RIP Peppermint April 29th 2021

Hello all,
We are the proud owners of the worlds best rescue dog, a dog so brave and wonderful she could make anyone fall in love with her.

As I sit here, tears running down my face it pains me to say that after two weeks, four doctors, and almost $3,000 dollars in medical bills trying to search for answers as to why she was unable to breathe after waking from naps and why she lost consciousness multiple times in the last two days and needed to be resuscitated by my husband and myself that our beloved Peppermint has another hurdle to
overcome.
On Thursday 4/15  Peppermint was diagnosed as having a large mass in her trachea.  She will require a biopsy, a CT scan, an ultra sound,
anesthesia, multiple overnight stays, etc at the Oradell Emergency Animal Hospital and lastly a surgery in which a portion of her
trachea will be removed in order for her to survive. This emergency surgery will cost anywhere between $8,000 and $15,624.

The alternative is filling her full of steroids until she dies on her own due to lack of oxygen or euthanasia.
I cannot accept defeat for this animal, I will not accept defeat for this member of my family who has only just begun to see what good
there is in the world. She is an active, playful and happy dog with plenty of time to have more story to tell.



Here is her story...so far:
Roughly 10 years ago in Mississippi our dearest Peppermint was born. She was
born into a life she did not choose... For the first 5 years of her live she was used as a backwoods breeder dog to create what we can only imagine were the most
precious little puppies for sale. She was used for those puppies over and over
again until her teeth rotted out of her sunken, malnourished skull. Kept in a crate 24 hours a day she got a fatty mass on her hip from always being in the same
position. We can only guess that she sat there for years and years watching her
babies go to homes as she was just used for more babies. Then one day our
beloved Peppermint could no longer produce litters of puppies so naturally she
was dumped at a high kill shelter to be destroyed. As luck would have it our little
girls story didn't end there, a no kill rescue from New Jersey saw what a beauty
she was and rescued her from her sinister fate. 

Peppermint was on her way to New Jersey, as she traveled up North my mother
was shopping in PetSmart and got to talking with a lady about pets and
mentioned how my husband and myself has Schnauzer (Grover) and wanted a
rescue companion for him as he seemed lonely. The lady told my mom all about a dog named "Lulu" and her story and told her where she was located. I got the call
from my mother and immediately called the rescue asking about "LuLu" the
rescue said they had no dog by that name but a small Schnauzer had been
transferred to another shelter, I called right away. Another dead end awaited me
there as I asked about "LuLu".  We were away in Upstate NY when I figured I
would call one more time and try to find this dog. I called and got a wonderful
volunteer who said "I know who you mean, Luna not "LuLu". The pup had been
found, we cut our trip short and drove back the next day with Grover to meet his potentially new sister. When we arrived we were not prepared for what we saw.
You see the dogs on the TV commercials with the weepy music but you are never prepared to see them face to face. There she was, skin and bones, swollen belly
dragging the ground, cowering in the corner of the office because the volunteers were trying to socialize her. We were shocked at her condition.  They opened the office door and Grover walked right in. Right away Lunas ears perked and her eyes fixed on Grover no longer shaking she walked right up to him and gave him a
sniff. What's funny about rescue dogs is that it is very apparent right away who
hurt them, it isn't other animals its someone far worse.... HUMANS. Luna and
Grover walked around together for a half hour and we felt they had really made a
connection. One of the volunteers suggested we take the two outside so we
followed. We noticed right away that Luna had to be carried outside, no collar, no leash. We inquired, as it would turn out Luna had never been on collar, Luna had
never been on leash, hell Luna had never been on grass before. We realized
immediately that we would be taking on a very challenging dog if we were to
adopt. We decided to go home and sleep on it but didn't even make it 24 hours
before calling to adopt her.

We got her home and right away released her of her made up name and named
her Peppermint because her teeth made her seem like she really needed one. 
Over the next year we worked diligently to untrain her mind of the abuse she
suffered. It took weeks for her to come over to us, months for her to learn how to walk on a dropped leash, years for her to not cower when a man in a baseball hat was around or a smoke alarm went off. She endured late in life spaying, and having all of her teeth extracted except for her canines due to neglect. She went from a
scrawny 11lbs to a respectable 13lbs that first year. She learned to sing, play and most importantly learned the joy of human kindness she had never known before.




Please, if you can, help Peppermint.
We want so much for her story to continue, please help us make that possible.
Also please know that if for ANY reason we are not going to go through with the surgery (ie: the biopsy turns out to be cancerous and the Dr doesn't advise Chemo) your money will all be refunded in full (unless you want your donation to help fund the medical bills already incurred or her medicine)