Paul Coover
01-24-2010, 02:57 PM
I have posted this before and I am posting it again on Riley's Birthday.
We adopted a dachshund named Riley back in February of 2003. This is his story:
We bought our first dachshund from a pet store in August 2000. Kebo was only a puppy and we all learned about life together. He was a very funny fellow, a typical wiener. He really hated being left alone, even for just 15 minutes. He would become destructive in the house. He chewed up carpet, furniture, and wires, anything that he could get to. So, we had an idea. We began searching for a companion, someone that Kebo could play with even when we were around. We believed that this would be our solution.
I started to look for a friend for our boy. We found an ad online from the Central Indiana Dachshund Rescue Agency. They had a little guy named Riley. He seemed like a good boy, but Riley had some problems. He was not in perfect health, as he had a back problem. This did not scare us away. He also had a bad case of “dachshund personality” as well. Since we already had a dachshund, we were experienced with the rowdy and stubborn personality of the dachshund. But he was a little more than we could handle, at least at first.
http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/6449/rileyspeaking1go1.jpg
Riley’s original owners were a young couple from Indiana. They loved their little weinerdog very much. However, when she became pregnant with their first child, Riley’s attitude changed. He started to become very jealous and they feared that he might attack their child. Hoping that he would eventually get used to the new expanded family, they kept Riley. But as her pregnancy progressed, so did Riley’s jealous and angry temperament. They had no choice but to give him up so he could be adopted to another home. I can only imagine what Riley’s thought was, being taken away from the only home he had ever known and the people that he loved.
While he was in foster care, he went down with a back injury. He had a slipped disk in his back causing rear leg paralysis. A few potential adopters came to check him out, but they passed on the opportunity to take little Riley home with them. A downed dog requires much more care than a dog on 4 legs, as there is much more trouble lurking in a house for them to get into. Many downed dogs cannot “go outside” without much help; sometimes they even have to have their bladder expressed manually. Riley never needed to be expressed, but he lacked control over when or where he would go. When he had to go, he just went.
He was adopted once to an elderly couple, but they could not handle the "dachshund personality". They did not have dachshund experience, and they were warned about his aggression issues, in particular his issues with the bed. Riley was fine in bed with people as long as you didn’t get out of bed. Once you would try to get back into bed he would protest. One night the man who adopted Riley got out of bed to use the restroom, and Riley did not care for it very much. The man was trapped in the bathroom all night! Shortly after this episode, Riley was back in foster care looking for a home again. The ad DID say that it was looking for a couple with dachshund experience, preferably someone with a dachshund already. As it turns out, the ad was looking for us.
In February 2003 I contacted Tina Nunez of the Central Indiana Dachshund Rescue Agency. She warned us about his problems, but I was not concerned. We all agreed that Riley would love to be with us. Tina said that she would start looking for a transport from Indiana to southern New Jersey, which is where we lived at the time. I told her not to bother, that we would come out to pick him up ourselves. She was delighted, and she added that anyone willing to drive that far for a dog was very committed to his care and well-being. So, a few weeks later, we packed the car up for our long trip to pick up Riley. We decided to bring Kebo along, as we wanted them to meet right away and away from home.
We drove the almost 700 miles to Indianapolis and arrived at the house early one morning. There were several dachshunds in the house, some up for adoption; some were their personal pets. It was certainly a funny sight! Then, next to the couch on the floor, we spotted Riley in a crate. He was a funny little guy, and he looked good other than his back legs not working.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/5939/michelleandrileyfa1.jpg
When we first saw Riley, he barked at us. My wife reached for him and he bit her hand! Tina apologized for his transgression and reached down and put him in my lap. He was very nervous, shaking enough to see it with the naked eye. I gently stroked his fur from his head down to his tail. He was alarmed at first, but he did not bite. I continued to pet his soft fur and I rubbed his ears too. After 10 minutes, he seemed to think that we were OK and he was cuddling up to us.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/5372/meandrileyoh8.jpg
We knew that he was unable to walk, but we were not prepared for the scope of his immobility. His back had a slipped disk, so he lost the use of his back legs. He also lost control of his bodily functions. We were a little terrified, but we wanted to make this work. We loved Riley from the start, no matter what. We believed that we were meant to find him and take care of him.
At first Kebo was very upset that we had another dog. The trip home was very difficult. We brought along my wife’s grandmother, as Kebo was very fond of her. He spent the trip home with her in the back seat, occasionally barking his displeasure of our new car-mate. For several days, we had to keep them separated because we were worried about Kebo hurting Riley’s already ailing back. It was a difficult transition for a couple of weeks. We had a few close calls where they would wrestle with each other, but their rough play was never enough to alarm us.
http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/2913/picture0632zx.jpg
After much attention and careful planning, Kebo and Riley became good friends. Riley could not get around on his own and Kebo would try to play with him. Riley would start running around chasing Kebo dragging his back legs on the carpet. After a while, his legs were very sore and raw. We could see that Riley wanted to play with his new brother, but he was frustrated that his legs would not let him play the way he wanted to. We decided to take him to the Vet and get some advice.
