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A year ago January we lost Sasha... She was our 4 year old special baby girl Shih Tzu It was unexpected as the vet had not thought the surgery was particularly dangerous. it was for Bladder Stones and it went Bad... She had a heart attack and died... I was devastated... I shared my grief with my friends on the internet and one of them offered me a newly rescued Blind Shih Tzu puppy ... He had been born with only one small undeveloped eye that pointed straight into his nose... The rescuer said he was indeed a special boy that she and her husband were thinking of keeping but we could have him if we wanted him... We went and picked him up... And there has not been a single day in the 14 months since we got him that I have not thanked my God for this Cody being part of my life. He does not know he is blind.... We have 6 other Tzu and he is always the first one to the door when I ask who wants to go "OUT." He manages to figure out his new environment pretty quickly as we travel around. He is a lover, very playful, likes sticks, and must sleep on his pillow next to mine .... He has learned how to get up on the bed and how to get down... and how to find his way by himself from the middle of the back yard into the house. this requires using a ramp, crossing a deck, going up a step and thru 2 doors... To watch him check his references along the way is pure magic... It is all done with smell and touch...
And to watch him "PLAY" in the yard with his soul mate Stormy is a marvel... We were given Stormy about 2 weeks after we got Cody. Stormy has very protruding eyes and is prone to dry-eye. the breeder who had him asked if we wanted him for a "seeing-eye" buddy for Cody.... Cody was born in September (the 19th) and Stormy was born in October (the 8th) 1999.... Stormy has learned that Cody can't "see" and will play hide n seek with him... And when Cody "finds" Stormy he runs and jumps and plays until Stormy gets too far away (about 2 or 3 feet) and then Cody stops and waits for Stormy to sneak back in close so they can do it again... His heart n Spirit are huge.... and as a matter of fact he is too... He got up to 25.7 lbs before we started him on a diet... He weighs 21.4 now and we are shooting for 20 to 21... This is necessary cause he has hip displagia but don't tell him that either...
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 This is a picture of our dog Holly. Even though she has only three legs, the first year we showed her in 4-H dog obedience she won 14 ribbons all blue or purple. She is an Australian shepherd mix who is now retired from showing but still helps with our cattle. She also loves to ride on the motorcycle to go check on the cows. We also have a deaf Boston Terrier named Chaney that my daughter is training for a 4-H project this year.  Here is Chaney, our deaf BT, sucking on his blanket. I wonder if anyone else has a dog that does that? |
I am the owner of a special needs shih tzu called Mike. Mike is 12, he is a cancer survivor since 7 yeas and has a special diet. He also has cateracts and is partially blind. Despite this, he loves life, bounces around and loves travelling the world and meeting new people. Check out his website and Crufts photo! Tess Crebbin (author: Two dogs and a Journalist - a British Pekingese and an American Shih Tzu travel the world) |
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This is Mickey who suffered from a bad back and arthritis. He could get around but moved slowly and walked slightly "sideways." Usually a baby aspirin would help his pain. We lost our Mickey when he was eleven and a half to Congestive Heart Failure. It was a horrid shock as we thought we might have him with us a longer time. We still miss him very much. |
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Cubby is a male border collie mix that is about 5 months old. He was born blind and I adopted him on sight. He was a shy guy who laid his head on my shoulder as I held him to let him know everything was ok now. His plight was to be put to sleep when a rescue group saved him. Cubby is not that shy pup I met a month or so ago, he is a wild child that loves to play and torment our other animals. He is slowing down a little on his biting stage but he has so much energy it is very hard to keep up with him. He is very special to us and we are working with him to make his life as easy as possible. Cubby has no problem finding his way around the house, of course he follows sounds, he amazes us with his accomplishments. We do have trouble getting him to go outside, he is afraid of the steps down, so that is a major goal. Once outside he loves to run and play with the other dogs, we have to keep him on a lead now because he tries to follow them and its not always safe for him. We have seen some change in one of his eyes and will have to find an animal opthamologist to find out what is happening. There are so many things that can go wrong with blind dogs, I had no idea. We are reading the book, Living With Blind Dogs which is great source of information.
We will have some challenges with Cubby's health but he's worth it all. Beautiful blind Cubby. |
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If you are blessed with the companionship of an animal with "Special Needs," send us an EMAIL and tell us about your pet or animal friend. We will add your link so others can visit and meet your pal. Please send pic as attachment in your email in either gif or jpg format. |
