A beagle story

We co-habit here at the Homestead with a small breed beagle. Her name is Fry Bread and she is about 13 inches high at the shoulder. We're not really sure how old she is but think she may be around 10. Considering her past, she's in pretty good shape.

We adopted her from an older Mesquakie couple in 2006, a month after we had to put my Girl to sleep. Took one day and drove down to Grinnell where we met Sonny, her master, and Wendy, the director of the PAWS shelter there. Sonny and his wife, Carla, found it necessary to leave their home and move to an assisted living center but they couldn't take their pets with them. They had found homes for the cats but not Fry Bread. I had seen her picture on the PAWS site and she looked so forlorn that I just had to apply to adopt her. After speaking with Wendy a couple of times on the phone it was arranged for us to come down to meet all of them, including Fry. (We never did meet Carla, who was so upset about losing their dog that she wouldn't come out of the house.) We definitely met Fry, though.

She looked like an overstuffed bolster on legs. Her eyes were all googly and bulging, she grunted when walking or breathing and had a collapsible back end. Needless to say, we were somewhat taken aback. Himself and I looked at each other in amazement but we had given our word and Sonny looked so sad, but hopeful, that we simply couldn't get back in the car and leave.

We asked about walks (every 30 minutes,) feeding (McDonald's but no pickles on her cheeseburger,) vet care and shots (couldn't afford) and the more we heard the more we were thinking that this was the Mistake of the New Millenium. Still, there was something about that dog. Not sure what, but something.

We thanked Wendy and shook Sonny's hand, thanking him for taking such good care of Fry Bread and promising to our best for her. We duly loaded her up in the back seat of the car and off we went. We didn't even get 20 miles down the road before she had to go to the bathroom. So, pull over, pick her up and carry her to a piddle-spot. Set her down. Supervise the doings, pick her back up and carry her to the car again.

We arrived back home fairly soon and our first stop was the vet's office. Luckily, Doc happened to be there at the time so in goes our new housemate. All conversation stopped as she tottered in. Doc and his tech had horrified looks on their faces, Doc's including a jaw-drop that could have allowed a root canal by King Kong.

You see, Fry Bread, of a breed variation whose top weight should be no more than 25 pounds, weighed more than 50. She turned out to have major ear infections, bad teeth and a heart murmur. Lord only knows what else would turn up in future but, for now, we would handle the problems the most needed attention. The first order of business was feeding.

Her previous people had fed her only what they had eaten along with taking her to have a fast food treat daily. Since she didn't eat properly she was, not only massively overweight, but hypertensive and had calcifications on her teeth that were causing gum disease. We started her out with tasty canned moist food which she refused to touch. Next try was a bit of kibble mixed with the tasty moist food and some beef broth. She still wouldn't touch it. Instead, she got into the garbage, grabbed food from people and basically made a nuisance of herself. Called Doc who said, "She won't starve herself. Keep giving her the proper food and when she gets hungry enough, she'll eat it." Yo, Doc, will do. And that's what we did. Along with commencing NOGARBAGE training, NOGRABBING training and NOBEGGING training. *sigh* For some day, I think it was 3 or 4, she simply wouldn't eat. Then one day she did try a little. The next day there was still no People Food forthcoming so she ate a little more regular dog-type food. This continued for a while until she was gladly narfing down the moist food. We gradually cut out the beef broth and then cut back on the moist until she finally was eating nothing but kibble. We also started taking her on walks.

Well, kind of walks. She had gone to Sonny and Carla from a raid on a puppy farm when she was very small. She had whelped the first time at less than a year and, when a pup got stuck, whoever was handling her just jerked it out. She ended up with permanent nerve damage in her pelvic area and her right rear leg doesn't work properly.* So instead of walking, we sort of hobbled. And collapsed. And hobbled some more. Doc felt that it was possible that the problem would improve as she lost weight and, to a certain extent, it did. As she lost weight, very gradually as is proper to avoid complications, her movement improved. She also stopped making such horrible gobbling noises when breathing. Not only did the gradual weight loss help her gait and breathing, she became, over a period of time, less googly eyed and more interested in what was going on around her. Now it was time to attack those infected ears.

We had been cleaning them several times a week with a solution Doc gave us but it wasn't entirely doing the job. So, out we go to sedate the dog and ream out the ears. They were a mes. There had been a long-standing infection from impacted wax and dirt and she had a hot infedtion of the ear canal and ear drum in one ear. The other wasn't as bad. So we fixed up a headdress for her that would hold her ears up off the sides of her head. She looked darned silly running around in it but it helped clear the infections. Now for the teeth.

Since the deposits on her teeth were so thick and went clear up beneath the gum line, Fry had to be anesthetized during the scaling process. It went well and, after 3 hours of waking up time, she came home and staggered round, albeit with nice clean teeth. Since she was getting a diet of kibble, Doc didn't think it would be necessary to clean her teeth again and, so far, it hasn't been.

Then, about a year and a half ago, she started smelling really foul. Surprise! Impacted anal glands. Oh, fuuuuuun. I have expressed other dog's glands on previous occasions but, to be honest, there was no way I was going to do it myself. So, back to Doc. Good thing I hadn't tried because it didn't go well. They were badly blocked and infected, to boot. Keep butt clean and change dog food to a high-fiber diet. OK, roger wilco.

This has worked nicely except it has turned her into a poop machine. She craps more in one day than most dogs do in a week. If I could figure out something useful to do with all the doggie dookies I'd be a billionaire. Instead, pick it up and put it in the garbage or, on lazy days, just pitch it over the deck rail.

She's turned out to be a very nice dog. She likes kids, doesn't bark much and is well behaved for the most part. Welcome home, Fry, it's good to have you here.

This is Fry having a little break:






* She also has an intermittent problem with urinary incontinence. It isn't a regular ocurrance but I have Doggie Diapers for the times when she dribbles. They're denim. LOL