Update: January 2016

Hero has been with me for almost 1 ½ years.  During that time, he has changed so much in such a positive way.  He continues to amaze me every day and I love how funny he is.  Hero is great friends with my Australian Shepherd, Sunny.  He loves to play with him and will use his paws to knock Sun’s head and body to get Sunny to run after him.  He playbows and then charges at Sunny, then runs away, then runs back.  Hero has gotten along with every dog that either lives here or has come through here…which is quite a few, all except one.  And that one is my Boxer, Bear.  For some reason, Hero does not like Bear…Hero told the pet communicator that Bear smells.  Ha!   Bear is really laid back and wants so badly to be friends with Hero but it’s just not happening.    The pet communicator said Hero has a fun personality and is very humorous, which is true.  Hero was recently diagnosed with retinal disease so what little vision he has will worsen in time, but that’s not a big deal to Hero.  He runs around the yard like a deer.  I love watching him run.  He still tries to herd us into a circle if there are a few of us out in the yard.  He’s an amazing dog and amazing to watch him perform his “job”.

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Update: November 9, 2014 –  there has been so much that has happened in the short three months since Hero has been with us.  We, and many other people  including vets , techs, volunteers and Hero’s fan club call him the MIRACLE DOG.

About two weeks after he first got here, he fell critically ill, twisted spleen, belly full of blood, blackened intestines and kidney failure.  He spent every night at the ER facility and every day at the vets.  I began to bring him home in between transporting him between vets and ER to give him a sense of home…even if it was just for an hour.  He was on fluids 24/7.  He had a feeding tube as he wouldn’t eat for a week.  He lost about 10 lbs.  He had made it through the spleen operation, and his intestines started to come back alive.  The issue remained with his kidneys.  He was in renal failure.  I’d spend hours with him on Saturday’s and Sunday’s at the ER when my vet was closed.  We’d sit outside together to get away from the hospital sounds / smells.  We’d pray, I’d whisper in those big ears of his and he’d lay across my lap on the blanket.

I tried many different foods, canned dog food, a/d,  organic chicken, beef, baby food.  He didn’t want any of it.  Then about a week after he stopped eating, someone suggested liver, so I cooked that up one morning while waiting to take him to my vets for the day.  I put the bowl down in front of him and walked away…and amazingly he ate what was in the bowl which was about a tablespoon of liver.  I was so excited, I mixed a little more of it with chicken and he ate that.  He had about three tablespoons of food.  I made more and took it to my vet when I dropped him off for the day of iv fluids.   I started making up baggies of organic chicken, beef and liver and bringing it with me to the ER for nights and my vets for the days.

His creatinine at the highest point was 11.9 and slowly, it started to come back down.  He eventually stopped the IV fluids and we started him on subq fluids daily, then dropped down to every other day, then twice a week and currently, we’re on once a week.  His creatinine is 1.8 and he goes back to the vet for another recheck onNovember 18.  We had a whole month in between vet visits this last time.  If his numbers drop again, he’ll be coming off the subq fluids.

With all the needles being stuck in him and the operation and probing, temperature taking, etc, he never once complained or growled.  He let the vets/techs do what they needed to do.

He now plays with the other dogs outside and loves to ch     ase Sunny, my Aussie.   He patrols the backyard when he goes out…making sure all is in order out there.

He does get scared when a loud noise happens and he’ll duck down and try to disappear.   He won’t take any food from my hand, including treats and he won’t eat unless I walk away from the bowl to the other side of the room.  I’m working on all that with him.

When he was in the ER every  night, I’d bring his big bed with me and he was allowed to have the bed in his kennel.   I don’t know if he ever slept on a bed prior to coming to my house, but he loved his bed.   But just last week, he discovered he could sleep on the loveseat in the living room and he gave up his precious bed for the loveseat without a moment’s hesitation.  He snuggles down between the pillows and looks so comfortable.  He’ll share the loveseat too with the other dogs.

Hero is just the best dog.  He runs around the backyard playing, his little nub of a tail wags like crazy when I talk to him, and he loves to greet me when I get up in the morning.  Hero has earned his name….he is my Hero and a great one at that.