During Spring Recruitment for Samford’s Phi Gamma Delta’s, they added an amazing addition to the family: Wags the Fiji Puppy.
Wags was found by members, DJ Turnure and Ry Jesser on February 10 on the side of Lakeshore Parkway.
The pup was in rough condition, having issues with his stomach, limping on his paw, and lacking much mobility due to the condition of his tender paws.
Turnure and Jesser brought the puppy back to campus and tried to figure out the best way to help him. Turnure pushed to keep Wags as the Fiji dog because he thought it would be cool, but he also missed his dogs back home.
Fellow caretakers, Michael Mellinger, Fiji’s historian, and Lawson Parsley eventually decided to help the dog through starting a GoFundMe for medical bills, food and anything else they may need.
“Three broke college kids can’t take care of a puppy,” said Turnure.
At the time of the interview with Turnure, around $2800 had been raised to cover the expenses.
They put the link up on Fizz, Samford’s anonymous social media app, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook (through parents of students), the Homewood Community Page and even the Samford News Network.
“Every time that we’ve like talked about what he needs and then followed that by posting the GoFundMe, we’ve reached our goal within the day and that has just blown me away by how generous people are to support a dog that they may or may not ever meet,” said Mellinger.
They are all still working to find a permanent home for Wags, but they are also working to find a way to provide for him even after he finds a good home.
As his health improves, so does the excitement of the Fiji brothers and all the others that have become a part of Wags’ story.
“When we first got him, he was nervous, he wasn’t wagging his tail at all, didn’t get excited about anything. Now he like, almost seems like a completely different dog,” said Parsley.
Wags visited many veterinarians and is being cared for by Pre-Vet student Mellinger. Wags was estimated to be between 6 months to a year by the vets and to have been on the road for about a month.
His assumed breed is a Pit Bull mix. His other issues are also slowly resolving, and he fortunately did not have to have any surgeries, although it was a great possibility.
Wags and his recovery story, as well as the generosity of the Samford and Homewood communities has worked its way into the hearts of many.
“We wanted to say thank you to everyone that donated! We are overwhelmed with the support of our Bulldog Family. Samford is truly a family of kindhearted, generous souls that make a positive impact everywhere they go. We are thankful to be among them and Wags has a future because of everyone involved,” Turnure said in conclusion.
Donations can be made to their GoFundMe found at this link.
