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UsedToRide Original500© Member  ^^^That is LOVE!!^^^
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In 1995 I was working as a vet tech at Hartrick Animal Hospital in Royal Oak, MI. A new client came in with a puppy who was losing it's fur. We did a skin scraping and found demodex mange. We explained the treatment to her and she said she was going out of town for a few days and would like to board the dog while she was getting her treatment. So, "Midnight" as she was called then, was to be given her dips and we started treatment that day. Now, being a tech, you kind of have to harden your heart about sad cases, otherwise, you'll be taking every dog you come across home with you. I had pretty much gotten past the point where I wanted to do this with every "problem" dog we had. Putting dogs down no longer bothered me, and I didn't feel like I needed to rescue every abandoned dog that came our way. But...there is always the exception. Something about this dog spoke to me. I visited her at every break I had, took her out, put her through a few paces, and saw something in her. But, she wasn't my dog. The day for her owner to pick her up came....and went. So did the next day. So we made a call only to find the phone number we'd been given was disconnected. We decided to give it a few more days, and still, no call from the owner. Meanwhile, I was growing more and more attached to this dog. She was so smart!! She would accept me rolling her onto her back with no struggle, she learned to sit on command in about 10 minutes, and pretty soon, I had her heeling, no leash, as we strolled through the clinic. I went to my boss and said, "What steps do I need to take to make this dog mine?" So we went through all the red tape of a series of certified letters, none of which were ever responded to. Once we determined that the dog hd been abandoned, I took her home, and re-named her "Bogey." She was house-trained in one weekend, and never had an accident, except one time when she picked up an intestinal parasite, and had a "whoops" on the kitchen rug. This dog went everywhere with me. I took her to work every day, we were together constantly. She took to every bit of training I asked of her like she could understand the words I was speaking. For every command she learned, there was a hand signal to go along with it. I could get her to perform any command without saying a word to her. One snap of my finger and she was at my side. She had a collar with tags, of course, but this dog never knew a leash. One day, while contemplating my genius dog, I wondered....just how much could she learn? I decided to try and see if I could get her to "bark" silently. Snap her jaws so she looked like she was barking but made no sound. She had it down cold in 20 minutes. I could tell her "speak" and make the "yakking" gesture with my hand and she would bark, then I would put my finger to my lips as if I was "shushing" her and she would snap her jaws like a bark, but made no sound. When she was about 2, I had a gathering. This was during my heavy drinking and dope days, so when I had a party, anyone and everyone showed up. Bogey LOVED parties. She loved to show off her talents, and loved being the center of attention. At one point during the party, the front door opened and this guy I didn't know tried to come through the door. Now, Bogey met everyone new with great enthusiasm, and she never was aggressive, unless someone was threatening me. But when this guy came in, she went after him like a shot. Snarling, barking, every hair on her back up. One word from me and she stopped in her tracks. I went to the guy, who Bogey was keeping a very close eye on and rumbling deep in her chest at him, but she didn't move. I told him he'd have to leave. He was very insulted at this, and said, "I've got buddies here, this is supposed to be a party house!" I said, "It is a party, but my dog does not trust you, therefore I don't trust you, you've got to go." He started to open his mouth again, and I held up my hand (which almost set the dog loose) and told him, "Half a second is how long it will take this dog to lock onto your throat. One movement of my hand will be all she needs. The rest is up to you." He fell off my porch on the way out. Come to find out he did have friends there, but they admitted that the guy was trouble. Somehow, Bogey knew that, and let me know it, too. There are a lot more things that she did that amazed me, but I'll get to the sad part now. I was living with a psycho man who beat the tar out of me 3 or 4 times a week. When I finally got the spine to toss him, I lost some income. I had to leave my job and find better paying work. I made it for a while, but with several animals in my house it was getting to the point where they weren't getting the care they needed. Aside from that, I was working crazy hours in the dead of summer. 14 hour days weren't uncommon and in my tiny-ass place it was becoming unbearable for Bogey. She wasn't the same. She was overheated, she didn't get to spend much time with me and I bit the bullet after many weeks and decided that I was being selfish. This extraordinary dog was meant for something better. I took her to Leader Dogs and asked them if they would accept her. They put her through an initial test which she passed with flying colors. I was given the information to check on her progress which was flawless....up until the last 2 weeks. There was one toy that she wouldn't always be distracted from and of course, Leader Dogs have to be flawless. When I called that next week to check on her I was devastated to learn she had flunked out. Then the trainer gave me the news: "In all of Bogey's training, we have discovered her nose. This dog was BORN to be a sniffer. We have transferred her to U.S.Customs and you can check on her progress there using the same method you used here." A couple months later, she earned her badge. She was a Federal Agent who wore a bullet proof vest and to injure or assault her was a felony. She was responsible for seizing explosives and cocaine being smuggled into the country. She's retired now and still living with the Customs agent who got her right out of Leader Dogs. I miss her every day.
