LabraDOG
Rescue and Rehoming

By default I get some lovely presents - some are wonderfully classy like my beautiful wall hanging from Frasers mum or the hand embroidered labbie pillow cases from Ollie and Pippas mum.  Some are crazy funny like my Labrador T Shirt from the "Hangover" Movie from Nala, Snickers and Ebonys mum.  Some are classy and funny like the meals specially prepared for LabraDOG Lodge by MJ, MT, SASP, GM and Pancakes mum with a menu and all! But the latest feel good pressie to give me a laugh was from Bert and Bindis mum:

 

 

I haven't figured out what I find funniest - that the gift couldn't have been more "me"  or that fact that there are enough crazy people out there like me to warrant making a badge about it!  I will be sure to wear it with pride!  Thanks Lizzie - too funny!  I'm feeling a little guilty about my well publicised black dog fetish so I am off to shnuggle a yellow bear or two, or three or perhaps four tonight.....

So you have all seen Mitchie when he arrived, surrendered at Hawkesbury  Pound Christmas eve 2010 in skinny, flea bitten condition and so stiff he struggled to get around.  Already grumpy that I had lots of dogs and a husband who had gone to Tassie to celebrate I decided that 12yo Butch wasn't going to have his last supper on my Christmas Pound watch!  I made the dash to pick him up, brought him home for a bath, flea treatment, a BIG dinner and some LabraDOG Lodge lovin!  Here he is - just a different angle to what you would have seen before:

 

I decided he was no Butch but at 12 years old I didn't want to change his name too much so settled on Mitch.  Thankfully I have some fantastic friends and Pauly and Sarah were here early christmas morning leaving pressies at the gate for our crowd!  Mitch of course hobbled over to them and I am thinking Sarah fell for his charms immediately.  A short while later I was being harrassed to hand over Mitch for some expert fostering.  He had some way to go and I had a house full so was grateful for the support!  Mitch had a doggy friend who was surrendered at the same time but she was euthanased immediately for aggression issues.  Mitch could be a little defensive with Sarahs crowd early on which probably stemmed from his interaction with his old doggy "sister" and that's how he became Mitchell Thomas, Thomas after Snappy Tom!  Mitch came along in leaps and bounds and with his quality care he was soon bounding about like a puppy.  So much so that the dog who could hardly walk on arrival can scale Sarah and Pauls fence to visit the neighbour down the road who feeds him!  I was made aware of one minor indiscretion on Sarahs part and I did wonder if I would need to call the RSPCA:

Thankfully they quickly rectified the situation so I didn't need to take any action:



 

Thanks so much everyone for your positive thoughts and messages. The good news is we still have some time with her yet I hope, just not sure for how long. It’s sad that as Lab owners we see so much cancer in our beloved breed, as many of you know first-hand (esp Jane at present). We have been dealing with this problem since May so we were always aware that our time may have been somewhat limited, but it was still a shock a fortnight ago when we took her to our Vet and we talked about things and the fact that it had gotten so much bigger despite the ancillary therapy we were trying. Then a week ago she started tramadol pain killers which was another shock as we were not expecting it so soon. Amanda’s help has been so very amazing and much much appreciated!! I also cannot recommend my holistic Vet Renee O’Duhring from Port Stephens highly enough (she has a website called roarkingdom.com.au) and the amazing products that George and Sue have brought into this country to help our beautiful doggies. I think in Bindi’s case that it may be a little too late for a cure but we can only keep ploughing on and that’s what we are doing. I have learnt heaps about cancer between Bindi and Chloe and about raw diet feeding too which I will always be able to draw on in the future. Shahron we have not tried colloidal silver, sounds interesting though and I am glad you had great results. Bindi is a walking herbal potion at present with everything she is on! LOL. Anyhow, I am so happy that we were the ones blessed to have Bindi. She is a beautiful happy little bear who has brought much joy and light to our lives and I will care for her to the end and love her always.

