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“Miracle” Pawz

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Pawz dog boots are great for senior dogs and degenerative myelopathy dogs

I read a review of Pawz dog boots on line, in which someone mentioned that they gave their senior dog extra traction when walking on slippery floors. This has been a huge problem of late for Tessa – while she does well on carpeted floors, or even on grass, she just can’t seem to keep her feet when walking on our hardwood. Anything that could possibly give her more traction would be a godsend. Intrigued, I bought a package of the small size Pawz boots, and decided to give them a test run.

They’re not fancy – basically, they look like natural rubber balloons. You slide them on your dog’s foot, and the rolled edge keep them in place. First impression is that your dog is wearing balloon animals on their feet. Second impression? That your dog, who previously was slip sliding on her rear, is suddenly walking with more stability and balance than she has been in months!

I decided to try them out on Mae, who has Degenerative Myelopathy. Same effect! Mae is now running around and playing, instead of wiping out and falling every few steps!

There are twelve pairs in the package, and I paid $20 Canadian for them. Each pair is re usable, and when they start to show signs of wear, you just toss them in the garbage.

I am completely blown away by what a difference such an inexpensive product has made for my two wobbly reared girls. Pawz get two pawz up from Tessa and Mae!!

I am pretty sure that they’re available in the USA as well as in Canada. I did find some for sale on eBay and Amazon, and their website is http://pawzdogboots.com/about/

Friday Zen – Little Old Lady French Bulldogs

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Friday French Bulldog Zen

I love puppies – I love watching them play, I love smelling puppy breath, I love their little pink feet and their little pink ears. My truest love, however, will always be my senior citizens. Sure, they’re not as playful as puppies, but they’re not as high maintenance, either. They’re content to hang out, have a nap, enjoy the warmth from the fireplace. The older I get, the more I appreciate my old dogs.

Tessa and her daughter Sailor have had a tumultuous relationship. Even now, in old age, they’ll still occasionally try to kick each others asses, but more often they just snuggle up together, forming Frenchie bunk beds and cleaning each others faces.

This was one of those moments.

Godspeed, Sammy

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I hope there are biscuits and fluffy beds in heaven

I hope there are biscuits and fluffy beds in heaven

He kept at true good humour’s mark
The social flow of pleasure’s tide:
He never made a brow look dark,
Nor caused a tear, but when he died.
~Thomas Love Peacock

I’m very sad to report that Sammy, the senior Pug I have been relentlessly trying to get adopted, has been put to sleep.

Charlotte Creeley, Sammy’s foster mom and a Pug Rescue volunteer (as well as the founder of FBRN and the French Bulldog Village), passed along this message about Sammy’s last day —

had my 13 year old blind Pug foster boy, Sammy, euthanized this evening. I held him while the vet injected him, I would like to think he was not afraid, was maybe even a little pleased by the attention. He had started struggling to urinate last night, only drops coming out, and then this morning, the same. I got home early this afternoon, and found him restless and still unable to pee more than a few drops, so I took him to my vet.

My vet was unable to insert even the smallest catheter, and figured it must be a bladder stone blocking his urethra. He took x-rays and found what he took to be the bladder stones. The only way to remove them would have been to cut his bladder open, and Sammy was just too old and too weak to put through that. On top of that, Pug rescue could not afford to put up the $1200-$1500 the surgery would have cost, especially for a little old blind Pug with no prospects.

He was here only since Saturday, 11/21/09. He really did not even have the chance to settle in as part of the family, and I am so sorry for that. It breaks my heart when a little old rescue dies. I just wish they could live forever…

I know that many of you on Twitter have been endlessly supportive of Sammy, re tweeting his story in hopes of finding him a home. Thanks for all of your help.

Senior dogs are the most heartbreaking of all the rescues, aren’t they? Little old dogs do best with lives of regimented scheduling. They like to know that they eat, sleep and pee at the same time every day, that their beds will always be in the same place, and that their favorite blanket will be placed just so on the couch.

Tearing them out of that world, into a strange place with strange people, has to be unbelievably hard and confusing. Add to that how few people seem to want them, leaving them languishing in foster homes, or, more usually, simply put down for lack of time and space.

But adopting or fostering a senior dog gives back so very, very much. You can be the kind, safe place that makes their final months or years easier. You can give them the security that they lost, or perhaps had never even known. You can do the ultimate kindness, and be there at the end, to offer a soft word of reassurance as they leave us for the other country we’ll all travel to some day.

