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last revision 06/26/2008

 

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About 3 weeks after Ashlee’s death, Ben and I went to visit my parents. As was habit for me, I picked up the classified ads for one of the local papers to look at the puppy ads. (I always want to see what’s hot in various parts of the country, so pick up papers when I visit anywhere.) Down at the bottom of the list was a small ad for shepherd mix puppies. Bargain basement price of $25. I passed it by and continued perusing the list. That ad nagged at me though. I showed it to Ben and asked him what he thought. It wasn’t a purebred, but I knew I wasn’t ready for that step again. “It wouldn’t hurt to go look.”

 

Now, as any pet owner can tell you, at some point in your life, you will find yourself uttering those three little words. “It wouldn’t hurt.” Whether it’s fish, birds, kittens, puppies, or a stroll through a bookstore, those words will always manage to get you into trouble. Such was the case with that litter.

 

Four whites, 4 black and tans. Part of them were already spoken for, but there were a few left. The kicker – they were only 5½ weeks old. The family was doing some major remodeling on their home, and puppies were getting seriously under foot with the help of two small children. Hesitant because of their young age but assured that Annie could help me raise a pup, I agreed to see them. “Couldn’t hurt.” Right. Famous last words.

 

By the time I arrived, all four white pups were accounted for, along with one of the black and tans. Of the three remaining, one was female, the other two males. I tested each one, as well as possible with less than 6 week old puppies. The female was fairly laid back but playful. She followed me around while I visited with her canine parents. Odd noises, no problem. All in all very promising.

 

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet both parents, very unusual with any litter, much less an “oops” mixed-breed litter. The father was a big, young white German shepherd named Jake who was very sweet and loveable. The mother was a rott/dobie/? mix named Shadow who was very friendly but not pushy. With such sweet temperaments in the parents, I decided the pups had a good shot at being well tempered.  (Also unusual with “oops” litters, the pups had already seen a vet to make sure they were healthy before going to new homes.)

 

Mind you, this whole time, Ben is waiting patiently in the car. I asked him if he wanted to come in. He didn’t feel he needed to. I hoped his trust wasn’t misplaced as I paid $20 (they didn’t have change for a $20 and let me have the pup for $5 less than advertised) and carried that cuddly little ball of fluff out to the car. Pup in Ben’s lap (both of us praying she didn’t get carsick or need to pee), we drove to the nearest Petsmart and bought a small crate for her to ride home in.

 

Annie was absolutely thrilled with the new addition. Ashlee had been so sick toward the end that she didn’t have much energy to play. Annie didn’t get to play as much as she would have liked. This squirming little bundle changed all that. I watched Annie’s puppiness come out of hiding. (Ok. I know puppiness is not a REAL word.)

 

With an Ashlee and an Annie in the family, I needed a name that didn’t start with “A”. I figured the new baby would give me an indication of what her name should be, given time. When it came, I never questioned it. Izzy. Perfect for a little tomboy. Of course, just in case she ever developed dignity, she had to have a more feminine name. Thus we settled on Izabel Ann, call name Izzy.

 

One of her favorite games (at least until she grew big enough that she couldn’t fit under the couch anymore) was attacking feet from under the couch. Nothing is more excruciating than having tiny little puppy teeth sink into your ankle. When we reached down to correct her, she disappeared back under the couch. Ben quickly dubbed her “rug troll.”

 

Izzy has taught all of us so much about how to have fun. As a youngster, there wasn’t much she took seriously. Many was the time I had to redirect her, or forcibly remove her, when she would try to run up to a dog she saw in class or on the street. The idea that all dogs are not friendly never occurred to her. She was just as certain that all people loved dogs, but most especially her. Every visitor to our home was there JUST to see her. She knew that with absolute certainty.

 

During the Fall of 1999, Izzy obtained her AKC Canine Good Citizen certificate when she was almost thirteen months old.  Passed every exercise with flying colors.  That’s my girl!

