It’s easy to see that Johnny Hostetter, 34, of Ben Lomond, loves his dog Marge.
Marge, a 3-year-old mutt with kind eyes, was given to Hostetter after a friend found her abandoned in Boulder Creek with her three littermates.
“The brothers got adopted quickly, but no one wanted scrawny little Marge,” Hostetter recalled. “So I got her.”
Since then, Marge and Hostetter have been inseparable. He takes her to the dog park, to work and everywhere he can.
But Marge’s left front leg was rendered useless after an accident a month ago.
Surgery to remove the leg will cost about $4,000, and Hostetter has been able to save only about $1,000 from his salary at Scarborough Ace Hardware.
“My work has been extremely supportive with letting me bring her here since the accident,” Hostetter. “Everyone shows her a lot of love.”
There will be a barbecue to help pay the medical bills on Nov. 6 at Ace Hardware.
Marge’s leg was injured after Hostetter let some friends take her to the beach and they put her in the bed of their truck.
“She had never been in a truck like that, and she got spooked and jumped out,” Hostetter said. “Her leash snapped when she jumped, and she landed on the side of the road and ripped her shoulder apart.”
After the accident, Marge suffered brain swelling, which has since gone down. She still has phantom pain at random times, though, and takes pain medication.
“I freaked out when I got the call that she was at the animal hospital,” Hostetter recalled. “You just think terrible things. It was scary.”
Hostetter said the muscles in the dog’s leg have completely deteriorated since the accident, and she has already adapted to having three working legs. There was no lasting brain damage, and she acts the same as ever, he said.
“She was walking on three legs four days after the accident,” Hostetter said. “I take her to the dog park and she still plays with the biggest dogs, even though she can’t keep up.”
Hostetter wraps her ineffective leg in pink bandages so it isn’t scraped raw when it drags on the ground.
“The leg just holds her back and gets caught on things,” Hostetter said. “Sometimes, she thinks it’s a toy and bites at it. She is doing perfectly, but the leg just needs to go.”
At a glance
WHAT: Fundraiser barbecue for Marge
WHEN: 11 a.m. Nov. 6
WHERE: Scarborough Ace Hardware, 218 Mount Hermon Road, in Scotts Valley
DETAILS: Proceeds from hot dog and soda sales will help pay for surgery to remove Marge the dog’s crippled front leg.
INFO: 438-0581