I wanted to write a quick update on Bindi for a number of reasons.  Partly because we do lots to celebrate the great times but people need to know that running and rescue and adopting a rescue isn't always roses.  Most of you probably know much of Lizzies story from the forum but just a quick recap if you aren't familiar.  Lizzie approached me about adopting a dog after losing her much loved labbie Chloe to Lymphoma.  Lizzie was honest with me - they weren't broke but they weren't made of money and they still had some work to do paying for Chloes expensive treatment.  I understood what she was telling me and all of you who know me would know that we don't knowingly rehome dogs with problems - health or bahvaioural - anything we are aware of or concerned about is disclosed to adoptive families.  All of the labbies have some quirks, some of them I just worry about their hip or shoulder or something else but we alway discuss this with people and recommend an independant vet assessment.  Bindi was surrendered by caring people but sadly she was grossly overweight.  About two months or so into her new life Bindi developed a mass on the inside of her knee.  Before going to Lizzie, Bindi had also had a heamatoma of unknown origin - either from playing rough with one of the others or the vet suggested it would be rare but they may have hit a blood vessel when she was vaccinated.  The immediate thought was that this was another heamatoma and the vet suggestion was that she had rat bait poisoning and needed coag studies and the like.  There was no possible way Bindi got bait here and Lizzie assured me there was no way she had gotten it at her place.  That would mean she was ATLEAST 8 weeks or more from getting to the bait.  I told Lizzie I wanted David to see her given we thought it was probably linked to the original haematoma.  No such luck, there was nothing in the new mass so surgery revealed a huge lipoma that had infiltrated her muscles.  The lump was sent off to pathology, Bindi returned home and Lizzie had to deal with some complications from the surgery.  I offered to take Bindi back into care but in line with the kind of people Lizzie and Ben are and the fact that they had fallen in love with her they were keen to keep her - fat leg and all.  I shrugged it off a bit - sure Bindi would have a fat leg but she was such a fantastic dog and a Lipoma was nothing to worry about - they are slow growing and as is often the case we are all just trying to do our best to make up for the crappy care Bindi has had for the early part of her life.  Well all fool me - we are six or so months on, Bindis tumour has grown 30-40% and Lizzie and Ben could be looking at saying goodbye to another sensational dog within six months or so!  All avenues have been exhausted - the tumour has gone too far to amputate her leg and Lizzie and Ben are at the mercy of the tumour and how much pain Bindi is in.  When her pain can no longer be managed and/or her quality of life is severely impaired the only thing left to do is to humanely euthanase Bindi.  Bindi is at a fantastic weight and Lizzie is seeing a herbal vet as well as the conventional kind.  Just when Bindi is getting the care she needs and living the life she deserves it is all about to be taken from her.

Really though the purpose of this post was to mention a fantastic couple we have come across in our search to find a solution for Bindi.  I contacted George and Sue from K9 Health Support.  They have been truly wonderful to us and provided a significant discount on some amazing products which we hope will help Bindi.  George and Sue are in WA and their experience is based on their own dogs struggle with cancer.  Given labs are so prone to cancers I thought it would be a great resource to share.  The research is sound, the people are genuine and we are hopeful that toegther this will help Bindi live the long and happy life she deserves.  For anyone keen to visit their site you can find them here.  They were originally recommended by Bindis Herbal Vet.  I am sure for anyone interested Lizzie will be able to tell you a little more about what Bindi is on and why but for now perhaps you can all do for Bindi what you did for Max - send lots of positive/healing vibes her way!

Well another week has gone by and what a week it has been!  I haven't really updated the comings and goings here lately, mostly because I have been holed up inside in this terrible weather!  The upside to that is I have been able to get some things organised for the pet expo that's coming up and I am super excited about it!  The recently placed labbies are largely settling into their new homes fantastically.  Sadly for Maya her placement didn't quite work out.  Sometimes we just miss the mark a little for no real reason - they were a lovely couple and had another rescue dog but all in all I think Maya was way to boofy for them.  We made sure they were aware of it but sometimes you need to see a bossy dog to know a bossy dog!  Maya really threw her weight around which is something we don't see in her here.  Nevertheless we are a little wiser and I am sure her perfect home isn't too far away.  In other news we placed a labbie six or so months ago called Ruby.  The people who adopted Ruby were the step family of another lovely couple who have Roxy.  We had a call telling us Ruby was barking at nothing in the yard at night.  They don't bark at nothing but there was no resolving the problem.  Ruby wasn't known as a barker and she had spent some months without incident in her new home so there was a reason for her behaviour but sadly we didn't get to the bottom of it.  Ruby has been back a few weeks and the great news is we haven't heard a peep out of her except when the lawn mower goes on!  Ruby had a small growth on her eye that had increased significantly in size so we have had that removed.  Simon is a fantastic surgeon and he was careful to explain to me that when you take a wedge out of the dogs eye lid they can often have one eye smaller than the other.  I said 'What?  you are telling me you are a vet and not a plastic surgeon?!"  As expected though he has done a fantastic job and I am sure Ruby will find the sensational home she deserves!  Magnificent Morris is out on trial, we have a new arrival from Lithgow Pound who could pass as Morris's brother and with Heathers suggestion we have Kulas xrays heading to SASH for a specialist opinion and we should know more next week some time.  We have another Blacktown bear staying at Wags until I can make time to collect her and settle her in.  All in all the crowd are happy and settled - they really are a great bunch - and business at LabraDOG Lodge continues as normal!  Hope you enjoy our pics in the sunshine today yay!

