Baby Huey(fostered 5/19/08-11/08/08)

Transferred 11/8/08: Today, I drove Huey to MD to meet his new foster mom and dad. Lee and hubby are truly wonderful people and Huey will be so lucky there. He will have one-floor living, and constant human and dog companionship. He's been in very bad shape this past week, and is barely able to walk. I hope that the change in environment and lack of steps helps. It was very difficult to let him go--Huey is one fo the most entertaining danes I've ever met. He sweet, and cute and silly and a total character. I will miss him so much.

Update 10/27/08: In September, Huey was in top shape. He was getting around very well and was walking up the 3 steps to the house by himself. He was pivoting well and was in all-around good shape. This continued until the cold really set in, about 1st week in October. At that point, he started to backslide, enough that I worried that there were other complications. An xray of his back left joint shows good solid bone, and ACL seems to be in place. However, he does have some arthritis and the vet speculates that this is bothering him with the change in weather. His mobility may go in cycles, where sometimes he does very well and other times is not as mobile. The vet advised to cut out all exercise and leash walk only during times of low mobility, plus avoid steps altogether. He should be moving to a home where he can avoid steps in the next few weeks or so.

Meanwhile, the Tootsie Roll Bandit strikes at least weekly--Huey loves tootsie roll pops (and so does his foster mom!)!! He'll steal a pop, unwrap it, eat it, and leave the stick and wrapper as discarded evidence on the floor! He's mostly enjoying his new foster sister, Ellie, but does get jealous of attention. Any family would be lucky to have such a silly character sharing their life! He is a constant source of amusement, and always makes me laugh. He's silly and stubborn and cute and determined. His disability doesn't stand in his way--don't let it stand in your way, either.

Update 8/27/08: Huey went for a follow up vet visit last night and the vet did see improvement. His top line is straighter, his responses are much quicker when they knuckle his paw over, and he did rather well on the slippery tile floor. While he hasn't miraculously become 100 percent better, definite improvement was seen. It is still hard to tell in smaller spaces but it seems that slow progress is being made. He also started on a natural antiinflammatory and that seems to be helping quite a bit. Going up stairs, I'm only using the sling just in case he tries to double up on the stairs by mistake, and going down to gentle his landing. Yay!

Update 8/15/08: Well, it's been 6 weeks since Huey's gold bead surgery, and his foster mom is very surprised to say that there has been no improvement. Huey continues to need to be helped down the 3 stairs to the back yard and sometimes up them. He's still wobbly when he walks and can't pivot easily (he'll just sink into a down without realizing it). He had a chiropractic adjustment and that weakened him somewhat for a few days but he's back to his normal mobility now. Despite all of that, he's game to get around and be with you no matter what. He's a total chow hound and somehow pulled a box of pizza off the recesses of the counter and ate 4 pieces the other day! If he could, Huey would be the little troublemaker he was born to be! He's sweet as pie and loves to snuggle close for hours. He would like nothing more than to be the star of the show. He would do much better in a ranch-style home with carpets, where he could maneuver better than he's able here in my narrow house with lots of stairs. Any adopter would be lucky to have this adorable, silly addition to their life!

Update 7/2/08: Huey had his gold bead surgery at the end of June and his skin infection finally looks to be clearing up nicely. He continues to be a sweet boy to live with, and is always ready for a snuggle and some kissies. He's quite the character--Huey only wants a toy that someone else is interested in and likes to play furiously with it until he figures out that you've moved on to something else. He's learned to half-sit on the couch and likes to block foster sister Mitsy in by sitting right there in front of her. He loves to be right in the middle of all of the action and is quite the house guarder, barking at whoever passes by if allowed on the front porch.

Huey attended his first event a few weeks ago at a dog walk and was friendly and happy to meet people of all ages. He also did very well with dogs of all sizes, although I suspect he might have a hard time controlling his exuberance with small, running dogs. He will be cat tested soon.

Update 6/6/08: Huey has been with us for 2 weeks now. We're having a difficult time clearing up his skin infection and that needs to happen before he can get his gold beads. He is a silly, very affectionate, jealous boy who is a joy to live with! Huey doesn't let his wobbler's interfere with his need to be in the thick of everything. If his foster sister is getting some love, he barrels over and pushes her out of the way or tries to engage her in play to distract her for the main goal: People! We're working on this, since it is quite rude and other dogs might not take it as calmly as his foster sister. Huey does well on carpets and grass, but can't cope at all on tile or hardwood. The foster has runners throughout the downstairs to help him cope.

Huey did very welll with a small gathering of people at the house, and solicited each person for affection and pets. He also attended the doberman rescue picnic, where he was a big hit with everyone. It also gave us an opportunity to talk about wobbler's with another group whose breed is prone to it. He was happily exhausted when we came home after several hours at the picnic.

Original 5/26/08: Huey came into rescue in terrible shape: he could barely walk at all and had bald patches all over. He was surrendered at the vet office, where he went straight in for an appointment. It seems that huey has Wobbler's syndrome, a condition where the vertebrae in the neck narrow and compress the spinal chord. He has has a bacterial infection in ears and skin, which is being treated with antibiotics. Once the skin infection is clear, he will have gold bead implants to help with wobblers. He was also put on a natural diet to help with allergies and skin infection.

Meanwhile, Huey is an adorable addition to his foster home. He is sweet as pie, eager to be where the action is, and a big snuggler. He actually hates the camera and will turn away and hide when he sees it--sometimes will not reenter the room for 30 minutes or so until he's sure the coast is clear. He is fascinated by his new foster sister and follows her around doggedly, trying to get her to play, snuggle with him,etc. He is adorably pesky about it.

Huey has lived with 6 children and is excellent with kids and even toddlers. He has not lived with another dog until now but is doing well and enjoys it. He will be tested with cats soon after we get his medical needs under control. Huey came in to rescue May 2008.