Daphne's Story

The dog has seldom been successful in pulling man up to its level of
sagacity, but man has frequently dragged a dog down to his.
-James Thurber

Update....Yahooooooo! Finally Dottie has a home, she was adopted by a wonderful Lady here in the DFW area! Thank you for taking Dottie and giving her a new life!

This is Daphne, a sweet, sweet girl that was rescued within minutes of being Euthanized. Someone or her previous owner dumped her at a city shelter during the middle of the night, which means the shelter staff had absolutely no history on her. They don't know if she had been running the streets and was found by someone that thought they would do her a favor by bringing her to the shelter. Or if the previous owners decided she was too much trouble and did not want the hassle of a dog anymore. Whatever the case may be with Daphne, she did not have a chance to possibly find a new family because she has an injured paw and was not wanting to eat, along with vomiting and diarrhea. City shelters are not equipped to handle sick or injured dog's and most are euthanized immediately. The rescue groups in the area were already over their limits and were having to turn dogs away. Daphne was facing euthanasia because there was no where for her to go.

At the very last minute, an individual stepped up and gave Daphne a second chance at life. She took her into her home and healed her wounds. I'm not just talking about her paw and stomach situation but about the wounds she had suffered mentally, she was terrified, depressed and spiritless. The life and people that she knew was taken away from her. She ended up in a shelter with no one or thing familiar. Daphne then was in the hands of a stranger and in a strangers home. And, again nothing around her was familiar, her new foster Mom, house, yard and other dogs. She didn't have a clue that she was over 100 miles from her previous home. Have ever thought about what dog's go through when they lose the things they love. Dog's feel the same emotions as people. We should keep that in mind when we tire of our dog's.

But what can dogs do when they end up in situations such as Daphne's? They have to trust that we, the humans are going to do right by them. The sad part is, we humans don't trust each other to do right by one another. But, our dogs and the dogs that cross our paths, don't have choices but to put all of their trust and faith in us. But, sometimes we cause them to suffer in bad situations that could have been avoided. I am not saying it always happens but we "the humans", are to blame for the number of dogs that are in shelters, after all we put them there. I apologize for sounding harsh, but dogs don't walk themselves in there.

After everything Daphne went through, she is so ready to give her love with the first touch of your hand. She will literally wrap her paws around your neck and bury her face against your chest. How could she still want to give her love to humans after all she had been through? If only People could be this forgiving and loving towards other's after they had been through an experience such as Daphne's? Until next time, 4 Toes Up!!!

Update on Daphne....Her stomach problems turned out to be Parvo, a severe case. She was unable to eat or drink anything for 3 weeks. She was on continuous IV fluids and many types of drugs to bring her through this awful ordeal. Come to find out after she begin to heal, she was carrying babies. She gave birth to 7 beautiful healthy babies and how, I will never know. Her and her babies are walking miracles after all sweet Daphne endured. All are doing well now and enjoying life. If Daphne hadn't of been saved, that would have been 8 precious lives lost. Daphne's name has been changed to Dottie.

HOT Short-Nosed Dogs

Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really. - Agnes Sligh Turnbull

The lazy dog days of summer, keeping your Bully cool during this time of year, can be a chore. Texas has had now over 40 day's of 100 degree temperature or higher, and with that kind of heat your Bulldog and other short nosed breeds are going to have a tough time. Now, that doesn't mean that long nosed dog's should be out in these conditions either, but that maybe he can stand it a little longer than your Bully.
Short nosed breeds have smaller nostrils and are unable to breathe as well as long nosed breeds, so your Bully will heat up faster than others. Dog's only have two ways they can cool themselves and that is through panting and through the bottoms' of their paws, so when your dog is starting to pant that means he is beginning to get hot, and he needs to be put where it is cool. Now you may think, well my Bulldog pants when he is in the house with the air conditioning running, and yes that maybe true, but his temperature is not going to continue to rise indoors like it would if he were outdoors in the heat. When Humans are hot, they start to sweat and in this process of sweating is how our bodies keep us cool. Dog's way of cooling himself is through panting, it is like a built in fan for them, because it removes the heat that is being produced in their bodies. Have you ever seen your dog place his front paws' in his water bowl during a hot day, and your thinking, yuck, what's he doing, well, he's cooling himself off the quickest way he knows. Dog's sweat only through the pad's of their feet and their noses, and can be cooled off quickly with cool water applied to their paws, so this is the reason why he hangs out in his water bowl. Dog's are less efficient of cooling themselves than we are, so please be aware of your pet during hot days and keep him cool by always having fresh clean, cool water available at all times for him.

