A Poodle Named Dream Adopts an Aussie Puppy in Need

Dream already had one puppy of her own, but when another turned up at the rescue needing a mother, she brought her into her family.

A four-year-old Poodle named Dream turned up in an overcrowded shelter in the high desert near Lancaster, California -- dirty, matted, and skinny. Shelter workers labeled her a stray. They didn't even know she was pregnant, but she was, and she gave birth to two tiny puppies on Dec. 2. 

One died right away. The other fought to survive, as Dream, so sickly herself, did her best to nurse him. The pair needed to get out of that shelter and get some real help, and that's when a kind soul spotted Dream and her puppy and pegged them for transfer to the Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe, California. 

It was there her life would change. Not only did Dream and her puppy -- staff named her Cupcake -- get placed in a great foster home right away, but Dream gained a new reason to live: Candy, an Aussie mix puppy who was having a rough go at life. 

On Jan. 10, not long after Dream and Cupcake found their foster home, the Helen Woodward center brought in a mother Aussie mix named Karly and her seven puppies. One of them, Candy, was tiny compared with the rest. She had been getting trampled, struggling to get her mother's milk, and she was left stunted, weak, dehydrated, covered in bite wounds, and suffering from a nasal infection. 

The center's veterinarian, Stephanie Oba, took Candy in, fostering her separately and giving her round-the-clock care. She would get better, but she still needed one thing. She needed a mother. 

Someone on the staff had an idea: What about Dream? Her puppy Cupcake was Candy's age. And the pups looked nearly alike, despite one having a Poodle mom. What if Dream accepted Candy as her own?

Foster Pam Fleischman agreed. Dream met Candy, and immediately took her in. She treated Candy as "though she were the baby she had lost," reports the center.  

“Dream has been an amazingly good mother," said Fleischman. "She is content to spend most of her time lounging with Cupcake and Candy and attentively caring for them. We’re looking forward to seeing how the puppies’ personalities develop during the next month. They are both angels and immediately became the best of friends.” 

This story had a happy ending, but it's not over. Cupcake and Candy will soon need their own homes. The two dogs will be fixed in a few weeks and will be ready to be adopted after that, according to the center. If you're interested, please contact the Adoptions Department at 858-756-4117 (ext. 1) or visit the Helen Woodward Animal Center. 

Check out these adorable stories on Dogster:

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A Pet Columbarium Is Planned for a Church Named After St. Francis, Patron Saint of Animals

But not everyone in San Francisco likes the idea. Veteran politician Angela Alioto calls it "creepy."

In the Hollywood ending to a dog's life, he is buried in a quiet, peaceful spot on your spacious farm, in the oak grove out past the pond where the doves and thrushes sing throughout the day.

The reality is far less picturesque.

Fortunately, in San Francisco, that will change for more than 1,000 pet owners. That's the proposed vacancy on the city's first pet columbarium, which church leaders at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi in North Beach are planning to build, according to a story in SF Weekly.

The columbarium will hold urns containing the ashes of dead pets. It will be housed in an 850-square-foot space underneath a staircase in the historic church, which was unearthed during construction work.

The Rev. Harold Snider, rector at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, says that your dog doesn't have to be Catholic to land a spot -- all animals will be welcome. He told SF Weekly that he grew up with animals himself (cats, dogs, and rabbits) and understands the need to place them to rest respectfully.

"A pet isn't just some animal, a pet becomes a valued member of the family," he said. "They give unconditional love, and they can touch human beings in the emotional areas that are often very difficult for other human beings to reach. As such, this Columbarium can be a final testament of that unconditional love."

Some don't see it that way. Talking to the SF Examiner, some well-connected parishioners balked at the proposed pet columbarium.

"Loving creatures is like St. Francis, burying them with humans is not," said Angela Alioto, a longtime local politician who has spent 17 years raising money for the famed Porziuncola shrine, which is in the church. "It's creepy."

"When you talk about burying pets, you talk about them having souls," said Elizabeth Dunn, a member of the Knights of St. Francis, a volunteer organization that guards the shrine. "I don't want to seem like I'm in conflict with [Snider], but this is wrong."

It bears mentioning that the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi is named after St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.

In trying to tamp down the controversy of placing pet remains next to human remains, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone tried a Hail Mary, saying that because the columbarium will be under the church, "it's not like sacred ground." 

Huh. We'll see how this story plays out.

Via the SF Weekly and the SF Examiner

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A One-Eyed Dachshund Named Captain Morgan Has a Touching Reunion with His Foster Mom

The dog remembered who saved him and nursed him back to health. The photo went viral.

