Friday at the library one of my co-volunteers told me about a Cocker puppy with an injured leg that a Mexican had been selling for a hundred pesos (around $8) in Guaymas Norte. Not really wanting a dog (he says there's no room in his life for one), Bruce paid the hundred and stashed the pup at a friend's house temporarily. I told him I'd take it off his hands if he'd first get it to the vet to find out about the injury, get him bathed and de-bugged inside and out, and generally checked to make sure he had nothing contagious that could hurt my dogs. That night, he brought over this little fellow.
The vet, Dr. Martinez, says his leg should be healed in four weeks. An x-ray came along with the dog, and it shows a fractured femur, just a crack that should heal cleanly. He moves around amazingly well considering he's dragging the cast around; I'm not sure I can keep up with him, when it's off.
This is a most anxious-to-please, congenial little guy. Within minutes he had figured out that I was the mommy and began following me everywhere. He does whimper, but doesn't go on and on about it, just enough to register disappointment. Chiquito, the rescue Dachsund with Valley Fever and my own Chica established their seniority within minutes of his arrival, and the pup has accepted his role as bottom dog in the pack. It'll be interesting to see what happens when the feisty Yorkie I dogsit weekdays arrives Monday morning.
My friends in the dog-fostering community assure me it'll be easy to find a good home for him, once the leg has healed, which will occur about the same time that the snowbirds come back to roost. Meanwhile I'll get him house-trained and leash-trained and try not to get too attached to him. With that in mind, I've put off naming him, but I'm getting tired of referring to him as "the pup." He deserves better than that.
8 comments:
My landlady and I found a tiny dog on the walkway last night. Obviously dumped by some owner who did not want to deal with the little guy's health issues. My landlady scooped him up and is nursing him until she see the vet on Monday. I will confess that his wobbliness reminded of Jiggs in his last days. I am just not ready for that yet.
Hi, Steve - The wobbliness could be due to any number of things: age (like Jiggs), Valley Fever, dehydration and starvation (is he horribly skinny?), nerve disease... All will be revealed at the vet, I hope. If he's really small, it won't be too hard to find him a home.
What a lovely landlady you have.
Bless you Bliss for opening up your heart for a needy creature!
What a beautiful little dog! "Pup" isn't such a bad name. When I was growing up, we had a cat who never had a real name. For the 20 years we had her, she was simply called "Mama Cat".
Good for you, Bliss. And good for the pup. You have such a big heart.
What a beautiful little face. Love those ears LOL. Looks like my neighbors' little pup named Primrose.
Thanks for helping him out.
Hi Bliss - What a lucky puppy to have you as his mommy. Good luck!
A Cocker fancier contacted me through the local forum and I took the puppy to meet her, her husband and their Schnauzer (hubby is a Schnauzer fancier) on neutral territory at a local coffee house. Love at first sight! And the lucky little guy got taken for a second opinion on the leg fracture, turns out the cast would not have done the job and he could have been a lifelong gimp. He'll have to haul around a new cast for another month, but with all that love, I'm not worried about him.
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