 Respect some, trust one, fear none ~~Bullet http://www.freeholbrook.com The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons. ~~Dostoyevsky |
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UsedToRide Original500© Member ^^^That is LOVE!!^^^
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Finally found a picture of her. She's about 4 months old in this one. Last edited on 05:29 pm by UsedToRide Respect some, trust one, fear none ~~Bullet http://www.freeholbrook.com The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons. ~~Dostoyevsky |
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Luvdawgs Pioneer100© Member 
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UsedToRide wrote: Finally found a picture of her. She's about 4 months old in this one. Your picture is showing as a red "X" to me.
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UsedToRide Original500© Member ^^^That is LOVE!!^^^
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Luvdawgs wrote: Your picture is showing as a red "X" to me. Aw hell. Thanks for letting me know that. I'll go load up the picture in the gallery and stick a link here. 'Preciate the info! Here we go: http://www.24hourforums.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1487&cat=506 Last edited on 06:57 pm by UsedToRide Respect some, trust one, fear none ~~Bullet http://www.freeholbrook.com The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons. ~~Dostoyevsky |
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Luvdawgs Pioneer100© Member
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What a great dog! She's very pretty, too!! 
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911JB Guardian1000© Member 
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Great story UTR . A lot of my furry and harry family members have ben " Rescue " animals . The loyality that comes out of those animals is undescriable . JB
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Twitchin Kitten Pioneer100© Member  Don't Dream It ~ Be It
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Just a quick note to let everyone know this story has been published on the dog stories section of my site Wanda's Pet World! I found it to be a lovely story and worthy of publishing on the site. I have a dog and cat story section on wpw and I accept stories from members and lurkers alike. Stories need to be of something special, like a dog's heroism, outstanding achievements, some sort of interesting tale, fiction (short story like an essay type), some historical thing, etc. Same for cats. Do NOT send me things that are spammy for the sole purpose of promoting yourself, another site etc. I will not consider them. The work has to be your own, not a copied work of anyone else's and properly formatted as per the instructions on the stories pages on the site. If you have a story you would like to see published, feel free to send it using the contact form on the site.
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Kimber767 Original500© Member  Ask me about Self Advocacy
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Great story and awesome dog.
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ferms1 Guardian1000© Member  Imperfect Human Laughing
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I have a female bull t mix with a under bite with all kinds of colors via her fur. She looks a bit like a Gremblin or Toto on the Wizard of Oz. I just love the little girl, my second dog after losing a 16 year poodle to cancer. For a little dog she has grown some tits and I thought she might be having babies. Compared to other pups there not real big of course but it still makes me wonder. Anyone have suggestion if she might be with babies. I felt around carefully but did not feel any mass. Thanks!
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Twitchin Kitten Pioneer100© Member Don't Dream It ~ Be It
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ferms1 wrote: I have a female bull t mix with a under bite with all kinds of colors via her fur. She looks a bit like a Gremblin or Toto on the Wizard of Oz. I just love the little girl, my second dog after losing a 16 year poodle to cancer. For a little dog she has grown some tits and I thought she might be having babies. Compared to other pups there not real big of course but it still makes me wonder. Anyone have suggestion if she might be with babies. I felt around carefully but did not feel any mass. Thanks! How old is the dog? Has she been through her first heat yet? Do you let her roam outside unattended and unconfined? Sometimes female dogs who have not been spayed can produce a false pregnancy. This can happen if she's been around a male and has indeed mated. If false pregnancy, you've gotten LUCKY. The teats will go away in time. Sometimes they can produce milk. If you really want to be sure, take her to the vet. The vet is the only one who can answer you. If only one or two breasts are 'swollen' versus enlarged due to milk production or hormones, then you have a possible cancerous or other mammary type of problem and not a false or real pregnancy. Again, I would take her to the vet if she were my dog.
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