Shankly had a face only a mother could love.
When the homeless Chinese Shar-Pei was brought into Britain’s Battersea Dogs and Cats Home after being picked up wandering the streets, the dog was filthy, covered in fleas, and suffering from such excessive facial skin wrinkling that the dog’s vision was almost completely obscured.
The staff’s solution was straight out of “Dr. 90210" — a mini-facelift. In an hour-long operation, veterinarian Shaun Opperman, who has only performed one other similar surgery, removed a large swath of skin from across the dog’s forehead and between his eyes. “Although Shankly’s wrinkles are very typical of the breed, the trouble was that he was completely blinded by the folds of skin that covered his eyes,” Opperman told the Evening Standard.
Shankly, who is named after a popular British soccer coach, now has a new home with Adrian and Stephanie Duncan of Wellington, England.
“When we first [saw] Shankly he was very thin and covered in scars and stitches but we fell in love with him right away,” said Adrian Duncan. “In our eyes he is absolutely gorgeous and we wouldn’t have him any other way.”