Lost dog takes to wheels

Date: 7/27/2010

July 28, 2010

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

SPRINGFIELD -- The white Pekingese with blue eyes and a perpetual grin doesn't seemed bothered in the least that his rear legs are paralyzed as he zips along the floor of a conference room at the Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center. Maxtor may be disabled, but that doesn't stop him.

He plays with a ball, ambles over to lick this reporter's hand and asks for a treat.

Pam Peeples, the director of the center, said Maxtor was found injured on Carew Street.

"We think he was marginally cared for," Peeples told Reminder Publications. "He needed grooming, but someone spent time socializing him."

After he was taken to the center, Peeples said Dr. Lauren Atkins recognized the dog had an inoperable spinal cord injury, they noticed something else, though, she added.

"In less than a minute of coming here, he was happy and eager to see everything," Peeples said.

Because of his attitude, Atkins believed Maxtor could be a good candidate for a wheeled harness that would allow him mobility. Peeples said the center had one on hand and Maxtor was off and running.

The wheeled harness was made by Eddie's Wheels, a business in Shelburne Falls, which specializes in the design and manufacture of wheeled harnesses for pets.

Peeples said Massachusetts law requires a shelter to hold a lost dog 10 days in order for his or her owners to reclaim him or her That period is over and no one came for Maxtor.

Now available for adoption, Maxtor needs "a family that would be extraordinarily committed," Peeples said.

Maxtor appears to be in control of his bladder, she said, but is fecally incontinent. The family who adopts him would have to have a strong relationship with a veterinarian.

Watching him scoot around the floor, Peeples said, "Humans could takes lessons from him about adversity."

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