My boys

I know, you guys have heard a bazillion and one things about my dogs. They are my family, after all, so they are a huge part of my life. They even share my dreams, I dream about my dogs almost every night.

But, I want to tell you about my boys. I love my girls heaps and heaps (in fact, tonight I took Ruby for a drive around the neighbourhood because she kept hoping I would...she loves sniffing the wind)...But, my boys. Both of my boys came to this house sicker and more broken down than you ever want to see another living creature suffering through. Neither of the girls has ever had to suffer through anything and they live quite like the pampered princesses they are. Oh, but my boys....

Ollie was our very first foster dog, and we were completely unprepared for how neglected an animal can be and still be alive. You could see every single one of his vertebrae and the points of his hips. He was so ill the first few nights with us that I had to feed him small tidbits of chicken (the only thing he would eat.) He was dripping pus from his penis, his paws were bloody and ripped to shreds as were his ears. Ollie has a pellet in his cheek and in his tail, and possibly more imbedded in other meatier parts of him from being shot. As sick as he was, he somehow brok out of his puppy pen on the third night and snuck up the stairs where he popped up by my side of the bed and pushed his nose under my hand to be patted. That's when I knew for sure he was "ours" for keeps. He was horribly sick with advanced heartworms and almost died during treatment (you don't know terrified until you are up all night with a dog that is struggling to breath and coughing blood). In return for a bit of care and love, Ollie spends his days quietly guarding his family and giving all the love and affection that one small boy can give.

Sam! Oy. Sam. Our one eyed-wombat dog. He too was skinny as a rail, with bones sticking out everywhere. He was so bony that his back cracked and crackled whenever he curled up. Sam only has one eye, we don't know what happened to cause him to lose his eye, but we are pretty convinced he was hit by a car at some point. All of his front teeth are broken/missing, and his back leg (on the side he's missing his eye) has a different angle/gait than his other legs. Sam also had heartworms (of course), but before we could treat them...we had to get him through a horrible infection that developed from his poorly performed neuter (at one of the local shelters). I knew he was ours for keeps when we went to visit him at the hospital after surgery to treat his infection....as sick and painful as he was he was so excited to see us that he struggled to get up and stick his big silly pink nose through the bars of his hospital crate. Through it all Sam never complained....he was alwasy unobtrusive and happy for any affection that would be sent his way. Now Sam spends his days having strategic naps and cuddling with me...he even has his own mumbling/murmuring language that he speaks when he cuddles. He absolutely loses his shit when he sees a squirrel and scream barks to make sure every one else knows he's seen one. He also likes to have a pack howl.....he likes a human to start him off, then he howls, which makes Ruby howl, which makes everyone else howl.

If you have never adopted a dog from a shelter/rescue society...then you are missing out. They all have stories of survival, and every single one of them...no matter how sick they are or how sad their history is harbour an optimism for a happily ever after with a family.