A Dachshund called Captain Morgan (so named because he has only one eye, like a pirate -- arrgh) was headed to a bad place fast. He was stuck in a high-kill shelter in Selma, AL, and his number was nearly up. He slept on a cold concrete floor. During bath time, staff sprayed him with a hose. He had heartworm, which was untreated. It looked like it wasn't going to end well. 

But Sara Cross, founder of Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue, and Eva Armstrong, one of the group's rescuers, didn't want to see that happen. The rescue works with Alabama's Wannabe Rescued to help bail dogs out of the Selma pound. The two groups do so because dogs don't stand a chance at that place. Once local foster parents in Alabama are fully tapped, Badass Brooklyn steps in to bring the dogs up north to place them in foster homes.

Badass has saved more than 800 dogs from high-kill pounds in the South. 

"We really want people to understand the urgency here," Cross told the New York Daily News. "You either take the dog or the dog gets killed the next day. There's no other option."

Captain Morgan got his ticket out in March alongside 30 other dogs that day. In New York, the group typically fosters out the dogs, but Captain Morgan was a special case -- he had heartworm. He needed treatment. Armstrong let the one-eyed dog stay with her while he got healthy, and Cappy (short for Captain Morgan) jumped right in. Bonding, as they say, took place. 

Cappy slept in Armstrong's bed. They watched TV. They took walks. The dog learned how to be a happy puppy to a loving caretaker, and Armstrong's kindness made a big impression on the little dog. After he was adopted to a couple in Park Slope, Brooklyn, Cappy didn't forget his rescuer. When the two were reunited earlier this month at one of Badass Brooklyn's block parties, Cappy spotted Armstrong from a distance, ran over, and leapt into her arms. 

Photographer Hilary Benas caught the embrace at the perfect time. The photo went viral. You can see why: 

"It's great that he found a home right here in Park Slope," Armstrong said. "When he sees me, he goes nuts."

Cross told the told the Huffington Post that she see this a lot: "Whenever any of us run into dogs that we have fostered or rescued, they always recognize us and are so excited to see us. Dogs remember the person who saved their life and helped them on their way to a forever home."

If you would like to help facilitate more happy reunions like this one, you can donate to Badass Brooklyn via its Facebook page and website.

"Cappy would not be alive were it not for a small group of dedicated volunteers in Selma, Alabama," Cross told the Daily Mail. "We would not even know these dogs exist, let alone be able to rescue them, if it were not for amazing volunteers."

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A War Dog Named Buck Is Putting a Face on Canine PTSD

Buck, who is healing in a loving home after developing PTSD in Afghanistan (Photo: Estella Diaz)

When I met Buck, the kennel he was in at Lackland Air Force Base was so loud that I thought his name was Puck. The other dogs — all part of the Department of Defense’s Military Working Dog program — were going nuts because they had visitors and it was hard to hear anything other than loud barks.

Several dogs were spinning in crazy, fast circles while others ran back and forth in their concrete kennels. Some just stood there, barking at my escort and me like they wanted us for lunch.

And then there we came to Puck, er, Buck. Buck is a chocolate Lab. Because Labs are normally rambunctious and happy, I expected him to be woofing with the rest. But he was curled up in a tight ball toward the back of his kennel. He appeared to be the only normal, calm one among these super energetic dogs. But there was something about his eyes, his demeanor, that seemed almost sad. He didn’t lift his head; he just looked at me unblinkingly and then stared out again, eyes not seeming to focus on anything much.

Buck, it turns out, had been in Afghanistan as a Marine IED detector dog. The man taking me through the kennels told me, “He heard one too many explosions.”

Check him out in this CNN video about some Marines of the Alpha Company in Afghanistan in 2010. You can see him starting around 54 seconds into the video. The reporter said that the poor guy would jump not only every  time he heard a “bang or a boom,” but also at far-less threatening sounds, like someone walking by and kicking a rock.

Buck was diagnosed with the canine version of post-traumatic stress disorder. He did not respond well enough to treatment, and it was determined that he needed to retire from being a war dog. He was going to be adopted the day after my visit by a couple “who loves him a lot,” my escort told me.

Lynette and Larry Sargent, and Buck, whom they love like a child (Photo: Estella Diaz)

That was back in July, when I was on the road doing research for my upcoming book, Soldier Dogs: The Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes (Dutton, March 2012). I address canine PTSD in the book, and I was heartened when a couple of weeks ago the New York Times ran an article about it and dozens of media outlets picked up the story or ran their own versions. It’s good to see this disorder getting some attention. The dogs who have it suffer greatly, as do their human counterparts.