 

In Spring of 2000, when Izzy was about a year and a half old, she was attacked by another dog visiting our home. (The very LAST time I believed a dog owner who assured me their dog was socialized well with other dogs without confirming it for myself.) Annie and I came to her defense. No blood was shed, thankfully. The visiting dog was promptly locked in a crate and her owners called to retrieve her (preferably before my husband shot her for attacking his baby).

 

Izzy’s behavior changed abruptly after that day. No longer was she the social butterfly. No longer did she welcome dogs with play bows. In fact, she growled when another dog came near her. No longer did she greet people cheerfully at our front door. She avoided them. The wind freaked her out. Sudden loud noises sent her under the desk. My fearless tomboy had seemingly fallen out of a tree and been broken deep inside. A trip to the vet proved fruitless. $200 in tests revealed a perfectly “healthy animal”. Despite my concerns about an injury from the attack, the vet assured me all was well. Recommendation, behavior modification to correct problem behaviors.

 

A year later, positive training, confidence building, resocialization left us with little to no progress. Another consult with the vet proved just as disappointing as before. The answer finally came from a direction I never expected. A dog show. Or more accurately an obedience trial at a dog show. But, let me back up a bit.

 

In the fall of 1999, I attended Arizona Canine Academy. While I was there, a woman did a presentation on a cross between chiropractics and deep muscle massage. Life got hectic after I graduated since I was working a couple of part-time jobs, plus starting obedience classes of my own. On top of that, I was continuing to work on Annie and Izzy’s training. I didn’t give it much thought until I ran into that same woman at that show in May of 2001.

 

After the ring I was stewarding in finished up for the day, I was sitting outside the second obedience ring with the judge I had worked with, watching the remaining class. Maryna Ozuna joined us and engaged the judge in a discussion about her work. Part of this discussion included the types of behavioral issues she often saw with various injuries. Things started clicking into place as she named off behaviors I was seeing in Izzy and the types of injuries typical not only to her breed, but also to attacks and athletic injuries. I hopped into the discussion then.

 

Within a couple of weeks, Izzy went in for her first Kinaesthetics session. I was heartbroken to find out just how much pain she had been living with. Her spine, from her skull to the tip of her tail, was compressed and even twisted in places.  The back of her head was locked up, allowing for very little mobility. (If you’ve ever had spine or neck problems, you understand what I’m talking about. Migraines, back pain, the works.) Maryna assured me it was all “fixable.”

 

After two sessions, the light came back to Izzy’s eyes and she started responding to training. After three sessions, her tail gained a life of it’s own. By the time all was said and done, she had four sessions two weeks apart. Her life came back. Her joy returned. Her zest for life re-emerged.

 

That 4^th session was in Summer of 2001. Since then, Izzy has become more than a shadow of her former self. She enjoys obedience work, but heaven forbid you ask her to do manual labor like agility or chase a ball! A game of catch is about the best you can expect. Manual labor is best left to the Border collie mix and German shepherd in the house, in her opinion. She is an attention mooch extraordinaire. Something as simple as a tail wag now encompasses her entire body, earning her the nickname “wiggle butt”. The wind and sudden loud noises don’t bother her so much anymore.

 

Though the tomboy is pretty well gone, probably for good, Izzy has gained a new dignity and gentle demeanor as she has matured that is very endearing. She is the calm presence in the house. Something that can be sanity saving when dealing with a border collie mix that lives on fast-forward and a shepherd puppy who thrives on activity.

 

Don’t get me wrong. She still has her silly moments, when she ruts the cushions off the couch or the blankets off the bed, or grabs a stuffed toy and attempts to shake the stuffing out of it, or plays catch with me in the backyard and bounces around so goofy because she caught it. As time goes by and we continue building her confidence, that playful streak becomes more and more apparent.