Godspeed, Sammy – and God bless Charlotte, and everyone like her who makes space in their hearts for the little old dogs and cats that no one else wants.

Sammy Needs a Home for the Holidays

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Sammy the senior pug needs a home

Sammy the senior pug needs a home

Anyone who has ever owned and loved a senior dog can tell you how special they are. No, they don’t have the bounciness of puppies – but they have a calm serenity that more than makes up for it.

They make wonderful bed buddies, couch companions and short walk pals. They ask for a few head scratches, a warm spot on the couch, a kind word now and then. They are content to simply be with you – they don’t need to be entertained, or kept engaged by ten mile walks. An outing in the car, or a short walk through town, and your senior canine companion is tired out and pleased.

If you’re ready to share your life with a dog who will ask for little, and bring so much, then maybe you’re the right home for Sammy.

From PetFinder –

Sammy the pug has a lot of love to give!

Sammy the pug has a lot of love to give!

Sammy has had a wonderful life. He’s been with his current family since he was just eight weeks old. In fact, he and the young daughter in the family are the same age and shared the same stroller when they were both much younger!

That was a long time ago. Now, Sammy is 13, and blind, and maybe not quite so bouncy as he used to be, although for an elderly dog, he does very well. He comes when he is called, although he may bump into a few walls along his path, he can sit and down and bark on command. He loves to be in the middle of things, and he loves to eat. He doesn’t even mind if you grab him without any warning. He’s lived with kids all of his life, so he’s used to that. He can walk on a leash, although new places tend to frighten him. He likes visitors. Did I mention that he loves to eat?

Sammy’s family moved into their current apartment just two months ago. They thought that no one would pay attention to their little old blind Pug, but that’s not the way it worked out. Now they are facing eviction if Sammy doesn’t leave. A single working mom with a teenaged daughter doesn’t have many options. Sammy has to find a new home. And he’s got to find it before Thanksgiving. Sammy’s situation is pretty desperate, even though Sammy doesn’t know that.

Do you have space in your home and your heart for Sammy? If you do, please contact Charlotte at 508-588-7968, or send an email to cccpups@aol.com.

He may be old and blind, but he is still stuffed full of all the happiness and love that makes a Pug so special.

Check out Sammy’s YouTube video – look at how happy this guy is! He has a lot of love and enjoyment left to give to the right family. If you think you might be the right home for Sammy, please email Charlotte, at cccpups@aol.com

Sammy also has a sprout – you can post it to Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook or to your blog or website –

Long Live the Queen

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Tessa, Matriarch French Bulldog of Bullmarket

As hard as it is for me to believe, Tessa will be fifteen years old next month. Those years have flown by, in so many ways.

Tessa, for me,  is still the relcalcitrant, surly little hooligan I tried to haul to work with me at six weeks, with her bucking and flailing at the end of the lead, as I slipped and slid on an icy Yorkville sidewalk, cursing her stubborn little bulldog brain.

She’s also still the doting mother who never once willingly weaned a litter (she still allowed Sailor to nurse on her, for comfort if not food, when Sailor was almost six months old).

She’s the smart, sassy little dog who taught me that French Bulldogs are NOT like other dogs when it comes to training, and that what might work with a Mastiff will barely make a dent on a Frenchie’s conciousness.

Tessa is doing remarkably fine for a dog of her advanced years. Other than a few episodes of ‘idiopathic neuropathy’, breath that could melt paint, faded vision, limited hearing,  a wobbly rear, and a reappearing growth on the side of her neck, she’s still mobile and happy to be here with us.  She enjoys warm fireplaces, polar fleece dog beds, short drives in the car, and  shorter walks up the wooded path behind our house.

She also still engages in the occasional battle for dominance with her daughter, granddaughters, great grandkids and great great grandkids.  A few days ago, she launched herself at Penelope, apparently because Penelope was ‘looking at her funny’. Nell responding by rolling Tessa off the couch, and Tessa sulked her way over to her crate, where she sat grumbling about the lack of respect in today’s kids.

Tessa is a daily reminder to me that no matter how much I love our puppies, there will always be a special place in my heart for our senior dogs, and an irreplaceable spot for my Grand French Bulldog Matriarch.

Long may she reign.