If your dog is experiencing any of the following:

Intense panting,

Elevated heart rate,

Drooling extensively,

Lethargy or fatigue,

His gums can become a intense red color at first and then become a pale, grey pink,

He might want to lie flat out on his stomach,

Stagger or become disoriented, and at this point he may start having seizures or collaspe.

You will need act quickly! First, you will need to start, by lowering his body temperature by applying rubbing alcohol to the pad's of his feet, (and keep do it until he is feeling better) and apply cool water to his body. Offer him ice cubes if he is alert and able to lick on them, and if he is not, then place him in an air conditioned vehicle and call your Veterinarian from the car, on your way to his/her office.

Always keep in mind that your dog can experience the same feelings as humans, and does not mean that he can handle situations better (and/or worse) just because he is a dog. You are his human and he is depending on you for protection. Until next time, 4 Toes Up!

Jillian & Kelly

Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of Dogs than of friends. -Alexander Pope

Jillian is from a city shelter in the Dallas area. She is sweet, sweet but poor Jill has been abused. She has been beaten, starved and abandoned. When I would go to touch her, she would cowl down in fear. The picture of her above is her shelter picture and you can see how broken down she looks. When she was saved from the shelter she was approximately 6 months of age, she wasn't even an adult. She had a nasty cough and was feeling bad, within 2 days she developed a severe case of pneumonia that almost took her life. Thanks to all the care her foster mom gave her, she pulled through it. Come to find out, after all she had been through, she gave birth about 2 weeks later. As a result of her giving birth, she had 11 not so healthy babies. Sadly to say, 6 of her beautiful babies had to be euthanized at birth. They were born with cleft plates and their tummies were severely deformed. Jillian had been given numerous drugs for the pneumonia and that is probably the cause of her babies being born with deformities. Also, she was a very stressed out little girl from being in the shelter. Four of the babies seemed to be healthy and one baby had a partial cleft palate and was given a chance to live.

The four healthiest babes did survive and have all been adopted by very good homes. Other than a couple of them having umbilical hernias, they were fine healthy puppies. The one partial cleft palate babe was unable to nurse do to the hole in the roof of his mouth that went into his nose. He could form a suction around Jill's milk buckets to be able to nurse. Poor baby tried and tried, but never could manage. We ended up tube feeding him until he was approximately 3 1/2 weeks and then started him on a bottle. Taking a bottle still wasn't an easy task for him even though he was older. It took some time but he was finally able to master the bottle and never looked back at that awful tube. We ended up calling him Journey and today he is 6 1/2 months old. My friends and family call him a walking miracle. At the age of 5 months, he had surgery to repair his mouth, umbilical hernia and was neutered, all in one day. His mouth surgery didn't hold and he still has a very small hole but he is doing quite well and eats everything he possibly can. Finally at the age of 6+ months, he gets to be a puppy. Journey had to be taken away from Jill and his siblings because of his size and because he wasn't able to nurse. So he grew up with teddy bears as litter-mates and a human for his mother, so he didn't get to learn dog things that their mothers normally teach them.



This is Kelly, Jillian's Sister. She was also starved, beaten and abandoned. They entered the shelter together and was rescued together. Kelly was fortunate not to end up as sick as Jill but had another encounter to endure. She was wearing a chain collar that someone had put on with a padlock! Well the collar was so close to her skin and tight, we had to cut it off to remove it, we thought we would never get it off without hurting her severely! Her neck was torn up a bit, but healed up nicely. Kelly's emotional state was that of Jillian's. She was scared to be touched, scared to be talked too and coward when approached.

UPDATE ON JILL & KELLY...
As for both of these sweet gals, they are doing well now and learning that people are not bad. They have come along way and are now available for adoption! They are both excellent dogs and will make a great family dogs. As both have wonderful temperaments, a sweet personalities and have learned that my touches are comforting and not of a harmful nature.

If you would like to adopt Jill or Kelly, please don't hesitate to ask for more information on them.
They both have been housebroken, crate trained, walk decent on the leash and like to ride in the car. They are approximately 1 1/2 years of age and Jillian is about 40 lbs and Kelly 45-50 lbs. Contact Lynn at Bulloxers@hotmail.com