Kathy Barton's fourth grade class in Velma, Oklahoma raised money to provide an injured dachshund with a new lease on life.

A dachshund in Tennessee named Johanna had lost the use of her hind legs after being attacked by a group of kids with a baseball bat. Johanna's owner had kept her chained up in the backyard to prevent damage to the rugs. To move around, Johanna had to drag her hind legs, causing them to get scraped raw.

Soon after, Johanna was rescued by the Humane Society of Warren County, Tennessee. E-mails went out in a search for someone willing to adopt and care for her. Lauren Smith, who lived 1,100 miles away in Fryeburg, Maine responded that she would be willing to do so. Lauren happens to operate the website "Dogs Deserve Better", focusing on bringing awareness to chained dogs.

It was around this time that Kathy Barton was teaching her class about caring for handicapped pets. She had Mark Robinson from HandicappedPets.com come in to set up a class project where the students would raise money for a handicapped pet somewhere. The class raised $423.00.

Another person who saw the e-mail from the Humane Society was Judy Francis. Judy does interviews for Hal Abrams' radio show "Animal Radio". Judy was interviewing Mark Robinson, when Mark mentioned the project that Kathy Barton's fourth grade class was doing.

So, both Mark and Hal Abrams went on the air to talk to the fourth grade class about using that money to help Johanna. The class agreed. Next, they called Lauren Smith, who had agreed to care for Johanna, to tell her that a dachshund would be on its way.

The $423.00 the class raised was used to pay for a doggie wheelchair, doggie diapers, and transportation to Maine. On May 25th, 2005, Johanna felt the arms of her owner, Lauren Smith.

For more information about this story, visit Johanna's webpage.