All creatures, great and small....

This is a story about a dog. The background may at first seem tedious and boring, but eventually it will all come around so bear with me. I am changing names and abbreviating to protect those involved, whether innocent in their actions or not.

Part I: The Move
H moved to the area for her job. She is a lover of boxers and she had 3 of her very own. She travels a lot for work, and typically one or all travel with her. She doesn't bat an eye at doing what is best for her 4-legged kids. So when she was on a trip here (before the big move), one of her boxers got really sick. She went to an emergency/referral clinic and had lots of work done. The doctor at that clinic recommended our clinic for primary care. A month or so later, she made an appointment at our clinic.

Part II: The Appointment
I was scheduled to see the emergency-sick-now-well boxer and another for an exam. I met this new client and 2 of her boxers. We formed a bond pretty quickly since I have a fond spot for boxers myself (some of you might remember Osirus). I also saw her other boxer at the next visit. We discussed non-pet things which in this field is a little rare. It isn't intentional, but you normally don't really get to become GOOD friends with a client on a deeper level. But, this was the start of something and I enjoyed chatting and taking care of the dogs as well.

Part III: Devastation
One of the boxers came in to see me for just overall not feeling well and turns out he was pretty sick. I referred him to the emergency clinic and they went all out to work on him.  The surgery was successful, but recovery never really happened and he just couldn't come back. H visited him and then he was euthanised. It was devastating, as losing a pet always is.

Part IV: Quality of Life
I had an appointment for a "Quality of Life" Exam. At our clinic, we don't schedule euthanasias unless the case is very long and involved and we have explored all the options. Our job is to assess the pet's medical issues, the owner's perceptions and then add in our own expert advice. Sometimes, we agree (even if the pet is a new pet or we haven't seen the pet for years).  Sometimes, we try medicine and see how the pet responds. Sometimes, we flat out decline because we don't feel it is in the pet's best interest.Yes, it is sort of like an appeals court but I need to be able to sleep at night.

At this exam, I was presented with a boxer. She was older and the reasons the owner gave were that she had adopted her about a year and half ago to save her from a really bad situation. During that year and a half, this dog had begun to decline and was showing signs similar to alzheimers in humans (this owner is a nurse). She said that this dog just was deteriorating and that she was moving in a month and she was not taking this dog with her. She has another dog, a pitt bull, and was going to have that dog live with her brother. According to this owner, she also hallucinated and couldn't see. She stated she had been to 4 different vets for her eyes and no one had ever been able to control her issues.

The single point where the owner and I agreed completely? She didn't need to go to a shelter. I happen to know from my shelter background that boxers really tend to do very poorly in a shelter setting and I prefer to get them out of shelters as quickly as possible when I am involved in that side of animal care.

I declined to euthanize this dog. Instead, I asked the owner if she would legally sign the dog over to me and allow me to find her a home. She agreed and gave her to me. I did some work-up on her and she was pretty healthy.  She did have a condition called keratoconjunctivitis sicca, or more commonly called "dry eye" and she had a urinary tract infection. She had some scars where something traumatic had happened to her and hair had not grown back.  She had some lumps and bumps. She was a bit saggy from what looked like lots of litters in her past. But overall, she was pretty healthy. I was thrilled when I learned she was heartworm negative. In this field, that is akin to the Golden Ticket.

Part V: Anybody want a dog?
I felt like a bad pimp. I couldn't give this dog away. I emailed multiple boxer and non-boxer rescues. I had her SAFER assessed, which is an assessment for the likelihood of success in re-homing a pet. She passed with flying colors. I started her on antibiotics for her urinary tract, and I gave her heartworm. I took her home and fed her and she did great with the other dogs (except Elly but that's another story and Elly's fault). She did great with the cat. She did great with the kids. She was potty trained like a pro. No body wanted her.

I took her to the ophthalmologist and had her eyes assessed. Turns out that about a month's worth of meds would fix a lot of her vision problems and she would have to have medication for her dry eye for the rest of her life. A heartworm negative, good with kids, potty trained boxer and I couldn't give her away?!

Part VI: Networking
I called H. I was sensitive to the fact that she had JUST lost one of her own, and I wanted to know if she had any contacts with her rescue from "home" because I was getting NO feedback at all. I wanted to see if we might be able to get her listed with this boxer rescue because I was treading water and running out of breath.

I got a reply that someone might be interested. But, that person was also from H's "home", many miles and hours away. In order to see how this boxer would do in another home, H was willing to take her home with her (now 2) boxers and give a trial run. If she did well, H would take her to try her new home. H was making a trip there anyway, so she could do the trial run and give her transport.

We discussed her intended new home and owner B. B is also a big boxer lover. B has been involved with boxer rescue of some kind for many years. B also shows boxers and knows lineage, rescue, and all the details in between. She happens to have a soft spot for the senior rescues. This was sounding promising.

Part VII: The Trial
My new dog went home with H and one of H's dogs didn't love her immediately. He is a bit young, now the only male, and has had a bit of transition of the pack since one has recently crossed the rainbow bridge. H worked with them and it wasn't long before they were playing.

H brought both of them in - him for an eye question, her for a final check-up. She had passed "home inspection" and I needed to give her all of the records I had so they could accompany her to her (hopefully) forever home. During this visit, we were chatting (as we are now known to do) and H mentioned that she seemed to have been from a show/breeding line based on her ear crop. We sort of looked at her and wondered where she'd been and how she ended up here...

Part IX: YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!
Just last night I got a message. Actually 2 messages. 1 from H and 1 from B. My new/old dog ORIGINATED in the general area where she is going to live. She was from a good breeding line (remember the cropped ears?) and her original breeder had given her to a breeder in SC (how did she end up here?). This breeder did breed her multiple times (a little saggy?), and was not as responsible as I would have preferred. One day, this breeder left to go to work and left my new/old dog out in the yard with some other bitches. My new/old dog got stuck in the fence, trying to get out because the other two were mauling her. She was found nearly dead, had multiple drains placed and nearly didn't come out of this episode (remember the scars I mentioned?). They sent me a link to her breeding page online and it is HER!!! We know her date of birth and her whole story, which has come together from the following scenario:

This dog got from this her original owner to a breeder in SC to another person to me to H to B. 

And I got chills. I can NOT even make sense of all the little things that added up to make this big thing. I just blows my mind and for me, it is re-enforcement of my belief that everything happens for a reason. Everything. And while we sometimes don't get to know the why's, sometimes we do. And that is good enough for me.