Orson Has a Secret!

Orson's story is one you've heard so many times before. An older dog who ended up at BARC, Houston's animal shelter. His family never claimed him. No one wanted him. Covered in mange that made his already slim chances of being adopted even slimmer.

Until Pame Parks from Two Step Sanctuary entered the picture! She agreed to take Orson into her program and give him a safe, quiet place to live out his remaining days.

But she did not have room for him just then, and he needed a place to stay until she did. He had run out the clock at the shelter, which has to make room for the next huge wave of abandoned dogs that deluges them daily.

That is where Smiling Dog Farms got involved! Cindi, an indefatigable volunteer at BARC, asked if we could foster Orson until Pam could take him.

We started feeding him a high protein, high fat diet to build up his body weight. And as you can see in the photo above, we began treating his mange, which included weekly sulphur baths!

Here is Orson after a couple weeks at the farm, getting ready to go meet Pame. While Orson was still not totally "healed", he was well on his way. His fur was growing back and he had put on some weight.

We met Pame up in Houston and Orson went to live with her at the sanctuary. And THAT is when Orson's secret was revealed!

He is not an old man at all!

Turns out that Orson only seemed elderly because of his mange and malnutrician. The slowness of gait was not because of his age, but because of his condition!

Pam reports that he runs with the big dogs and that she has had to put a cow bell around Orson's neck to keep track of him and his antics! He has learned to walk in the creek with the other dogs, and he can jump straight up in the air from a standing position!

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Pame would like Orson to be adopted!

Orson has a safe place to live, but Pame would like for him to have a family of his own. If you know someone who would be interested in this special guy who has truly come back from the brink, please contact us at Intake@SmilingDogFarms.org and we will put you in touch with Pame!

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All in all, a happy ending for sweet Orson who had everyone fooled into thinking he was an old man!