Smiling Dog Farms

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Dog on the Blog: Romeo & Juliet, A Love Story

Pictured above are Juliet, on the left, and Romeo on the right. They were found wandering a Houston neighborhood, very much in love with one another and very much attached to one another... and Juliet was very much pregnant!

Jodi, an independent rescuer, had to coax them for several days before she could win their trust. She went to the internet and spread the word that she had rescued these two, bonded dogs who need to stay together -- and that the girl is pregnant. This is the time of year when most rescues are full, so Jodi turned to Smiling Dog Farms for help, and we agreed to help them.

Romeo is definitely not fond of people. At least he doesn't seem to like any of us around here! Juliet is more friendly, but she is swayed by Romeo -- so if she allows someone to pet her, Romeo is johnny-on-the-spot to remind her that people are not to be trusted, and she quickly toes the line!

Because Romeo is so very people aggressive, it is unlikely he and Juliet will be adoptable.

You can see their family below their photo. Juliet gave birth to three boys and three girls, who are now four weeks old. In another couple weeks, when they have teeth and are not dependent on Juliet any more, we will bring them inside and start preparing them for adoption.

Juliet has been an excellent mom. She made a nest for her babies in their cottage,. And Romeo has been very protective of his babies. It took several of us to divert Romeo's attention so that the puppies could all be brought inside. (They didn't just get their pictures taken; they also got some wormer!)

While we were worming them, we put the first two who were finished in the egg basket -- actually to keep them separated so we would know who was done and who still needed wormer. But it was too cute a picture not to take it. So here it is. Puppies in the egg basket.

Anyone who is interested in adopting one of these precious puppies can email us at Intake@smilingdogfarms.org and we will contact you when they are ready to be placed. One of our adoption partners will do the homestudy for us.

Jay Hellerich, executive director
smiling dog farms
a 501(c)3 corporation
wharton, texas
979-257-3377
www.smilingdogfarms.org
http://smilingdogfarms.blogspot.com

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Saturday, July 5, 2008

Dog on the Blog: Ginger, Our Special Girl...

Ginger was living in Kingman, AZ with some well-meaning folks who wanted to help dogs, but got in over their heads and just could not take care of them all. This was in the Spring of 2005. The authorities got involved and rescues from all over Arizona came to these dogs' aid. Smiling Dog Farms agreed to take the dogs who were "left over" after all the rescues had taken the dogs they felt they could place. Fourteen dogs came to us from Kingman, through the tireless work of Dr. Debbie Wilson and Betsy Senn and many others.

But Ginger was not among those fourteen. She was placed with an older lady, whom Ginger adored. Ginger was so happy to have a home of her own and a special person in her life, she would do anything for that lady. Unfortunately, when the lady's grandchildren came to visit, Ginger didn't understand they meant no harm; she was determined to protect the lady whom she loved with all her little doggie heart. And in one of those horrible ironies life is so filled with, Ginger's intense love for the lady doomed their relationship. Ginger's growling and snapping made the lady decide that Ginger would have to leave. Ginger had no where else to go, and we agreed that she could come live at our farm.

Ames McGarey drove Ginger down to our farm in Pinal County, AZ. I will never forget Ginger's expression. She was so very sad because she did not understand why she had to leave the lady she loved so much. That day, Ricky and I promised Ames and Ginger that we would make Ginger feel special, and try to make up for the heartbreak of leaving the lady.

That night, we brought Ginger into our bedroom expecting her to spend the night. We gave her animal crackers and hugged her and loved on her, and she soaked it all up for about 15 minutes. And then she was finished. She jumped off the bed and stood at the door, telling us she was ready to go back to her place. That night we began a ritual we have maintained ever since. Ginger comes into our bedroom for 10 minutes or so every night for us to fuss over her and share animal crackers with her. So she will feel special. And then she goes back to her place.

Her place is actually the dining room. Another of Ginger's idiosyncracies is that she does not enjoy being outside! Unlike most dogs who look forward to their time in their play yard, Ginger goes grudgingly to do what she needs to, and then she wants to come back inside.

One day she came trotting into the kitchen when she was supposed to be outside. When I went to see how she got in, the door to the yard was wide open. I closed the door and Ginger went back to the dining room. But the next day, the same thing happened. This time, I examined the door more closely and noticed that the exteriior door knob had dents all over it from where Ginger had been grabbing it with her teeth and turning the knob to let herself back into the house! We started locking the door when Ginger went out after that!