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/5113/rileyincart211na9.jpg
The Vet said that Riley would never be able to walk again. It was then that he told us about something called a K9 Cart. We were fascinated with this contraption. It was a doggie wheelchair. It would let Riley get around with the use of only 2 legs, which was exactly what we wanted. We ordered one immediately. It took a few days to get there, but when it arrived, Riley could finally run around and play with Kebo. At first it was very difficult for Riley to use. We moved all the furniture around the house and let him run for several hours every day in his cart. At this time the spring was coming and we wanted to be able to let Riley run outside in his new legs. But what was about to happen is quite simply a miracle.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2882/rileynearcouchta7.jpg
One day Riley was laying on the floor (not in his cart) chewing on a toy. Suddenly he just stood up on his own! We were so excited we could hardly believe what we saw! I thought we were just seeing things. Over the next 2 days he kept standing up and then flopping back down. But then he got up and took a step. Then 2. Then 3. A week later he was walking! We took him to the Vet right away and had him checked out. “Why is he walking? You said he would never walk again! What happened? Will he be OK now?” The vet didn't know why he was walking. But we didn't really care why. We were just really happy that he was walking.
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1795/picture0607ri.jpg
The vet said that he might lose the ability to walk again, so we decided to hold onto the wheelchair cart to be safe. But he just kept getting faster and stronger on his newly functional legs, so we just sat back and watched him go! Everything came back to him, including his bladder and bowel control. He was a happy, healthy, normal dachshund, and we could not be happier. But one day we were reminded just how fragile the dachshund can be when it comes to back problems. Just a few weeks after his remarkable recovery, Riley was down again. It was like he forgot how to walk. We were devastated. What a terrible thing! He was given back his legs, only to have them taken away again! What a terrible way to tease him. Even though the vet had warned us that this might happen, we were not prepared for a relapse.
http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/3900/img8295dw4.jpg
We were very sad. Even though the Vet warned us, we couldn't accept it. We wondered what went wrong. Did we miss something? Was it our fault? The feeling of sorrow and guilt was too much to bear. We had a vacation planned for a week after he went down, and we were going to cancel it. But we decided to go, if just to relieve the stress and anxiety that we had been feeling from this whole situation. We left the dogs with my mother to care for and we went away on vacation. We had a good time, almost forgetting the plight of our little boy back home. When we headed home, we were recharged and refreshed, ready to face the prospect of caring for a handicapped dachshund once again. We were not prepared for what was about to happen, once again.
http://img173.imageshack.us/img173/4526/img51991111ku6.jpg
We adopted a dachshund named Riley back in February of 2003. This is his story:
We bought our first dachshund from a pet store in August 2000. Kebo was only a puppy and we all learned about life together. He was a very funny fellow, a typical wiener. He really hated being left alone, even for just 15 minutes. He would become destructive in the house. He chewed up carpet, furniture, and wires, anything that he could get to. So, we had an idea. We began searching for a companion, someone that Kebo could play with even when we were around. We believed that this would be our solution.
I started to look for a friend for our boy. We found an ad online from the Central Indiana Dachshund Rescue Agency. They had a little guy named Riley. He seemed like a good boy, but Riley had some problems. He was not in perfect health, as he had a back problem. This did not scare us away. He also had a bad case of “dachshund personality” as well. Since we already had a dachshund, we were experienced with the rowdy and stubborn personality of the dachshund. But he was a little more than we could handle, at least at first.
http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/6449/rileyspeaking1go1.jpg
Riley’s original owners were a young couple from Indiana. They loved their little weinerdog very much. However, when she became pregnant with their first child, Riley’s attitude changed. He started to become very jealous and they feared that he might attack their child. Hoping that he would eventually get used to the new expanded family, they kept Riley. But as her pregnancy progressed, so did Riley’s jealous and angry temperament. They had no choice but to give him up so he could be adopted to another home. I can only imagine what Riley’s thought was, being taken away from the only home he had ever known and the people that he loved.
While he was in foster care, he went down with a back injury. He had a slipped disk in his back causing rear leg paralysis. A few potential adopters came to check him out, but they passed on the opportunity to take little Riley home with them. A downed dog requires much more care than a dog on 4 legs, as there is much more trouble lurking in a house for them to get into. Many downed dogs cannot “go outside” without much help; sometimes they even have to have their bladder expressed manually. Riley never needed to be expressed, but he lacked control over when or where he would go. When he had to go, he just went.
He was adopted once to an elderly couple, but they could not handle the "dachshund personality". They did not have dachshund experience, and they were warned about his aggression issues, in particular his issues with the bed. Riley was fine in bed with people as long as you didn’t get out of bed. Once you would try to get back into bed he would protest. One night the man who adopted Riley got out of bed to use the restroom, and Riley did not care for it very much. The man was trapped in the bathroom all night! Shortly after this episode, Riley was back in foster care looking for a home again. The ad DID say that it was looking for a couple with dachshund experience, preferably someone with a dachshund already. As it turns out, the ad was looking for us.