 

In October and November, 2001, we fostered a great dane who developed serious issues with Izzy. Cinder was with us for almost 8 weeks before she went to her new home. Life for Izzy seemed to settle back down after that. Then Xander grew and bypassed her in size and weight. As he has grown, Xander has learned to play rough and tumble with Annie. Unfortunately, he doesn’t restrict such rough play to Annie. Izzy routinely takes some pretty hard hits. She began manifesting the symptoms we had seen before – the sensitivity to sounds/noises, irritability with other dogs, less enthusiasm for people. This time I knew what to do about it. In February 2003, she again saw Maryna for a “tune-up.”  Within a couple of days, Izzy returned to her normal happy self.  She still grumbles, growls and barks at the boy when he gets obnoxious as well as when they play.  But, she is once again our Wiggle-Butt.  She’s also learning to play tug and thinks that’s pretty cool!

 

UPDATE – 12/20/2003 – Izzy continues to do well and hasn’t needed any further “tune-ups”. She has decided Xander is not as offensive as she first believed, and she has even taken to playing with him almost daily. Her favorite game with me has become tug, preferably with the other two butt-inskies locked outside so her game isn’t disrupted.

 

This has been an interesting year with Izzy. She started with urinary problems (UTI’s) at about 2½ years old. Antibiotics proved fruitless, and I ended up treating her with a combination of yarrow, marshmallow root, and Echinacea. That did the trick, but she tended to have recurrences about every 3-5 months. *sigh* From there, her kidney/bladder system symptoms gradually stepped up, new symptoms occurring now and then. Including: periodic incontinence when stressed, sound sensitivity, pain in her lower back (one sided), suspected early onset arthritis in the right hip, and periods of chronic thirst. (Not to mention, cucumber thieving.)

 

January 1, 2003, I started her on a raw diet (same time as Annie, but about 2 weeks after the boy), but soon had to switch back to kibble until I could find a reasonably cost source of meats. In March, she was diagnosed with yet ANOTHER UTI, but this time around they found oxalate crystals in her urine. Dr. D suggested treating the UTI as I had with the herbs and using diet to deal with the crystals. At the end of April, everyone went back on raw food. (I found a raw food co-op in Tucson, a not so close neighboring community, so I can get my meats in bulk. Yippee!! J ) A recheck in July showed another UTI, but much milder, and NO more crystals. Again, we treated her herbally for the UTI. I am happy to say that Izzy has not had another UTI since then.

 

In September 2003, after realizing I had a kidney/bladder dog on my hands, I started Izzy on a kidney glandular formula to supplement her raw diet. She took it for about 3 weeks, and then I took her off of it to monitor her progress. All of her previous symptoms disappeared, including the stress-induced incontinence and pain in the lower back. Her water consumption has since been normal. Her hip has not given her any trouble. Interestingly enough, her previous raids on my garden suddenly made sense. She always and ONLY swiped my cucumbers. Cucumbers are excellent natural kidney supporters. She was self-medicating, and I was clueless! She doesn’t need to do it anymore. Mom is on the case. J

 

All in all, it’s been an eventful and very good year for Izzy. We finally found the solution to ending her UTIs and making her life happier. Her bounce keeps improving, and she’s my social butterfly again.

 

06/20/2004 – Izzy had her physical for the year.  She is in fine health, I am happy to report.  J

 

Photo taken 06/19/2004

 

02/23/2005– Just realized it’s been a while since I made any notes about Izzy, and I forgot to make a note last month when she went to the vet for an anal gland problem (recurrence from about 18 months prior). Her anal glands were full but expressed easily and no signs of infection. Just unhappy little butt. She did develop an anal fissure from that episode (all that licking and straining will do that). I treated it topically with witch hazel and it’s better now.

 

09/19/2005– Izzy continues to do very well. No problems at all.

 

10/28/2005– Izzy isn’t too thrilled with the puppy part of the time and plays with him the other part. Crotchety big sister, I guess. Healthwise, nothing new to report except that I’m watching her left elbow because of two episodes of limping (about 1½ months apart) and one episode of obsessive licking about a week after the first limping episode (resulted in a hot spot on the pressure point that healed with application of calendula salve). I want to make sure the limping and licking aren’t an indicator of something wrong structurally, like a bone chip or something.

