Ilean's Second Chance

As if my life wasn't full enough, this day before Christmas I found Ilean, or she found me, I'm not really sure.  From the first moment I saw her, we bonded.  She laid on her back at my feet for a belly rub.  That was a very good sign.  I immediately knew I have a wonderful home and lots of love to offer her.  But somehow I think Ilean already knew that.  The fact that she had an injured unusable back leg and terribly matted fur full of sharp spurs did not deter me in my decision to rescue her.  So I pulled a seat out of it's position in my van, since she was too big to sit on the front seat.  I drove back home just me and Ilean.  When I got home I called my husband from the front yard and told him I had a Christmas present for the family.  I will never forget the look on his face.  See, as a child I went to visit my Grandmother, Grandfather, Aunt, Uncle, Cousins and friends in Switzerland, where my father was born and raised.  The biggest thrill for me was to see "The Barley", a large St. Bernard.  Every year I would walk with Barley through the hills over looking the city of Zurich.  So it was destiny that me and Ilean found each other.  What amazed me the most after I got her home was how gentle and loving she was.  We immediately tried to see if she would let us groom her.  With a dog this large and no history on, you want to tread lightly and hope that she would accept and allow us to groom her.  To my delight, she left us brush her everywhere as she stretched and stretched and stretched, even allowing us to cut out the severely matted areas and remove the sharp spurs while combing her.  This was unbelievable.  A tremendous amount of trust was given from both of us.  This was not something we had to earn toward each other, it was a bond that both of us know was meant to be.  Then we took her to the vet and everything checked out health wise.  He did say that her bad leg was a result of an accident that was left untreated and her knee had fused itself to her leg bone.  As we played with her, she was given her new name,  Ilean, see she leans onto you to get love while holding out her bad leg.  It's hard for her to hold her footing on three legs,  her legs tend to slide out from under her on the tiled flooring.  The vet said that there was probably nothing they could do for her expect to explore the possibility of a total knee replacement.  And so our journey begins...........