Hearts 4 Paws 2025

Middletown Fire Hall

27 West Green Street, 19709, Middletown, DE, United States

Cheyla's Rescue Foundation

0 followers

Cheyla's Rescue Foundation was created in loving memory of Cheyla, a pup whom was rescued from a Pitbull fighting facility. Her along with the other Pitbull's used to fight were injured or ill and a great number of them were aggressive when found and brought to a local shelter. Dr. Jessica Berkeridge, who was just a young veterinary student at the time took Cheyla in.By the time Dr. Berkeridge got to her, she was barely able to even growl and show her teeth she was so weak. She was taken straight to the community practice at her school for evaluation. There Cheyla's journey to recovery both psychically and mentally began, she was first sedated due to her aggression and their inability to look at her while awake. They found numerous medical problems such as a wound between her shoulder blades that had cut through muscle and was threatening to become gangrenous. She had a pneumonia that was making it difficult for her to breathe. They also found she was covered in mange mites. No one was quite sure how old she was- she looked aged from her conditions, but it was estimated Cheyla was only about 6 months old at the time.For various nonsensical reasons, they would not allow Dr. Berkeridge to adopt Cheyla at first but she wasn’t about to let them deny Cheyla treatment that Dr. Berkeridge was willing to do at her own expense. From there, Dr. Berkeridge cleaned and closed the wound on Cheyla's back, started treatment for the pneumonia and mange. The vet at the practice said she didn’t have much of a chance to survive, especially since they weren’t sure they could get any medications into her as she was still viciously trying to attack anyone that came near her. Fortunately, Dr. Berkeridge was able to keep her partially sedated to rest and get the meds into her for the next few weeks until she healed up. Unfortunately, she became more and more aggressive the better she felt.While she was healed psychially, she was still not healed mentally. Many months were spent trying to take care of Cheyla and her behavioral issues, but she would not budge mcuh. By month three, Cheyla was a little better, but Dr. Berkeridge's roommate who was working to be a veterinary behavioralist had numerous bite wounds on her arm and leg and Dr. Berkeridge herself wasn’t much better. They had to consider the possibility that she would never get to the point where she would trust us.It was just about thanksgiving break at this time and Dr. Berkeridge was planning on going home to Delaware to visit her parents where her other dog was staying but wasn’t sure if she could take Cheyla with her safely and of course she was a little terrified to tell her parents just how aggressive Cheyla was. Somehow, they managed to get home- and thank goodness--because that is when Cheyla finally relaxed.She escaped from the car and she ran to viciously attack her other dog, Kayla. Her mother and her were terrified! It was just then that an amazing thing happened. Dr. Berkeridge's older dog, who was still a little bigger than Cheyla at the time, wrestled with her and pinned her to the ground and started licking her all over. A look came over her face like, “you must be my mommy.” And from that moment on, she was suddenly ok. She became instant best friends with their older dog, Kayla who told her that it was okay to like humans and accept food from them. Within 24 hours, Dr. Berkeridge and her family were able to feed Cheyla like a normal dog, let her run around the house, and even trained her to the invisible fence outside.She has since been Dr. Berkeridge's constant companion, they joke that Cheyla should have been named her Shadow, as she was never more than 3 feet away from her at any given time, and prefers to be touching her whenever possible.It has been 10 years since Dr. Berkeridge adopted Cheyla and she often looks back on her story and wonders at all the things that had to go just right in order for them to be together. In all the years since, Cheyla has given her nothing but unconditional love and snuggles. Turns out, all she wanted was LOVE.R.I.P CheylaJune 2009 - June 2021