My wife and I take in dogs who are going to be destroyed because of behavior issues brought on by abuse. Dr. Hedges and his group have cared for these dogs for over 15 years. Over that time, Dr. Hedges and his techs have been nothing but kind and professional. \r
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Our 13 year old lab is still with us because Dr. Hedges detected and removed a cancerous tumor from her side. \r
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Our St. Bernard, ""Champ"", lived an additional two years because Dr. Hedges removed Champ's ruptured spleen and a tumor the size of a cantaloupe. \r
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The story I will tell forever is the day our St. Bernard, Boomer, could barely walk because of a bulging disk in his spine. Dr. Hedges and his tech left a wedding party to administer two shots to this dog! Since moving the 200 pound Boomer was risky in this condition, they gave him his shots on a blanket we placed on the tar in the parking lot of his clinic. Boomer regained the use of his legs a short time later, his disk back to normal.\r
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We found this clinic when we left our previous clinic because we were told we would have to tape the mouth of our 246 pound St. Bernard shut before she would see him. Since this dog had been severely beaten on his nose, he suffered from fear-induced aggression and he could not be muzzled. Dr. Hedges and his group took MANY extra steps and precautions to care for Fred over the next 7 years. \r
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The most recent issue was last August. We were in the clinic at 2:00 AM on a Thursday, because our St. Bernard, Champ, was not breathing right. Dr. Hedges got his breathing better, but Champ's time was up. On Sunday, along with other issues, Champ lost use of his back legs. Once again, Dr. Hedges and his tech left what they were doing, on a Sunday afternoon, to care for Champ one last time. (Two of his techs actually got down on their knees to give Champ a hug good-bye.)\r
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I could go on and on about how this clinic has helped our dogs, answered our questions, saw us with no appointment many times and comforted us when we lost a dog, but I'll sum it up this way. If my plans for right, my wife and I will be moving with our dogs 125 miles from the Twin Cities. I've been to clinics in the town we'll be living and they treat the animals like nothing but a way to bring in more money. Without question we plan to make the 2.5 hour dirve to Dr. Hedges' clinic when our dogs need care.
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