German Shepherd was going to be put down but now lives happy life with homemade wheelchair

By Jamie Smith via SWNS

A disabled dog that was due to be put down but saved an HOUR before the deadline now lives a happy life with a homemade wheelchair in her adoptive family.

Poppie, a cross breed dog part German Shepherd, part chow chow, suffers from Cerebellar Hyperplasia (CH), which means her cerebellum is underdeveloped causing her to wobble.

CH affects coordination, balance, and motor skills, but causes Poppie no pain.

Poppie has been in and out of shelters all her life as no one wanted to care for the pooch due to her condition and apparent aggression.

She was finally surrendered her to the ASPCA to be put down.

Diane Ewert, who had ties to a local dog rescue in Kingsburg, California, was alerted to Poppie's case by a friend and showed up at the SPCA branch with only an HOUR to spare and saved Poppy from her grim fate.

“I received a message on Facebook from a high school friend of mine letting me know that Poppie was about to be euthanized at the shelter," she said.

"She had also lost a cat at the time and while looking at the SPCA website to try and find her cat she saw Poppie’s picture pop up as an intake stray.

“She called the shelter and was told someone brought poppy in as a stray find and they now had to do the mandatory 72-hour hold before she was ready for adoption or a rescue.

"On the last day, my friend called and was told that no one had claimed her and because of her neurological condition and aggression, she was to be euthanized the following day.

“My friend reached out to me and explained the situation. I went to the local rescue that I work with and had them tag her which basically means that the rescue is taking responsibility for the dog.”

Footage of the rescue shows Poppie bursting through the shelter doors excited to meet her saviour and lucky to be alive.

“I had never met Poppie and the first time I saw her was when she wobbled out the door to me in the shelter as seen in the video.," Diane said.

"I soon discovered how reactive she was, she sounded extremely aggressive.

“I was terrified at first thinking I had shot myself in the foot picking up an aggressive dog who couldn’t be around other dogs.

“I sat in my car for around an hour not knowing what to do I have four dogs of my own and was terrified to bring her into that environment based on what I had seen of her at the vets.

“Eventually I did take her home and one by one introduced her to my dogs and it was immediate to me that everyone had misunderstood Poppie.

“Everybody labeled her as aggressive but, she just wanted to be loved and just wanted to be near the thing that she was being so reactive to. This was a huge relief to me.”

Diane worked hard to find her forever home before settling on Christina Powell and her fiancé Garret, from Alberta, Canada.

“I posted the video of her coming through the doors at the SPCA and that video blew up and went viral. I knew I had to capitalize on this opportunity to find her a forever home," she said.

“I set up her own Gmail and eventually got an email from Christina and Garret. I was in tears reading their email it was almost too good to be true but at the same time I knew they were Poppie’s forever home.

“I cannot believe how lucky I was to be a part of this journey for her. This is a foster story that I will never forget.”

The couple renamed Poppie to Timber, and she now lives a happy life complete with doggy sibling Kona to play with and a custom-built wheelchair adorned with Christmas decorations.

"I was scrolling through social media and came across a TikTok that Diane had made of her prancing out of the SPCA, indicating that she was looking for a forever home,"Christina Powell said.

"We had been looking for another pup with special needs to join our family, and had been fostering in the interim. It took every ounce of my self-control not to immediately wake Garrett up and say 'I found our dog!'

"Garrett and I sat down that morning and poured our hearts and our story into an email. Then we nervously waited to hear back from Diane.

“When we heard back from Diane, we just clicked right away. She is such an incredible person and she was willing to do whatever it took to get Timber home. The following days were a flurry of trying to sort out transport details.

"I remember Diane and I texting while Timber approached the border, I don’t think any of us took a full breath that entire hour. Once she arrived, her tail was out of control, she knew she was home.

“Timber is an absolute ray of sunshine. She approaches every task with an 'I can' mentality, and if something does not go the way she planned, she brushes it off and finds another way.

“Her life and care is very similar to that of a neurotypical pup, she requires no medications or ongoing vet treatment. Our goal is to provide education and advocacy so that more dogs like Timber find forever families.”

For more on this incredible dog who was given a second chance at life you can follow on both TikTok and Instagram.