A family friend says only 10 of Bonnie and Mike Turner’s 80 dogs survived the deadly tornado that struck their home March 15.
Jo Trapp, the friend, said during the weeklong search volunteers have accounted for almost all of the dogs owned by the Turners, who were known worldwide as breeders of American hairless terriers.
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Eight of the dogs found were terriers, and the other two were Chihuahuas, which the Turners also bred.
Trapp, also a breeder, added that both family dogs, including Skeeter, were killed.
When Skeeter, Mike Turner’s beloved chocolate-spotted terrier, was not located for several days after the storm, some had held out hope it somehow survived. Both pets were found near where their Polk County home had stood.
Click here to read an archived story about those who lived through the 1994 Palm Sunday tornado.
Until Mike Turner is released from the hospital, family members will keep the dogs, Trapp added.
“From what I’ve been told, only one of them was possibly a show dog,” she said. “Most of the ones that survived are kennel dogs.”
Bonnie Turner was killed when the tornado struck their Live Oak Road residence, where Flinthill Kennel was also located.
Mike Turner, who was injured in the storm, has been moved out of the Intensive Care Unit at Erlanger Medical Center, in Chattanooga, Tenn., said Trapp.
“He’s had a great attitude,” she said. “He planned everything from the hospital, the funeral arrangements and all.”
Mike Turner is looking at approximately three to four months of rehabilitation before he’ll be able to return home.
“The family is hoping to bring him back to Rome once he’s discharged,” Trapp said. “(Doctors) are expecting him to be able to walk and everything. It’ll just be a long process to get back to where he’s able to do everything on his own.”
The Turners are founding members of the American Hairless Terrier Association. Bonnie Turner spent a lot of her time caring, raising and breeding the terriers.
“(Bonnie) had several (breeding) lines she was working on … one of them was a blue-coated terrier,” Trapp said. “She was working on developing different lines, and all that’s gone now.”
