Kabir and Baypath’s Mighty Ecosystem at Work

Kabir has a special place in our hearts at Baypath. This one-year-old German Shepherd showed us the power of our ecosystem. He accessed every resource we have at our disposal, including rehoming, extraordinary veterinary care, training, and foster care.

Kabir came to Baypath in need of rehoming because his family was moving out of the country and was unable to take him with them. They did notice at the young age of 10 weeks he had hip issues. After seeing a specialist Kabir was diagnosed with severe bilateral hip dysplasia due to his poor breeding. While there are many responsible breeders in the community, his breeder was not one of them and was not interested in helping him or taking him back – even suggesting euthanasia.

While we developed a plan to set up Kabir for success he was being cared for in a foster home with Aurora Richards. We leveraged our relationships with a wonderful orthopedic surgeon and his rehabilitation/veterinarian wife, Susie Starr, DVM, CCRP, owner of Paws in Motion in Milford, who assessed his condition. While it was determined surgery was not necessary, physical therapy was indicated for ongoing maintenance and a treatment plan was put in place. Danielle, a Tufts intern that was volunteering with us at the time, was helpful in taking Kabir to his physical therapy sessions.

And, as so often happens in sheltering, random things pop up. At one point, Kabir required emergency vet care for an unrelated but serious partial obstruction due to a foreign object. Thanks to our Extraordinary Medical Fund, we were able to have Kabir stay overnight at Veterinarian Emergency Group (VEG) for fluids, and then he went to Massachusetts Vet Hospital for an abdominal ultrasound. We are ever so thankful for our Extraordinary Medical Fund, as it allowed us to address his critical health issue with immediate medical attention.

When Kabir returned to the shelter, we focused heavily on enrichment to keep this active boy stimulated. From nose work sessions with our training partner, Doreen Garner, CPDT-KSA, and our dedicated team of volunteers, to helping the team in the lobby, to pool time on the hot summer days, the team kept Kabir busy.

Although Kabir was a strikingly handsome, sweet boy, finding the perfect forever match for him took patience and time. It was worth the wait! Kabir now lives with a family with German Shepherd experience and has two dog siblings. Kabir’s adopters built ramps to make it easier for Kabir to move about the house and they had a pool for him to continue his water therapy when he wasn’t attending his weekly water therapy sessions.

His new family also continued to work on his jumpy/mouthy behaviors and overall training in a grouptraining class.  We often get updates from his new family, and we can certainly attest to the fact that he is happy, healthy, and incredibly loved.

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