A Mutt Of A Different Breed

By most standards, Muttley was born on the wrong side of the tracks but to me he was a champion. Though he never had a good hair day in his life, no pedigreed blue-blood could have had a bigger heart, nobler bearing or sweeter temperament.

For years dogs of uncertain ancestry have been given short shrift at rescue shelters. Purebreds (about 25 – 30% of the intake numbers), by dint of their association with quality, tend to be snapped up before the humbler mongrels even get a look.

But at long last, the lowly mixed-breed is gaining status; in some measure thanks to the American Mutt-i-grees Club, which promotes the adoption of mutts from rescue groups and shelters rather than feeding into the trade of puppy mills by buying your pet from a store.

Muttley came into my life at a very tough time. Lou, who had been my love, my partner and my friend, was dying of cancer. Out of the blue one day he announced that he wanted a dog. There was no way he would be able to help in the care of a pup so I knew it would fall on me and, already, caring for Lou was a full-time day and night job with medications every four hours, a special diet, endless doctors’ appointments, being companion, advisor and restorer of faith. But how could I possibly say, “No!”. So off we went to the local pound.

Walking into the shelter there was a large window with the featured pet. “Lucky” was the doggy in the window that day. Lou took one look and said, “I want that one”. My heart fell. Poor Lucky looked like a big pink rat. He was  hairless even before the Chinese Crested breed made it trendy. With protruding bones and ugly sores over his body he had the skinniest chicken legs you’ve ever seen. Those legs had ugly rope burns on them where he’d been trussed up like the Sunday roast. Lucky’s life had obviously not been a reflection of his name and I didn’t know if I had the extra energy or the soul that it would take to look after him while also caring for Lou.

Of course, when we left the pound we left with Lucky and for me that turned out to be one of the luckiest days of my life. By the time we reached home my heart was breaking for this pitiful little creature who sat on my lap looking at me with such a mixture of trepidation and hope.

Lou renamed our little pooch Muttley. We figured he was a maltese poodle mix with maybe a dash of something else. Whatever his “muttigree”, his personality was blue-blood all the way.

Lou died a few months after Muttley came home. Those months were a roller-coaster of anguish, anxiety and a fair amount of happiness and nonsense. But all that I’m going to tell you about another time and then you’ll understand why Muttley is the inspiration for this blog.

“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.” ~ James Herriott

This Christmas, Don’t Be Responsible For Another Eve

The puppy looked like a carcass when she was found locked beneath the house on the night before Christmas. Her rescuers called her Eve.

Eve’s owner left her for nearly five weeks without food and water. The owner later told the court in Auckland, New Zealand (after she had dodged the system for six months) that she had left the puppy in care of a relative while she went on holiday. While the owner was enjoying her vacation, Eve survived by eating flies and her own faeces.

This happened two years ago. I don’t know what punishment was meted out to the owner (a month locked under the house seems reasonable to me) but, reportedly, Eve is doing well in her new home.

This story touched me particularly. Eve is a Rhodesian Ridgeback / Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross breed. My own Angel, found in similar condition to Eve, is a ridgeback / pitt bull mix. When found, Eve weighed 22 lbs; she should have been double that! When found, Angel was nothing more than a carcass herself. Eve was found in December, 2007; she was 11 months old. Angel came to us in December, 2007; she was 11 months old.

Today, I suspect Angel and Eve could look like twins.

Anyway, here’s the thing. In bringing any pet home, you are taking on a commitment for the life of that pet. It is your responsibility to nurture your pet and, in doing so, I hope you will come to cherish him. Don’t let your pet become another Angel or Eve.

“The kind man feeds his beast before sitting down to dinner.”  ~Hebrew Proverb

Resources: petabuse.com

Your Dog is Dumb but You May be Stupid

It’s that time again……. summer!

I don’t know if the heat addles peoples’ already diminished mental capacity even further but, already, I’m seeing plenty of evidence that the phrase “dumb animal” would be more aptly applied to some humans.

I’m talking about the stupidity people display in leaving their pets in brutally hot cars, or encouraging them to run on hot pavement in the middle of a 90 degree day, or leaving them outside with no shade and no water.

Photo courtesy of Bill Davenport

You know, on a sunny 82 degree day, your vehicle will have an internal temperature of 109. And don’t fool yourself into thinking that cracking the windows makes it OK to leave Fido incarcerated. It will still be near 100 degrees inside. Oh! You think that parking in the shade is the solution? Well here’s news – the sun moves!!!! Do you know how many knuckleheads blithely park under a seemingly shady tree to come back an hour later and find Fido baking like apple crisp in a hot oven?

Dogs don’t have an efficient cooling system; they don’t sweat. And all the panting in the world won’t make a hot dog cool on a hot day. Panting is a way of expelling heat and drawing in cooler air, but if the air temperature is hot your pet doesn’t have much of a chance. So get smart and follow these really basic rules to protect your pet.

1. NEVER leave your dog in the car. Leave your pooch at home, take him to doggy day care, just don’t take chances.

2. NEVER leave your dog outside without adequate shade and plenty of fresh water. And a dog house isn’t adequate shade, by the way. On the contrary, it can trap heat. For the same reason, even a crate indoors can be dangerous – you should only use an open-wire cage.

3. NEVER walk (or run) your dog in the heat of the day, especially on concrete or tarmac. Here’s a little experiment for you. Get down to your dog’s level on a tarmac road on a sunny dog. Feel how much hotter it is? Get it?!!!

4. ALWAYS have fresh water available for your pet.

Heatstroke can happen within minutes and can be absolutely devastating to a dog – liver, nerve and brain damage, heart problems, organ failure, death. So know the signs. They may be one or all of these:

1. Rapid, frantic and noisy breathing.

2. Vomiting.

3. Dark red or very pale tongue and mucous membranes.

4. Dizziness and disorientation.

5. Diarrhea that may be bloody.

6. A rectal temperature of 105F or more.

6. Collapse.

Heatstroke is an emergency and requires veterinary care as soon as possible. But you can initiate immediate measures to improve your pooches’ chance of survival:

1. Get the animal out of the heat and, preferably into an air-conditioned area.

2. Immerse the dog in cool (not cold or icy) water or hose down with cold water. (Cold water will cause the blood vessels to constrict and actually delay the cooling process). Especially cool the groin area; there are large numbers of superficial blood vessels there and your objective is to cool the blood as quickly as possible. DO NOT cover your dog with a wet blanket. This inhibits evaporation and will create a sauna effect.

3. If your pet is wet, NEVER put him in a crate. That would be like creating a steam bath.

4. Rush to a vet as fast as you can. Make sure you keep the air-conditioning on in the car.

Bear in mind, too, that pups who are overweight, older, in poor health and even snub-nosed breeds, are more susceptible to heat than other hounds.

So, please, don’t be dumb! Just be cool.

Resources: http://mydogiscool.com/

“My little dog—a heartbeat at my feet.” – Edith Wharton