Category Archives: dog rescue

for the love of dogs: loss

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Boo Boo Schnitzel 2012-2022

A few short days ago, I introduced you to my dog (see this post.)

Today we said good-bye to him at VRC in Malvern. The grief has been hiding at the edges since we took him in last week. Now it’s here. The tears are running so fast, I can’t see some moments. But writing has always been my catharsis, so I have to write it out. I need to tell a little of his story. A beautiful rescue dog who will forever, remain in my heart.

He is one of the happiest dogs we have ever had. Always wanted to play, always wanted to bring you a toy. Or greet you with a leaf he picked up off of the ground. A fearless chaser of squirrels, chipmunks, deer.

He came to us at six months old when he was dumped with his sibling on the streets of Philadelphia. I can’t find his first photo when I first met him. I have it somewhere.

Boo Boo came to us unexpectedly. We weren’t looking for him. I had (back then) recently said good-bye to his predecessors, Iggy and Mr. Peanut. Iggy we had lost at 8 to canine lymphoma. As I was finishing my radiation for breast cancer, Iggy was starting chemotherapy.

Anyway, one day a few months after losing first one then the other, I got a phone call at the office from Bill Smith, then at Main Line Animal Rescue. There was a puppy. He and his sister had been dumped on the streets of Philadelphia. A PSPCA volunteer was taking his sister. “Did I want him?” my friend Betsy asked (she was also on the call.) She knew it was soon, and we had just said good bye to Iggy and Mr. Peanut a couple of months before. Then they texted me a photo. It was all over. He came home. He was, as they say, a foster fail. He never left.

Keeping watch for squirrels and foxes and deer and chipmunks.

Ten years have gone by in a flash. I wish I could find the amazing words like John Grogan or James Herriot, but right now I feel, well, gutted. I can see him on the very first day we bought him home and so many moments in between.

He was almost Clarence, but then he was just a Boo Boo.

The kaleidoscope of memories includes him marching back and forth on top of the old logs in the woods, daring a chipmunk to pop up, chasing a deer out of my garden beds, investigating Christmas presents under the tree, rolling in deer poop (yes really, he was Captain Deer Poop), racing through the snow to chase who knows what, barking barking barking (boy loved to bark), curled up on someone’s lap, the grand poobah of the bed, begging food, under my feet like a trip hazard in the kitchen while I cooked, giving us kisses, and chasing the hose.

Oh that dog chasing the hose and water. I could garden up until watering time, and then I had to put him in the house. Then he would sit inside and whine. He just loved chasing the water.

Boo Boo also had a group of ladies. My friends. They would come over and he would sit in their laps making eyes at them.

Puppy dreams as a puppy.

This was a dog who was just happy, so very happy. He loved and was so loved in return.

Then last Tuesday, his world fell apart. It was like he couldn’t control his limbs. We called our regular vet Dr. Hahn at Main Line Vet in Malvern. “Take him to VRC.” Was he sure? Yes he was sure. We went to VRC.

At first they thought it was Myasthenia gravis. Then that test was negative, and so was the extra large tick borne disease panel. Yesterday they did an MRI. The only thing left was something brain related. We almost lost him going under anesthesia to go through the MRI machine. His heart rate dropped dramatically. They stabilized him, he went into the MRI on a ventilator, and he did really well with the test.

Dr. Tracy our neurologist called as he was coming out of anesthesia. We finally had what it was: something kind of rare. Immune mediated meningitis – not environmental. With a lot of dogs the recovery rate can be up to 85%. They treat it with steroids and something cytosar, which is a chemotherapy drug. His brain stem was inflamed, brain swollen.

Deep breath. Here we were again with a dog with a chemotherapy drug. Boo Boo was already on steroids, but they started the infusion yesterday afternoon, and we were ALL hopeful. This time yesterday, I was making plans to bring him home.

At a little before 9:00 AM the phone rang. It was Dr. Tracy. Boo Boo was worse, could we come in. Basically, we were out of options, and we needed to come back for his final time on earth.

We got to VRC and the parking lot was jammed. So many people, so many dogs. They took us back to ICU. We could see his time had come. VRC tried so hard. It was just simply too late when we finally figured it out. In the ICU with Boo Boo was that Bernese Mountain dog that got stuck in the mud on the banks of the Schuylkill River for 13 days until some kayakers saw her. She seems to be holding her own.

We weren’t so lucky. Boo Boo wasn’t so lucky. I am glad for that dog’s humans, but I selfishly wish my boy was in his bed under my desk as I write. Just like he has been for the past decade.

