In October of 2007 this little old fellow came into our lives.
This story unfolded in a most unusual manner. It was during the
events of Betty S’s Shea’s search and rescue that
Betty received a phone call from the Humane Society
informing her that they may have found her Shea.
Betty went to see this little sable boy and quickly
realized he wasn’t her missing Shea, but scooped him
up and brought him to Michelle’s who is responsible
for Sheltie Rescue. Michelle shared with those of
us involved in Shea’s search the state of this
little lost boy. When he arrived at Michelle’s he
was covered in burrs, matts, filthy dirty,
malnourished, anemic and Michelle felt he had
probably been on the loose for a long time.
Michelle’s impression of this little guy was that he
was truly an abuse dog; he winced at any hand
movement, closed his eyes and bowed or fell down to
the ground.
As all the updates on the little fellow came in, I found myself
wondering if Britt and I might be able to provide
the kind of home he needed. It was after much
thought and soul searching that we made the decision
to bring this little guy, then called Tyke, into our
lives. Brittney and I decided that Spirit would be
a better name for him, considering he had endured so
much and must have an incredible spirit to have
survived all that he had been through in his life.
Spirit has been a part of our family now for approximately 1 ½ years
(as of March 09). The vet thought he was 12 at the
time of his first vet appointment.
It has been a learning and growing experience for all of us. This
little man was so mistrusting of any human contact
that it was hard to give him the love and attention
that he needed and we wanted to share with him. If
you were lucky enough to pick him and hold him, he
would completely surrender in your arms and soon as
you put him down, he felt relieved. If you reached
down to pat him he would either run away or just
fall over and surrender. On a very positive note he
fell into our routines very easily, especially when
it came to meal time. He knew exactly when
breakfast and supper was served and wasn’t about to
miss a meal and if I was a little slow with a meal
he would let me know. When it is time for bedtime
cookies, he will pretty much knock you over trying
to get up the stairs to the bedroom first!
Suzie and Sully both accepted him, Suzie more so than Sully. I
think that Suzie would like to nurture him and Sully
wants to be the boss of him. The cat Symon didn’t
think much of anything about Spirit until Spirit
starting chasing him out of the kitchen at meal
times. Obviously he had to compete for his food in
the past.
Something that Spirit figured out very quickly was that he wanted
what the others were getting and he wasn’t about to
be left out, whether it be cookies or pats, he
wanted his share. When we first brought him home we
noticed that he had a frequent cough. During our
veterinarian assessment it was discovered that he
had a collapsing trachea, probably due being tied or
pulled by the neck. The solution to that problem
posed to be an easy one, he never wears a collar.
We use a harness for his walks. He hasn’t any more
symptoms for almost a year now.
We also found that he had kidney disease, probably due to his
malnutrition and improper diet. This was also
easily managed with diet and supplements. We also
discovered that he was mostly deaf. He does hear
some sounds like clapping of hands and the barking
of the other dogs. Although he still has all his
teeth, they were in terrible condition when Michelle
first took him in. He has a complete cleaning
before we brought him home and continues to need
cleaning every 6 months, because of his kidney
disease.
Apart from that he is the healthiest little guy and what stamina!
He loves his walks and has no problem keeping up
with Suzie and Sully. In fact you have a hard time
getting out of the house without him. We now have
to distract him with a kong when the other dogs go
out and he loves to come along so much.
As far as his shyness and fear of people, he has come a long way,
but this fear is very deeply seeded. It has taken a
lot of patience and time to get him where he is
now. He will come to be patted by us and some other
people that he knows now, but usually offers his
bum;-) He used to get very agitated when someone
came in the house, you could see the fear in his
eyes. For the most part now he will come up to most
people and look into their faces to check them out.
Spirit LOVES Britt and he LOVES her friends. When Britt sits on the
floor with him, he will spend a good 10 minutes
cleaning her hand or arm. Although he sleeps in my
room he goes into Britt’s room to check on her every
morning and he is so happy when she gets home from
school. He still will not jump up on any furniture,
even if we place him on the bed he can’t wait to get
off, obviously another bad experience very ingrained
in him. He is a great little sleeper and loves all
3 of his orthopedic beds. He will always choose a
bed in the room that one of us is in, curl up and
fall asleep, but as soon as you move or change rooms
he will follow. Spirit has come a long way and his
journey to emotional recovery will probably take the
rest of his life.
In the meanwhile we are so pleased to see his little (still sparse)
tail wag when he sees us or someone he knows and
trusts. With friends that he now trusts, he will
ask for back scratches. We never know how long we
will be blessed with the presence of these beautiful
creatures, but for as long as we are privileged
enough to have him as part of our family, we can
promise him a loving and trusting home to spend the
rest of his days in.
More Rescue Stories Coming Soon...
