We’ve been fostering rescue Giants for several years now & in the spring of 2006, having placed the latest one, Sota, we were ready for the next one.  We were sure we would get one of the Giants seized in West VA & my only reservation was that my husband, Billy, wouldn’t be home from Guam (US Navy) until mid-July & my room-mate had a 3 yr old daughter.  Not knowing anything about the WV Giants I was leery of bringing one into the home with her.  The first week of July, Jane Elias & I had decided we’d take one of the 2 boys being boarded until foster homes could be found when Carolyn Janak called & said she needed us to take a different boy.  I asked, “Why?  Is he broken?”  Carolyn replied, “Yes, & you have Dr. Burian.”  He’s the wonderful surgeon here who helps us out w/the rescues.  The next weekend we met Kate Creveling who had been fostering Smarty.  We weren’t crazy about the name Smarty so my husband came up with Smarty Jones.  He became the Jones boy.  He’s a very sweet & laid back boy.  Kate’s vet sent X-rays which I took to Dr. Burian.  It turns out Jones had an old fracture just below the right hip joint which had caused major arthritis in the hip, entropion (the eyelids roll into the eye & rub on it) with  a scar on his right eye from a untreated but healed corneal ulcer, & both testicles were retained in  his abdomen.  Jones couldn’t run with the other dogs as much as he wanted to play with them.  He’s trot a few steps then stop & just watch them running around the yard.  It made me want to cry to watch it! 

The ideal treatment for the hip was a hip replacement, but even with Dr. Burian doing it at cost it would run over $3000 dollars just for that surgery.  We opted to do an FHO where the ball at the top of the femur is removed & the resulting bone callous forms a false joint.  Dr. Burian neutered him & repaired the entropion at the same time.  We had a rough couple of weeks until all the staples & stitches came out, but 2 days after his surgery he was running around the yard with the other dogs!  He never slowed down again.

 Dr. Burian’s surgery tech, Hilary, fell in love with him.  It turned out that her uncle & grandmother had lost their dog a few months back & she thought he would be perfect for them.  I asked Mary Jones who lives very close to them to do the home visit & when she called to tell me about it her recommendation was, “They’re wonderful!  Give them the dog!”  Billy & I were going to visit his family about 2 hours from the Livingstones in October, so we made a side trip to take Jones to his new home.  Mary was right, they’re wonderful.  I also spoke with Hilary in January & she’d seen them over Christmas & said Jones & his new family couldn’t be happier with each other.  He came to the family gathering & was a big hit with everyone including the other dogs.