January « 2011 « Dog Sweet Dog Blog

Ted and his girl, Emaleigh.

Ted came to Celtic Corgi Rescue in June 2010.  I received a call from a citizen that a little corgi had been roaming in her neighborhood. She fed him and tried to integrate him into her household with her little Shih Tzu, but it wasn’t working out for her.  The little corgi was a marker, and her own dog was adopting the bad behavior.  Try as she might, she could not housetrain the little dog, and she tried to make him an “outdoor dog” relegating him to the backyard.  Being a very social fellow, he found holes in her fence easily and would make his way back to her front porch every time.  She didn’t feel she could manage the behavior and called me.  She told me he traveled from household to household in the neighborhood, and accepted whatever food or affection the community would give him.  I named him Travelin’ Ted and went to pick him up on a Sunday.  Then I went to the local shelter, where I picked up another dog male corgi, a black headed tri-color that I named Choctaw Chuck.   Chuck was a beautiful, healthy dog, but Ted was emaciated with awful skin. His coat had a pink cast to it.

We were in the middle of storm season in Oklahoma, and had had heavy rains all that week.  Choctaw Chuck was skittish and shy and obviously had little human contact before now. I suspected both boys were ex-breeder dogs.  Ted, however, was very social, loving all dogs (especially the girls) and people.

On Monday morning, I let Chuck and Ted out into my yard to potty and then went back into the house to take care of my own toilet needs.  There was a light rain falling.  In less than five minutes, I returned to the empty yard. Both dogs were gone. They had found a compromise in my fence that no other dogs before them had found.  As I surveyed the 9 acres behind our fenced dog yard, I caught a glimpse of Chuck’s flashy black and white body heading into the woods.  Ted was nowhere to be found.  I called work and told them I’d be late, then pulled on a pair of capris and a tshirt and ran out to find the dogs. 

I headed out in the direction of where I last saw Chuck.  Hours later, I was bloody from the briars and soaking wet, but found neither dog.  I came back home, quickly prepared some flyers and got in my car to make the rounds.  It was then that I noticed Ted sitting patiently three driveways down.  I was thrilled that he immediately came to me and got in the car.  I took him home, dried him off and settled him back into his crate.  Still no Chuck.  I passed out flyers in a 10 mile radius of my house, returned home to change and relunctantly went to work.

Later that evening, I received a call from a little girl who had found Chuck on her porch. He had crossed a major highway and traveled 3miles from my house.  Maybe HE should’ve been named Travelin’ Ted, instead.  I  picked up Chuck, gave the little girl a monetary reward and got him home.

Both dogs were vetted. Beautiful Chuck was became social very quickly and was adopted to a wonderful home in Oklahoma City. 

But, Ted was diagnosed with a serious bladder infection and treated with antibiotics.  The infection was unresponsive to the treatment and an xray revealed a number of bladder of stones so large that surgery was required to remove them. Finally, an answer to the marking problem.  The stones were removed during Ted’s neuter surgery and dental cleaning, to keep him from having to go under anesthesia multiple times. Afterward, Ted suffered some complications from the surgery. He spent 10 days at the clinic where the veterinary staff worked diligently to save Ted’s very life and an important body part.

For months after the surgery, Ted continued on antibiotics for infection. He was put on a special food to prevent recurrence of bladder stones.  He struggled to keep weight on, let alone gain any.  His ribs showed through his sad coat and his hip bones were prominent.  Standard weight for a male corgi is 27 pounds, and Ted weighed a very slight 15 pounds.  Ted was a nervous boy and barked and marked nonstop.  These behaviors kept Ted crated a great deal of the time. He irritated some of the other dogs in the rescue. 

The months passed, Ted’s face and profile were posted to our Petfinder page. There were no applications.  People are more likely to adopt an aggressive dog than they are one who is not housetrained.  My own pride was taking a hit as well.  I’ve never failed at housetraining a dog, and have always felt that housetraining was possible with every dog.  Ted proved me wrong on this.  He could not make it through the night without soiling his crate. Every morning, his crate had to be cleaned and Ted bathed.  Every vet visit resulted in more antibiotics for an infection that would not go away.  Ted’s veterinary bills were climbing into the thousands, and I am so grateful for CorgiAid. Without CorgiAid’s help, this rescuer would never have been able to afford to get Ted healthy.

