It's A Girl!

We adopted a new dog yesterday. We had no intention on adopting any more critters for a very long time. I went to the pet store to get some parrot food and passed by the animals for adoption. I do this all the time and don't bring any home. I like to play with the puppies knowing I don't have to house break them later. Anyway, there was a little dachshund there that looked like Vinnie so I went to get a few pets in. But I found this little girl was handicapped. (I see the light bulbs go on over your heads.) She had had a back injury of some kind (I see the bulb growing brighter). I talked to the guy who was fostering her. She had some kind of back injury and became totally unable to walk. The owners took her a vet and after an exam they were either unable or unwilling to deal with her injury so they signed her over the vet. That's where she has been for six months. She has undergone extensive physical therapy. She went from not being able to walk at all to being able to sort of walk. It's painful to watch. She sort of flops from side to side but is moving her legs. From there she went to her foster home to make sure she was socialized enough for a new home. I went back to my car and sat there and cried for a few minutes but went home without her.

I got home and told D the whole story and said that I know that we don't need any more dogs and was rather proud of myself that I didn't adopt her on the spot. He said, "Why didn't you?" I said, "What?" He realizes we are uniquely qualified for caring for this handicapped dog and seems to think there's always room for one more if they need us badly enough. I explained her adoption fee was $150 and I wasn't willing to pay that. He suggested I sent an email and see  what happens. So I did. I told all about Ringo and how he no longer needs his wheel chair and it would fit the new dog (Rosie). I told about Tess and how we figured out she was deaf. I told about Sarah and how we dealt with her cleft pallet. I told about Dusty who became deaf and blind. I had picture of Ringo in and out of his wheel chair. I had pictures of ramps we have in the house. I explained how our dogs don't jump on the furniture we lift them up. And I told them we would adopt Rosie and take special care of her if they waived the $150 adoption fee.

They did.

So now we have another 8 year old dog. We had to pay $20 for shots but she's neutered, micro chipped and up to date on all her shots. We brought her home and adjusted the wheel chair to fit her, put her in it, put her on the floor and she wouldn't move. I headed to the cabinet with the dog treats to bribe her and she took off like a rocket! We laughed so hard! I have no idea how she knew there were dog treats in there but she never doubted it! When I took her out of it in the evening and put her outside she wouldn't move again. She's figured out she can get around faster and quicker in the wheel chair.

She's sharing a crate with Ringo at night. And she's just now starting to get a little vocal. She is about the size of Ringo. She is a dapple like Vinnie. She has short hair and one quarter of one eye is blue. It's common for dapples to have blue eyes but this one looks like someone cut 1/4 of the brown eye out and stuck a blue one in. Her ears are a little small. She is heavily muscled in the front and has two muscles, one on either side of her body that are oddly well developed. So she's a little out of proportion. We think it's because she's been dragging the last part of her body around. I think this will change.

The wheel chair is set so she can use her legs. And she is using them. So we hope it will work as well for her as it did for Ringo. She can use the legs and develop muscle without inflaming the spine by that flopping from side to side. She is a speed demon in that thing!

I'm sorry I don't have any good pictures of her yet. You can be sure I'll be taking two or three soon. Watch for doggie updates.

I actually have some knitting photos to post but I'll save them for later in the week.