Sally's Story

Evidently our dag Sally has a fan club.It was recently brought to my attention that I have neglected to mention our dog or post any pictures. I've had requests for the dog!

I intend to rectify the situation right now. We feel so very blessed to have her in our lives, and we have all grown to love her very much. We thought we would share her story.

According to her charts at the shelter, Sally was born on February 4, 2008. We adopted her from the shelter in April. She was only about 9 weeks old at the time.

The kids were so excited to finally have a dog. This picture is from her very first day with us. Aaron, especially, had begged for a dog, and, as you can see, he was overjoyed to get his puppy. The boys named her the only girl name they could think of, Sally. She is named after the blue porsche in the Cars movie.
Kellie and Caleb loved her too!
Not quite a week after we got her, Sally became very sick and weak. She couldn't stop vomitting. The Vet recommended we admit her, so he could take care of her. We found out that she had intestinal parasites and that she had Parvo. She probably had it before she left the shelter. The parasites were treated with antibiotics, but the Parvo attacks the immune system, wiping out ALL of her white blood cells (the antibodies that fight diseases) and then it attacks their intestinal walls, so they can't absorb nutrients. Most dogs that contract this disease die from it, because they can't eat, or digest their food, and their immunity is too weak to fight it off, so they die from complications due to dehydration. It is extremely lethal to young dogs, and there is no cure for it. The treatment is to let the disease run it's course (about a week or two), and in the meantime keep the dogs on IV fluids and antibiotics, and to syringe feed a teaspoon of food every hour. (She vomitted most of it up, but every bit of nutrition helps them get better, so that's what they do.) This is a picture of her at the Vet's. She was so weak she could barely walk, but she loved and needed to be held and pet, just like a newborn baby. She spent about five days in the hospital, and had a few more weeks of recovery at home.

We are very blessed that we had a wonderful vet, who was able to help our dog. Sally made a full recovery, and is now a normal, healthy, active (and sometimes annoying) puppy.

Here's some recent photos:

This is a picture of how she sleeps EVERY night. We kind of get a kick out of it, because she lays on her back, with her head extended back. She loves her crate and always has, and has slept through the night since we first brought her home.

She loves her soccer ball. She is part black labrador retriever, part border collie, and is really good at retrieving the ball. (on her terms, if she's not in the mood to play ball, you're out of luck.)

Sally.We love you!