Dog to stay on all fours

Jack the dog, the latest canine media star, should recover from a gunshot wound and will likely keep his leg.

The plucky pooch responded to tests, and can soon rehabilitate the right foreleg that was damaged by a .45-caliber bullet.

“It looks pretty promising. We’re all excited,” Kathy Breault, director of operations at the Animal Medical Center in Nashua, said Thursday.

The golden retriever-chow mix was abandoned at a construction site in Nashua. Veterinarians had feared his injured elbow would have nerve damage, requiring the leg to be amputated.

But after having his leg unwrapped from a bandage, Jack’s nerves still functioned, Breault said. Orthopedic surgeon David Abdinor will put a plate in Jack’s leg on Saturday, and the dog will undergo extensive rehabilitation, she said.

Jack will have physical therapy twice a day and take antibiotics. The stitches will be removed several weeks later.

“He’s still timid and shy, but he’s coming around,” Breault said. “We let people pet him. He’s on a nice cushion and blankets, and he’s going to the bathroom. He’s still on pain medication and on an IV.”Doctors had feared Jack would lose his leg because the bullet ripped through the limb. His plight has been documented in this newspaper and on several television news programs.

Since his plight was publicized, numerous people have called the animal hospital seeking word on the dog’s health and submitting their names for adoption. Jack, the name given to him by the hospital, had no dog tags, and police on Tuesday said an owner had not stepped forward.

A caller to The Telegraph who requested anonymity said the dog’s name is Tyson and that he is six months old. The caller said another dog found near the shot canine – one believed to be his sibling – is actually the dog’s mother. Her name is Cookie, the caller said.

This caller said the dogs were abandoned at the construction site because the owner could not keep them at her Manchester apartment. The caller claimed not to know the circumstances of the shooting.

Several calls to Nashua police were not returned Thursday.

Canines have commanded media attention this year.

Three other dogs that were shot this year, under different circumstances, made the news, and Didas – a terrier who escaped from his owner’s car after an accident – got his 15 minutes of fame when he was reunited with his master.