 

04/25/2006– For an update on Izzy, please read the article “Lessons Learned.”

 

11/28/2006– At her physical this past summer, Izzy had a sebaceous cyst on the topside of her tail, and she’s developed a mole near her left elbow. The cyst has since healed with care. The mole remains. She had her rabies booster this past summer as well, and developed exaggerated fearfulness, sun sensitivity and diarrhea. The diarrhea lasted only two days, along with the lethargy that so often goes with vaccinations. The sun sensitivity took more than a month to abate; the fearfulness even longer than that. She is doing much better now.

 

Her behavior continues to improve after Annie’s death (see Lessons Learned above for more information about that). She is playing much better and more often with us and the other dogs. She has gotten her full wiggle back, which is fabulous to see return. She hasn’t been so happy and effusive in several years (ie since Annie started getting sick with the neurological problems). As hard as it’s been losing and missing Annie, I can see a great deal of good coming out of that loss. The changes in Izzy’s behavior are most definitely one of the highest points.

 

02/14/2007 – Izzy’s behavior and attitude continue to improve. She really enjoyed the snow we got this winter, running, jumping and playing with D’Artagnan and Xander like she hasn’t played in years.  J

 

On a worrisome note, that mole Izzy developed last year after she had an IV has started to change and grow. We see the vet on March 2^nd to have it looked at. In the meantime, as soon as they arrive, we’ll be using black salve and tonic. My hope is that it will work as well for her as it has for so many others, and we can avoid having to have this thing surgically removed and risk damage to healthy tissue, blood vessels and nerves. Also, I want to be sure ALL the unhealthy cells are removed, and surgery can’t insure that. Once we get the treatment started (hopefully the salve and tonic will arrive in the next couple of days), I’ll start posting a journal with photos showing what results we get.

 

03/08/2007 – The growth on Izzy’s left leg has responded well to black salve treatment. I am keeping a journal, updated regularly. A copy of the journal can be obtained by emailing me. The knowledgeable people on the black salve list have been such a huge help to me in this process.

 

03/30/2007 – Began homeopathic treatment last week for fear issues.  The primary fear issue we’ve been dealing with for quite some time is wind. It terrifies her. Oddly, she will go out in it. It’s only when she is inside the house and hears windows rattle, wind howl and such that she gets squirrelly. A bad windstorm came through the other day and lasted into the next morning. She got upset about it but no trembling as she normally does. She slept through the windy night without problems. So still fearful, but definitely not as pronounced as it has been in the past.

 

04/16/2007 – We’ve been continuing homeopathic treatment for fear issues. Wind phobia is about 95% gone.  Bad winds this week haven’t phased her a bit. She’s been perfectly relaxed except for one episode yesterday that passed very quickly. I suspect that was more out of habit than actual fear because it passed so quickly even though the wind did not wane or change. I watched to see how she was doing, and she suddenly got this look on her face that said, “What am I doing?” as she cowered behind a chair. At that point, you could actually see her shake it off. She came out from behind the chair and took a nap in the middle of the living room floor. I wanted to cry and very nearly did. Such wonderful progress for her.

 

04/24/2007 – I finally got Izzy’s black salve journal uploaded. It’s almost 2 MBs in size because of the photos I included, so be warned if you want to download it.  ;-)

 

06/26/2008 – Izzy continues to do very well. Closing in on 10 years of age, she is showing no signs of arthritis or other “age-related” problems.  She still gets out and plays with Harika and D’Artagnan without a problem. She had two broken teeth removed right after Christmas and came through that procedure without complications. She hasn’t needed any dental cleanings throughout her life, and her vet is thrilled with the pearly whites on this “senior” dog. (Thank you, raw diet!)  No more sebaceous cysts or anal gland issues in a while, and no more UTIs for almost 5 full years now. She’s doing great for an “old” lady.

 

 

Izzy caught taking a nap next to her “sister.” – Taken 06/03/2008

 

 

 

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