Signs of canine PTSD include hypervigilance, increased startle response, attempts to run away or escape, withdrawal, changes in rapport with a handler, and problems performing trained tasks — like a bomb dog who just can’t focus on sniffing out bombs anymore. These are variations of PTSD’s symptoms in humans.

Sporting breeds, like Labs, appear to be more prone to canine PTSD than war dogs like German shepherds and Belgian Malinoises. Walter Burghardt, chief of behavioral medicine at the Daniel E. Holland Military Working Dog Hospital at Lackland Air Force Base, is not sure of the reasons for this. But he and a small team at Lackland are starting to investigate this and dozens of other questions about the disorder, including how to prevent it, and how to best treat it. Right now, affected dogs are given time off, and get a combination of drugs and different therapies. A dog who is shaking and hiding may be given anti-anxiety medication; one who is withdrawn could get antidepressants. There are also counterconditioning therapies, in which a dog is slowly desensitized to loud noises.

About 25 percent will not be able to work again, and end up being retired from service. Depending on their condition, they could go to a police force, or be adopted by a family or individual, as Buck has been.

About three weeks ago I got in touch with Buck’s new owners, Larry and Lynette Sargent. We played phone tag for a while, and when Larry left a message on my voice mail saying, “I’m calling you back about my dog Buck,” I have to admit that I misted up a little. It probably sounds strange, but it was the “my dog Buck” part that got me. After the rigors and terrors of war, Buck was someone’s dog, at last.

Buck, now 4, is living a happily-ever-after story. Or he would be if he didn’t have PTSD. The Sargents have no human children, and think of him as their child. They dote on him, spending a great deal of time working and playing with him and trying to help him. They live in a large San Antonio home with a big yard they fenced just for Buck. But Buck isn’t a typical Lab.

“We’ve had other Labs before, and thought Buck would be similar, but we’re still trying to figure him out,” says Larry.

Larry is a pastor, so the Sargents frequently have people over for prayer groups, or just to lend them a hand. Buck quickly attached to Larry, and if the pastor is not holding him by a leash or right next to him when other people come by, Buck barks in fear, cowers, or both. He is not friendly with strangers, as most Labs are. As expected, he is scared of loud noises, too. Fortunately there haven’t been too many thunderstorms since they adopted him.

Buck has done a couple of PTSD-related things that are pretty heartbreaking. I describe them in my book, and my publisher doesn’t want me to give too much away in this blog post. But the good news is that with a lot of love and attention, Buck is coming around.

Buck in his big yard, playing with a faux skunk-skin dog toy. He loves stuffed animals. (Photo: Estella Diaz)

“We are seeing more and more of his inner puppy,” says Lynette. “He loves to catch a ball and throw it in the air for himself and catch it over and over. He can be really silly.”

And Buck loves stuffed animals. Like any self-respecting Lab, he seeks them out no matter where they’re hiding and joyously rips their stuffing out.

The Sargents wish they had a little more background on Buck. Or some instructions from the Department of Defense about how to best help a dog with PTSD. But it’s such a relatively new disorder — Burghardt called a blue-ribbon panel in January and it was only officially decided then that canine PTSD is, indeed, real — that there aren’t yet many answers.

So the Sargents take it one day at a time, and that pace seems to be a good one for Buck, who appears to be starting to heal with the Sargents’ self-written prescription of big doses of love and happiness around the clock.

***

Dogsters, the New York Times article says civilian dogs can get PTSD from car accidents or less traumatic incidents. I wonder how prevalent PTSD is in puppy-mill breeder dogs or bait dogs? Have you ever seen a dog who might have PTSD? Maybe some of you even have a dog with it. Have you been able to help affected dogs? Any advice for the Sargents?

Larry Sargent gives Buck his "prescription": Huge doses of love around the clock. (Photo: Estella Diaz)

(All photos in this post are by the Sargents’ friend, Estella Diaz, who is passionate about photography and donated her time to take these photos for me because the Sargents are like her “parents away from home.” She wrote me that she met them in 1997 when she started going to their church. “I had been to other churches before, but he was the first pastor that remembered my name only after meeting me just once.  I felt so welcomed there that I never left. The Sargents were never able to have kids but they have so many children through their congregation.  I’m just one of those kids. As far as dog parents, they are the best. Their pets are like their kids … very much loved, cared for and spoiled. Which is how it should be. I just love them so very much … I can’t say enough about them!” Buck sure hit the lottery with the Sargents.)

