Pup-Pourri's Briana, a champion shih tzu show dog, was rescued after wandering East Oakland tangled in chicken wire, her oncegleaming coat encrusted with dirt.
Photo: Sarah Rice / Special to The Chronicle
More pics at the source.
Posted on 03/24/2012 1:09:31 PM PDT by csvset
Once upon a time in Tulsa, Okla., there was a flaxen-haired princess with a coterie of loving attendants, a three-hour-a-day grooming regimen and a room full of trophies.
Fast-forward seven years to East Oakland. That princess - a champion shih tzu show dog named Pup-Pourri's Briana - was found this week staggering along one of the city's meanest streets, tangled in chicken wire and dirt-encrusted dreadlocks, one of the most bizarre animal-neglect cases Oakland animal control officers have ever seen.
"Our best guess is that she was enclosed in chicken wire so tightly she couldn't move, for months if not years," said Oakland Animal Services Director Megan Webb. "But she seemed to have all this training. This air about her. It was strange."
Oakland animal control officers have started piecing together Pup-Pourri's Briana's trajectory. After veterinary staff shaved off the chicken wire and matted fur, treated her skin infections and fed her a decent meal, they checked to see if she had a microchip. She did, and it was registered to a woman named Cheryl Baer in Tulsa.
She's a winner
Baer wept when she heard the fate of one of her favorite show dogs, a creature so beautiful, proud and charming she won best-of-breed competitions in five states. Baer was Pup-Pourri's Briana's groomer for five years, primping her for hours a day with shampoo, conditioner, curling irons and special latex bands for her topknot.
"I am absolutely appalled at what happened to her," said Baer, choking back tears Friday when reached by phone. "A dog that was so loved. ... It's a miracle she's alive."
According to Baer, Pup-Pourri's Briana was born in 1998 in Tulsa, the daughter of a four-time best-in-show sire.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Pup-Pourri's Briana, a champion shih tzu show dog, was rescued after wandering East Oakland tangled in chicken wire, her oncegleaming coat encrusted with dirt.
Photo: Sarah Rice / Special to The Chronicle
More pics at the source.
Awwww...I like happy endings!
“...primping her for hours a day with shampoo, conditioner, curling irons and special latex bands for her topknot...
THAT kind of *seems* like a torture, too. (Just kidding; poor little thing. Great survival instinct, her. Glad she’s somewhere safe, now.)
Oh my goodness, I’m ready to cry here. Who could be so cruel to an animal? Look at that sweet little face!
She’s a survivor though, I guess her champion breeding carried her through.
I hope this poor puppy is well cared for from now on and I hope they find whoever mistreated her and put them in jail. Who knows what else you’d find out about person who would maltreat an animal in that way?
Heart breaking story. The dogs should have been given away to good homes instead of sold to this horrible person. I hope they are found and punished! My brother is a veterinarian he has no use for professional dog breeders, they are all scum as far as he is concerned.
Awwww.....
What a sweet little girl. Stout heart, she has!
THAT kind of *seems* like a torture, too. (Just kidding; poor little thing. Great survival instinct, her. Glad she’s somewhere safe, now.)"
You know what, I really do think it's a kind of torture. I don't have a lot of use for the whole dog & cat show thing.
Too bad, but nice she’s OK after all.
She is on the AKC database.
Now to the ignorant comments...
“a creature so beautiful, proud and charming she won best-of-breed competitions in five states.”
This is not unusual, nor is her sire having 4 BIS (assuming it’s really all-breed, and not BOB). The title “champion” is actually a dime a dozen for anyone who attempts to show the dog more than once a month.
If she was a champion, her pups would have been worth a bundle. She no doubt was breeding stock at a puppy mill until her plumbing no longer worked. Poor dog. No way to treat an animal. I hope they find the people responsible.
Find the person(s) responsible and treat them just as the dog was treated.
Me either, CA.
Reminds me (kind of) of those *childrens’ beauty pageants* where the moms dress-up their little girls like hollyweird-o sluts; Joan Benet Ramnsey comes to mind (RIP, little one), among others.
Oooops, forgot to read the entire story. It sort of answers my question, bk. Sorry.
She didn’t. The owner got Alzheimer’s and the owner’s husband sold the kennel to a breeder in CA. The dog was part of the kennel even though it was being shown and would have been turned over to the new owner. This dog with her show history was probably an important part of the sale.
However I am curious as to why the groomer’s info was registered on the chip instead of the owner’s.
You’d be surprised how many champions are tossed aside when they outlive their usefulness.
They rack up the titles, breed or get bred and the next generation of ‘better’ pups takes their place.
Breeders often don’t want another mouth to feed so they’re ‘adopted out’.
[euphemistically speaking]
In 1986, Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand went to the slaughterhouse.
I’ve had people tell me I should show Odin.
Not just no but hell no.
Yes, that is highly unusual.
When you microchip, you can add as many contacts as you want, just for the sake of upping the odds somebody will be there when the phone call comes.
[my dogs have 3 contact numbers/people]
Usually though, it’s an owner/co-owner/family member for the “extras”.
There’s a possibility that since the original owner died, the groomer was listed as a second contact.
At any rate, thank God she was.
Those things are an utter disgrace.
Yes, our dogs are chipped but we only have family on the records. I guess the groomer would have accompanied this dog to shows so they thought it made sense to have her on the record.
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