As I drove to the pound on the bright cold day , I had my usual check list running through my head. Treats in my pocket , and my spare heavy duty choke collar and leather leash by my side. Also with me was my 4 year old daughter.

The pound was busy. I had to wait and I was getting impatient. I knew this poor girl had been in the pound for 2 weeks already and had recently been spayed . I wanted to give her a quick going over verify she was a Bouv and get her out of there . As any rescue worker will tell you going to a pound is one of the worst experiences , you have to walk past rows and rows of cages. The noise is incredible , all the dogs barking " Look at me !! " ," Take me home!!" its heartbreaking to know you are there for only one and so many need you . Finally the pound worker gets to me and tells me to go on back. The Bouvier is in cage 23 , as I walk down the aisles I take note of any dog that might fit into a rescue I know of , "ahh a Dobe!! I'll Call Hope"!," a Dalmatian, maybe Karen can find a foster home for her", A Rottie " Oh what a pretty boy I wish I knew someone in Rottie rescue".

Finally I get to cage 23 it's on my right, on the cold brown tiled floor I see what maybe at one time could have passed for a Bouvier. A black skeleton, shaved bald , and my first estimation is 45 lbs a adult Bouvier bitch with ears cropped and her tail docked. I quickly unlocked the door ( most times this is not allowed ) I had to see if I was too late , I thought for sure this poor girl was dead in her cage. As the chain clinked I saw her head lift. " OH thank Goodness! " She looked up at me with the warmest soft dark brown eyes. At one time I'm sure this girl was beautiful. But now she looks like some awful Bouvier stick figure

I sat on the floor next to her, waiting for one of the pound employees to come by and release her to me. I fed her some of the treat in my pocket. she put her head on my lap and my daughter stroked her head. My daughter said " Mommy she's so pretty , and she likes you !" While we were waiting I asked Terra ,my daughter to think of a name. We have to call her something . I thought this might kill some time while waiting , But without a second thought my daughter said OBIE !! After a friend of mine's Bouvier that was a favorite of my daughters . My friends Obie had recently died after a short but none the less hard fought battle with cancer. This dog was a fighter too I could see it in her eyes a survivor So I agreed Obie it was , a fitting tribute to a wonderful Bouvier. Finally Obie was released to me for the sum of $38.00.

Carefully I carried her out to my van. and placed her in the dog crate in back with some warm soft blankets. The short trip home seemed very long, thoughts running through my head , would she live ? what else is wrong with her ? How could someone do this to her ? Where had she been? I wondered if she'd been dumped alongside a road , or if she was lost ? Did her owners look for her ? Had she been abused ? I hope she doesn't have a problem with men , The last rescue bitch I had at the house wanted to rip my husbands head off every time he came home , he's a tolerant man but this one was going to be with us awhile .

Once home I started a more thorough assessment on Obie, it being obvious this was a very sick dog. She was coughing and sneezing , bleeding from her nose, her whole body wracked with each cough. My first thought is kennel cough, she was so weak she couldn't hold her head up or walk in a straight line. I called my vet an made an emergency appointment.

I carried her into the vet office ,the first thing I did was to place her on the scale. It read 35 lbs, the vet hospital workers gathered around to see my latest rescue. All of us were in Shock I thought " This can't be right her foot must have slipped off the scale " . I re-weighed her again the digital numbers stopped at 35 lbs. Everyone in the vets office was in shock , how could an adult Bouvier survive being so emaciated. As I was soon to discover Obie's weight was to be the least of my concern.

We went into the exam room sitting on the floor with her waiting for Dr. Wood to come and take a look. , I stroked her bony head and she looked at me with those warm, sweet, deep dark brown eyes. Dr. Wood started his exam , blood was drawn for a heart worm test , and we took her back for x-rays. The first bad news was she had severe pneumonia both lungs were almost filled with fluid, then the blood test , heart worm positive, and the x-rays clearly showed the heart worms were advanced. then stool samples showed hook worm , round worm , tape worms. She also had a staph infection that was affecting her skin. Obie was prescribed some antibiotics and predizone and I took her home , she was too weak , and emaciated to undergo heart worm treatments at this point.