Miss Kula on a bed and doing a spot of product testing for the Pet expo - I think she approves of her Rogz rubber bone even if she does look a little goofy!

The delightful Ruby - her eye looks fantastic thanks to Simon and Kirsten!



Pork chop Maya and Ruby had a chuckle about something!



Maya in full flight - fitter, leaner and healthier than ever before!


 

Product testing continues with Maya and our new black boy arrival!  From our orders just about all of you must have Kyjen Invincible Geckos but they also do a snake in the same range.  We ordered a few, have shared a few around and as you would expect they are a hit!  Some fantastic stock has arrived so we will have them for sale at the Pet Expo.

Butter would not melt in this boys mouth!  How cute is he?


 

As always the newbies find their way to the black dog and I guess he teaches them to speak the language of LabraDOG Lodge!

The black brat pack!  Max, Maya and No name!


 

Princess Georgia doing as she is asked with all the enthusiasm she could muster!  You might be able to make out our neighbour at the fence so she was over there with Ivan until I asked her if she wanted a Lolly!

 

Lily and I are friends again now her stitches are out and her water rights have been restored!

 

Some merry mutts - Maya, Kula, Max, Georgia and No Name....

 

A few weeks later she was showing more interest in interacting with me but was still a long way off being a "normal" lab.  Max was always a master at fetch and here was the three of them one sunny morning.


 

A few weeks further on it was Easter and Tim and I had arranged to take GB and Max to Labrador in QLD for a trip.  Normally our foster dogs would have been kennelled but we decided that with the progress Lily had made that we really didn't want her to go backwards so we arranged for her to come too.  Perhaps not the best plan!  It seems Lily hated changes in her environment and was less than happy with the new arrangement.  Lily did take comfort from Max though and she became his shadow over the coming years.  She had her own mat but wouldn't sit on it.

 

Back at home she was still glued to the black dog.....


 

A few more months on and we took Lily with us to a friends place - Bronwyn was having a party for her lab Gemma who was turning three years old.  I remember taking this pic thinking this was the happiest I had seen Lily outside of our home.  Our vet advice was that Lily's nose had probably been fractured at some point and fused back together all wonky.  On her belly she has cuts and scars and the like so although she may have always have been a shy dog she certainly wasn't in a great home.  By now I had decided that the only way I could be 100% sure that no one ever hurt Lily again was if she stayed here with us.  So she became a resident.

 

I needed to try and build her confidence by getting her out and about but the slightest sound or appearance of a person would have her off like a rocket.  So early on she was on a long line.  Often I only took Lily out because I couldn't be sure she wasn't caught on something and supervise Georgia and Max!  Here she is with Sarahs crowd....

Two years with us and her confidence was building.....



She still did nutty things - I would get home and find her fast asleep in the rain rather than on a bed or under cover!



 

Three years in Lily was more dog like and responsive to both Tim and I.  Getting her to trust Tim was a task and it still is.  He only needs to raise his voice for something else and she is off.  Tim really struggled at times because despite never treating her badly ever she was sure he was public enemy number one!

Whether she is at the river or the beach there is no long line in sight any more!

 

Lilys has certainly been a journey and a half but I wouldn't change it for a thing.  Lots of people have been on it with us and many still marvel at how far she has come.  Silly Lily was sent to teach me something and that she has.....