Special needs doxie senior in Florida

My family would disown me if I ditched Easter weekend to do a run to Florida for this boy (Florida is 26 hours one way, no stops.); but we could be at the shelter doors when they open on Saturday morming and be home in time for Sunday dinner.

Road Trip anyone???

Old, deaf and blind in a US shelter; this boy needs a miracle if he is going to survive. I don't plan to post dogs in need here, but this boy has just captured my heartstrings. He needs a loving retirement home, where he can snooze in the sun and get two square meals a day. Canada in winter, after living in Florida, may be a bit of an adaptation for him, but we have a nice heated dog bed at our house. We don't have any steps in our house, so his blindness would be easily accomodated.

Tommy is a approx 15 year old guy who is deaf and blind. He was picked up as a stray walking around. He is old and tired. We have him in a cage with a nice thick warm blanket. Would love to get him out if at all possible..Here is a link to his info:http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/dis...etid= 13353095

Anyone looking for low maintenance, unconditional love ?????

Adoption pending

Angel, our chiwiennie foster, has an adoption pending. She should be in her furever home by this coming weekend. Only 5 more sleeps as a foster !!! :-)

Heidi and Mr. Sunbeam

Heidi's original Deano made the trip with her from her foster home in South Carolina to Heidi's home with us in Canada. Heidi was so sad when one of our fosters "killed" Deano. Through some happy coincidences, a wonderful lady named Irma, send Heidi a lifetime supply of Deanos all the way from Arizona. My girl was so happy when I gave her Deano II. She carried him around with her for days, so he would not get out of her sight again.

Heidi with Mr. Sunbeam and Deano Dino - her two most favourite things in the world.


My sunbaby and her best friend; a very happy little girl

Oooops !!!

Heidi has some mobility and can get around in the house without her cart. Yesterday was not my most brilliant day. I got to work only to realize that I had left my cell phone and debit card at home. I did not need gas or any other shopping, so not having my debit card was not critical; dumb but not critical.

I always use the side door to come and go at home. There is a french door at the top of the side stairs, so I know the dogs are secure and can't dash out the open exterior door. I came in the exterior side door, took off my coat and looked up through the glass door to see Miss Heidi looking back at me from the living room!!!

Ooops!!! The dogs are restricted from the living room during the day as someone (aka Valentin) likes to pee in the dining room. Miss Heidi must have taken herself into the living room and used the doggie steps to snuggle up on the sofa while I was wasn't looking. I never saw the little monkey when I turned on the radio in the living room and put up the gate.

She was so proud of herself, she got to sun herself in the afternoon sunshine and didn't have to share with the others. When I came to the gate at the living room door, she hopped over and showed me how she could roll on the carpet in the sunshine. "Look mom!! It's my best friend, Mr. Sunbeam!" Heidi is my sunbaby. She tracks the sunbeams across the living room floor on the weekends; moving a minute or so ahead of the sunbeam's track, so she gets the maximum rays.

She was none the worse for her experience, but I was concerned that she did not have access to water during the day. At least it is early spring and not too warm. Heidi is not a huge drinker and has a tendency to be slightly dehydrated.

I have learned at bedtime to check under the blankie on the sofa, as Pogo will be snoring away and miss the bedtime call. Now I have to watch for the morning "sunshine sneak" by Miss Heidi.

Border Collie

Here is a picture of the blind border collie pup who is just learning that there is a day and a night.

He is a very sweet boy. Once he figures out the rhythm of life, I am sure he will be brilliant at it.

I started this blog to let people know about my Heidi and that she has a "normal" life. So many dachshund owners put their injured babies to sleep because they are not told about the options. I will do some updates from time to time on this boy as well, as vision issues occur with the piebald and dapple (especially double dapple) dachshunds as well.

House seems empty with only 4 dogs (and a cat)

Angel is at the vet for her spay and the house seems empty without her. She will be back tomorrow, then we lose another 4 paws on Sunday as the cat I have been housesitting is returning home.

She has been in my basement for about 6 weeks, and up until this past Wednesday growled at me or ignored me. Wednesday, as I was filling her food bowl and cleaning her box, I was startled when she wrapped herself around my ankles. FINALLY, 4 days before you leave, you decide you like me. Now we have meowing downstairs, calling for me to come and pet her, and my guys (mostly Valentin) responding from upstairs.

Yes, Angel's absence is still felt in the middle of all that cross-species cussing. It is actually amusing. I have no idea what is going on in Valentin's little mind, but when he hears the cat meowing, he runs to my bedroom and barks down the heat register. Silly boy passes two big air returns on his way to my bedroom, to bark down the smaller opening. Oh well, it must make sense to him. I can only imagine the activity, when after kitty leaves, the boys get back downstairs. I must have the camcorder charged up for that!!

Angel left a chewie behind in her dog bed. Pogo has been doing everything in his power to reach through the exercise pen and get that chewie - little brat. That elusive chewie remains about 4 cms outside his reach.

We have our first adoption application for Angel as well, so our paw count may be diminishing even more in the near future.

Everytime I say "when this foster leaves, I am going to take a small break", there is always a furkid in dire need. I am hoping that once Angel is adopted, we can have a couple of weeks before the next foster, just so my kids can have some "family time".

Blind dog, need my readers' help

I started this blog to share my experiences with handicapped dachshunds; to let people know that handicapped pets can have full and happy lives.

Today, I am coming to my readers for their help with a handicapped pet. A fellow rescuer has just taken in a blind border collie, 11 months old. He was born without eyes. A kind soul took him in, as a pup, so that he would not be euthanized. He was in a rural setting and not integrated into family life. He was surrendered to rescue last weekend.

Family life is brand to to this boy. One of the first challenges is day and night. As he can't see, he has no concept of bedtime vs daytime and is keeping them up all hours of the night. Poor boy is fussing, whining, crying, because all the people have "disappeared".