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A poorly named, but common, condition: old dog vestibular disease

There are a few conditions that veterinarians see with some regularity that really scare the pants off of pet owners, but most vets don’t see them as major problems. One of these goes by the slightly offensive moniker of Old Dog Vestibular Disease. (Can you imagine if you went to your family MD are were diagnosed with something like Old Fart Syndrome?)

Dogs afflicted with this disorder, abbreviated ODV, usually develop a sudden loss of balance accompanied by a head tilt. They can roll on the ground, and in some cases will become nauseous and vomit due to motion sickness. The rolling happens because they are literally trying to catch up with a world that they perceive as spinning.  The head tilt makes them look rather cute and quizzical, as if to say ‘Why is everything spinning all of a sudden?’ The signs are rapid and dramatic, and many a pet owner thinks this is the end. The good news is that, in the vast majority of cases, the signs will pass and normal life will resume within a few days (some dogs will have a bit of a head tilt for a while, but I still maintain that it makes them look a tad cuter).

To get a taste of what they are going through, it’s exactly like the old game that you played when you were a little kid when you have one of your friends spin you around and then stop suddenly. The world just keeps on spinning.  For kids, the spinning slows down and stops after a few minutes, but for the dogs the spinning can go on for days. And, just like with the spinning kids, if you look closely at the eyes of a dog suffering from ODV, they are rapidly darting back and forth (a condition called nystagmus) as if they are watching an unseen tennis match.

The real cause for this disease has eluded science. We have a few guesses, but no one really knows for sure what causes this condition. It may be a mini-stroke (sort of like a transient ischemic attack, or TIA, in people), or some random inflammation of the inner ear, or vestibular system, that controls our balance and lets us know which way is up. There are other diseases that can mimic ODV, like brain tumors and inner ear infections, so cases that don’t get better in the usual time-frame of two to five days, warrant further workup with imaging modalities like MRI or CT scan. Among dogs that don’t get better within a few days, about 25% were found to have a brain tumor when subjected to an MRI.

Some dogs can be treated at home, and will only need medication for motion sickness and maybe a little TLC and hand-feeding. For dogs who are vomiting, or for whom a couple of days of being off of food and water may be harmful (like dogs with kidney disease), treatment in the hospital with IV fluids and other medications may be warranted.

I have had many owners bring me their dog in the middle of the night, in tears because they are afraid I am going to tell them that something awful and life-threatening has happened to their beloved pet.  In most cases, I am able to let them know that their pet probably will return to almost full function within a few days, and with very little medical to-do. Every once in a while, we will get a pet who has been on a steady decline and an episode of ODV is the last straw in the gradual decline in quality of life, and owners will elect to euthanize, but most are very relieved to find out that things are not as bad as they at first seem.

What has been your experience? Have any of you had dogs that have had an episode of ODV? How did it go, and what kind of information did you veterinarian have for you? For more information on the condition, please visit VeterinaryPartner’s page on the topic.

Images courtesy of flickr.

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Honest Kitchen's Zeal Named Dog Product Of The Year

PupLife.com has chosen Zeal, a specially crafted dog food for pets with food allergies as their 7th Annual Dog Product Of The Year. Social media was a factor this year, as for the first time in history, PupLife.com visitors nominated their favorites for eligibility. The PupLife staff chose Zeal based on customer feedback, product review information, overrall sales and staff input.

PupLife Co-Founder and President Eric Houtkooper remarked, "Honest Kitchen's Zeal was an easy choice for our Product of The Year this time around. Pet owners finally have an easy-to-prepare, healthy, delicious, dehydrated raw food for their dog with allergies. Zeal is a winner for pets and pet owners."

Lucy Postins, President of The Honest Kitchen commented on Monday, "We're thrilled to have had Zeal chosen as PupLife's dog product of the year! Zeal was actually created in really close collaboration with our customers via virtual focus groups using Facebook and other social media, so this award is a real tribute to all those pet owners who shared their opinions and whose values and preferences for special needs and allergy pets, are reflected in the finished ingredient lineup."Zeal is the perfect blend for dogs with allergies, food intolerances and delicate stomachs. What was left out of this diet is almost as important as what is in it. Zeal, like all Honest Kitchen diets, does not contain corn, soy, rice, beet pulp or wheat. It is also grain-free, gluten-free and free of flaxseed and white potatoes. "PupLife's customers have spoken loud and clear - this is a smart choice for pets with sensitive stomachs or food allergies. We are proud to carry it on our web site and we hope it helps pets live happier, healthy lives."
posted 2011 Jan 23 by Chip Green

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