It’s not terribly clear what kind of dog Whiskey is supposed tobe.

And frankly, if he hadn’t come to Brookhaven, he probablywouldn’t exist anymore.

“The way he was, they would’ve put him down,” said Trina Case,who has given him a home at least temporarily.

The caramel-colored puppy with the gimpy leg and the big smilewas named for his propensity to fall down.

“He walked funny, and he just kept falling down,” said Case, whoworks for Brookhaven Animal Clinic, where she met and fell in lovewith the dog.

Whiskey has orthopedic problems, and two surgeries have notcompletely corrected the issues. But given what his life could havebeen, the puppy is doing great.

“He makes up for it with all his love and happiness,” Casesaid.

The little guy is one of the survivors of more than 175 dogs andseveral cats that were saved in May from Raven’s Hope, a non-profitorganization that claimed to offer animals for adoption in KemperCounty. The dogs were malnourished, mangy, many had worms ofvarious descriptions, and all needed care.

Brookhaven Animal Clinic’s Dr. Bob Watson heard of the seizureand took in three mother dogs and their 17 collective puppies. Hetreated them for heartworms and mange and other infections, andthey all started on the road to recovery.

The mother dogs were named Hope, Faith, and Mercy, and Watsonbrought them in with the belief that the people of Brookhaven wouldreach out and give them homes when they were well and ready to moveout.

“We had some that were adopted out in town,” Watson said.

The remainder were sent in recent weeks with a program calledHomeward Bound that operates through Mississippi State University.Watson said the program takes homeless animals to the East Coast,where there is less of a problem with animal population.

“They don’t have the homeless numbers like we do here, andthey’re able to place quite a few animals in homes out there,” hesaid.

One of the dog families didn’t make it, though. Watson saidMercy and her family lived in Brookhaven for six or seven weeks,long enough to start to become healthy again and were treated andweaned, but then all three puppies and the mother eventuallydied.

It was strange and unexplained, he said, but at least they weretaken care of when they died.

“Coming here was a very happy thing for 20 dogs,” Watsonsaid.

And it has certainly been a happy thing for Whiskey. Case saidhe doesn’t even seem to know that his twisted leg makes him walkwith a definite hitch, because he’s so busy loving the people whosaved him.

Still, Case said, if there was a good home for Whiskey, shewould let him go. Right now she has to keep him separate from herother dogs because they are bigger and stronger than he is and shedoesn’t want him to get hurt.

While she’s extremely attached to the puppy, she said if theright home were available, he would be a great dog for a familythat would love him.

“If they really were going to take good care of him, and theyknew about his problems,” she said. “As long as it’s a really happyhome, I guess I could let him go.”