specialed

Hello my name is Special Ed. They call me that because they say I am special. I do not think I am. I cannot walk straight. I can't see real good out of one eye. You see I don't know why but I was beaten in the head and suffer some brain damage. I am very awkward. I know I was so scared. They hit me in the head and hurt me very bad. My future mom came and saw me at animal control when she was coming to look at Maytag and her puppies. I thought I was so ugly that I made her cry - but you know she picked me up and loved and me and it was so nice. But she left me and I was sad. Then another woman came - she said her name was Auntie Dawn and that my future mommy had called her to come and look at me. She cried too and then picked up this black thing (mom says its a phone) and started crying again in the phone. Later I found out she was talking to my mommy. Next thing I knew I was in her car and at her house - There were other dogs there and I was nervous but then my mom came and got me. We had a long ride and she kept touching me and holding me and crying. Then she got me home. I got to meet Zeus. He likes me and kisses me and leads me all over. He helps me to find things and plays with me and does not mind the awkward way that I move. I met Hercules too - he is big but he likes me too and lets me crawl all over him. Mr. Joseph, my new daddy, pats me and I make him laugh but he loves me anyway, and mom plays with me like I am a normal dog. She talks to me and takes pictures and tell me how beautiful I am. Maybe I am - but I sure am glad I am not with those other people. Mom says I am a teacher. Can you imagine me a dog that can't even walk right a teacher? She says that I am going to help stop other animals from being beaten like I was. She says I am going to be on a poster and that she hopes that the media will help us too to stop other animals from being hurt like me. That makes me proud as it hurt so bad. when we are hurt. Mom says I have to have a brain scan and she was not sure how she was going to pay for it but then another Auntie (I seem to have a lot of those) Auntie Beth Wheeler, out of the blue my mom says, (not sure what that means) sent me the money to have all the testing I need done. My mom says a lot of people love me and want me better. She says she does not care if I get better and normal that I am normal just as I am and very handsome indeed. I am happy now. But please when you get an animal - please do not hurt them. It is not fun for us who get hurt and not many people want us after that. Please do not hit us and please help us to stop animal cruelty. Thank you for listening to me. My mom has to help me do a lot of thing and although I have some brain damage I do have a heart and many feelings. Mom says she is going to take pictures of me and my two aunties to put on the website too so you can see the angels in my life.

Eddie continues to amaze us. He now has friends - Goes outside to play and loves everyone and everything. We are still watchful of him and Rex who gets a bit too rough but does not try and hurt him. Eddie's movements are not normal and he jumps and so the dogs have to get used to him and his actions and be understanding that he cannot play as he does. He loves going in to visit with the two lab pups that are up for adoption as well as the "girls" Spring Roni and Onyx who are also looking for homes. It truly warms my heart to see this little guy having a life.

Look at the difference in his eyes from when he first came - bright clear and playful

Eddie continues to amaze us. He is totally housebroken now and understands simple one word commands. All of the animals here love him and take care of him. He has learned to eat from a spoon and loves to get in the circle of dogs who eat from a spoon at night. It is really fun to watch how he interacts with all of the other animals and how tolerant and patient and loving they are with him.

With a great sadness and heavy heart and yet with joy for Eddie as I know now he is whole again and waiting for me at the rainbow bridge I must report that Eddie crossed over to the bridge on December 27th. I can still not talk about it but will put up the e-mail I sent to friends of Eddie.

There really are no words to describe Special Ed. I remember the first time I saw him at animal control. He bounced in circles - His little green eyes begging for love. His battered body not affecting the love for life he had inside him. Blind in one eye deaf in one ear - this angel touched so many of the workers at animals control. They tried to adopt him to someone - they had him as dog of the month. Then I asked Dawn to go and check on him - she called me in tears - Eddie had gotten worse he was sick and had lost weight on a frame that was already too little. Her tears and pleading made me take him and animal control let him go.

Eddie came to the Sanctuary. I do not think any one dog I have had here has touched as many lives as Eddie has. Anyone meeting him fell in love with him in a second. He never could walk right but he bounced like a rabbit and in no time, well in four months, he had learned to walk or bounce straighter - was potty trained and all the dogs in the yard loved him. During Wilma two of my dogs - Tchoupi my wolf and a rott named Mommie gathered him in a circle between them and kept him there. Eddie was an active member in our feeding time at night where all the 18-20 dogs in the house sit in a circle and eat with a spoon. He loved to jump on the couch and lay with us or jump in the bed and burrow under the covers.

This dog who had been badly beaten with a bat enough to be blinded in one eye, made deaf in one ear, and suffer severe brain damage loved the world like no dog I have known. In his very short life he knew so much pain and yet the past 8 months he has known nothing but love.

His seizures had gotten worse and nothing was helping. Last night he suffered a horrid one and then quietly passed over the bridge.

Eddie will be sorely missed here at the Sanctuary. I know my heart has a very empty hole in it and my soul is not lifted quite so high today. Yet, I know my day will come when I shall walk up to the bridge and see my silly Eddie for the first time in a long time running to me. He will hear and see me with both ears and ears and will give me the greatest kiss. I know all my others there waiting will let him be the one to come and grab me to bring me over the bridge. Eddie touched more people than most. His love one day may help people realize the seriousness of animal abuse and help us gain stronger and stricter penalties for those who abuse animals. Eddie never even made it to his second birthday - but the love he gave and the awareness to abuse he showed - made his lifetime a tribute to all animals.

Eddie will continue to be our hope and our leader here at the Sanctuary to stop abuse. He will continue to guide me in taking the most battered and beaten dogs and bringing them back to life. He will continue to be my spirit that will make me spend every waking second and every cent I have to stop abuse - to educate people - and to save lives like his. He may be waiting at the bridge but the Sanctuary will always have his smiling silly face in the forefront of our mission.

We will dedicate a certain amount of our Sanctuary to "EDDIE'S ANGELS" These will be dogs like him. On the day Eddie dies - a dear friend and supporter of the Sanctuary called me about another pitt. This little boy had been picked up with three others on a cruelty call - The other two were so bad they had to be put to sleep - This one had a collar on him and his name was Cocaine. Which was changed immediately to Plato. He is deaf - nothing but a skeleton - weighing only 18 pounds on our scale and is 28 inches tall - about 2 years old. He is Eddie's first angel. Not the last but his first. I knew this dog had been spared for a reason - Eddie gave him to me as a gift to keep me doing what I do. To let me know he had to go - but that he would leave me another like him. Plato is full of open wounds - full of worms - and God knows what else - and yet, like Eddie he loves. We will be putting a story up about Plato during this coming week. HE is eating like a horse - has been given his shots and wormed. His wounds are being treated and each day, like with Eddie, I am greeted with the best of kisses. He will need a lot of medical attention. Hopefully one day someone will take him home to a forever home. I pray that is so.

Palena