Because Ginger does not enjoy being outside, she staked out the dining room as "her space" early on, even back in Arizona. Intead of a play yard and cottage, Ginger has the dining room and her dog bed. The picture on the left, above, was taken in Arizona, when she first came to us. The second picture was taken in our kitchen, here in Texas. You can see Ginger has put on a few pounds (haven't we all!!).

Three years ago, Ginger gave us a scare. She was laying on her bed in the dining room when another dog went racing by. Ginger made an attempt to jump up and bark at the other dog... but instead, she screamed -- and kept screaming. We thought she had gotten her leg caught between her bed and the wall, but it was far worse. Somehow, Ginger had wrenched her back and her back legs were not working.

We rushed her to our local vet (those were the days prior to Dr. Stern) and he did not know what to do, so he sent us to a specialist in Houston. We took her right up to the specialist, where they performed a series of tests, including one in which they injected her spine with dye. The prognosis was not good. A couple weeks and a couple thousand dollars later, the specialist said that Ginger's spinal column had been injured, probably when she jumped up quickly to bark at the dog running by her. He said she would probably never walk again.

Fortunately, we got help from our friend, Sandy Cross, who is a vet tech here in Wharton. She gave us a sling to put under Ginger's tummy to hold up her back legs. Sandy said if we took Ginger outdoors in that sling, it would help Ginger to learn to use her back legs again. As long as we held up her back end with the sling, Ginger could use her front legs to walk. It was a slow process, but it seemed to be working. Then one day, while we had Ginger out in front walking in her sling, one of the cats stopped near by, as if to taunt her. Ginger took the bait and took off after the kitty, with Ricky barely keeping up behind her with the sling!! It was funny to watch! And we learned from that day to use the cats to motivate Ginger.

Every day we would take Ginger out for her therapy in her sling, and we made sure we had a cat strategically placed to get Ginger's attention. And then she was off to the races!

Long story short, the expensive specialist was wrong and Sandy was right... Ginger did learn to walk. Today she runs again. She has a slightly offset gait and goes down the road with her back legs and hips slightly askew to the right, sort of like a car that has been in an accident and the frame has been bent! But she walks and she runs and she is living her life with no complications from her spinal injury. Ginger is a special girl in more ways than one!

Friday, July 4, 2008

Dogs on the Blog: Heelers Celebrate Freedom to Bark on 4th of July!

This is the story of Blue, Belle and Scarlett... three beautiful, bonded heelers whose only vice is they like to bark. Well, they like to bark a lot. Actually, they like to bark at anything and everything, all day long and all through the night, all the time!

The heelers lived with a caring family who took excellent care of them and loved them. They had several acres and the dogs were happy and well behaved. They just barked at things. They barked at birds. They barked at cars. They barked at each other. Blue and Belle and Scarlett didn't really need a reason, they just liked to bark!!

And it didn't really bother their family. But their neighbors were not as accepting. They complained and then they complained some more. Authorities became involved, and finally, the heelers' family had no option but to find them a home, so their barking would not continue to disturb the neighbors.

Their family had the sense and sensitivity not to split them up. These dogs are very attached to one another, and they are a happy family. It would have been emotionally devastating to send them to different places.

So they came here to Smiling Dog Farms. Our closest human neighbor is over half a mile away, so our dogs may bark until they are hoarse if they want to, and no one will ever tell them they can't!

The heelers' family paid for us to build a really large play yard for them. It is large enough that we were able to enclose a tree that had probably been blown over by a storm many years ago, but was not completely pulled out of the ground. So the tree is still alive and growing... it is just growing sideways. This short video shows Belle, Blue and Scarlett on their tree. They really have a ball climbing and playing on it.

We allowed the plants to grow tall in part of their yard, and they have created little tunnels through the brush, through which they chase each other and then jump up onto their tree to continue their chase. Their cottage is right next to the tree, so sometimes they will climb off the tree on onto the roof of their cottage and use it like a roof deck to relax in the sunshine!

If ever you are driving down Hwy 60 very late at night... windows rolled down, enjoying the cool nighttime breezes, luxuriating in the quiet and solitude of the rural countryside... if the silence is suddenly pierced by three bark-bark-barking dogs, that will be Belle and Blue and Scarlett, just letting you know they are here, practicing for tomorrow's bark-fest!

At Smiling Dog Farms, they will never get in trouble and never be threatened by authorities just because they like to bark!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Dog on the Blog: Costello Gets a Make-Over!

Costello had a reputation for being difficult in his foster home. He power struggled over going outside, making them virtually drag him to the door and push him outdoors. He could be cranky and hard to manage. You can see from his photo (top) that he had gotten overweight and lost muscle tone. And he would snap at people. He was not a happy boy, and he was not a good candidate for a successful adoption, in the opinion of his rescue group.

