UPDATE: Dog saved by animal rescue recovering after leg amputation surgery

UPDATE: The dog rescued from the side of a road in Dell City is recovering after a leg amputation surgery.

D. Sanders, the woman behind Doggie Do Overs animal rescue in Hudspeth County, told ABC-7’s Stephanie Valle on March 9 that Toby the pit bull mix that is walking and responding well to treatment.

Sanders said once he is healed he will be ready to find a forever home.

The nonprofit has started a GoFundMe page to help pay for Toby’s surgery.

Visit Doggie Do Overs Facebook page here.

ORIGINAL STORY FROM MARCH 3:

At 4,572 square miles, Hudspeth County is four times as large as El Paso County.

The county has only one animal rescue organization, with a woman and her family behind it, actively working to find the pets new homes.

ABC-7 met D. Sanders on one of her many trips into El Paso as she got medical treatment for a dog who had been hit by a car in Dell City and left for dead on the side of the road.

“He’s still skinny but he looks a lot better,” Sanders said as she looked over Toby, a pit bull mix, outside the animal clinic Wednesday afternoon. Toby’s right hind leg needs to be amputated and he has some pretty awful gashes. But Sanders is optimistic that the ticks are gone and his spirits are up. This outcome is motivation for Sanders, who has been running Doggie Do Overs for six years.

“I run the whole rescue and my kids all work for me. My whole family does it. My mom’s the driver,” Sanders said, gesturing to her mother and son who were sitting in their SUV nearby.

The vehicle and the family’s home are dual headquarters for the nonprofit rescue. The dogs sleep in the home. They get socialized with other animals as well as Sanders, her mother, Sanders’ five children and three grandchildren. Even her 2-year-old grandchild helps feed the dogs.

Sanders has cared for all kinds of animals: from dozens of unwanted newborn puppies, to Zeus, a blind 8-year-old Great Pyrenees that Border Patrol agents found on the roadside and took to her.

“He came totally house trained, leash trained,” she said. “He was somebody’s dog that they just left.”

Despite the demand on her time, her car, her family and her heart, Sanders said she knows that what she is doing is vital.

“They would get put down,” Sanders said. “There is not a doubt in my mind. They wouldn’t make it.”

Doggie Do Overs has expanded and now rescues dogs in El Paso, Las Cruces and Carlsbad.

The nonprofit has started a GoFundMe page to help pay for Toby’s surgery.

Visit Doggie Do Overs Facebook page here.