A lost service dog in training who survived in the frigid cold Colorado mountains for two months had her leg saved by a reality TV veterinarian — after multiple other vets said it needed to be amputated, The Post has learned.
Nova Riley – a year-and-a-half old Bernese Mountain Dog – was treated for multiple breaks in her leg by Dr. Jeffrey Young of Animal Planet’s reality show “Dr. Jeff: Rocky Mountain Vet” and his wife Dr. Petra Mickova after owner Robynne Simons-Sealy took the pooch to a low-cost clinic not knowing it was where Young worked, she told The Post in an exclusive interview.
But when Simons-Sealy, 58, discovered Planned Pethood International in Conifer, Colo. was Young’s place she “felt so much better and so much safer for [Nova].”
“Any doubts I had over concerns for her care and welfare disappeared,” she said, noting a different dog of hers decades earlier was treated by Young.
Nova was reunited with her owner Simons-Sealy — a married mother of four who lives in Conifer — last month after having suffered a “shattered” leg from her time alone in the wild.
Simons-Sealy – who has disabilities resulting from a rare vascular disease – had been training her canine to be a service animal.
After consultations with several veterinarians she received a “lot of pressure” to remove the dog’s limb and was quoted a whopping $10,000 to $15,000 if she attempted to save the leg, she said.
But when Simons-Sealy received a call from the clinic informing her they wanted to save Nova’s leg, “I was ecstatic,” she recalled.
“My goal is I’ll give it my best shot [to save the limb] even if it’s really really bad,” Young told The Post by phone.
And Nova’s case was “honestly a pretty simple fix in my mind,” he said. “I never would have recommended amputation in this case.”
After a surgery over a week ago, Nova now has six pins and two bars in her leg, similar to the six pins and a plate in Simon-Sealy’s right leg. The owner said it’s “funny” that her four-legged companion and her now “match.”
Young — whose show ran for eight seasons before ending in 2020 — credited his wife for the success of Nova’s procedure and said the partially external leg fixture is “bombproof.”
“The dog walked on the leg the next day,” Young said. “Would it make sense to cut the leg off when its walking on it? I mean the dog is running on it now. I’d prefer it not to be, but it jumps. There is nothing wrong with it. But it’ll heal.”
Simons-Sealy spent roughly $4,000 total for her dog’s medical care between the cost of the initial emergency room visit and the surgery.
Young said so many times dogs lose their limbs simply for financial reasons.
“I think for a lot of vets it’s about the money,” he said. “We can fix this broken leg for $5,000 to $10,000. [Or] we can cut the leg off for $1,000 or $2,000.”
The concerned owner doesn’t know if Nova will be able to resume her duties as a service animal since she has had trouble following commands and has been more anxious since her return, Simons-Sealy said.
“I am thrilled beyond words to have her back but devastated my chance at a service dog is gone,” said Simons-Sealy.
Simons-Sealy has a rare disease called Takayasu arteritis, which causes inflammation of major arteries and can cause an extremely low or even an undetectable pulse — earning it the nickname pulseless disease.
Simons-Sealy said she doesn’t qualify for a publicly funded service animal because her disease is so rare.
She also can’t afford to have someone else train the furry friend as she lives on meager disability payments. So she found a place that helped her train Nova herself.
“The reason I want [and] need a service dog is because of the problem of blood flow to my brain can make me dizzy,” she explained. “A dog would help me stay upright or get help when I fall.”
The illness causes her seizures that are like mini-strokes, one of which she suffered two days after Nova got spooked and slipped out of her harness beginning her two-month absence.
After Nova went missing, Simons-Sealy spent two days round-the-clock searching for the dog and running herself ragged with stress and fatigue prompted one of her seizures, she said.
“I sat in my car, the phone fell out of my hand and I couldn’t move,” Simons-Sealy recalled. “That’s why I need a service dog.”
“I was stuck in my car until someone noticed me sitting there, not moving,” she said.
The faithful owner ended up hospitalized after the health episode.
Then roughly two months later, on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, two hikers found Nova “at the very top of a mountain … hiding under some trees,” Simons-Sealy said.
When she was reunited with Nova, “I was another random human.” Simons-Sealy recalled. “It took a few seconds and then [Nova] realized it was me and cried out, she wanted me.”
Simons-Sealy said that an X-ray taken Tuesday showed that things are moving in the right direction for Nova, who is expected to be healed up in two to three months, she said.
