A Dog Named Gucci

- I think if anybody who sees animals being abused,

get involved.

Phone call, telephone call to the police, anybody.

Do something but don't let animals be abused.

- Live, this is Action News 10.

- Many of you may remember Gucci the dog

and the senseless act of violence that left the puppy

scarred for life.

- If you've been following this story of Gucci.

- You'll probably recall the story, Little Gucci.

Good news tonight for Gucci.

- The Golf Coast love affair with Gucci the dog

continues tonight.

- There was a chow-husky mix and you can tell in

some of his pictures he looks like a chow and some look

like a husky in the others.

He was a great dog.

Fun little dog.

- This is Halled street.

And what is known as the Historic District,

Old Dauphin Way District of Mobile.

And this was the house where I lived.

It's considered a historic house, built in about 1903.

I was selling it, this was in '94.

I talked to the young man who was gonna come look at it.

And he didn't show up the night he was supposed to show up.

So I thought, well I'll try again.

So I called him again and he said okay I'll be

there tonight.

So I was out here in front, it was about 9:30 at night.

My neighbor here I was coming home from the grocery store,

and so we chatted.

And while we were chatting, I'd heard this little puppy

yelp and so about the time she and I were talking,

I saw this fireball drop from a tree,

and run towards the houses.

And I thought that's a dog.

So I went running down there and I heard,

it sounded like four people running away from me.

And by that time the dog was gone and I was banging

on the doors of the houses down there because I knew they

probably knew what happened.

And so one of the fellas came out and his name is Paul,

and I told him what had happened.

I said somebody had burned a dog right here and he just

disappeared under the house somewhere.

He came on down and then we saw the dog, it came under

to the front of the house.

Underneath, it's behind one of those lattice works, so

Paul grabbed a hose that was there and he turned it on

and started spraying the dog to put out the fire.

The little dog was literally blazing from the tip of his

nose to the tip of his tail.

The eeriest thing, he came underneath that whole porch

and he was standing there looking at me on fire.

And I couldn't get to him.

I was 15.

Yeah I was a 15 year old runaway.

I was living with people that obviously probably weren't

very good people to be around.

And the more I hung out and the more I mean drugs we did

and whatever, the deeper I kinda got embedded into

the wrong crowd.

And it got to a point where they, you know didn't see me

as just baby girl anymore.

It was you know, they wanted more.

There was a situation where I was asked to go out with

one of the guys and I refused, I said no.

And the threats started coming in, okay well

you stay around, you'll see what happens.

Me and Tony, the girl that I was living with, we went to

dinner that night and we came back and got out of the

cab and that's when the whole thing with Gucci happened.

- And what they had done, they had taken him

and strung him up by his neck in a tree.

And they were slapping him, that's what I heard when

I heard the yelping.

And then they got tired of that and one of the guys went

to his car and got some lighter fluid and sprayed it at his

head and his neck and they set him on fire.

- Whey they pulled him out from underneath the house,

and I remember them handing Gucci to me,

it was like his whole face.

Not so much the rest of his body but just his whole face

was burned.

I mean the tips of his ears were singed down,

he had no hair left on his face at all.

I just remember the black, the blackness of burned.

You know something is burned and you pick it up and you

get that, just that black all over your hands of charcoal.

That's what was coming off of his face, and coming off

of him when I was holding him.

- So I went on back up to my house to wait for the man to

look at it.

And so the fella showed up and while we were,

I was showing the house and the girl came into the house,

all full of soot.

This dog had been burned so badly and she was crying

of course and wanted to know if I'd take him to the vet.

- I needed someone safe at that moment and being a runaway,

I mean it wasn't like I could call home or call mom and dad

or you know, hey I'm in trouble I need your help.

- And I don't know why she came to me.

I guess, I was a neighbor and these people knew me

and knew I was a good guy.

I drove them around town, took the kids to school

and all that kind of stuff.

- And Doug you know made a commitment to me,

he said that night, when I handed him my dog

and said I can't take care of this dog, you have to help

him, you have to do something,

to help him.

- So I took him home and on the way I stopped at a drug

store to see if the doctor, the pharmacists could recommend

something for the burn.

So he gave me suggestions so I got a spray.

He said put it on the paper, on the cloth and then blot

him so you don't scare him with the spraying.

So I stopped at the fire station down here on the way

home to see if they had any suggestions.

Of course they were outraged what they had done to the dog.

So I brought him on home and I had other dogs here

so I put in a dog bed in my back bedroom where I slept.

He was so quiet.

I thought well, I really was thinking all night he's not

going to live, he's not going to live.

How can people be that cruel.

How can they be that mean.

- I woke up one night, it was late.

I was asleep and I got a phone call,

the first one I had ever received from Doug.

Doug was pretty frantic and was just looking to get

both a connection and some advice on how to proceed

from there.

And he was wondering if I knew of a good person to call.

- And he brought this puppy in to my clinic,

that following morning.

This puppy was pretty small and I could smell the lighter

fluid on him still.

And he was burned in the face and most of his hair had been

burned off.

Nothing can prepare you for something like that.

You think you've seen it all, you haven't.

- A local attorney who wishes to remain

anonymous has agreed to pay for Gucci's surgery.

Even though he hasn't seen the dog in person.

Says all he wants is to see the puppy fully recovered.

- It was obvious that the dog (clears throat)

if he survived was going to have significant vet bills.

And I don't remember if it was Doug James or if there

were just a general plea for help for the poor dog

and I did what I think what most any normal, loving human

being should do.

And I called him, I said, I mean I was moved by the,

just how sadistic that act was.

And I said I'll pay his bills, whatever they are.

Send me the bills.

- There's been a tremendous out pouring,

The People Mobile, I got calls from Florida and from

Mississippi.

People who were concerned about this sort of cruelty

to animals.

Actually he's been a wonderful dog, he has been super.

He's never complained.

The first two weeks of course, he was in such bad shape

he slept but he never complained.

He ate well and the last two weeks he's been a puppy.

He's begun to play, I have another dog he plays with.

And he runs in the house just like a normal puppy.

So really he's been a delightful dog, he's just

been perfect.

- It took a while, several months for those burns to be

treated and healed.

And I remember, maybe about 10 days after my treatment

'cause I saw him everyday.

I had Doug bring him in everyday.

His skin started to sloth off.

And that was scary.

- When Dr. Branch debreeded him, the first time she said

his ears literally just broke off.

She said they were just like crisp bacon.

- If he were here you'd see what I was talking about.

The skin is truly very contracted.

It's certainly the initial surgery, it's gonna make him

a whole lot better.

If they can give him 75 percent on this initial surgery,

I think that would be really, really well.

Of course those people at Auburn were really good so they

can probably do it.

- Preparations for Gucci's surgery started

early this morning at Auburn's Veterinary Hospital.

By 10 AM doctors and students are busy repairing Gucci's

burned face and his eyelids.

- When I met Gucci I was a resident in ophthalmology

at Auburn University.

I had never seen a dog that had been, you know

maliciously burned and Gucci had second and third degree

burns.

Third degree burns, they heal by contractor.

The scar tissue on top of his head was pulling his eyes up