Monday, June 29, 2009

Midge



6-29-09 to 7-7-09

Midge is a 4 month old pointer. She was at the shelter and was taken out when she got Parvo at the same time as Joey. So she's been at Doc's for almost a month.
She is so small! Probably only about 15-20 lbs.

She is so happy to be out of her kennel! And she's got a great personality. She's so sweet.

We gave her a bath, and she HATED it. I've never heard such a racket. LOL!

7-6-09

Oh my gosh, this little girl is so sweet. She is sweet incarnate.
So mellow, and so intent. On everything. She watches everything you do. She is always watching with those big round eyes.

She wants to be on your lap, and cuddles so incredibly. She is also an incessant licker, but she does it so SWEETLY.

She LOVES the cats. She wants to be Jeffery's friend in the worst way. He is very tolerant, and even purred while she was cleaning his face yesterday. She sleeps on the couch with her head up on the arm, and it is adorable.

UPDATE: 7-7-09
Midge is adopted! She went to a fantastic home, and I am so happy for her. There was a bit of a bump in the road to her adoption, but it all got worked out, and I am so glad. I actually cried when I heard that the adoption went through. I think that this was the perfect family for her.

On our way out of town for our camping trip, we dropped her off at the rescue to wait for her transport to Cedar City. It was SO hard to leave her there, but knowing that she was on the way to her new home gave me the strength I needed to hug her goodbye.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Abbie



June 19-25 2009

We've only had Joey for a couple days, but we just had to bring Abbie home too.

She is a gorgeous girl. About a year old. She was brought in as a stray, but this girl has been loved before.
She knows basic commands, loves to play ball, and appears to be housebroken.

I'm so glad that we got to bring her home! I have no doubt that she will find a wonderful home soon.
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So... funny story...

There was a bit of commotion in the kitchen, then running out through the dog door, then a bit of tussling outside.

Wade and I were otherwise occupied, so didn't pay much attention to it, because there were no angry sounds.

A little while later, we notice that Abbie has reddish stuff on her paws. I say "is that mud?" Wade says " is that blood??" is it poo?

What can I do? I smell it.

It's pizza.

Upon further inspection, Amikah has pizza sauce on her shoulder, Joey looks guilty, and Ginger's breath is slightly pepperoni-ish.

They had snagged almost an entire pizza off the counter and shared it outside. No traces left.

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Update, 6-24-09

Abbie is AMAZING. I don't know her back story, because she was brought in as a stray, but I cannot even begin to imagine someone dumping a dog like this, or not looking for her if she was lost.

There is no way I can adequately describe how amazing she is, but I will try.
I think she's about 1 1/2 years old. She knows ALL basic commands (including shake and heel).
She walks on leash like a dream.
We haven't had her off leash yet, but I bet she would do great.

She goes right to bed when told to, though she looks at me with her gorgeous eyes, just waiting for the word. If I say "ok, up" she will exuberantly jump up onto my bed, and take up her place at the foot like she belongs there.

She is incredibly loving, yet not clingy. She is attached to Wade, and will follow him around, and he has taken her to work with him a couple times. She loves that, and charms all the guys at the shop.

She loves to play ball, and she LOVES the water. We have a kiddie pool and she would live in that all day if she could. LOL. I can't wait to take her to the lake.
Wade and I had our flat bottomed fishing boat out in the backyard, cleaning it out getting ready for the weekend, and Wade said "In the boat, Abbie!" and she jumped right in and sat down, all ready to go fishing. LOL.

She has got the greatest personality, and I love her to pieces.

6-25-09
Abbie got adopted! I met her new family, and I think she is a perfect dog for them. They spent the day with her and love her! They've told me that they would send me updates on her, and pictures, so I will post then here when I get them. I'm so happy for her. She's got kids to play with, and a whole life of love ahead of her. *happy tears*


Abbie Update! 7-3-09

I got an E-mail from Abbie's new family, complete with pictures! It is so awesome to see and hear how she is doing. She is most definitely loved.
They said I could share, so here are some excerpts from her letter and one of the photos:

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I thought I would share these two new best friends with you. This is the pop-corn night I was telling you about. Abbie was trying so hard to be careful taking the pop-corn from Noah.



Abbie lets Noah crawl all over her and pull on her ears and even practice his karate on her.

Noah tries so hard to throw the ball for her, but most the time she gets it before he has a chance to let go of it.

Abbie has been a great addition to our family, (even though she is a bed hog). *wink* I'll try to get pictures next time we go to the water park of her "biting" the water and playing in the stream. She is a hoot.

Oh! we took her off her leash at a company picnic and she did great.

Greg taught her to dance with him.


Update 8-02-09

I've been struggling with whether or not to share this update, but I know that you all share in my joys and sorrows, so ... here is more to Abbie's story.

Abbie's family returned her to PAWS. They were struggling with her in a few areas, one of which was a chewing problem that she had (she liked to steal shoes apparently), and another being that they found that she has a hormone deficiency which causes her to be incontinent when she sleeps.
The incontinence is fixed with a hormone replacement pill, but that is not something that they were willing to take on.