In February 2003 I contacted Tina Nunez of the Central Indiana Dachshund Rescue Agency. She warned us about his problems, but I was not concerned. We all agreed that Riley would love to be with us. Tina said that she would start looking for a transport from Indiana to southern New Jersey, which is where we lived at the time. I told her not to bother, that we would come out to pick him up ourselves. She was delighted, and she added that anyone willing to drive that far for a dog was very committed to his care and well-being. So, a few weeks later, we packed the car up for our long trip to pick up Riley. We decided to bring Kebo along, as we wanted them to meet right away and away from home.
We drove the almost 700 miles to Indianapolis and arrived at the house early one morning. There were several dachshunds in the house, some up for adoption; some were their personal pets. It was certainly a funny sight! Then, next to the couch on the floor, we spotted Riley in a crate. He was a funny little guy, and he looked good other than his back legs not working.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/5939/michelleandrileyfa1.jpg
When we first saw Riley, he barked at us. My wife reached for him and he bit her hand! Tina apologized for his transgression and reached down and put him in my lap. He was very nervous, shaking enough to see it with the naked eye. I gently stroked his fur from his head down to his tail. He was alarmed at first, but he did not bite. I continued to pet his soft fur and I rubbed his ears too. After 10 minutes, he seemed to think that we were OK and he was cuddling up to us.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/5372/meandrileyoh8.jpg
We knew that he was unable to walk, but we were not prepared for the scope of his immobility. His back had a slipped disk, so he lost the use of his back legs. He also lost control of his bodily functions. We were a little terrified, but we wanted to make this work. We loved Riley from the start, no matter what. We believed that we were meant to find him and take care of him.
At first Kebo was very upset that we had another dog. The trip home was very difficult. We brought along my wife’s grandmother, as Kebo was very fond of her. He spent the trip home with her in the back seat, occasionally barking his displeasure of our new car-mate. For several days, we had to keep them separated because we were worried about Kebo hurting Riley’s already ailing back. It was a difficult transition for a couple of weeks. We had a few close calls where they would wrestle with each other, but their rough play was never enough to alarm us.
http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/2913/picture0632zx.jpg
After much attention and careful planning, Kebo and Riley became good friends. Riley could not get around on his own and Kebo would try to play with him. Riley would start running around chasing Kebo dragging his back legs on the carpet. After a while, his legs were very sore and raw. We could see that Riley wanted to play with his new brother, but he was frustrated that his legs would not let him play the way he wanted to. We decided to take him to the Vet and get some advice.
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/5113/rileyincart211na9.jpg
The Vet said that Riley would never be able to walk again. It was then that he told us about something called a K9 Cart. We were fascinated with this contraption. It was a doggie wheelchair. It would let Riley get around with the use of only 2 legs, which was exactly what we wanted. We ordered one immediately. It took a few days to get there, but when it arrived, Riley could finally run around and play with Kebo. At first it was very difficult for Riley to use. We moved all the furniture around the house and let him run for several hours every day in his cart. At this time the spring was coming and we wanted to be able to let Riley run outside in his new legs. But what was about to happen is quite simply a miracle.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2882/rileynearcouchta7.jpg
One day Riley was laying on the floor (not in his cart) chewing on a toy. Suddenly he just stood up on his own! We were so excited we could hardly believe what we saw! I thought we were just seeing things. Over the next 2 days he kept standing up and then flopping back down. But then he got up and took a step. Then 2. Then 3. A week later he was walking! We took him to the Vet right away and had him checked out. “Why is he walking? You said he would never walk again! What happened? Will he be OK now?” The vet didn't know why he was walking. But we didn't really care why. We were just really happy that he was walking.
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1795/picture0607ri.jpg
The vet said that he might lose the ability to walk again, so we decided to hold onto the wheelchair cart to be safe. But he just kept getting faster and stronger on his newly functional legs, so we just sat back and watched him go! Everything came back to him, including his bladder and bowel control. He was a happy, healthy, normal dachshund, and we could not be happier. But one day we were reminded just how fragile the dachshund can be when it comes to back problems. Just a few weeks after his remarkable recovery, Riley was down again. It was like he forgot how to walk. We were devastated. What a terrible thing! He was given back his legs, only to have them taken away again! What a terrible way to tease him. Even though the vet had warned us that this might happen, we were not prepared for a relapse.
http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/3900/img8295dw4.jpg
We were very sad. Even though the Vet warned us, we couldn't accept it. We wondered what went wrong. Did we miss something? Was it our fault? The feeling of sorrow and guilt was too much to bear. We had a vacation planned for a week after he went down, and we were going to cancel it. But we decided to go, if just to relieve the stress and anxiety that we had been feeling from this whole situation. We left the dogs with my mother to care for and we went away on vacation. We had a good time, almost forgetting the plight of our little boy back home. When we headed home, we were recharged and refreshed, ready to face the prospect of caring for a handicapped dachshund once again. We were not prepared for what was about to happen, once again.
http://img173.imageshack.us/img173/4526/img51991111ku6.jpg