My cousin Wrigley

Wrigley is my new best friend. He comes to visit me occassionally from Texas A&M where his mama goes to school. We're cousins! Wrigley and I always play tug of war with a rope or chase eachother around the yard until one of us finally gives in to exhaustion. :)
There is a picture of Wrigley and me in my photo file. He has the more red fur. Wrigley is only 7 months old, but he is already as big as me!

I'm a Miracle Dog!

Hooray! Hooray! I'm free of my back brace and the vet says I am truly a "miracle" that only God could do! I have 100% use of all my limbs and I think I even have MORE jumping ability than I had before! It feels so good to be able to scratch my back and wiggle on the ground again. Thank you, God, for healing me completely....and sooner than expected!

It's A Miracle!

It's January 17th, 2008 and I AM WALKING again! All of a sudden my back legs are working and able to support my body weight. God certainly did another miracle.

I got a new back brace for my broken vertebrae from my doctor yesterday. He said he was impressed that I was doing so well in so short of a time. Now I just need to remain somewhat tranquil. But, I'm SO excited! I keep jumping and running and bouncing around. My dad keeps telling me to relax and strokes my head to try and calm me down, but I can't help it. I'm almost back to normal! Yippee!!

Lost, Cold and Alone

December 22, 2007 was not a good night. We were visiting family in Illinois and I decided freedom sounded better than a warm house and loving family. So I took off. I refused to come back to my family, even when they were calling my name and searching through fields and woods for me. Little did I know that my adventure would end up in a near death situation. That night while I was running through one of the open cornfields, the temperature dropped suddenly, snow began to fall and the wind was blowing at a 40 mile an hour pace. I was really cold. After all, I was from San Antonio, Texas. Anything below 4o degrees is really COLD! But I was soon to find out what -1 degree felt like! Yikes.....that is REALLY COLD! Suddenly I could no longer move my back legs. I lay down in a small ditch that stood near some trees in a cornfield. There was nothing more I could do. I could see houses in the distance with their Christmas lights twinkling, but I could not drag myself there.

My family was frantically searching for me. They didn't stop....day and night. They searched all the ditches along the highways assuming I had been hit by a car. They sent out my brother and sister dog to "hunt" for me in the woods while my family scurried behind. They also had to brave the elements even though the wind chill was terribly cold. My family checked with all the police departments, the animal shelters, the fire departments and all the vet hospitals. Still...there was no sign of me.

For four nights and four days I lay in my little ditch. Nothing to eat. Nothing to drink. And literally freezing to death.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were not what they normally are for me....laying by the fireside, getting gifts, giving big slobbery kisses to my family. I missed them all terribly. Why did I decide to run away that night?? I'd give anything to be with my family again. But I was losing consciousness and slowly giving up the fight.

Then at noon on Dec 26th, a strong wind blew a top of a sandbox near me. I'm not sure where it came from, but it looked like it came from the house that had all the twinkling Christmas lights at night. A man came to look for the sandbox top and saw me lying near it. He thought I was a coyote at first (because there are a lot of coyotes in this area) and he was frightened. Then I heard him say "that looks like the dog that I saw on a LOST poster in the neighborhood." Yup...he was right. My family had handed out many posters with my picture on it over the last 4 days. He called the number on the poster and pretty soon my uncle (who I was visiting) came out to the field. I wasn't quite awake and I accidentally tried to bite him, but that wasn't really me. It was just that I was hallucinating from all the trauma I'd been in. He could see that I could not move so the family that found me brought out a tob0ggan and gently laid me on it to pull me to my uncle's car. I was about 800 yards from the nearest house so my family would have NEVER found me had God not sent that wind to make the sandbox cover fly. And...the fact that the owner of the sanbox cover was even home! Wow! Thank you God for taking care of me.

I was rushed to an emergency vet hospital. The rest of my family including my human mom, dad and sisters all met me at the hospital. I was able to wag my tail a little, even though it hurt. And I had just enough energy to give my human mom a kiss. The doctors were very worried about whether I would live. I was a total mess!! Full of mud. I had a bunch of bloody sores on my belly from what they called "urine scald." I could not move when I needed to go to the bathroom in the field, so all the acid from my urine had burnt away my flesh on my belly.

The doctors began a series of check ups on my body, including a bunch of X-rays. They found out that my L7 vertabrae had been fractured and I no longer had motor control of my hind legs. I was dehydrated and bit frost bite. Otherwise, my fur had protected me, as well as God who kept the coyotes away!!

The doctors put an IV in my front leg and strapped my body to a flat board so I could not move. I started to warm up, and at the same time I felt life begin to enter back into my body. It felt good to back in the warmth again.

My mom and dad kept coming back to see me and pet my head and kiss my snout, but I was full of drugs. My only response was the constant banging of my tail on the board. I think I saw them cry a couple of times. I love my family!

Anyway, on the day before New Year's Eve, my doctors said it was okay to take me back to San Antonio; but my dad would have to make his van into a dog hospital...complete with catheter supplies, medicines, back brace, urine pads, etc. No matter how difficult it would be, he did it because he loves me! My other dog brother and sisters had to stay behind a barricade that my uncle made in my dad's van. They weren't allowed to get next to me during the trip. It was a long 21 hour trip back to San Antonio, but it sure felt good to be carried back into my real house! I never thought I would see it again!

Right now it's January 9th, 2008. My family has taken excellent care of me with the help of our Texas vet. I am able to "potty" outside on my own, even though I still can't move my back legs very well. I wear a back brace that starts at my neck and goes below my tail. I kind of hop like a bunny when I am put down in the backyard. Hopefully, someday I will regain the control of my hind legs and be able to run around again like I used to.

One thing is for sure....I will NEVER run away again!!