We went to the good bye room and waited for them to disconnect him from his IVs. My friend’s daughter is a nurse at VRC and she bought him to us, which was another blessing in the midst of this raw sadness and grief I am feeling. She is also a magnificent human being like Dr. Tracy, and has that soul of true kindness just like her mama.

We all held him, and in true Boo Boo fashion, he tried to rally because his humans were with him. He wagged his tail some, and gave us all a lot of kisses. That almost broke me then and there, because he had not been able to do that really for a week.

Boo Boo loved the snow.

I told him I loved him and always would. They came back with the drugs. I held him as he passed. He quietly slipped away and I felt his last beat of his little and huge dog heart. Dr. Tracy was with us the entire time. I am forever grateful for his care and for genuinely caring about our dog.

We are not bringing his ashes home. He is in every corner of our home and forever in our hearts. He is being donated to Penn Vet for science. Maybe then someday, other families will have answers more quickly and not go through what we are going through. Veterinary medicine, like human medicine is constantly evolving. I daresay, even a decade ago, we would not have even had this last week with him.

Now all we will have left after the sadness and grief recedes, are memories. Memories of a dog whom I loved fiercely (even when he decided to pee on the edge of a cabinet, or door, or something he wasn’t supposed to), and who loved all of us just as fiercely in return. It will be a long time before I stop thinking I see him running through the back yard into the woods, or running OVER a squirrel to chase the one beyond that particular squirrel. At night I will continue to hear the bark bark bark of his nightly routine and woods patrol for a long time.

Dogs give us that unconditional love. In return, we have to do what’s right when it’s time. And that is the hardest part, setting them free of what is ailing them. We want to keep them close, but then we have to say good bye, because it’s the terribly hard and right thing to do.

Well that is the abbreviated story of 10 years of a glorious dog life. How lucky we were to have him.

Chase those heavenly squirrels now my darling Boo. Run free forever. The bad stuff is over.

Me? I wish I could be brave and have the proverbial stiff upper lip. But I just can’t. My heart aches. These magnificent creatures are in our lives for such short periods of time. There is never enough time. Then they live forever in our hearts and memories.

Run free my darling dog. The bad things are over.

for the love of dogs.

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Dogs. The canine hearts of our lives. They make us crazy, then they make us laugh. They give us the unconditional love that no human being, especially in today’s world is even capable of.

I have one that is suddenly very ill and I don’t even know how to process it in my head. I want to be positive and know that he’s going to come home and I’ll be able to love him for a few more years, but I am equally parts terrified he just won’t.

He is one of the happiest dogs we have ever had. Always wants to play, always wants to bring you a toy. Or greet you with a leaf he picked up off of the ground. A fearless chaser of squirrels, chipmunks, deer.

He came to us at six months old when he was dumped with his sibling on the streets of Philadelphia. He is now 10. And right now he’s at VRC in Malvern as they try to fix what’s wrong.

And save his life.

Literally a couple of days ago it’s like he lost all control of like his motor functions. In other words imagine trying to tell your arms and legs and head and tongue and throat to move only they’re not. He has been initially diagnosed with a rare disease called myasthenia gravis…they think.

Myasthenia gravis is nasty disease…in humans and dogs. Myasthenia gravis is a disease in which there is a malfunction in the transmission of signals between the nerves and muscles. Dogs with myasthenia gravis exhibit extreme weakness and excessive fatigue. Sometimes dogs are born with it, but mostly they acquire it.

My dog appears to have the acquired version. He’s gone from being a dog who literally bounces, to one yesterday who was like a limp rag doll when he went back to VRC for the second time within 24 hours.

When they initially took him in they thought they’d be able to send him home with steroids pending the outcome of the rest of the tests. And of course this is a disorder that literally maybe has like one lab in the entire United States to analyze it.

Terrifyingly he had a few good minutes yesterday and then the rest of the day was a roller coaster for me….and him. He ate 3 tablespoons of canned food. He didn’t take in any water. He was having difficulty swallowing too. And then when I took his temperature twice he had a very weird temperature reading, so back he went to VRC.

More about the disease:

Some dogs diagnosed with myasthenia gravis require treatment in the hospital until their medication dose is stabilized. These dogs are treated with a class of medication that inhibits a nervous system enzyme called acetylcholinesterase. Anti-acetylcholinesterase medications will be required for the rest of the dog’s life. Because of their compromised ability to swallow, some dogs will actually inhale food, liquid, or vomit, resulting in aspiration pneumonia. Aspiration pneumonia is extremely serious and often requires aggressive intensive care including oxygen therapy, antibiotics, IV fluid therapy, and supportive care. If the dog is unable to eat or drink without regurgitation, a feeding tube may be needed until the dog’s medication doses are stabilized.

