In September 2009, we were contacted by our neighbors about an English Bulldog living in Jasper, GA that needed a new home. We had no idea of what condition he was in, or even that much about English Bulldogs. We had always had a soft spot for animals, and had always had cats, but never any dogs. We decided to take the dog in anyways. The day my neighbor’s step father brought Taz to me was very exciting and very heartbreaking. He was covered in fleas, had a severe cherry eye and could barely walk, but I could tell how sweet he was immediately. I took him home and called my husband crying because I didn’t know if he would even make it. He was taken to the vet 2 days later where we found out he had heartworms, cherry eye, entropion, but they couldn’t even try to figure out what was wrong with his legs as the heartworms were the most pressing issue. The vet simply looked at my husband and said “this is going to be a very expensive dog”. We didn’t care. We started by getting rid of his heartworms. He lived in his crate full-time for over two months. I dreaded coming home from work everyday because I was so scared I was going to find him dead in his crate. After his heartworms were treated, we went through numerous skin, eye, and ear infections. He was neutered, and finally we took him in for his eye surgeries. Sadly, he only lived two weeks afterwards. He could barely walk, but my favorite memories are of him running. He could run like the wind, which was so amazing since he fell down every time he got excited. We miss you, Taz, but we know you can walk just fine at the rainbow bridge! – Kelly & Sam Nettleton