Unfortunately, I no longer work for PAWS, so when Abbie was returned to them, I was not a possible foster home for her. I don't have any updates on her after her return, but I hope that she finds a great home soon. She is such an incredible dog, and I love her dearly. It breaks my heart that it didn't work out with her family, but I understand that sometimes it just doesn't go like we want it to, and we have to pick ourselves up and keep on keeping on.


UPDATE 8-12-09

Abbie was accepted at HWAC in California yesterday! YAY! That is SO fantastic! HWAC will find her a wonderful home.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Joey






June 17- July 2, 2009


Joey was a stray that had been taken to the shelter, then moved to the vet when he came down with Parvo. He has spent the last couple weeks at Doc's fighting the virus, and won!


He is a 5 month old Irish Setter with GORGEOUS eyes.
He got a bath right away (that was an adventure, let me tell ya. Took 2 of us to do it, and we were soaked clear through when we were done, lol!)


He is very sweet, and desperately wants to be loved.
I don't think he's had any training whatsoever, but he is young. He will learn.

update, 6-21-09
Joey is the MOST lovable, cuddly dog that we've had. He will crawl up on your lap and just melt into you.
He is learning SO fast. He is housebroken now, knows 'sit', and is taking treats softly and patiently waiting his turn. I'm amazed at how fast he is learning.

update 6-30-09
Poor Joey. This little guy has been through so much in his few short months of life.

He went into the vet for his vaccines and to be neutered, and came out with an Elizabethan collar and 17 staples holding him closed. He had
Cryptorchidism and what should have been a routine neutering turned into a 2 hour surgery.
The little guy is all disoriented, and lethargic. He cries, and it breaks my heart. I slept very little last night, hanging on his every sound.
He got some good pain meds, and they are helping him sleep a little better, and we take the collar off when one of us is sitting with him so he can be comfortable.
He should be able to get his staples out in 10-14 days.

Update 7-02-09
Joey was accepted at a Setter Rescue in Arizona. Lorraine is driving him there and we are just waiting for her phone call this morning to let me know she's on her way here to pick him up.

Gosh, I've grown so attached to Joey while he's been here. As happy as I am that he is going to the rescue, I wish that I could keep him till he recovers from his surgery. The mama in me wants to take care of him while he doesn't feel well, you know? I'm not ready for our home to be Joey-less. :(



*
He's on his way to the rescue.

It was awful... about 20 minutes before we had to take him to his transport, he was lying down and must have gotten a muscle spasm near his incision. He started freaking out, crying and spinning in circles.
Then he got all lethargic, threw up everywhere and just laid down, shaking.

He got another dose of pain meds to help for the travel, and we sent his bed with him, because he's comfortable in it.

I'm so glad that Lorraine is the one driving him. I completely trust her to put his comfort and well being ahead of anything else. But even then, I had a hard time letting him go. I wanted to sit with him and rub his ears and tell him that it was going to be ok.

Dang leaky eyes.



7-6-09
I got an E-mail today from Joey's new foster mom. He was taken to the emergency vet right when they got him because he was in so much pain, and they fixed him up. She said that he is doing MUCH better. It was so good to hear from her... I had been worried about him and hoping that he was doing ok.
She said that she'd send me updates on him, and I'll share here when I hear anything!


7-17-09
Got another E-mail today from Joey's foster mom. He's had his staples removed, and is doing great! She sent along a few pictures, and said I could share. Isn't he gorgeous?






The hard part

Yesterday was a roller coaster of emotions.

Louie was taken to HWAC (and accepted, woo hoo!). Bittersweet emotions. It's always hard to let them go.

I learned also that a few of the shelter dogs were put down Monday. One of them I had grown very attached to, and was hoping that we might have been able to foster him. His name was Sam. He was a Great Dane/Lab mix. Beautiful dog, with an exceptional personality.
When at the shelter taking photos of the new dogs, I would often take Sam out to the yard and play with him when I was finished.
Tevin and I were with Sam, playing with him, when he was adopted. It was a fantastic day, and Tevin was so excited to be able to see some of the good stuff that happens at the shelter.

While we were on vacation, Sam was returned to the shelter. He didn't get along well with the woman's other dog, so she brought him back. I imagine the only thing worse for a dog than to be taken to the shelter and dropped off, is to be taken to the shelter and dropped off twice.

I felt so badly for Sam, and when we got home from vacation, I immediately went to the shelter to photograph all the dogs that had come in while we were gone.
There were so many, that I didn't have time to take Sam out and play with him, though I desperately wanted to.

That was Friday.
They killed him on Monday.

I had no idea that they were going to, and I was devastated to hear the news. My heart broke with a pain that I can't describe.

I have many friends with strong shoulders on which to cry, and I am eternally grateful for that.

I am reminded to think of the starfish. And I try.

I can't help Sam now.
But I can help others.

Dry the tears and move on, though a piece of my heart stays with Sam and the others that I have lost.

RIP Sam

Monday, June 15, 2009

Maggie Update!

Scroll down to Maggie's entry and see her update! We got to spend several days visiting her in Oregon. We had a blast at the coast!