#2288 – Dylan
8-year-old tricolor male
Hi folks. Dylan here. I’m really settling in here at my foster home in Northern Minnesota. I’ve been to the vet again. He says I have a recurring growth on my left eye called an adenoma, and it will need to be removed from time to time when it grows back. Foster mom also had a second vet look at my x-rays, and he says that the spondylosis that makes my hips and back legs weak will never get better. Foster mom was pretty sad about that, but I told her not to be too sad because I’m not in pain and I can still run and play in the yard with the other collies. I’m not as fast as they are, but if I use both hind legs together (kind of like a bunny), I get extra strength and speed and I eventually catch up with them! Sometimes we have some female dogs over to visit, and I love to just follow them around the yard. I used to be quite the stud muffin you know. Remember, when they originally found me, I was wandering along with that female Basset Hound mix. I wonder what happened to her . . . ah lost loves. Anyway, the lady dogs seem to like to have me around. Not too pushy but still attentive. I’m sensitive.
The thing I really don’t like about my condition is that because the bone is pinching my spinal cord, I can’t always tell when I need to visit the “little boy’s room.” About three to five hours after my dinner, when I am just getting up from my evening nap, my tail goes up and OOOPS. Foster mom tries to help me get to the door in time, but I don’t move too quickly and sometimes the other collies get in the way. It’s pretty embarrassing and I try so very hard not to have an accident in the house, but foster mom just picks up my messes and never gets mad at me. She’s very patient because she loves me and she knows I can’t help it.
One of my favorite things is this great massager that foster mom uses on my back. It has both heat and massage, and I could just lie there on the soft warm rug with that thing on my back for hours!! This is our special time together. Sometimes, because my back legs won’t work to let me scratch behind my ears, foster mom will scratch there for me and comb some of the little snarls out of my coat. It’s heaven.
One of these days, we might try acupuncture to see if that helps my back. That’s the trick to staying young you know – trying new things.
Foster mom says that this is the time of year for thinking about the things that we are thankful for and for making Christmas wishes. I have so many things to be thankful for that I hardly know where to begin. I’m thankful for the nice people at Hibbing animal control who found me and helped me get to MWCR. I’m thankful for MWCR for finding me this wonderful foster home. I’m thankful for a warm house, a full food bowl, lots of collie friends to play with and a foster mom who loves me even though I do have “accidents.” I think I’m the luckiest collie ever!
As for Christmas wishes, I know all the foster collies at MWCR are wishing for forever homes, but I also know that it will take a very special forever home for me: someone who will love me even with my disability, maybe someone who has a special talent for physical therapy or acupuncture. I would love to meet someone like that – even if they just wanted to visit me and check out my condition. Foster mom says that we don’t know how many more Christmases I will have, but then who does know that sort of thing. I’m just happy with all the blessings I have now, and I guess my Christmas wish is that all collies – okay, all dogs and cats – can be as lucky as I am.
Merry Christmas,
Dylan
New to Rescue!
Dylan was found on July 24, 2006 wandering the highways near Hibbing, Minnesota (hence his new name) with his faithful companion, a female basset hound mix. He was picked up and taken to a shelter where they estimated him to be about 10+ years old. He was matted, dirty, scruffy and a little smelly. This was definitely Dylan in his rebellious, unwashed period.
On August 1st, however, Dylan came to his foster home at MWCR and now “The Times They Are A-Changin.” He has made a trip to the vet, who examined Dylan and determined that he is younger than first thought (about eight years old) and negative for both heartworm and Lyme disease. He does have fairly severe arthritis in his spine and some resulting muscle atrophy in his hips and rear legs that is causing him quite a bit of pain. He has been prescribed some medication to help manage the back and hip pain that was making him appear older than he is. Later he was also taken to the groomers where he was bathed and brushed, and now his once matted coat is “Blowin’ in the Wind.” This is Dylan in his older, more distinguished, troubadour days.
Unlike his famous counterpart, our Dylan is a very well-behaved, affectionate guy. It took his foster mom no time at all to thoroughly fall in love with him, and he likes to just lean up against her and wait to be petted and loved. He even enjoys brushing as long as foster mom is very careful and gentle when brushing near his spine. There aren’t any cats in his foster home, but he gets along beautifully with all of the other dogs. He walks slowly, but he never cries out in pain, and although the damage to his spine has left him unable to wag his tail, he shows his love and gratitude very clearly in his beautiful, brown eyes. He is a gentle, loving soul.
Dylan is through living “Like a Rolling Stone.” He is ready for a loving, forever home where he can live out his retirement in an atmosphere of peace and love.
Dylan is being fostered in Esko, MN.
