Introducing Babe
Likes: "Walkies", "Treats", Other dogs (only quiet friendly ones), curling up in bed with mommy & daddy (she's a bed hog though), sneaking up on squirrels and chasing them up trees, "car rides", and snuggling up on the couch with her people to watch TV.
Pet-Peeves: Thunderstorms terrify her, strangers on or near her property bother her....she's protective of her family, "men" generally are a threat to her.....it takes her a long time to be comfortable around adults, especially men, but once she knows you well....you’re one of the pack.
Favorite Food: Babe doesn't have a favorite food.......anything edible is fair game....she is food driven and loses all common sense when she smells something tasty.
Best Tricks: Babe is "treat" motivated and tries really hard to obey, she can "sit" but she doesn't do traditional tricks. She's very adept at hiding her kibble under the pillows on the couch and sneaking past everyone to get upstairs to the forbidden bedrooms. She doesn’t realize she’s a dog. She thinks she should have a soft bed with fluffy pillows too.
Arrival Story: After searching the Internet and many dog shelters for the perfect addition to our family, we came across the AB&TC Rescue. Our family had owned a B&T many years ago and were quite fond of this particular breed so we began to discuss the possibility of adopting one of these beautiful hounds. We applied and were accepted and chose Babe. It sounded like she'd be a perfect match for our family. Babe was originally from Louisiana and was being fostered in Martin, Michigan...still quite a distance from where we are...but the wonderful people at AB&TC rescue arranged transport for her all the way to Detroit, all we had to do was cross the boarder to pick her up! On Saturday February 21/04 we picked up Babe. She was skinny and scared and was probably wondering what in the world was going on, and she was so beautiful! She layed on the seat in our van all the way home...all tuckered out from her long days trip. Once we arrived home she very cautiously explored the kitchen, the living room, and our bedroom (all on the main floor) and excitedly discovered her food and water bowls. Once we coaxed her onto our bed, she curled up for a nap. We have had Babe for just over 4 years now and are pleased at the progress she's made. When she first got here all she wanted to do was hide. She was terrified of every movement and sound. She appears to have been abused and probably by a man, as she would not approach my husband on her own, but if he called her, she would slink across the floor towards him (almost on her belly) with her head down and tail between her legs. Babe is now returns our affection and now wags her tail when she's being petted. She will stand still for a very long time just to allow you to pet her and rub her ears. Babe was so cautious when roaming around the house. She would move from room to room as if she was trying not to be seen. She would not attempt to climb the stairs to the second level of our home....she didn't like stairs and would avoid them at all costs. We carried her upstairs to show her the kid's rooms and she enjoyed investigating all my daughter’s stuffed animals, but she tried to hide behind the door when it was time to go back downstairs....so we carried her back down...although she was very underweight, Babe was not light. Now, Babe's favorite place to be is upstairs on one of the beds. Babe is so much more confident outdoors. She enjoys wandering around our backyard but really prefers to be indoors (in the winter) where it's warm....she despises the snow :) and in the summer where the air conditioning is. Although it appears that she was not used to being indoors, she certainly prefers it. Her favorite places to be are curled up on our bed or up on the couch. She seems to enjoy sleep.....she does it alot! I just can't believe how great this dog is....she can be left alone in the house without being put in her kennel, she does not chew things or get into trouble (she just prefers to sleep), she doesn’t have accidents indoors at all, she does not jump on people, she enjoys car rides and just lays down on the seat, she walks well on the leash, she is not destructive or noisy. Despite the many "issues" Babe has, she has been a wonderful addition to our family and we are so thrilled to be her people.
Upon our first visit to our vet she detected a heart murmur in Babe, which the vet said could be very normal for a 5 year old dog...didn't think it was too serious as Babe didn't have any other symptoms of anything being wrong. We got a special dog food to help put some much needed weight on her as well. Babe was adjusting well to our home and our family and we quickly fell in love with her. A short time later we noticed Babe was coughing quite a bit after our evening walks, the next morning Babe was limping and not using her one back leg very well so I brought her to the vet right away. The vet re examined her and said that her lungs didn't sound right, that Babe was full of a bunch of different parasites, the vet did a heart worm test to check it out and guess what???? Babe was positive for heart worm! Babe was further examined and found to be in a later stage 3 of heart worm disease….her microfiaria count was too high to even count and the risk of treatment was too great to chance.....the vet was concerned that Babe would go onto anaphylactic shock when they began treatment...which would be a far more terrible death to suffer than euthanization. We had only had Babe for 2 weeks thus far and the vet costs were adding up already. We were told that the HW treatment, if we wanted to consider it, would cost between $1100.00 and $1500.00 provided there were no major complications or additional treatments needed later on.
