I was able to bring Peanut home yesterday about noon, so Prissy, Buster and Junior were all gathered around as soon as I got him in the door and set him down.  He was in a box, so when I set it down, Peanut wiggled all over and wagged his tail, so glad to see all his buddies.  Each one licked his face and nuzzled his nose and all the while, all the tails were just wagging up a storm.  It was a sweet moment, for sure.

 

I took Peanut out of the box and gently placed him on the floor and he immediately headed for the kitchen, although very slowly and stiffly, with his cheering section all around him.  They finally split up and were all wondering around the kitchen and I looked over to discover Junior peeing on the pantry wall!  I scolded him and grabbed paper towels and that jug of “stuff” we use for such purposes.  I just got it cleaned up when I looked over about the time that Buster hiked his leg and proceeded to pee on the cabinet! 

 

Now, mind you, these dogs well know that if they ever even think of sneaking a pee, it better not be where I can see it, so I was pretty upset.  So I started cleaning up Buster’s mess when Peanut just squatted in the middle of the floor and pee’d the biggest puddle I’ve ever seen!!!  It looked like he had been storing it since yesterday, for pete’s sake.

 

I said “WHAT IS THIS, A PISSING CONTEST??!!”

 

By this time, Buster and Junior, knowing they were in trouble, had already scuttled out the back doggy door, I couldn’t get mad at Peanut, and Prissy was just standing there looking at me like “Boys will be boys”.  So I finally got all of it cleaned up and brandished Buster and Junior to the doggy yard for being such bad boys.  Prissy went along probably just so she could gloat.

 

I took Peanut to the kennel and separated pens so that he would have his own area, his own doggy door and his own outside fenced area away from any outside fences.  Doc had told me that he would have a really bad odor due to dying rotting skin and flesh, which really proved to be true on the trip home in the truck with him.  He assured me that he would be fine in the kennel, but at the time he told me that, I was being the optimist and thinking I’d keep him in the house.  I quickly decided Doc was right, so I set him up with a really soft old bedspread, all fluffed up and comfy, and fresh food and water.  He slowly made his way out the doggy door and walked around his area for a while, then came back in exhausted and lay on his soft bed where he slept hard for a couple of hours. 

 

I had planned to take more pictures, but they wouldn’t be a pretty sight, so I decided against it.  A lot more of his skin is dying, allowing the stitches to give way, leaving his wounds to gape open and what’s underneath isn’t pretty at all.  I was so concerned last night that I called Doc and he assured me that he was expecting that and not to worry.  Well, I worry anyway. 

 

I see now why Doc said it would take a month to know for sure if his there is enough live tissue for the right leg to heal.  So please continue to pray for little Peanut and that his leg will heal.  It’s going to be a very long and slow recovery for this little boy.  And I just keep thinking…..

 

HE DIDN’T DESERVE THIS!!!!!!!!

 

He’s still on medication and still has tubes in both sides of his chest.  I’ll be taking him back to see Doc tomorrow afternoon and I hope he is still optimistic regarding his recovery.  I still believe, but I’m beginning to have my moments of doubt concerning his bad leg.  So keep those prayers coming, okay? 

 

The puppies also go in tomorrow for their shots and health check, so Doc will surely be sick of me by the end of the day.  They are playing hard and I just spent an hour with them out in the puppy yard, letting them chew on my ankles and tug on my pant legs.  They’re so incredibly adorable!   I’ll be grooming them sometime before Saturday afternoon for their trip to their new owners.  Seems like yesterday they were such tiny little newborns, doesn’t it?  We’ve actually ended up with two that are equally tiny in this litter, one female and one male.  They are the smallest puppies we’ve had so far out of around forty.  I’m anxious to see how big they get and hope the new owners will be good about emailing pictures as they grow.  I pick them up and cuddle them every chance I get, so I’m getting a lot of “puppy sugar”.  I’m particularly nervous since the “incident” and this morning, after putting the puppies back in the kennel and putting the barrier in place that allows Sally to go out, but not the puppies, I watched two puppies scale the barrier and head for the doggy door.  Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be a problem.  In fact by now, I would normally have removed the barrier all together to allow them access in and out of the kennel at will.  But the puppy yard has an outside fence.  There is still one hound running loose and has charged our fence a couple of times since Saturday, but runs before I have a chance to get a gun.  The other pit bull is tied up in full view of our yard, so I worry that he will get loose too and attack again.

 

I will miss these puppies, but I will quite frankly feel a lot of relief when I don’t have to worry about one of them getting hurt right here in what we thought was a safe environment.  Seems like everything changed Saturday night.  I can’t wait to get a six foot fence barrier put up to surround the entire area.  I’m not sure if I will breath easy til then. 

 

I’m glad that I’ve had a grant to work on so that I can still work while keeping an eye on things.  The most I’ve done all week is go the office for a couple of hours at a time, then rush home to see how things are.  The board president has been very supportive, so for all the griping I do about my job, it does have it’s perks.  I don’t like to take advantage of that fact tho, so I call her daily.  I should be done with this grant today, so tomorrow I may have to just separate the pups from Sally a day early so that I can block the doggy door completely.

