Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley

Gracie Bella’s Hope’s first donation went to the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley.  On the news we heard of a hoarding incident and the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley was asking for donations to help 52 pets. dogs, cats, ferrets, chickens, rabbits and other animals in horrible conditions.  On May 8 we made a donation to help these pets get veterinary car, grooming, supplies and other help needed for them to be adopted out.  As of today, most of the animals have found homes and are getting the care they need.

Loki

This is Loki, a 3 month old puppy who chewed a stuffy toy to pieces.  Loki swallowed a leg of the toy with a squeaker still inside to leg.  It became lodged in his intestine, where he could not eat or pass anything, and became very sick and in danger of passing if the leg of the toy was not removed.  Gracie Bella’s Hope jumped in helping with the surgery.  The leg of the toy was removed and Loki is now a happy puppy again with his family.

https://www.uvsonline.com  Upstate Veterinary Specialties, 152 Sparrowbush Road, Latham, New York 12110 performed the emergency surgery on June 23, 2025.

Fawn

Fawn is Jayne Milligan Erhardt’s service dog.  Jayne is deaf with a cochlear implant, so she has some hearing, but Fawn hears for Jayne.  Fawn alerts Jayne when someone is at the door, when her name is called at appointments, and even when a migraine is coming.  Jayne wrote me that when she broke her leg, her doctor said it was sprained, yet Fawn kept licking the area as the pain worsened.  Sure enough, after tests, Jayne’s leg was broken.  After being put in an air cast, Fawn stopped licking Jayne’s leg.

Fawn is originally from Freedom Guide Dog for the blind.  Fawn has had two liters, for a total of 14 puppies all now working with someone who is blind.

Gracie Bella’s Hope jumped in when Fawn had to have a tumor removed on July 8, this year.  We worked with her clinic, For Pet’s Sake Veterinary Center, in Glens Falls, New York.  We’re happy to hear that Jayne and Fawn are resting together and Fawn is back home with Jayne.

 

Happy Dog

Janet saw an injured dog that looked like this running down the road, limping just above the Batchellerville Bridge. She stopped and tried to catch it, but it ran into this construction site and she couldn’t find it. My neighbor, Sue and I were talking at home when Janet came out and told us about the dog. We all decided to go and see if we could find it. I brought Gracie Bella in case she could help track it down.  Gracie Bella started to whine while looking under a crawl space on the construction site.  There was the dog, not happy where she was, but would not come out to us.  We called the Saratoga Sheriff and I called James Brennan Animal Shelter to see if someone could come and rescue it. Meanwhile Brennan’s called back with a frantic owner whose dog had gotten loose. We exchanged destinations and  the owner met us where the dog was and soon the little dog was in her arms. The dog did suffer a leg injury and got veterinary care and will soon be healed again. The owner had been looking for her dog all morning.  Janet and Sue are board members of Gracie Bella’s Hope along with myself.  This was a free rescue, but well worth helping our little pets.