Back at home I bedded her down in a crate & tried to offer her food , as soon as she ate the food came right back up and a coughing fit started, mucus and dog food flying everywhere . something else was wrong that we hadn't found in her vet exam. So two days later I took her back to the vet for a barium x-ray , in hind site this probably wasn't the best idea I ever had . When the Vet does a barium x-ray the dog has to swallow barium a radioactive heavy metal , then they take an x-ray to see where the barium goes it shows up white on the x-ray. Well Obie aspirated the barium and it got into her lungs , so now on top of the bacterial pneumonia she had barium pneumonia . Barium irritates the lungs and causes scaring . But the x-ray did show a esophageal diverticulum ( A pocket in her esophagus) So I took her to a vet specialist to have them put a scope down her esophagus to see exactly what was going on . $65.00 later he told me he wouldn't scope her because it would be a waste of my money , this dog would be dead by the weekend . The only thing he could suggest was to hospitalize her in intensive care for at least 3 days at the tune of $500.00 per day . And no guarantees she'd make it.

Heavy hearted and but not discouraged I took Obie home . The vet specialist hadn't told me they could do anything more for her then I could do for her at home. I got a heating pad and placed it in her kennel under her blankets. I set up an old vinyl table cloth over her kennel , and placed a vaporizer in front of the door filled the medicine cup with good old fashion vicks vapor rub. I set up my sleeping bag next to her and spoon fed her broth and rescue mash ever two hours, around the clock .

Two days later Obie could STAND!! , Three days later she could walk up steps, Five days later she wanted to play . Within two weeks she was well enough to undergo heart worm treatments, She was up to 50 lbs. But still couldn't eat on her own. I took her out to the rescues Vet in Grosse Point woods for the heart worm treatment, which she can trough with flying colors .But she lost 5 lbs during the treatment , the rescue vet & I decided it would be best to start tube feeding her instead of the spoon feeding . in hopes that giving her esophagus a rest that it would heal and she would be abel to eat on her own. I picked Obie up on Dec 19 from her heart worm treatment.

Tube feeding Obie was easier then anyone could have expected . She has such a sweet temperament and it is as if she knew this was for her own good . She sits still and lets me feed the tube down her throat No need to restrain her . If she was terrible about it or fought me doing it I might think differently . The whole feeding only takes about 5 minuets. And By the first week of January she was over 60 lbs and I took her again back to the specialist to seek answers for her swallowing problem. And to show her off. I do have a bit of a defiance streak. I wanted them to see she was still alive and doing better then any one expected.

The specialist was amazed !! He had to call in the other vets and the vet techs to come take a look. Obie had beat the odds and was thriving despite it all. But after a battery of tests the only thing the specialist could find wrong was Obies test for addisons disease can back positive. Now as too weather or not the Addison's disease caused her mega esophagus or was it a traumatic injury we will never know. They were still at a lost to tell me weather or not she would ever eat like a normal dog

By this time Obies vet bills had piled high to the sum of $1600.00. And due to her eating problem she was deemed un -adopt able ( Who in their right mind would want to tube feed a Bouvier every day for the next ten years or so ? ) Well I would!! Obie is bright alert , and ever so smart. she is loving and gentle and the best temperament I've ever seen .I decided I would be a lucky person to share my home with this wonderful, loving girl. I have applied for an AKC Indefinite listing privilege for her , And I plan to show her in obedience ,agility, maybe herding . Obie will also go to rescue functions as an ambassador for the Bouvier befrienders rescue.

To look at Obie, you wouldn't know there was anything wrong , she appears to be an is a happy well mannered young Bouvier . Other then she eats differently then other dogs she is a normal dog . She plays and romps, has her stuffed toy puppies. Bounces with joy when she sees me or my husband.(She also does a 4 foot high all 4 feet off the ground bounce when she sees dinner coming.) Obie does all the doggy type things, you would expect any other dog to do . She's not in pain or discomfort. Obie is happy and eager to please, is excelling in her obedience training , and in general is a joy to have around.

