Katrina dog lands in good hands

Skippy enjoying new life on Eastern Shore

Associated Press

July 21, 2008

EASTON - Skippy is living the good life.

The three-legged border collie-sheltie mix, who looks like a miniature Lassie, was a Hurricane Katrina refugee who found a new home with an Oxford couple.

He now spends his time relaxing - and keeping others calm.

Susan Delean-Botkin fell in love with Skippy at a shelter in Long Beach, Miss. These days, the nurse practitioner takes the dog to work with her at the Family Care clinic in Easton, where he runs on his three legs to greet patients. It's a job he takes seriously, even interrupting interviews to carry out his duties.

"He's a blood-pressure lowering dog," Delean-Botkin said. "He greets patients and sits with them until their blood pressure goes down."

Delean-Botkin had set up a clinic in Long Beach after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005.

The clinic saw some 300 patients a day. Volunteers traveled to shelters, where Delean-Botkin said she saw people in tears because they missed their pets. Families had to leave pets behind when they fled because shelters didn't allow animals.

After a few weeks in Long Beach, Delean-Botkin visited a local animal shelter to deliver money donated for dog food. The shelter had so many animals that workers had tied some to trees outside.

One of those dogs was Skippy.

"He poked his head around a tree, he looked at me and I looked at him," she said. "I said I would come back at 5."

When she came back, Skippy wasn't there; someone had come to take the animals to the Humane Society. Delean-Botkin eventually tracked Skippy down and brought him home with her. "He decided he'd had enough of the South," she said.

About six months before Katrina, Skippy had lost one of his legs when a car hit him. When Katrina struck, his family had to leave him with a veterinarian. When Delean-Botkin found Skippy, he had heartworm.

At first, the dog seemed traumatized, but he has turned into a confident, self-assured pet.

Skippy also visits assisted-living facilities in Easton, where he inhales crumbs from the floor, Delean-Botkin said.

In the winter, Skippy works almost every day, but spends a lot of his time in the summer in Oxford boating or sailing, camping, swimming, and playing with Delean-Botkin's grandchildren.

He also keeps a close eye on squirrels, ospreys and seagulls. "He doesn't like having his air space invaded," Delean-Botkin said, adding that Skippy also dislikes thunder and horns.

Most of Skippy's time is spent playing with his best buds, Corky, a dog; and Snoopy, a cat.

"He's so interesting to be with," Delean-Botkin said. "His personality is so patient. It shows how much a shelter dog appreciates what you do for them."