Ordeal not over for one of 18 dogs abandoned near Doris Creek

Jeff Lowney just wanted to give a couple of the dogs that were abandoned up the Hungry Horse Reservoir in September a better life than they had before.

But for one dog, the streak of misfortune didn't end with a new home. As Lowney's wife walked it recently near the family home on West Reserve Drive, it was run down and badly injured by a pickup truck.

Lowney adopted two of the husky mixes abandoned this fall near Doris Creek. All told, 18 dogs, all husky mixes, were left to fend for themselves in the forest. One was shot by a local woman who thought it a wolf, an incident that garnered headlines around the country and across the world.

The remaining animals ended up at the Flathead County Animal Shelter. When Lowney saw the dogs become available for adoption, he made an appointment. He came home with a white 7-month-old female puppy named Nina as well as King, the father of the litter.

A few days after getting the dogs his wife took Nina and King on a walk along the sidewalk of West Reserve Drive. Both dogs were on a leash.

That's when a white pickup truck jumped the curb, slammed into King and nearly hit his wife and Nina. King ended up 50 feet in the middle of the busy road, gravely wounded and unconscious. The truck sped off.

Lowney was on his way home for lunch when he saw King, his wife and several other people gathered on in his lawn. They had moved the King off the street. When King came to, the dog started lashing out and bit Lowney on both hands, requiring stitches.

They got the dog calmed down, put him in a car and took him to a local animal hospital. X-rays showed King’s pelvis was shattered.

King was then transferred to Great Falls where his pelvis was rebuilt with screws. But three screws pulled out, so King had to make a return trip.

Two more surgeries later the dog is now home and doing much better, Lowney said.

“Since I adopted this boy it’s been a rollercoaster,” he said.

"I just want to give him a better life than what he had," Lowney added.

Nina, the pup, is growing rapidly. She’s 3 to 4 inches taller and has gained 10 pounds.

As for the abandonment of the dogs in the first place and then the shooting of one of them, Lowney summed it up with a single sentence.

“A new low for humanity is what it is,” he said.

Lowney’s hands are on the mend, too. He works as a mechanic, but can’t fix things until his hands get better, he said.