Thursday, April 21, 2011

You Lucky Dog!

So our story continues from the last episode.  JK made a habit of looking at Petfinder.com.  She still loves looking at the Daily Puppy, where cute little doggies are on display.  This was a little more than a year ago, when JK was waiting for her system to normalize after the myomectomy (surgery to remove fibroids).

The more she looked, the more I realized that she really wanted to do this (adopt a puppy) and I knew that I was right on board with her.

I'd only had a dog once before.  She was a homely mutt named Alpha.  Our family dog growing up.  When she died, I had one of the great cries of my life.  For a while, I never wanted another dog.

JK was in a state at the time.  She'd been poked, stabbed, cut open, all without knowing if there was a purpose to it all.  Her body was taking a while to settle back into its cycles.  A dog might help her get her mind off things, I supposed.

We first went to Huntley, IL, to a shelter where we'd seen a litter of adorable puppies.  Huntley is a LONG way from Chicago, but we figured it would be worth the trip if we found our little guy (gal).  We arrived only to learn that the whole litter had been adopted!  All gone!  Ah, well.

We did meet a very adorable litter of blue heelers, and nearly adopted the one that released a squeaky three second fart while we were admiring him.  A farting virtuoso, after all, is rare and to be treasured!

Our consolation: we passed Culvers on the way home and feasted on butter burgers and custard (YUM!).

The next day, we hit Wright Way Rescue in Niles, IL.  We had seen one litter on Petfinder.com, and were looking forward to seeing one doggie in particular.


Pretty cute, no?  This was a Great Pyrenees / Golden Retriever mix named Luke.  He was the only male of his litter (three she-pups) and the last remaining when we arrived.

He charmed us right away, and seemed to be a good candidate as a family dog, if we would be so fortunate.

So we decided to adopt Luke.

As you can see, we were pretty happy puppy parents!




But not all happiness is meant to last.  Nor is it held onto easily.

Luke was scratching and licking himself red and bloody whenever left alone.  This persisted through weeks of self-mutilation and two vets that failed to diagnose the issue.

So it happened that one month later, on JK's birthday, we prepared to return Luke to the shelter.  He appeared to us to be a psycho-dog, and too much for us to handle.

When we got to the shelter, the rather un-tactful Exec. Director guided us to Touhy Animal Hospital and we somewhat begrudgingly agreed to try them out.  Soon, we got to see Luke's issue under the microscope: the worst scabies infestation they had seen in three years at Touhy.  The vets that had missed the diagnosis allowed the scabies to thrive.

In one month, Luke was clean and healthy and in puppy training classes.

There is a parable here, if you were astute enough to pick up on it.  Luke is a redemption story.  From cute and adoptable, he descended to psychotic and prone to self-mutilation.  Then, when the right vet found him and helped us help him, he became the dog he was supposed to be all along.

In that he paralleled our story.  We went from hopeful to disappointed and needed to find our way back to hopeful (if not fulfilled!).

I have always believed that Luke gave as he got.  He was our good luck charm.  When we returned him to health and happiness, he did the same for us.

Less than one month after the scabies were gone, JK became pregnant.

23 comments:

  1. Luke is so sweet! I love this chapter of your story!

    Happy ICLW!
    http://daega99-arewethereyet.blogspot.com/

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  2. Very cute story! Thank you for sharing!

    Happy ICLW!
    http://theoneineightcouple.blogspot.com

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  3. What an adorable dog and a great story!

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  4. Congratulations on the arrival of your twins! Lovely dog and lovely story.

    Happy ICLW!

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  5. Hi from ICLW! What a wonderful story!! Luke is adorable.

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  6. What a touching story! I love the anaology here! I too have b/g twins!! They are now 19 months old. I would love to share your IF success story on my blog! Here's the link to the info: http://stressfreeinfertilityblog.com/2010/01/17/calling-all-success-stories/
    Thanks in advance and happy ICLW!

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  7. We got a puppy to ease our journey as well, and now have two of them. If this takes much longer, we may end up with a farm haha!

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  8. I am over here bawling my eyes out, what a beautiful story! Sweet Luke! I am so glad y'all saw him through the rough patch and came out the other side better off! Just wonderful and heartwarming and I love that the twins are smiling at Luke! So sweet!!

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  9. Thats a great story. As a rescue mom myself I can relate. I agree that dogs give what they get. Your Luke is a very handsome boy!

    ICWL #32
    http://mstomrs.blogspot.com/

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  10. That is a fantastic story! I'm a huge dog fan myself and the fact that this pup took you from hope to despair and back to hope again is a great way of parralelling your story. Such a great way to look at it!

    ICLW #105
    http://wistfulgirl.blogspot.com

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  11. Here from ICLW. Luke is adorable! What an amazing story.

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  12. What a wonderful wonderful story! And I love how Luke's story parallels your IF story....so awesome. And Luke is absolutely precious. :D

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  13. Your story really spoke to me! Before having our IVF baby, we became puppy walkers for the guide dog foundation. I fell in love with our first dog and poured all my "maternalness" into this little guy. He helped us thru a miscarriage. We ended up raising a succession of five guide dog puppies. Then we had our IVF kids. It's amazing how things work out. Congrats on your twins!

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  14. Since my husband is a vet, I love this story!!! He's a beautiful dog. :)

    Happy ICLW!

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  15. I totally respect that you want to let your story unfold! I am awarding you a Versatile Blogger award (come see my home page). It's inspiring to see infertility blogs from the male side! Kudos!

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  16. Awww, Our pup enriches our lives in so many ways. Mine just ran into the house with both a bone and a ball in his mouth. cutie pie :)

    and you know, It was watching my husband with our first dog, before we were married, that made me realize what a wonderful father he would be someday. We just got our bfp, and he is scared sh*tless, but I have no doubt that he is going to be the best dad ever!

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  17. Visiting from ICLW. Your dog is adorable and mutts are the best dogs. We have 2, one of which we rescued when she was a little puppy. She is also a little neurotic at times, but that's part of what makes her so endearing. I hope you had a great Easter!

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  18. ICLW - When we got our dog a couple years ago, my husband was so frustrated at what he perceived to be a very slow potty training, but I always thought it was good training for a kid. And boy, I was right! You just love them and never give up on them!

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  19. Awesome post!! We have MFI too and I am looking forward to my happy ending too... or beginning as the case may be.

    We don't have a rescue, but our min-pin is my baby and once when he got a virus and wasn't doing well, I thought I was going to die. I wanted to curl up next to him and take care of him day in and day out.

    Someday... a baby will get that love and attention.

    Happy ICLW~
    Babysteps #51

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  20. I'm so happy that your puppy story had a happy ending. He seems like a very nice pup indeed. I want so much to get a dog but we can't in our tiny apartment. We had to beg our landlord to let us get a cat and she brought us through some rough times. I'm glad you found your fur baby too!

    Happy ICLW! (#66 & #67)

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  21. Oof! I am so glad I stopped by via ICLW. What a great story and a perfect way to start the morning-- with hope. :)

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  22. Stopping by via ICLW. Love the story and congrats on the Pregnancy!!!!

    #122

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