Obie's health continues to improve also , there are days when she can eat kibble from a dish , And she can take and swallow small pea size pieces of treats . We've learned through trial and error that she drinks better out of a faucet or squirt bottle then a bowl. Obie barks for a drink. But she still needs to be tube fed. Her coat is slowly coming back. Sadley Obie was diagnosed with a very serious genetic heart defect in Jan. of 1998. The vets are sure this will significantly shorten her life span. But we will continue to take it day by day with her, and are happy for the chance.

I've been asked if I would have known in the beginning that her eating problem was going to be a life long condition. Weather or not we would have nursed her back to health or if we would have put her down. My response is Thank Goodness I got a chance to know how sweet this girl was before I was forced to make that decision. Everything happens for a reason. IF I had known the day I picked her up, that she might never be able to eat. We might very well had to put her down. But because of all the other things she had going on it was only by process of elimination, ( Was it the heart worm and pneumonia causing her eating problem?) By time we found out what was really going on we had time, money , and most important Love invested in her. Where would we go from there ? a $1600.00 dead dog ? Or a loving, sweet, happy, Obie with a eating problem? Its not Obie's fault she has this problem. Its not her fault she was so sick. A lot of her problems are/and could be genetic. And the rest are due to her former owners neglect. Should Obie be forced to pay an even higher price for their stupidity?

I get angry that someone bred their dogs & produced her. Obie's breeder had her tail docked and ears cropped. I wonder if they tested her parents ? Her breeders sold her for most likely somewhere between $800.00-$1000.00 I wonder if the breeder knows she's not in the home they sold her too ? Or where she is ? I wonder if they care ?

Obie was at one time someone's puppy . Someone paid money for her . Someone Promised her they would love her . I wonder if her owners miss her , did they look for her ? Did they dump her when they discovered she had heart worm? did they even know she had heart worm? Or was she coughing and they assumed she was sick and turned her loose? Did they care what happened to her ? The facts are Obie trusted them and was betrayed.

I want to and feel I need to give Obie the chance to be the dog she should have been. Loved , healthy, beautiful, and appreciated for what she is , a wonderful , smart , and loving dog.

That's Why I rescue , I want these poor dogs who have been forsaken to have a real chance to be loved , to be appreciated just because they are wonderful. To have someone to love them just because they are there. Obie's story is unusual thank goodness not all of the dogs we get are as sick as her or have her long term problems. Obie is special I knew that from the moment I found her curled up in a ball in the pound. I knew from day one in my heart I was in it with her for the long haul.

Some things you could do to make sure your dog never ends up like Obie or or other rescues. Please make sure your dogs are loved and cared for if you are an owner or a breeder, owners, before you buy a puppy ask questions , will the breeder take the puppy back even 6 years down the road if you can't or don't want to care for it ? Have they had both parents tested for common genetic problems ? Get your pets spayed and neutered, have them micro chipped, tattooed or keep tags on them , take them to the vet for testing and heart worm preventative, and health check ups.

Breeders, please breed carefully don't just breed to have puppies to sell . Keep tabs on your puppies, follow up on them. Sell the puppies with spay and neuter contracts. Anything can happen just because you think you've picked the perfect homes for your puppies . Doesn't mean 3 years down the road they won't get a divorce, or die or loose their job. Let your buyers know you are willing to take a puppy back at anytime for any reason. Don't get lulled into thinking just because someone forked out a grand for a puppy that they will take care of it . Obie and the 56 other pure bred Bouviers the Befrienders rescued last year are lucky , they all went to good homes , we will and have taken a rescue back for any reason at any time, we follow up on the dogs with a mentor assigned to each and every new owner. Please the Obies in the world are proof enough that someone is not doing the things they should be. NOTHING would make me happier then having no need for a pure bred Bouvier rescue because there are no dogs that are in need of rescuing. Responsible dog ownership starts with the breeder. And common sense.