Shepherd Survives Train Collision

German Shepherd Survives Train Collision - Regains Mobility in K-9 Cart Dog Wheelchair

We only recently became familiar with Monty's story. In December 2008, a German Shepherd Dog was hit by a passenger train in Montclair, NJ. The shepherd was laying in the snow in obvious distress surrounded by police men.

Dog hit by train in Montclair, NJ with police onlooking.

Joel Schwartzberg, who writes a blog for nj.com and the Star-Ledger, was on the train that arrived just after the shepherd was hit. In his blog, he mentions that despite his obvious pain, the dog never tried to bite or nip anyone. The German Shepherd Dog appeared to have no owner so he was rechristened Sir Montague or "Monty" for short.

Monty was treated by an emergency vet in Union, NJ, where his injuries were numerous. Monty had a severed spinal cord and was paralyzed in the hind end. In addition, he had a skull fracture, a nasty case of hookworms, and would test positive for heartworms. Later on the floppy ear that was thought to be a train injury would turn out to be an aural hematoma - an collection of blood in the ear that breaks down the normal cartilage tissue.

Monty tries out K-9 Cart dog wheelchair

In January 2009, Monty was taken in by Rosemary DiStefano, who runs Faith's Hope - a rescue close to Philadelphia. In the ensuing months, Monty has come a long way. He has two loving foster parents, Donna and Rick, who live on 14 acres in the mountains. While Monty had a loaner wheelchair from another dog wheelchair company, Monty could not be as mobile as he wanted in this wheelchair because of the excessive swaying motion and lack of stability. That's when we received a call at K-9 Cart Company East to build a custom dog wheelchair for Monty. On August 5, 2009, Monty and many friends came to Oxford, MD for a final fitting of his dog wheelchair.

We had been told that Monty loves to run with Rick. As a matter of Monty will try and run with or without a wheelchair and only accepts help supporting a rear harness from Rick on rare occasions. According to Rosemary, "Rick takes Monty on a 2-4 mile hike around their property just about every day." Using the loaner dog wheelchair, Monty would often take turns too tightly trying to chase down a bunny or squirrel and flipped his dog wheelchair a couple of times. Fortunately, Monty was never hurt and knew to wait for Rick to catch up and get him back upright.

Nonetheless, we weren't quite prepared with our video camera when Monty was put in his K-9 Cart dog wheelchair and took off down the road a 1/4 mile to the Oxford Community Center. But we did get a few clips of Monty testing out (or should we saw running at break neck speed) in his new wheelchair. See Monty's video in our video vault or a link on youtube.com. We all agree that Monty's ear gives him that special bit of character. He is just such a sweet, amazing dog given all that he has been through.

Now Monty is looking for a forever home. As stated by Rosemary, "Please spread the word about Monty, he is looking for just the right permanent home. He needs a family that is just as special and big-hearted as he is. He has survived against all odds and continues to inspire everyone he meets, now he just needs the happy ending he so truly deserves."

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German Shepherd Survives Train Collision - Regains Mobility in K-9 Cart Dog Wheelchair

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