BIO

In July, 2020, a woman in California’s Inland Valley area reported domestic abuse by her adult nephew, who lived in a single wide trailer on her property. When authorities responded to the call, they discovered a trailer full of neglected dogs and a man in need of help. They exited the dogs in the worst shape first, and then slowly convinced the man to relinquish the remaining dogs over the course of the month. 

By the time all of the dogs were removed from the trailer, there were more than 60 similar looking dogs rescued from this single-wide trailer. It was clear they had been living in deplorable conditions. According to the man, he originally had three dogs who were not sterilized. Those three dogs had litters, and eventually, the man had 60+ dogs in the home. Three of those 60 or so dogs were wobbly and unable to stand due to a congenital condition, cerebellar hypoplasia. One of the three dogs had such severe hypoplasia that he was euthanized due to poor quality of life. The shelter reached out to try and find rescues for the other two. Chopstix was lucky enough to get rescued by Frosted Faces Foundation.

When Choppy arrived at FFF, his hair was matted and he was covered in solidified feces. He went through a rigorous grooming and shave down, and all the while, everyone marveled at how friendly and sweet Choppy was, despite coming from such poor circumstances. It was clear Choppy could not walk, but Choppy could MOVE. Through an army-type crawl and sheer will, Choppy showed he could get from place to place, particularly if his end destination had a human to love on. He also can place his feet long enough to go potty, but he will eventually wobble so much that he falls over. While at Frosted Faces, one of the volunteers fitted Choppy for a wheelchair, which Choppy has slowly gotten used to using. While Choppy can’t go far in it and tires easily, it’s been good exercise for him and has helped him build core strength.

Upon his initial rescue, I immediately fell in love with Choppy and started picking him up every weekend to take him on day outings. Choppy was down for EVERY adventure I threw at him – hiking, biking, rollerblading, boating, outdoor movies, picnics – you name it, and he was happy to do it. More than anything though, Choppy loves EATING and I quickly discovered there wasn’t any food this wobbly little guy would tun down. Over the course of the last year, lots of other people fell in love with Choppy, too. Everyone would say, “Oh my god, I love Choppy so much, I wish I could take him home, but….” There was always a “but” to taking Choppy home – the “but” was often followed by the sentiment that Choppy’s disability required more care than a person felt they could offer. 

There were a few people who actually DID end up taking Choppy home – he was adopted and returned three times over a 10 month period. Each adoption quickly failed, either because an adopter determined that Choppy was dog aggressive and couldn’t live with other dogs or because an adopter felt he was too much work. Each return was sad, but each return also meant that Choppy and I could resume our outings together.

In May, I had planned an epic road trip with some of my other dogs. The plan was to drive up the coast from San Diego all the way to Seattle and back again. I couldn’t imagine doing the trip without Choppy and asked Frosted Faces if Choppy could come on the very special trip. They said OK and off we went! For the 10 days we spent in a van together, I learned that despite the opinions of others, Choppy was an incredibly easy dog to take care of. He was housebroken and NEVER went to the bathroom in the van, always barking or whining to tell you when he had to go. He got along fine with my dogs, who understood how to respect his space. He liked to nap, a lot, and was always happy at every human meal time. Sure, he needed help getting around and standing up to go to the bathroom, but throwing him in a back pack or using a sling to hold him up got the job done.

When I got back from our trip and started thinking about bringing Choppy back to Frosted Faces, I realized I couldn’t do it. Dropping him off filled me with such dread, as did the idea of Choppy getting adopted a fourth or a fifth time, with another rejection and return waiting for him. So I sent the email I had wanted to send for almost a year, “Hey, can I adopt Choppy?” The answer was yes and the rest is history. Choppy has been officially ours for almost 2 months and has settled in so well with our dog crew. He really is an easy dog and a true testament to the idea that patience really does bring the best rewards.