CAIRO — A Grady County dog was given a second chance when he received a special wheelchair last week.

Kay Williams, owner of Frog Song Farm Sanctuary near Cairo, said Harry was given the wheelchair April 11 after his back legs stopped working during a veterinary treatment ironically meant to help his injured spinal cord.

The new wheelchair gives Harry a degree of mobility that allows him to take part in some of his favorite activities.

“He’s a happy, sweet little dog that loves being outside,” Williams said. “Of course, we have six other dogs and they run around and he’s desperate to join them.”

Williams said she isn’t entirely sure what breed Harry is, but thinks the little rescue dog with the “funny-looking” underbite may be a Lhasa Apso-mix.

Harry’s favorite activities include sunbathing, riding in the farm’s RTV, being held, interacting with other dogs and barking at the donkeys who also inhabit Frog Song.

“One of the reasons we’ve been so committed to trying to get him back on his feet is because he is the dog who wants to go out and meet people and do things and be active,” Williams said. “Honestly, I’ve yet to find anything he doesn’t enjoy doing. If you’re giving him attention and he’s involved, he’s happy.”

Along with her husband, Richard D’Antoni, Williams runs the nonprofit animal sanctuary that features horses, donkeys, cows, goats and ducks. 

“A lot of them are seniors, some of them are special-needs, some of them just needed a home,” Williams said. “They come here and they stay here. We don’t adopt them out. It’s kind of a soft place for them to land.”

Harry, who is estimated to be around 8 years old, is one of two dogs that are part of the sanctuary along with Williams’ own five dogs.

Williams said she was with family in Indiana in November after a beloved pet was killed by an oncoming vehicle when she and her husband decided to look into rescuing another animal to lift their spirits.

That’s when they first met Harry, being held at the time at an Indianapolis-based animal rescue group that believed he had cancer.

“His favorite thing to do was to lie outside in the sun,” Williams said. “So he didn’t have much time, but they thought it would be great if he could winter in southern Georgia rather than Indiana where he won’t be able to be outside.”

Harry could walk at the time Williams took him in, but not very well.

“He couldn’t do stairs,” Williams said. “He had a funny little walk and he couldn’t get around really well, but he was getting around.”

By the time Harry arrived in Georgia, the veterinarian in Indiana had run several biopsies which determined that whatever ailed him wasn’t cancer.

In early December, Williams took Harry to a specialist in Tallahassee, Florida who conducted a myelogram in preparation for corrective surgery when suddenly the dog lost use of his back legs.

“We think he had an old injury and that the test, which was a shock to everyone, including the vet, who had done lots and lots of them there, was just too much,” Williams said.

Ever since then, Williams said they’ve been trying to get Harry back on his feet.

With the help of donations from Frog Song’s social media followers, Harry receives acupuncture treatments from an alternative veterinarian in Havana, Fla., and undergoes laser treatments and hydrotherapy in Tallahassee each week.

“It’s been a godsend,” Williams said of the donations. “He never would have had the chance he has (without them).”

So far, Williams estimated that nearly $5,000 in donations for Harry has been raised, and she’s always raising more to continue his treatments.

Last week, Williams received a special wheelchair suggested by a physical therapist in Tallahassee with the goal of restoring Harry’s ability to walk at the level of mobility he had prior to the myleogram.

Williams said she was originally concerned that immediately putting Harry in the wheelchair would encourage him to completely stop using his hind legs and never be able to walk again, but so far that hasn’t been the case.

“This wheelchair was the perfect answer,” Williams said. “It’s kind of both. It’s instant mobility with physical therapy mixed in.”

While in the wheelchair, Harry’s back legs are held in a canvas sling, which allows them to be used in a limited capacity.

Williams said progress has been made to where Harry can independently walk short distances on his own, albeit with some effort.

“He’ll walk once halfway down our driveway and then that’ll be it for the day,” Williams said. “We’ve got a long way to go before he’s going to be running on the farm with everybody else.”

Williams said that for as much as Harry has gone through in recent months, he’s made it through tough scraps before.

That’s because before he arrived at the Indiana shelter, Harry previously lived with a family in rural Kentucky.

“They were kind of rotten,” Williams said. “They called animal control and said, ‘take him to the shelter and euthanize him.'”

When animal control arrived, they found Harry dirty, emaciated and having trouble walking. His hair was so matted that he couldn’t fully open his mouth or eyes.

Harry was so filthy, Williams said, that when shelter workers first bathed him they realized they didn’t know the color of his fur.

“They put him in a bath and realized that he was white, not black,” Williams said. “It was all dried blood and fleas on him.”

Williams said Harry was so sweet to the shelter workers that they decided to give him one week of being loved before euthanizing him.

“They said, ‘we’re going to feed him, we’re going to love him,'” Williams said. “A week passed and they said ‘we can’t put him down. He’s too special of a dog.'”

Instead, the cash-strapped shelter held onto Harry until they found the rescue group in Indianapolis with the resources to give him the care they felt he deserved.

To Williams, the episode is just another example of Harry’s resilience.

“This is why I think people love Harry,” she said. “He’s such a fighter.”

Individuals can donate to Harry’s ongoing treatment on Frog Song Farm Sanctuary’s Facebook page or at frogsongfarmsanctuary.org.