 

Well, I’m rambling and have work to do, so I’ll shut up and get to it.  Catch everybody later!

 

pup

Most Definitely!!!

Hey, Everybody!  I went to see Peanut this morning and Doc was grinning even wider than yesterday, if that's possible.  He led me back to where he was yesterday and......no Peanut.  Doc said, "Now, look to your right", so I went around the corner and got the shock of my life!  There STOOD Peanut in an exercise pen on ALL FOUR LEGS!!!! And he WALKED up to the front of the pen ON ALL FOUR LEGS!!!!

As I was petting him thru the fence and he was licking away at my hand, I just kept repeating, "I can't believe this!  This is amazing!" over and over with my mouth literally hanging open!  Doc, in his quiet way said, "This is more than amazing", and grinning like a possom.   And I watched Peanut as he strolled shakily back to the back and sat down.  This dog has an IV, two tubes in his chest, endured four and a half hours of surgery after being literally mangled by vicious dogs and is walking around three days later.  You can't tell me that isn't a miracle!  He ate well this morning also.  I'm so excited that I can hardly contain myself!

And, of course, a dozen long stemmed red roses haven't served to dampen my spirit either!!! Thank you, Baby!  I love you!

Doc said Peanut is coming home tomorrow, can you believe it?  I told him he had no idea how many prayers were being said for this little dog and he said, "Well, that explains it, then."  Thank you all so very much!!!  I also found out from a co-worker this morning that her entire church congregation is praying for him too.  Wow, what an awesome outpouring of love and how thankful I am right now!  The tears are flowing again because I'm so touched that I'm almost dumbstruck. 

I took the camera with me and took some pictures for you guys and Doc insisted I send him copies of the "Miracle Dog", so I'll get that done now.  Thank you all so much!!!

Here he is standing on all fours:

And sitting:

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, EVERYBODY!

Since it appears that Peanut has been "adopted" by all our wonderful friends here on the Stream, I thought I'd tell a little about him since there are so many prayers coming his way.  Those prayers are so much appreciated and I believe are making the difference in his recovery, as I posted about earlier.

We bought Peanut last August when he was four months old from a breeder in a neighboring town.  We were looking for another male, preferably small for breeding with Prissy, as well as give Buster a much needed (he would disagree) break.  Junior is just too big for breeding.  So I talked to this lady that said she had stopped breeding Schnauzers but still had some of them.  She had kept this one puppy because of his color and stature for when she decided to start the business again.  But she agreed to sell him to me if I wanted him since she is very active in rodeo and horses also.  She wasn't sure if she had time to begin breeding again.

She also owns and operates a retail store, so I agreed to meet her there and take a look at him.  When I got there, I found nobody out front but in the back of a truck, I heard the most awful wailing going on and went straight over to see if he was back there.  There he was, scared out of his mind, so I managed get hold of him and picked him up.  He was stiff as a board with fear and I had a hard time holding on to him because he wanted to bolt and run.  He was shaggy and smelly, but had the softest coat I'd ever seen on a Schnauzer.  He was a dark smokey gray and silver and I knew I wanted him already.

I talked to her a while and Peanut was still just terrified.  I felt so sorry for him and wondered why he was so afraid until she told me nonchalantly that he had NEVER been out of the kennel.  That told me that he had never been handled or socialized for four months and I was amazed that she had so little compassion for her animals.  We handle our puppies as soon as we can, talk to them and cuddle them.  We spend as much time with them as we possibly can to help them be used to people and not afraid.   Besides, we simply want to!  Who can resist such sweet little puppies for pete's sake?

Needless to say, I bought him, not only because he was a beautiful boy, but because he needed a good home.  I brought him home, bathed him and groomed him and he was just beautiful, but still terrified.  He was fine with the other dogs, which is apparently all he had known, but definitely didn't like us touching him. 

So we have made special efforts to talk to him and give him treats and he has responded fairly well, but is still not comfortable with being held or handled.  He bonded with Junior immediately and only felt secure for a long time if Junior was with him.  He was slowly coming around and had come to the point that I could pet him a little without him running away.  We've had little success at holding him because to hold him means catching him first and literally grabbing him, which scares him even more.  So I've just been gradually touching more of him, hoping that he would slowly become more and more comfortable.  He's a happy little boy as long as nobody is trying to grab him or touch him too much. 

So now I wonder if this awful thing that's happened to him will serve to make him more afraid of people or more comfortable with them.   Since I first picked him up after he was injured, he has not fought to get away.  He let me stroke him and pet him and hold him all night Saturday night and he has since been handled by us and the Veterinarian and his staff.  He didn't shy away from me this morning and licked my hand as I pet him. 

I guess my prayer is that he will not only recover very well and his mangled leg will heal, but also that he will allow us to spoil him and hold him like we do with our other dogs.  It's always bothered me that I can't hold him.  Is that a selfish thing?  Anyway, here is a picture of little Peanut doing what he loves to do........stay close to Junior.