Because of her rapidly deteriorating condition Babe was scheduled for euthanization on the morning of March 8, 2004. 15 minutes before her scheduled appointment, Babe began acting different and started doing many things she wasn't able to do because of her poor health....we decided to give the HW treatment a try. It would be a long, dangerous, uncertain treatment and very costly...but Praise the Lord the AB&TCC Rescue offered to pay for her treatment.
Babe was admitted to the hospital again on March 16, 2004 because her condition seemed to worsen and again on Monday April 5th for another round of heart worm treatment. All went well and she came home on Friday April 9th for another month of recovery before having her final HW treatment on May 4th. Babe successfully completed her final Heart Worm treatment on May 4th 2004.
Babe is 9 years old now and is an important part of our family… she is in good health and behaves pretty much like a normal dog … Because of Babe's tragic past, she was very scared and skinny and in need of lots of love and affection.... she still has some emotional scars from her past but she’s learned to trust us and we’ve all learned how to live with her idiosyncrasies. There are many more shelter dogs out there looking for families of their own... maybe you’re the family they’re looking for?
Babe’s full profile is on Dogster, you can check it out by going to http://www.dogster.com/dogs/64507
The AB&TCC website can be found at http://www.coonhoundrescue.com/
I wanted to say "THANK YOU" to Jenn Tatsu bringing by a "boy" bike last week (just after the previous blog updates went out) to replace B2's "girly bike). He was so excited and can now ride it like a pro all over the yard :) Thanks again.
Summer's half over and I can't seem to figure out where all the time has gone too. I may be wrong but I think as I age, time goes by even quicker. I remember my own summers as a child and sometimes it seemed like there was no end in sight. We'd play tag, hide and go seek, Nicky Nicky nine doors, red rover, British bull dog, truth or dare, baseball, road hockey..... oh the memories.... As I bathed the boys the other day I was surprised to see their legs all bumped and bruised, scratches here and there and two skinned knees. So far there haven't been any stubbed toes - you know the kind - where the skin on the end of your toe comes right off like a little cap, or if you're lucky, it flaps over and is still attached by a small piece....Can you feel it? That familiar stinging pain and then the throbbing..... Hahaha, oh summer time fun..... Our summer time fun is just beginning. We're preparing to go to our property up north for our family vacation. We'll have plenty of stories to share when we get back I'm sure. For now, let me leave you with a few funnies from my herd this week:
* B3 wants some cool new toy. I remind him that I just bought them all some cool new toys and they destroyed them in less than a day. My boys are a little rough with their belongings... or anyone else's for that matter (just ask my nephew Justin - poor kid, when my boys come to visit something always seems to get broken. Sorry Justin.) B3 got a great Tonka dump truck for Christmas - you know, built tough to last.... hahaha, obviously Tonka never met my kids. This truck is metal, well now it is bent metal. But it still goes, and it's still one of his favorite toys. Anyway.... back to the story - B3 wants a new toy and I tell him no, he just destroys his toys and he tells me in a pathetic, whiny voice "something in my body just tells me to destroy things...." Hmm, maybe I'd be scared if it weren't so funny!
*Grandma Windsor was here last week. She stayed with us for a few days. She made dessert after dinner one night. The dessert contained "whipped Cream". B2 got excited when he saw the dessert and exclaimed "Mmmmm Butt Cream!" (Hahaha, butt cream is what I call the baby's diaper rash cream)
*While Grandma Windsor was visiting us B3 proudly told her that "she was a good bersert (dessert) maker"
*B3 was eating dinner - roast chicken with all the trimmings. Holding up a leg bone he suddenly blurted out excitedly "Mommy, this is a dinosaur bone!" (he was a little disappointed when I told him it was just a chicken bone)
* Since going to India on a missions trip I have fallen in love with their spicy cuisine. On occasion I prepare an Indian dish or two for dinner at home - the children really enjoy it. One night B2 piped up "Mama, I'm using Indian hands..." he said holding up his hands. He meant that he was not using his fork but eating with his hands like they do in India. What made it even funnier is that B2 is Indian (North American Indian NOT East Indian)
* The herd was hard at their chores one day and G1 had poop patrol (we have two dogs). I assigned B1 to be the pile finder. B3 spoke up (glad that he wasn't chosen) and said "B1, that's being nice and kindful."
* When I asked B3 to check the chart and see what his chore was he replied "my dream's telling me I already did my chores but I didn't. What's my chore?"
* B3 had been playing out in the backyard and brought me his prize catch of the day..... holding a bug with a pair of kid pliers he said "mommy look, I caught an ear-goo-ick. (translated, that's an earwig)
And here's a heart warming statement to end this blog;
While having dinner tonight Little G2 looked up at me from across the table and confidently said "Mommy, this is MY HOME!" (if you haven't been following this blog, G2 & G3 are recent additions to our family.)
~Have a blessed week and enjoy your summers while you can..... eventually they seem to slip by much too quickly.
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