I have tried searching on blind dogs, and most roads lead back to one or two sites which don't really have much info on this issue. The bulletin board seems to not be very active as well. A post from Sunday has never been answered.

My dad was blind for the last 28 years of his life, so I have had some experience with the challenges of blindness, but Dad had memories of sight to help him, this little BC boy has never seen. I have suggested some Melatonin about an hour before bedtime. As his brain does not get the visual clues of darkness to stimulate the melatonin levels, this may help. Other suggestions have been a small amount of lavender in his bed at bedtime, vigorous evening exercise to tire him out and Tellington Touch massage to help relax him and stimulate night time body chemistry.

Does anyone have any other resources or suggestions?

The family is going to order an Angel Vest for him and we have run through the links from their website. By the way, this boy is not up for adoption. Although Sally is in rescue, this boy is now hers; he is home.

Fear aggressive foot warmer????

A friend of mine was passing through town Sunday and was able to stop in for lunch. I was so looking forward for a chance to get together with her, but I was also worried about Valentin's reaction to strangers/invaders. Valentin does not do well with other people, and certainly not when they "invade" his home (in addition to the constant barking, he can get this "wild" look in his eyes and may give some warning snaps if they move too fast or come too close to me). If I wasn't housing a cat in my basement, I would have put Valentin and Pogo downstairs before "L" arrived. I would have spent some time squashing the barking, but there would be zero chance of any incidents with Valentin safely contained downstairs. As the cat is there, this was not an option.

He did bark at "L", especially when she stood up and moved too quickly to suit Valentin



BUT !!!!



at one point "L" was curled up on the sofa with Pogo on her lap and Valentin curled up warming her feet!!!! Granted this was after she came into the house (while Valentin and the others were confined to the kitchen), got seated and was armed with treats; but that is certainly not a receipe for complete acceptance. At best, this approach will stop most of the barking and challenging. Valentin will usually lay beside me "on guard". Having our squirt water bottle in view, will keep the last of the barking in check.

Valentin had met "L" once before, at least 3 years ago, when we lived in another city and visited "L" in her home. This is amazing for Valentin to take so quickly to an "intruder" in his own home. She did comment that, when we had visited at her home 3+years ago, it was my Valentin who taught her golden foster (now her adopted dog) that it was ok to jump up on the sofa and snuggle with humans.

Valentin is fine with his doggie day care folks, and will give one of the girls there kisses. It took him some time to reach that comfort level and they are professional, more attuned to doggie body language and techniques to handle situations. He enjoyed his bath there on his birthday, but this is astounding, for him to curl up so happily with a relative stranger in his own territory; especially when he had the option of my lap as well. His normal position is on my lap "defending" me.

A lot had to do with "L's" comportment around Valentin. She is very animal savvy, did not engage him, let him approach her, did not react to his barking at her, etc. She was relaxed, so he was relaxed; but still, this is a wonderful advancement for Valentin. My sister is an animal lover as well, but Valentin is not as relaxed with her, even though we have stayed at my sister's house for several months. He is "ok" with her, but not completely relaxed.

I had been worried about Valentin and this visit (the doggie gate was at the ready to contain him in another room), but it was a relaxed time and so wonderful to see "L", even for the short time we had to spend together. We chatted and caught up with each other's lives and I actually forgot to watch Valentin at one point.

I have consulted a behaviourist regarding Valentin. He did well in his session with her. I will admit that with our move, the mill seizure, etc, we have fallen down on our part of the homework. I have found that the bigger issue is getting visitors to understand and use the techniques prescribed for him. We have had some disastrous failures when visitors either completely ignored my instructions, or had their own version of how to execute those instructions. "L" did a lot of those techniques naturally, without my saying anything.

Sunday afternoon was a wonderful oasis; a too short, but good catch up with "L" and new hope that I can have more visitors in my home and not have to bann Valentin to barking in the basement.

Update on incoming doxies

The little deaf girl was adopted out in Montreal as were two of the other doxies. We are getting the dapple boy and a smooth red girl. In addition, we are taking in a schnauzer and little shitzu who is missing a back paw. I have already emailed the Canine Wellness Centre to inquire about the potential cost to have her outfitted with a prosthetic paw. (We will need to do some fundraising for sure).

They arrive the day after tomorrow and will be whisked away directly to our vet for sterilizing and any other medical needs that present themselves; so pictures will have to wait for a few days.

Introducing Angel, foster chiwiennie

The owner has surrendered all but 3 of the dogs from the December mill seizure, so now I can introduce my foster, Angel.


Volunteers named her Angel for those enormous doxie ears that stand up like a chi's; they thought those ears looked like angel's wings.

Miss Angel can now be spayed and then she will be looking for a furever home.

(Current paw count, 20 canine, 4 feline - for those keeping score, lol)

(PS: The SPCA is still fighting for the last 3 dogs which the owner did not surrender)

More doxies coming into our rescue

The Montreal SPCA just closed down another "breeding facility" (that leaves 2,196 more to close), pulling approximately 60 dogs (including a sweet looking little poodle with a broken leg). Our rescue will be taking in the 5 dachshunds (I am happy to say that the owner has surrendered ALL the dogs, so they can all be sterilized and put up for adoption immediately).

In the group is a deaf piebald girl, age 3, a dapple boy who looks like my Pogo (but with all his hair) age 4, a smooth red female age 5; I am waiting on the info regarding the last two. They will go straight to our vet for their surgeries, a couple of weeks recouperating with foster homes and then they will be ready for adoption. So if anyone is interested in adopting a doxie, please stay tuned.

I am thrilled to say that I think the little deaf girl most likely has a furever home already waiting for her with one of our foster moms.