A black Labrador retriever named Rufus is giving new meaning to the term "dog years."
After narrowly escaping death in an accident last fall in which a tree nearly crushed him, the 13-year-old pet of the late Steelers all-star Steve Courson, is improving greatly.
Don Tummons, a veterinarian at Duck Hollow Animal Hospital who provided emergency care to Rufus following the accident, was positive about his progress.
"He's doing quite well. He's able to walk, and he's able to get up on his own, which I never thought he would do."
Rufus suffered major injuries to his back and legs in the Nov. 10, 2005, accident when a tree that Courson was cutting fell on him.
Courson, 50, an animal lover who was trying to get Rufus out of the way, did not survive. It wasn't clear at the time whether Rufus would either. While he didn't break his back, his pelvis was shattered and he suffered major injuries to his legs. Doctors didn't know if Rufus would walk again; a hip he had replaced prior to the accident was also re-injured when the tree hit him.
After Courson's death, Rufus had no caregiver to make his medical decisions, so Tummons and his staff made the call to keep him alive, despite his injuries.
"I suppose a lot of people would have put him to sleep," Tummons said. "The circumstances were such that we just couldn't."
"Rufus was in an extreme amount of pain and was depressed when he was first brought in," said Rachel McDonald, a scrub nurse at Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialists, where Rufus had more than four surgeries.
In March, Duck Hollow and Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialists, together with Noah's Arc humane society and community volunteers, sponsored a fundraiser in Masontown to raise money needed for Rufus' multiple surgeries. All together, close to $6,000 was pulled in for the lucky pup. Ordinarily, Tummons said, Rufus' surgeries would have cost in excess of $15,000, but the Pittsburgh facility cut the costs by more than half.
"Dr. Tummons called and asked for help, and he told me he wanted to give him a chance," McDonald said. "Doctors agreed to help, to get him back on his feet again."
Rufus now lives with Jim Burns, an animal physical therapist in Uniontown, who is helping him walk better. Through therapy, Rufus is learning again to walk up stairs and stand on his hind legs.
"He's a smart dog," Burns said. "When he's hungry or thirsty, he'll stand up at the stairs and bark at us until we feed him or give him water."
It can't be said that Rufus has made a full recovery, because he is and will probably remain disabled because of problems with his left hind leg, but he has been through a lot.
"He survived. He did get through all of the operations, all of the trauma and initial shock," Tummons said.
Rufus does routinely come in for check-ups at Tummon's office, where they "try to show him some fun," though he's having a blast at his new home. Burns said Rufus plays with his children and with a new friend, a chocolate Lab named Jake, and has become a well-adapted member of their family.
"He's a neighborhood legend," Burns said.
McDonald said Rufus' quality of life is back to what it was before the accident, and he's happy once again. Despite odds, Rufus has bounced back from his injuries, and has received a second chance, thanks to all of the support from doctors and his community.
"We were all pretty surprised at how strong he was," McDonald said. "He had a lot of willpower. He pulled through."
Indeed, Courson would have been proud.