I took Ted to the kennel I own to stay until he was adopted.  I hoped that he would learn better socialization skills and at leave my own house would be saved from all the marking.  There were a few more adoption applications for Ted, but whenever his issues were revealed to the potential adopter another dog was chosen.   Ted began to bond a longterm guest at the kennel, a little mixed breed named Gazelle.  When he shared Gazelle’s kennel, he was able to keep it clean all night.  Gazelle’s owner adopted him, but he came back a few days later. The issues were too much.

I could not bring myself to put Ted back in the kennel and was trying to come to terms that he might be with me forever.  So, I took him back home with me where we continued to work on housetraining.  He wore what I call a “weiner wrap” when in the house and in his crate at night.  After many months, he began to rip the weiner wrap off and we slowly noticed the marking was going away.   It was like he was saying “Hey, I don’t need this weiner wrap anymore!”   His new best friend was a little terrier mix I own named Stormy.  They played hard together and were bonded almost too closely. 

Ted soon just became part of the household. Sometimes I would sleep on the couch with Ted, while hubby slept in the bedroom with the rest of the dogs.  Ted slept through the night on the couch with me, without an accident.  He loved the attention, he loved the closeness.  He slept soundly on the couch with me. 

Ted got Christmas gifts like the rest of the crew, a new collar, new ID tag, new toy and a chewie.  He sat on Santa’s lap for a picture.  My family and friends assumed  he was just going to be a ‘failed foster” and stay with me forever.   I love Ted and he will always have a place in my home if he needs it, but I KNEW deep down in my heart that his home was not ours.  There was a home for him out there; a home where he would be able to blossom and become the dog he was meant to be.

A dog communicator contacted me and said she had ”talked with” Ted.  He told her he wanted a home with children, and a job, and didn’t want to run anymore.  I sort of put that information in the back file of my head, because… well…

Applications came and went, and were either withdrawn or rejected. I didn’t want Ted to be the dog someone settled for, or to be relegated to a backyard. I wanted someone to want TED.  One application wanted him as protection. He’s a 20 pound dog, how much protection is he going to be?  One wanted a barker…. well, Ted can bark but…  Another wanted him as an outside only dog.  No. 

Then, as the New Year dawned we got an application from a family in East Oklahoma.  The application looked good.  I checked the vet reference. Wonderful.  “Which dog are you interested in?” I asked.  The response was “Ted.”  It wasn’t “any dog” or “this dog or that dog or Ted.” It was “Ted.”

I held my breath.  Although their home was 2 hours away, I knew I had to do the home visit myself.  I had to be 100% sure that Ted would fit in this family, and that they understood what being Ted’s family involved. 

Ted and I talked last night.  He sat in my lap and I told him about the family who had applied to adopt him.   I told him there was a 4 year old girl, a stay at home mom and a dedicated dad.  I told him I loved him dearly and that this application would be the last.  ”If this is family is not your family, Ted,” I told him, “Then I will take your listing down and you will be my dog, forever.”  I told him it was time.  He needed his forever home.  He deserved his forever home.  But both of us were tired of waiting for it. It was now or never.  He sighed heavily and lay his head on my shoulder.  It seemed he was hopeful too. 

Little Emaleigh met our car as we pulled into her driveway.  When I got out of the car she asked “Do you have my dog?”  Then when she saw Ted she said “That’s my Ted. You have my Ted.”  She sensed Ted’s shyness and was gentle with him.  She didn’t tug at him or push on him.  She knelt and offered her hand.   He followed her around the house.  Emaleigh’s parents were wonderful, and addressed all my concerns before I had a chance to voice them.  They had bought the food he had been eating, a new collar and ID tags were purchased.  We went to the backyard where the neighbor dogs barked and lunged at the back fence aggressively, and Ted placed himself between the dogs and Emaleigh and gently moved her away.  Ted adopted that little girl immediately. He had his child. He had his job.  He had his family.

Given his prior issues I had discounted Ted’s adoption fee, but Ted’s new family insisted on making an additional donation to the rescue.  Ted’s value was now MORE than his peers, instead of less. 

With the signing of the contract, and promises of updates and pictures, I left my little Ted in the hands of his new family.  I spent the two hour drive back home crying and laughing at the same time. 

It wasn’t until I looked at the picture of Ted and Emaleigh together that I realized what a lovely dog Ted had become. His coat looks great and while he’ll always be a small corgi, he’s no longer the bag of bones he was. He’s really a good looking little dog.

The house is quiet.  Ted’s crate is empty, but oddly I’ m not worried about him tonight.  His family, his new family, has everything under control.  I can’t wait to hear about how wonderful he is for them. 

I think Travelin’ Ted has just become Ted now, his travelin’ days are over.  God speed, Ted.  Do me proud. Do yourself proud.