This is Hammer, a sweet and beautiful Golden Retriever. Unfortunately his life up until now has not been one to envy. All he wanted was love and all he got was neglect and a heavy chain embedded up to an inch deep in his neck!

The photos taken several days ago when Hammer arrived at the vet’s office to treatment, were gruesome. He’d been chained to a tree outside a trailer in Proctorville, Ohio. that was where he lived and that was where he stayed. You’ll see his ‘home’ in the video below.

“I’m so angry and mad. If the owner had just paid attention to the dog once a day for just five minutes, he would have noticed the problem! Said Dr. Steve Mahnken with Best Friends Animal Hospital in Winfield.

Dr. Mahnken doesn’t mix words when expressing his rage over the neglect of this loveable Golden Retreiver–Hammer. The dog arrived at his animal hospital in Winfield three days ago with a heavy chain imbedded in his neck!

“The link was partially buried in his neck and I had to cut it to slip it out. You’re talking a half to one inch. I could stick my finger in up to my first knuckle,” said Dr. Mahnken.

In photos taken before the tedious surgery to remove the chain. You can see the links have become a part of hammer’s neck-a process the vet says takes at least five to six months to happen. Dr. Mahnken says the infection was so advanced, it’s stomach-turning.

“It would make you vomit if you weren’t used to it. I’m used to it. But, you could smell it all over the building. I wouldn’t eat finger foods with my hands. It was that bad even with gloves on my hands. It soaked into my skin,” said Dr. Mahnken. (WSAZ)

Hammer is doing much better now and Dr. Mahnken says without a court order, Hammer will not go back to his owner.

And speaking of the owner, authorities are searching for him and he may be facing animal cruelty charges. I’m not sure why they say that he ‘may’ be, to me it looks pretty cut and dried. How could it be looked at as anything but animal cruelty.

Well, the good news is that this is one more dog out of the hands of someone it should never have been with in the first place and now he’ll have a chance at a real home and family.

If you’d like any information about Hammer, you can call Best Friends Animal Hospital at 304-586-0490.

Hammer, rescued and recovering from serious neglect

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