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Article
in the Wellesley Townsman about Coal, a senior citizen black
lab who has found a new home:
"An
Old Dog Gets a New Life"
By Cathy Brauner, Townsman Staff
Thursday, February 08, 2007 - Updated: 12:28 PM EST
Coal, a senior citizen black lab, was abandoned a year ago
outside the Wellesley Animal Hospital. Rescued by Stray Pets
in Need, he was eventually placed with the Kelley family of
Elmwood Road. In front: Grace, 6, getting a kiss from Coal.
In back, from left: Melanie; Rosie, 13, Camille, 9, and Brent,
11.
(Keith E. Jacobson)
Coal landed
on all four paws after he was adopted into the Kelley family
of Wellesley. But only a year ago, all the odds were against
this senior citizen black lab.
Early
one morning in January 2006, the dog was discovered tied outside
the Wellesley Animal Hospital on Weston Road. Whoever dumped
him left behind a quilt for him to lie on, but stripped his
collar of any identifying information.
The dog
had a sweet personality, and was quickly dubbed Old King Cole,
in recognition of his merry soul.
But he
was indeed old — Wellesley Animal Control Officer Sue
Webb estimated his age at 10 — and sick. Besides arthritis,
he had a urinary infection. Webb speculated that the owner
might have been unable to afford his medical care, even though
urinary infections are treatable.
Stray
Pets in Need, the Wellesley-based nonprofit group founded
by Webb, covered the cost of his medical treatment and found
him a foster home. But because that couple already had dogs,
Cole needed a permanent placement.
That was
where Elmwood Road residents Scott and Melanie Kelley and
their kids came into the picture. They had recently lost their
female lab, Lindsey, at age 13, and Melanie didn’t feel
ready for a puppy.
“I
knew that I could take care of a dog that had some urinary
issues, because of Lindsay,” she says.
As it
turned out, Cole — now renamed Coal — began dribbling
all the time once the infection was treated. “I was going
crazy running after him with a mop,” she said.
He was
also vomiting and seemed constipated, and Melanie worried
that he had a tumor. So SPIN helped her pay for an ultrasound,
which found nothing amiss.
Eventually,
a urethroscope was done at an emergency hospital in Waltham,
which showed that his urethra “was just completely destroyed
because of long-standing urinary tact infection,” Melanie
says. “I thought he might have been abused. It was that
bad. The doctor said he had never seen anything like it. He
must have had that infection for a very, very long time.”
At that
point, the family was faced with a decision: live with the
dribbling, or return him to Stray Pets in Need. But, says
Melanie, “I committed to this dog. I wanted to help him.
I couldn’t give him back. What a bad message [for the
kids].”
Fortunately,
someone in a pet store suggested diapers, and that became
Coal’s salvation — and the family’s group chore.
The kids help change the diapers, and Melanie washes them
every day. “He doesn’t object,” says Melanie,
adding that in the past year, he’s put on a few pounds
and “the diapers are getting a little snug,” she
says.
Meanwhile,
Coal has become more and more a part of the family— no
small task, given that he spent the first 10 years of his
life in some other household. His only phobia, if it can be
called that, is that he doesn’t like hardwood floors
and races across them to reach the carpet.
“We
very much enjoy him. He’s an easy dog,” says Melanie.
“It took six months for him to bark. Finally, when he
barked, he scared us all to death.”
They taught
him to swim last summer, and they take him for walks when
it’s warm enough.
Six-year-old
Grace is particularly attached to him. “She absolutely
adores him. She smells like him, because she’s always
touching him,” Melanie says.
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