Ancillary treatment of myasthenia gravis is as important as determining appropriate medication doses. In cases where there is a thymoma, it must be removed surgically. Food and water dishes should be elevated, and these dogs often do best with smaller, more frequent meals of a high-quality, high-calorie food. There is no single “best” nutritional formulation for dogs with myasthenia gravis. It is important to assess what works best for the individual dog.

Most dogs with myasthenia gravis will limit their own activity based on the severity of their muscle weakness…..improved muscle strength is an obvious barometer of response to therapy. In addition, chest radiographs (X-rays) are evaluated every 4-6 weeks for resolution of megaesophagus. Finally, acetylcholine receptor antibody levels are evaluated every 8-12 weeks, and should decrease into the normal range with remission.

~ from VCA animal hospitals website.

I am going to be honest I don’t know where to go in my head with this. I cry when no one’s around. To watch a dog that is so joyful suddenly be like a limp washcloth is just horrible.

This begs the age old question of how long do we keep trying and if it doesn’t work when do we say goodbye?

I lost a dog to cancer who was going through chemotherapy when I was going through radiation treatment. I made a decision back then I would never do that again. At the end of the day I feel like I should have let him go, versus what I put him through. So in a way I’m faced with that decision again.

I’m not making any decisions today, but I have to keep in mind as we try to go through this what is in the best interest of my dog. If he wants to try, I will try. I figure that’s the best approach I can have. I have a friend who had a cat with this who lived a few more years after diagnosis with a great quality of life. I’m hoping for that. But right now I’m just scared.

I have not heard anything since my husband took him back to VRC last night. I am sending up prayers to St. Francis like a house on fire to send my boy home with some quality of life.

This will probably be a very odd post for a lot of my readers to read, but it goes back to why I write a lot of the time anyway. I write for me. It’s part of my process. And I’m sure the people who love to hate me although they’ve never met me or had a conversation with me will be cheering that something horrible has happened in my life. I can’t control that. That’s on them for being miserable human beings.

But for those of you who are animal lovers, if you have a minute send up a prayer to St. Francis for my boy.

Thanks for stopping by.

to cowards who run over dogs and keep driving 

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Dear Cowards who hit the dog on W. King Road this afternoon:

Here is the dog you hit.  She’s a pretty little girl isn’t she? She is beloved to her humans and right now she’s at an emergency vet fighting to stay with her people.

Yes, she got out. It was an accident, it happens. But you hit this precious little dog and kept driving! How can anyone with a heart or soul or a conscience do that? How could you have not stopped and pulled over?

What is wrong with you that you did not stop? 

Everyone else around you stopped.

You know you hit this dog and you kept on driving.  

Accidents happen, it’s how you deal with them that makes all the difference.

Please contact East Whiteland Police Department and own up to this. At least to apologize to the family. 

To anyone else who is reading this post:

This little dog was hit on W. King Rd. mid afternoon this afternoon. If you know anything or you have any details on whomever it is that hit this dog please contact East Whiteland Police Department. 

It was an accident, a horrible accident but the kids who went into the road to get the dog could have been hit by traffic if other people hadn’t stopped.

God bless the nice couple who stopped and helped the mom and her children get the dog to an emergency vet.

We are all hoping that St. Francis is watching  over this beloved pet and she continues to hold her own. We asked that any animal lovers out there whisper a little prayer for this sweet little dog.

And to those who travel back-and-forth on W. King Rd. please slow down. No one pays enough attention to the speed limit and it is so easy to fly from the edge of Immaculata’s  campus out past the Little League field. Next time it might be a human being who is hit and we don’t want that.

Now that the weather is nice W. King Rd. is dangerously busy seven days a week, especially when there are activities like all the Little League games. 

People are in too much of a hurry. 

Slow down… please.

And again, if anyone knows who hit this poor little dog please contact East Whiteland Police Department. It’s the right thing to do. We should still live in a world where occasionally people do the right thing.

Thank you.

francisvale home for smaller animals has got issues

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UPDATE 11/11/2015 12:56 PM : Francisvale’s Executive Director has contacted me. In the spirit of keeping things civil our discussion remains off record. I consider this at an end.

