"Will" is a 2 or 3 year old intact male tri-colored Collie. He came to us
via a good Samaritan who took him in after finding him standing between two
houses in the pouring rain. He was very thin, full of burrs, weak, and had
what appeared to be a large scab on the back of his head.

Within 24 hours of learning about him, MWCR was able to get Will into our
custody and to a veterinarian. There it was discovered he has worms, is
more than ten pounds underweight, has been chewing on bars (meaning he'd
been caged) and may lose his upper front teeth due to the damage, has been
shot (1 piece of birdshot was removed from his back), and has a large fresh
wound (about a 1/2 inch hole on top of a large welt) on the back of his head.

Will was given a few days to begin his recovery before returning to the vet
for x-rays of his head. The x-rays revealed 9 additional pieces of
birdshot throughout his body. They also revealed that there is a hole in
his skull about ½ inch tall and 1 inch wide. This means that someone hit
this poor boy on the back of the head with a blunt object (i.e. a hammer, a
shock stick, etc.). He was most likely hit and then left for dead. We
renamed him Will because he has been so strong-willed and had to be in
order to make it this far.

Will is continuing his recuperation at his new foster home where he has a
soft bed, toys, food, water, shelter, and lots of love. He's a big loveable
boy who likes to talk to you and bat at you with his paw if you stop
petting him.

Throughout all of this, he continues to wag his tail and charm everyone he
meets.

Will's care is going to take considerable time and many visits to the vet.
The bone fragment could not be located with the initial x-rays which were
taken from the side. In order to have an x-ray taken from the top, we
would need to bring him to the University of Minnesota’s School of
Veterinary medicine. Under their specialized care, we would hope to find
out where the bone fragment is, if there is any more damage, have it
surgically removed, etc. But in order to do this, we will need your help.

12-27-04 update on Will:

Due to the outpouring of generous donations, Will was able to go to the University of Minnesota for a surgical opinion from a specialist.  The U of M surgeon was confident that no surgery would be needed to remove the bone fragment(s) broken off the back of Will’s skull.  The piece or pieces are positioned behind the skull and should remain stationary surrounded by muscle and tissue.  It was also in his opinion that the remaining “birdshot” scattered throughout Will’s body, (mostly in his hindquarters),  not be removed, as he sees more risk in removing them at the present time because they are too small and it is near impossible to tell how deeply they are embedded.  None of the “birdshot” are located near Will’s vital organs or near any main blood vessels for them to cause any harm.  It’s too difficult to project if the “birdshot” or the bone fragments will pose any problems in the future, but with good, regular vet care, Will’s prognosis is excellent and he should continue to be a happy and normal 3 year old collie boy.  His head wound has completely healed over and his shaven coat is growing back in beautifully!  He is one handsome collie boy!  His foster home happily reports that Will is also gaining the much needed weight and strength and is actively playing with his foster collie sister and learning new things everyday.  He has a big fenced in backyard to run and play in and has put miles on every inch. 

Most recently, his foster home shared this cute story ….  Their resident female collie, Shelby (also a MWCR rescue), who just turned 2, is the Queen of dog toys (plush, squeaky, ropes, Frisbees, balls, you name it).  When Will tries to stick his nose into the toy basket and she will run right over to him to tell him, “These are all mine”.  If by chance he is able to sneak a toy, she immediately tries to steal it back.  Recently, Will’s foster family has had a mystery concerning their shoes disappearing and figured it was Shelby acting up with jealousy since she has exhibited this type of behavior before.  Then one night Will was discovered “red-pawed” carrying a shoe in his mouth with Shelby happily trotting close behind as if she was encouraging this behavior!  All of the sudden, the little light bulb goes off and it all made sense … poor Will is just looking to pick up and play with a toy, but can’t since Shelby won’t allow him near any of her toys.  Will’s intent wasn’t to grab something to chew, but just looking for something he could play with that his foster sister doesn’t get possessive about.   The solution?  Will received a huge basket of toys of his own to play with, so hopefully his foster family won’t be frantically searching for their shoes anymore!