So Costello moved to Smiling Dog Farms. He spent his first night in the bed with us, and he began living in the house, as most dogs do when they first arrive, so that we can get to know them and they can get to know us. He was snappish -- if he did not want to do what you wanted him to do, he would nip -- nothing serious -- just enough to say "I'm not interested. Now stop bothering me."!!

We were concerned enough about his snapping that when we went to spend a day or two at our beach house in Galveston, we would take Costello along -- because we were afraid he might nip one of the workers while we were gone.

In this convoluted way, Costello came to spend more time with Ricky and me than the typical resident at the farm, and that extra exposure to us helped Costello learn to trust us. Somewhere along the line, he and I bonded in a very special way -- he became "my boy". We developed that unique relationship that only happens once in a while, when a dog and a human connect in a special way.

He never has moved on to a play yard and cottage. He lives in the house with us, and still goes to the beach with us -- not because we are worried about him biting one of the workers, now, but because he would be disappointed if we went without him! He no longer snaps at people.

The middle photo shows a lithe, more youthful and spirited Costello trotting into the kitchen from his play yard. He has shed some excess pounds and his coat is shiny and soft. He looks great!

The bottom photo shows Costello on his most recent trip to the beach. He doesn't always wear sunglasses !! But he does enjoy walking in the sand and sniffing at the dunes. He has recently even been willing to experiment with getting his feet wet and going into the surf all the way up to his tummy, before retreating to the safety of the sandy beach.

Costello is a special little guy. Watching him dash through the kitchen on his way out to his play yard, or seeing him strolling on the beach, it is hard to imagine this is the same dog who used to balk at going outside ! Costello has come a long way.

A Tale of Two Donkeys -- Make That Three!

This is our baby donkey, Ila Mae. The one on the left!! She was born here on the farm last August. Her mommy, Ona Mae, is the only animal we ever went out and purchased on purpose! But there is a story behind that!

The third photo down is Eor. He was dumped by his "family" because "he made too much noise"!! So he came to live at Smiling Dog Farms. When Eor arrived, his only companion was Mr. Ed, a horse who was left here by a man who did not want him any more. (I don't think people had been kind to Mr. Ed because he has scars on his neck, and he is wary of humans.)

Eor and Mr. Ed became fast friends, spending their days wandering the pasture. When Mr. Ed would break into a gallop, Eor would trot behind him everywhere he went. They were inseperable!

Then one day two more horses arrived. Shelley and Navajo were premarin mares, rescued by Dr. Debbie Wilson in Arizona. She paid to have them brought all the way from Canada to Smiling Dog Farms, where they could live out their lives in safety and peace. If Debbie had not rescued them, they would have been sold for slaughter!

The addition of the two girls altered the social dynamic of the pasture. The girls immediately took to Mr. Ed, but Eor was not included. To a certain extent, it was Eor's own fault. Apparently donkey ettiquette is different than horse ettiquette. Eor would start charging from across the field and come up behind one of the girls and bellow the loudest HEE-HAW you can imagine! It would startle Shelley and Navajo, and they avoided him.

Soon we would look out into the pasture and there would be Mr. Ed, Shelley and Navajo together... and Eor would be on the other side of the field, gazing at them with sad eyes. One day we went into the pasture to visit with Eor, because we knew he was lonely and he missed his old buddy, Mr. Ed. Eor's ears were back against his head and -- I am not making this up -- he had tears rolling down his cheeks!

That was just more than we could bear. Eor is such a sweet, sensitive guy. We can hug him around the neck and even kiss him on the lips. He always comes to us when we call him. We could not let him feel so left out and sad.

So we went shopping for Ona Mae! A farmer one county over raises donkeys, and he had run an ad with some donkeys for sale. We took our trailer over and brought her home. Her picture is the second one down from the top. As it happened, she was pregnant when we got her.

Eor was smitten with Ona Mae immediately. Apparently Eor had to "grow on" Ona Mae, or she was playing hard to get... because she did not return his ardor right away! Eor has only one way to get a girl's attention in his play book, and that is running up from behind and bellowing HEE HAW !! It must have won her heart, though, because soon after Ila Mae was born, Ona Mae and Eor would be together with little Ila Mae between them. Eor has been gentle and protective of Ila Mae.

The top photo shows the relationship today between Ona Mae and Eor. Since donkeys can't hold hands, they nuzzle each other with their noses. Our little donkey family is fun to watch. All are friendly and readily come to the fence to visit. They love cinnamon bread and powdered sugar donuts, but they will take about any treat you offer them.