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This is Elsie. She is a dacshund mix. She has been living in an office at Francisvale for I think four years. Recently she was sprung from an awful kind of of animal purgatory by one of my dearest friends who agreed to be a foster mom to her.

Elsie has been with my friend for a month and a half and has made great strides. She is finally almost completely house trained (dachshunds are stubborn!) and she is a good dog who has had a crappy life.

this is Elsie’s photo off the rescue’s website. Note the way they have her harness and leash and collar hooked up. Guaranteed to hurt a dog shoulder right? That is their photo, not the rescue mom’s living eith her.

I have spent quite a bit of time with Elsie and my friend and really like her. I think she’s a great dog. But she does have some fear based aggression which is not unusual for rescues. Today even though she  has been around me, something in her switched and well, she bit me. Through my clothes, yes broke skin, but clothes didn’t tear. She made a mistake. It happens. I have to admit it was somewhat startling because I’ve never been bitten by a dog before.

My friend had to call Francisvale to report this as a foster mom. The executive director was terse with my friend. All my friend asked was for permission and the money they said was there to take her to behavior training at What A Good Dog in Malvern. What A Good Dog is amazing with these issues.

But no, no conversation, just bring the dog back. They have an endowment, correct? Why not pay for the training? Why are they in the rescue business? To act a non profit hoarding situation?

The executive director did NOT even ask my friend for my name and phone number at the time to see if I was ok. How is that for a caring rescue? Professionalism is optional?

So I called the executive director twice. I did not want Elsie removed from a caring foster situation, just get her the help she needs and keep her out of the kennel and get her to a furever home. But the woman would not take my call. “Too busy” was what I was told by whomever answered the phone—I got this woman who was practically reading from a script about how to patronize people while calming them down.

I am now in tears and so is my friend as she takes Elsie back to life in a cage. Or worse.


I am so upset and technically I am the aggrieved party with a dog bite. But the reason I am upset is I know Elsie is a good dog. Not vicious, just scared. She made a mistake and they are a rescue that can afford behavior modification training. Her foster mom is willing to devote the time to do this – Francisvale just needs to pay for the training which is what they are supposed to do dogs and a foster situation aren’t they?

You know years ago I considered  rescuing from them. I even was one of the people who supported them the last time their neighbors are nearby streets complained about noise coming from the kennels.


I am being public with this post because I think Elsie and my friend are getting the short end of the stick.

The phone number to Francisvale is 610 688-1018. Their address is 328 Upper Gulph Rd., Radnor PA 19087

I think they pretty much suck  right now.

Again let me reiterate: I got bitten. I know it was an accident and I know this is a good dog. I also know that any rescue worth it’s salt doesn’t like dogs coming back into a kennel once they have gotten out as it can ruin a dog.

It makes me very very sad that I now wonder if this rescue is actually living its mission.

Elsie is getting the short end of things right now.  She is a victim of stupid human tricks.  I hope St. Francis looks out for her.

FV prefaceFV1

human shaming in phoenixville

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This is August. So cars heat up fast, don’t they? Especially in parking lots open to the sun, right?  And as you see that is a dog in a hot SUV earlier today. It was taken by a friend at the Redner’s parking lot in Phoenixville.  These people who own this Ford SUV should be ashamed of themselves!!!

 I wish the people who sent me the photos had taken photos with the license plate showing! This photo and the one below came with the following message:

We went shopping at Phoenixville Redner’s today. I waited in the car while the wife got a few things.

Some jerk left a poodle in a parked car. Driver window was open a couple inches, but the dog was frantic at first, then just laying on the seat panting like hell. 

A local cop came through, and I got his attention. He looked, and said “the window is open a little, and it’s a white car, it won’t get hot, besides this is private property, I have no jurisdiction”. The windows were heavily tinted, and too hot to put your hand on. 

I was about to break the glass when a young couple (about 6 people gathered by now) said they would go inside and have the manager put the vehicle, license plate, and business name on the P.A. system that their window was about to be broken. A volunteer firefighter had a rescue tool, and said he would give them 5 minutes. A girl with a water bottle squirted water through the cracked window on the dog, and it got up, and got a little. 

 Don’t know the final outcome. Even through the heavily tinted glass you can see the dog with it’s mouth wide open. 

So Redner’s in Phoenixville is in which township?  I would like to commend their officer who stopped for showing such caring and concern, wouldn’t you? Do you sense my sarcasm ? If  the officer was loath to break a window why couldn’t said officer have gone into the store to check for the irresponsible owner? Wow.

