The BC SPCA is hoping to make this Christmas a warm, happy one for Clifford, a deaf and blind stray, who came into the care of the SPCA’s Williams Lake location after being rescued from a ravine in 150 Mile House. The five-year-old Poodle-Australian shepherd mix was brought to the SPCA by a Good Samaritan who saw the bedraggled dog take a hard fall after wandering into her front yard.

“Her yard backs onto a ravine with an abrupt drop-off, but they had just moved and had not had time to fence the area yet,” says Liz Dighton, manager of the Williams Lake SPCA. “There were logs to block off the edge, but Clifford, being blind, would not have seen them.” Dighton says the Good Samaritan managed to rescue the dog using a rope and brought him into SPCA care.

“The poor dog had clearly been neglected and was very scruffy and in desperate need of grooming,” says Dighton. “He had weeping eyes, infected ears and is almost completely blind and deaf, so he was in a very bad way.” She says that despite his health issues, Clifford is a sweet “love bug” who loves attention and getting treats.  “We are planning to keep him in our shelter here for the next while and then will potentially transfer him through our Drive for Lives program to the Lower Mainland, where he will have a greater chance of getting adopted,” says Dighton. She says Clifford would be in “heaven” to have a warm, cozy home with a guardian who understands his special needs.