Donkeys have kind and sensitive souls. At least ours all do!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Today's Dog on the Blog: Belinda Gets a Second Chance

This is Belinda. She had serious medical challenges that would normally doom a shelter dog to the "euth list".

But Belinda was one of the lucky ones who had devoted volunteers determined to get her out of the shelter and make her well again!

Belinda came from South Carolina. She had what was thought to be a mammary tumor. She also was high heartworm positive. The top photo shows a sad Belinda in her kennel at the shelter, wondering if anyone would choose her to go home with them.

As soon as she arrived here, she went to our vet, Dr. John Stern of Needville Animal Clinic, to remove her mammary tumor. To his surprise, when he opened Belinda up, she had multiple mammary tumors all along her mammary glands. He removed tumors all the way from her chest down to her pelvis. Then he removed her uterus, not just because it is always best to spay and neuter, but also because the removal of her uterus would stop the secretion of hormones that were aiding the growth of the tumors.

As you can imagine, Belinda was one tired and sore girl when she came home from the hospital! She had an incision that ran down the entire length of her body. She spent days recuperating in our bed, and then began some limited exercise.

Then she developed "the cough" that is so common with heartworm positive dogs, and often signals that death is imminent! She was too fragile for "The Treatment" for heartworms at the vet's office. And she was so infested with heartworms, she really did not have time for low doses of Ivermectin to work, because that takes anywhere from twelve to thirty six months!

Fortunately, our rescue friend, Kim Fairchild, told us about a holistic heartworm medication that was much gentler than "The Treatment" but worked faster than Ivermectin. We got some for Belinda and within two weeks her cough was gone.

Today, Belinda shows no obvious signs of heartworms, and she is a happy, healthy girl. She has never moved from our house to a play yard outside. She has become a permanent member of our "house" pack! She stands at the dining room window and barks at the dogs in the back play yard. She rolls around on the sofa on her back, looking for just the right position to take a nap. When it storms and she sees lightning, she runs up the stairs to the top of the stairwell and hides until the storm blows over.

Belinda still has one more operation she needs, to remove any tumors on the opposite side of her body, but we have been waiting for the heartworm medication to fully do its job and for Belinda to have her full strength and energy back. Dr. Stern says her prognosis is very good, and she has many good years left to live!

The lower photo shows our Belinda today, happily relaxing on our bed upstairs. Thanks to the dedication of the volunteers who made it possible for her to be rescued and come to our farm, Belinda got the medical care she needed and is a normal, happy Rottweiler girl with a future ahead of her!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Today's Dog on the Blog: Missy Overcomes the Odds!

Missy is the star of this video. What she is doing seems mundane enough -- she is just walking. But for Missy, this is HUGE.

You see, Missy was hit by a car a number of years ago. It broke her back, and she lost the use of her back legs. Her family did not want her after that.

This took place in Albuquerque, where we lived at the time. Missy was treated by Dr. Julia Skains at Good Shepherd Animal Clinic, and Dr. Skains and Cindy and the rest of the staff would not euthanize Missy just because she couldn't use her back legs. They asked if Missy could come live with us. Dr. Skains always believed that Missy would walk again. When we met Missy, we were skeptical.

There was never any evidence that Missy felt much of anything in those legs, and she just dragged them behind her. She was able to get around using her two front legs, sort of pulling herself along. We bought a cart for Missy, that was custom built for her size and measurements. The one thing we had not thought about was that Missy cannot lay down to rest, when she is strapped into her cart. So she uses the cart for play, but when she is tired and wants out, she barks until someone takes her out of her cart. On more than one occasion, we failed to respond quickly enough and Missy chewed off the straps to get out by herself!! (Ricky's mom, Nellie, sewed us some new straps each time!)

As the years passed, and Missy made no attempt to use her back legs, we just figured that Missy was destined to be paraplegic. It does not seem to bother her. She is in a group of five dogs. When they are playing, Missy will sit in place and as dogs chase by her, they will pause to chew at Missy and she will nip back at them! This is a really sweet group of dogs, and the others have always included Missy in their group activities. She is clearly a valued member of her little pack!

About two months ago, we were startled to see Missy standing on all four legs. Actually, she was standing on three legs with the fourth sort of dangling, as the video shows. But the use of that third leg in back allowed her to stand fully upright! And as the days have passed, Missy has been exercising and strengthening her third leg more and more. This video clearly shows Missy walking -- not just pulling herself along with her front two legs, but standing upright and moving forward on three legs!

We are excited and happy for Missy and this new milestone in her life! Our hat is off to Dr. Skains in Albuquerque who predicted that Missy would one day walk again. She was right!