November 5, 2009



  • I am mostly on Facebook although I do intend to write more in the coming months. I really do miss it. Drop me a line if you want to ‘friend’ me on Facebook and I’ll tell you how to find me.

  • Ollie

    Ollie went to the vet on Tuesday, 3 November and got a clean bill of health!

    He’s at 97 lbs, has no crackling in his lungs like before, and he is full of energy.

    All that remains is to get him neutered and he’s done!

    In a couple of months we’ll get a heartworm test just to be sure.

    It’s amazing what a little doctoring and a lot of love can accomplish.

September 10, 2009

  • Ollie Update

     

     

    Ollie had his second heartworm treatment on August 21 and he’s scheduled for his third and final treatment on the 25th.

    So far he’s doing great although he’s driving me crazy because he’s on such limited activity. His energy level hasn’t changed because of the treatments so he has a lot of pent-up energy that he’s using to be a pain in the ass.

    I just keep telling myself that this will all be over soon.

    As of this writing, Ollie weighs 100 lbs!!

     

May 24, 2009

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    Ollie 4-29-2009

     Ollie, 29 April 2009

    Ollie will be undergoing heartworm treatment soon. We are worried about him because of his respiratory problems, he could easily die from the treatment. Our vet is consulting with the Univ of Georgia and Auburn U to determine the best protocol for the heartworm meds. We’re considering a half-dose for the first injection, the rationale being that we will kill fewer of the heartworms and cause less distress for Ollie. The thing is, this protocol isn’t in the literature. Typically, the first dose kills 50 to 60% of the worms, this could be fatal if they block an artery.

    Ollie weighed in at an all-time high 85 lbs on Friday!

    Thank you all for your support. I will update as things change.

     

     

     

     

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    Me and my spiffy Rocky & Bullwinkle coffee mug 

     

     

     

     

April 23, 2009

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    Yesterday, Ollie went to stay with friends for the day; these pictures were shot whilst driving him to their place.

     

    Ollie preparig to bite the air

    Ollie, seizing the opportunity to bite at the air

    Ollie biting the air

     

     

     

April 9, 2009

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    OLLIE

    Ollie is our third foster dog, he came to us on January 30, 2009. Ollie is a 3 – 4 year-old mastiff and he weighed a mere 53 pounds; he should weigh 110 or more. I didn’t write about him because I’ve really been on edge about whether he was even going to survive. I have never seen a dog in this bad of shape before.   

    I took the pictures below the day I got him home.

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    30 Jan 2009 01

    Ollie had two bad setbacks, first he became dehydrated and had to receive IV fluids then he developed respiratory problems and almost died.

    He was severely neglected but has, thus far, not shown any signs of physical abuse, that is, he doesn’t flinch or anything when he’s approached. In spite of everything, he’s a big love.

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    Ollie trying to find his sleep number

     

    Today, Ollie is almost 80 pounds and seems to be thriving.

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    Me, Padfoot, Ollie & Masha, taken earlier tonight

    The picture below was taken as I was writing this entry:

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    Ollie, relaxing on his couch

    Ollie closeup

    A closeup from last week. It’s usually difficult

    to get Ollie to stand still so this is a special picture.

     

    I will update his progress each week if possible.

     

     


    And then there’s this:

     

    Early in the morning in July, the time/date will be:

    04:05:06 07/08/09.   This will never happen again.

     

     

     

    Ever.

January 17, 2009

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    Molly, the latest foster dog

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    Molly is a boxer mix, another death row pup, approximately a year old. She is a sweetheart. She has a visit with a family next Thursday so if things go well, she’ll be on her way.

    It is hard to give up the foster dogs but that means we can save another dog.

     

     

     

     

December 16, 2008

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    A couple of weeks ago, I came home from work to find a rather medium sized pile of firewood off to the side of the garage. I thought my friend Kevin dropped it off because he’s the only person who knew that the huge pile of wood in my back yard isn’t seasoned yet. 

    I stacked it on the porch and slowly burned most of it.

    When I got home yesterday, there was a rather large pile of wood in the same place. I stacked it on the porch and went in the house to call Kevin and thank him for the dry wood and he claimed to have no knowledge whatsoever about these mysterious wood deliveries. I believe him, if he said he didn’t do it, I’m sure he didn’t.

    It looks like we’ve got a real mystery.

    There is a firewood fairy, isn’t there?

     

     

November 26, 2008

November 19, 2008

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    I checked in on this boy this morning and he
    was ADOPTED on 18 NOVEMBER!!!!!!



    I was searching Petfinder for a specific dog that a friend of mine adopted and, not looking at my keyboard, I mistyped the zip code and what should appear on my screen but this guy:

    #26 - 01

    The Petfinder entry for him can be found here.

    This dog, a LARGE Lab-Mastiff mix, is referred to as #38 on Petfinder and he is at the Columbus County Animal Shelter in Whiteville, North Carolina. The website stated that #38 was a stray but in my experience, dogs like this don’t just appear out of nowhere and people who have big dogs like this guy don’t just release them into the wild. Besides, how does someone lose something this big? My guess is that he got loose and wandered, the owners looked for him but eventually gave him up for lost or dead. My co-worker’s dogs escaped last week and got over 5 miles in a day and a half. She’s certain that they had no idea where they were going, they were just going. Dogs do that sometimes.

    He was scheduled to be euthanized last Friday but was held over for some reason.

    Earlier last week, I did send an email to the shelter inquiring as to whether they’d attempted to contact anyone about getting him to a different region of the country or if they’d contacted any Mastiff rescue organizations. However, I don’t believe that my email had any influence over his stay of execution because this shelter has been completely unresponsive to any of my subsequent emails about this dog.

    I want to know if he is dog and cat friendly, his approximate age, and if his gait indicated any problems with his hips but, for some reason, they won’t tell me. If he is healthy, this dog is highly adoptable and I can’t believe no one has grabbed him up – unless there is something wrong with him.

    I’ve phoned the shelter twice and no one can seem to help me. I’ve also sent emails to several different rescue groups in the area trying to get someone to get off their ass to at least make contact with these people  –  nothing.

    I am willing to take this dog, I just can’t get to North Carolina at the moment so I began thinking of how a network of people might be able to get him part way — it is 1,200 miles one-way. I’d like to get him to Kansas or even to Nashville, that is half-way, then I would only have to drive 600 miles. Nashville is a 2-day trip and NC would take almost a week round-trip.

    I’ve never searched the internet for dogs that are in trouble or on death row, that would be too depressing. I feel like my finding this dog was more like fate.

    I haven’t made any progress with the people at this shelter but if anyone out there has a better idea, or knows people strategically spaced between North Carolina and Tennessee or who is driving to or through Lawrence, Kansas who could relay this dog west, I’d love to hear from them.