life of abuse just to be hit on the highway.

"They got him over to our vet [in the area], which is called Paws and Claws in Columbia, South Carolina, and they could immediately tell that his back was broken," Jackie said. "His only hope was to get to a specialty hospital, so they sent the X-rays over to a neurologist, so he went over there the same day."

Jackie received some wonderful news from the veterinarians at VCA Animal Specialty Centre of South Carolina. Spencer was an ideal candidate for surgical repair of his damaged spine because he was so young and could still feel his legs. He also had a stomach full of bird bones that were threatening to perforate his belly, as well as open wounds on his head and legs that needed stitching.

The secondary issues would have to wait until Spencer's spine was stabilised. The surgery has to be done right away and would cost thousands of dollars. Jackie felt certain Spencer was worth it.

"He appeared to be broken in two, but he had a strong will to live." "He was kissing and eating," she explains. "He had every reason to live."

While Spencer was on the surgery table in South Carolina, his pictures were being sent to the RDRNYC Facebook page, where dog lovers were as taken aback as Jackie. Well wishes and donations started flowing in, and by the time Spencer left for physical therapy, he had his own Facebook page.

"So many people wanted to know about him, he actually crashed our website," Jackie said.

Spencer seemed determined to get back on his feet in the days following his successful operation. His doctors were pleased to find that the dog was anxious to begin physical therapy, and they were even more pleased to discover that X-rays confirmed that his body was safely passing the road kill bones. He wouldn't require a stomach procedure.

Spencer was transported two weeks into his hospitalisation to West Hills Animal Hospital & Emergency Centre on Long Island, where RDRNYC can keep a closer eye on him as he continues with daily physical therapy.

Playing with toys, according to Jackie, is the one thing Spencer appears to like more than his physical therapy sessions. He's gotten a lot of them, and having his own toys has brought out the puppy in him.

Spencer has moved from walking in a sling to walking on his own in the last month, and Jackie says he's becoming stronger by the day. Spencer, who still needs a lot of physical therapy, is finally ready to move on with his life, and RDRNYC is taking adoption applications. Jackie can hardly wait to see him in his forever home.

"He's a young, joyful, and otherwise healthy dog. He is prepared for a wonderful life."

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