SHILOH'S STORY: Making a Difference to Call for Stricter Laws to Protect our Precious Fur Babies; After all, THEY ARE DEPENDING ON US! This is Shiloh's Story (retold by myself, Debbie Hellems), but also this is a page to raise awareness for the negligent acts against animals & their Pet Parents. Shiloh's Story is one that no Pet Parent should EVER have to experience. There have been many differen
t versions of this story told by people along the way for various reasons. After much investigation and getting the full story from several people who were present those three horrific days Shiloh was being searched for, this is to the best of my knowledge a true and exact story verified through many sources. Robin Lawson's Australian shepherd, Shiloh went into Good Shepherd Veterinarian Hospital in Kanawha City (Charleston), West Virginia for a routine spay at 8 months old. She was dropped off at 7:10 a.m., Wednesday, January 25, 2017. After same-day surgery, a new vet tech took Shiloh outside to potty along with a large pit bull, (Sarah Stephenson's dog, who was the veterinarian in charge of Shiloh). They have a HUGE indoor doggy daycare with plenty of space AND an outdoor area that is fenced in. The dogs weren't taken to either, but outside in the grassy area across the alley where there is a busy 4-lane road close by, the interstate close by AND the train tracks close by. Somehow the vet tech lost control of the vet's dog, allegedly dropped Shiloh's leash (rather than tie her to something or run her inside) and took off after the older, larger dog that belonged to the vet. Upon returning after the vet's dog was retrieved, Shiloh was nowhere in sight. Apparently, they made an attempt after the fact to find Shiloh sometime that afternoon, but did NOT contact the owners, didn't organize a search party, didn't notify any police, media or anything to make a SERIOUS effort to find this poor, scared puppy recovering from a spay, who was obviously in pain and confusion. Of course, Robin was frantic when she called at around 4:10 to say she was coming to pick up Shiloh and was informed by Sarah Stephenson that her dog had gotten loose and was missing. It was getting dark, cold and raining. By 7:30 or so after searching for a short time, they said "oh well, the dog will PROBABLY just find a dry place on someone's porch or garage and she'll turn up by tomorrow" and THEY WENT HOME! Knowing it was THEIR responsibility to find this dog and how crucial that first day/night could be, especially with the risks associated with a recent spay! So for THREE LONG DAYS and TWO NIGHTS Robin had to be searching for her dog with leads turning up all around KC and try to organize her own search and rescue, follow leads on social media and pretty much do it on her own except for the help of friends, family, and strangers that heard about her plight on social media from Robin and Robin's friends sharing. The vet never organized a large search party to help find Robin's dog, never apologized directly to Robin or took responsibility for her lack of immediate action that could have saved Shiloh's life. Another friend of ours, Lorrie Marks Burdette, who runs a well-known search & rescue (and has even won national awards and had her dog on TV shows) came and helped after she got back in town. They were searching the day that Shiloh was found by a random person who took the dog to the vet's office, dead, having been hit by a train on DAY #3!! A puppy hit by a train after being dropped into the hands of someone we all would trust to do a spay....a veterinarian! One may expect complications from surgery, complications from anesthesia, bleeding, etc., but being killed by a train?? How can you wrap your head around that one?? Can you imagine the heartache and the devastation Robin faced as a Pet Parent when she received that news and had to go identify little Shiloh's battered body? Robin is still suffering physically, mentally and psychologically from the trauma of this and having to deal with "PTSD" type symptoms and probably will for a long, long time to come. Had the vet done her job before this happened to educate and train the new vet techs on safety protocols, or even after the fact when Shiloh was "lost" or anytime in between, poor Shiloh wouldn't have suffered scared, and in pain trying to find her way. I can't imagine going through this type of trauma, especially without the person responsible for Shiloh being present the WHOLE time and showing that she cares what you're going through and trying her very best to remedy the situation. Then to top it all off, myself and a few others are doing research to check into laws that SHOULD be in place to protect our pets when they are handed over to "professionals" and we're finding that there are VIRTUALLY NO LAWS to protect pets during surgeries, during daycare stays, during kenneling, during grooming or whatever else! At this point, these people have the right to harm your animal (whether intentionally or from neglect) and get off virtually scott free. All they are held accountable for is paying you the fee to "replace the animal". There are no real repercussions if your pet is killed due to neglect or cruelty or malpractice! We are working hard to make sure these things can't and won't happen to pets in the future without some type of consequences at least. Shiloh SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN OUTSIDE that day to potty. Period, especially not with another, larger dog. They could have used puppy pads indoors until Robin arrived to take Shiloh home. One of their vet techs happened to put up a comment on the vet's page (before it was taken down) and stated that Shiloh was known to be "very hyper"; of course she was! She was an 8-month old Australian shepherd, that should have NEVER been taken out while someone smoked, texted or whatever they were said to be doing and especially with a larger dog. Shiloh should have been indoors waiting to be picked up by her Momma, and extra precautions of anything should have been taken to assure that Shiloh was secure since she was "known to be hyper". There needs to be seminars, training videos, handbooks, etc for how a pet should be handled and the precautions that should be taken while in the care of "professionals", ESPECIALLY at certain ages, after surgery, and depending on the type of dog, etc. There is just NO EXCUSE for this to happen, but especially no excuse for no real consequences and not even an apology or a real effort made to have found Shiloh before this fate was met. Now after researching and finding that there are soooo many stories of dogs suffering from neglect and malpractice at the hands of "professionals", everything from being given the wrong medication/dosage of medication; having the wrong limb removed or kidney removed; misdiagnoses; dying at groomers being left under an extremely hot blow dryer till they died (more than one case); dogs being left alone all night after surgeries at vet's offices and dying because of complications and no one finding them till the next day because they were left unsupervised; dogs ripping open stitches after surgery at vets' offices and bleeding to death; dogs left and forgotten over the weekend at boarders and found dead from dehydration; and on & on! It's time in 2017 that SOMEONE proposes the laws be revamped to protect our pets! We've got a voice and intend to use it to protect everyone's pets from being treated like they don't matter or like they are expendable. This is a goal that we're anxious to do, and with everyone's support, WE CAN AND WILL make a difference in Shiloh's name! May God bless you all and THANK YOU so much. If you've taken the time and made it this far reading Shiloh's Story, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE "like" our page and show your support. SHARE, SHARE, SHARE, VISIT OUR PAGE OFTEN, ASK QUESTIONS, COMMENT AND SPREAD THE WORD OF SHILOH'S STORY! The more voices we have, the more chance of MAKING THAT CHANGE! LET'S SPEAK FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NO VOICE AND HAVE NO CHOICE! WE ARE VERY GRATEFUL FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU AND APPRECIATE YOU TAKING TIME TO READ THIS AND ESPECIALLY FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT xoxo
