Delilah Today: An Update on a Very Special Girl

Delilah’s miraculous recovery after her broken leg has taken her far … into the hearts of those she’s met. photo: Karen Todororff

Six years ago we met a very special girl in a shelter. She had been found lying in a large horse pasture, clearly an overbred nursing mom but with no puppies to be found. She was filthy with an open compound fracture of her leg.  The shelter named her Delilah. 

Delilah was a beautiful Belgian Malinois who appeared to be about six years old. She was gentle, affiliative, and trusting even though it did not appear she had been well cared for. 

Sadly, the shelter was under-resourced. They put a cast on the leg and began to look for a rescue who would take her.  For three weeks Delilah remained in the shelter in a dirty cast and with her bone exposed.  Bay Area German Shepherd Rescue (BAGSR) partnered with Woof Project to find a solution. All of us began searching for an appropriate foster placement for Delilah.  

Luckily, we found the perfect foster home for her with Sara. And then we took a chance - choosing surgery to try to save her leg rather than removing it, even though we knew the chance of success at that point would require a miracle. But Sara and her sweet family fostered Delilah through her recovery and loved her into wholeness.  Her leg was saved.

Now get out your Kleenex.  A woman named Aljean saw Delilah’s photo on the BAGSR  website and knew this was her girl. Aljean had just finished cancer treatments and Delilah was her gift to herself. 

Delilah at work with her customized blue Care Flight collar. She has space for a nap should the urge strike.. photo: BAGSR

Aljean set to work helping Delilah get strong. Soon they were hiking, then running, in the beautiful Lake Tahoe area where they lived.  None of us knew then that Aljean would face a very difficult few years as her cancer returned. But sweet Delilah never left her side. Later, when the wildfires came and they had to evacuate, Delilah was seen riding the escalators at their hotel like a pro traveler.  

Aljean has stayed in touch all these years and sent a recent update to let us know that she now works for Care Flight air ambulance service as a dispatcher - and Delilah is right there beside her.  Sporting a customized blue Care Flight collar, Delilah brings comfort to the Care Flight staff. She’s there for them when the hard calls come in. After all, this girl knows a thing or two about hardship. But even more about survival and resilience.

And that’s how the dog who was abandoned in a pasture, broken and filthy, found her way to the job she was born for.  BAGSR simply created the bridge. 

Now the dog who received a miracle has begun bestowing plenty of her own.