Kudos goes to the volunteer firefighter and others who sprang into action to try to help the dog.

Dogs give us unconditional love and devotion so it is really upsetting when you see stupid human tricks in action. 

There is a law being proposed in PA regarding keeping pets out of hot cars. Contact your legislators in PA ASAP about getting it passed!

New bill focused on keeping pets out of hot cars

Carolyn Blackburne 08/05/2015 06:54 PM08/05/2015 07:29 PM

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — A new bill proposed in the Pennsylvania legislature is focused on keeping animals out of hot cars. 


Farm manager at Greener Pasture’s Animal Shelter, Ryan Jacobs, said leaving a pet inside a car on a hot day can be a matter of life and death. Cats and dogs that are left in cars can die within five to ten minutes on days above 110 degrees.

“We already have laws like this for children, so I think it is important you take your dog out of the car when you go somewhere,” Jacobs said.


If an animal is left unattended in a car for more than five minutes, it can go into heat stroke.

  

UPDATE: the power of the Internet. Another person sent me a partial plate (missing one letter or digit) and told me that this shopping center is on the edge of Phoenixville Borough and apparently it was an unmarked police car and three police departments can be found on patrol around here (Phoenixville Borough, East Pikeland, and Schulkill Twp). And the static decal in the window is for a company called Unlimited Restoration which has an office in Pottstown.

  

“adult” moments…

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  The great thing about social media is that there are groups for just about everything. Dogs, parenting, garage sales, women’s groups, cancer support, cooking, gardening, collecting certain things, you name it. I belong to some parenting groups because, well, I am more of a late stage parent as a step parent, so it’s a great way to learn.

In one parenting group, a post caught my eye. The poster was one of those women whose profile photo was like a head shot. Perfectly coifed hair, professionally done make up and wearing a strapless dress like she was auditioning for a Real Housevives show.

The post was crowd sourcing where to get a dog and bashing a rescue which had turned her down. There were a ton of comments including from her. She was exhibiting shall we say potty mouth. Kind of ironic on a parenting page where there are often comments about how can people get their kids to not curse and not exhibit aggressive and unpleasant behaviors.

Hmmmm.

This woman goes on and on about how wonderful she is and how wronged she was and bashes the rescue some more. When challenged about rescue bashing and potty mouth in a place about parenting and mostly parenting small children, wowza. Super classy…..not. More like a bare knuckles brawler with an expensive manicure.

 If I was a rescue having to decide on her, lordy I feel sorry for them. But truthfully (based upon her comments), her issue seems to be that somewhere in the application and interview process she did not meet their criteria.  Ok pretty simple: rescues and even shelters have rules for a reason. If you don’t meet their criteria move onto a rescue you have better chemistry with or try to politely work it out. Lord knows there are a lot of homeless animals out there.

But the whole thing about a woman who puts forth an image of super coiffed and living on the Main Line and not being able to use their words well enough that they can’t avoid expletives of any level on a group page they don’t own or control where they are basically a guest like everyone else? Unnecessary and poor form. And somewhat distasteful. If they want to do that on their personal page, well that is one thing and basically dumb. But on a group page? Come on and grow up. 

And I also don’t know what it is about dog rescue conversations online but aren’t you sick of them going from zero to nasty in a blink of an eye ?  There are so many animals needing homes, yet some people have to start this controversy constantly basically because they do not like being told in essence,  “no”. Why not try to work with these rescues ? Work through their reservations? Or (again) if you don’t have chemistry with one rescue, move onto another?

And truthfully for me what I don’t care for about these conversations other than the acrimony is the cursing in a public forum like that. Surely other words can be chosen? Or does that also go hand in hand with being told “no” or anything else they don’t want to hear?

How can we teach our children well when the adults in the room are behaving like idiots?

Just saying.

good-bye oogy 

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I see the news is making the social media rounds so…..

Sad news to share. My friend Sherry just called and one of our favorite fur pals has gone over the rainbow bridge. Oogy. 

Yes, that Oogy.

 

His humans were friends of Sherry’s so I was lucky to see Oogy at a lot of First Friday Main Lines. He would come and hang out in Sherry’s store, Past*Present*Future in Ardmore, PA.

 

Before he was a doglebrity, he was just a big lovable dog with really nice humans. And an amazing story.

If you ever need a reason as to why animal rescue is so important, look no further then Oogy. The photos I am sharing are ones I took of Oogy at different First Friday Main Lines.

Oogy you were a big love of a dog and I am glad on a few occasions I got to hang out with you 

RIP Oogy.