Update
“We are celebrating BIG TIME in our house tonight. Prince Maxwell walked up the outside steps from the yard to the door ALL BY HIMSELF!! He used his halo to guide and “nudge” each step along the way. Each day, a little more independence, a little more freedom–We LOVE you, Muffin & Angels”
Backstory
We have medical/behavioral situations that make them less likely to be adopted.
Currently, I have 18 doears ago and Arizona Chihuahua Rescue was having an adoption event in Flagstaff, AZ. Up to that point, I had only ever had big (giant) dogs. Had never been interested in or even considered
gs in my home…of this crazy number, 11 of them are my own dogs (meaning they’ve been here more than 6 months and will spend their retirement with me.) And the King of them all is a bossy little prince named Maxwell…
I was shopping in PetCo 2 y
My name is Cassie S. and I’m a middle school teacher in Winslow, AZ. I also run foster and rescue out of my home, pulling dogs from Phoenix shelters, bringing them up north where they hopefully will have a better shot at finding a home. My focus is on dogs who are senior or who ha
“ankle biters.” But I walked in the door and happened to glance to my left while digging for some coupons in my purse. I saw this exercise pen full of yapping, bouncing, NOISY chihuahuas…everyone was happy and silly and rolling everywhere. I gave the nice lady, Helen, the obligatory, “How cute,” brush off and went to move on. Not only was I not interested in little dogs, but these dogs were already in a foster rescue program…my focus was on pulling/saving dogs from overcrowded shelters in the big city. Space in my home was reserved for THOSE dogs.
But before I turned my head away and got back to shopping, my eye caught this pathetic, trembling little ball huddled in the back of the pen. He was quite possibly the ugliest dog I’d ever seen. His tail was twisted and bent like a weird pipe-cleaner, he had one eye and a giant Snaggle tooth sticking out of his lower lip. I tentatively stepped up and asked, “Who’s that one?” Pointing at that little hot mess, Helen seemed a bit surprised, but she told me that was Snaggle. I asked a bit more and found out he was about 10 years old and he was stressed out. This would probably be his last adoption event, as they seemed to depress him. He wasn’t playing or interacting with the other dogs at all.
She told me that he had lost his right eye in a Phoenix shelter when he’d been left in a kennel with two bigger dogs that attacked him. The shelter vet had stitched him up, but it had been a perfunctory job at best, hence all the jagged lines and scar tissue. I asked if I could hold him, and she placed him in my arms…and as cliche as it sounds, my entire life changed. I lit up in a way I hadn’t felt since I was a child. He curled in my arms like a baby and stared up at my with his one eye and rubbed his face on my shoulder and it was all over.
I asked what I had to do to bring him home and was informed that I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork, write a big check and schedule a home visit. Well, I wasn’t leaving him, so I pulled up a chair and told Helen I’d wait until after the adoption even was concluded and she could just follow me home.
Snaggle, renamed Maxwell for the hammer-wielding serial killer from the Beatles’ song, took about three minutes to get his bearings and start ordering all the big dogs, cats and people in my home around. He doesn’t have much interest in the other animals, other than telling them what to do and knowing he’s superior to them. He isn’t really much interested in other people either. But from the moment he was placed in my arms, he has rarely, if ever, left my side. He goes to work with me, the grocery store with me, he shares my pillow. He refuses to be “trained” to do what mere humans wish, but he rules this house with a bossy bit of attitude you’d have to see to believe.
Over the last two years, Maxwell has been my constant companion. The other dogs defer to him and basically let him have the run of the home. We’ve definitely fought some medical battles with him…his heart, lungs and bloodwork are all tip-top, but the one eye has caused him to run into things, getting himself scratched and banged up quite often. He’s struggled with infections in the eye socket from the rush job that was done removing the left eye. He has a partially collapsing trachea and is on daily steroids to ease his coughing. But when we go into our vet, he’s a king surrounded by his harem. You should see all the staff and doctors and nurses coo and coddle him.
About a month ago, he started squinting and scratching at his remaining eye. There was also some nasty drainage from the right eye socket. Now, he’d had ulcers and lacerations on the one eye several times since coming to me, so I figured we needed to pick up some of his serum eye drops and some antibiotics from the doctor. They make these eye drops by spinning down his own blood, allowing for faster healing for eye trauma. Everyone at the clinic knew that preservingMaxwell‘s one good eye was absolute priority.
Turned out that this time, Maxwell had a huge laceration ulcer that covered the entire surface of the eye. At that time, his doctor was not optimistic about saving the eye, but the regimen she put us on required antibiotic drops and serum drops around the clock every hour as well as oral antibiotics and discontinuing his steroids for coughing. So we set up a schedule. For two weeks I would wake every hour, on the hour. During the time I was teaching school, he’d stay at his auntie’s house and she would administer. His coughing was painful and the eye was obviously paining him. When we went in for his re-check, sadly, the doctor determined that the eye had ruptured despite our best efforts and Maxwell had to be whisked into emergency surgery right then. They not only removed the remnants of the right eye, but also opened up the left socket and scraped out scar tissue and irrigated the area, in hopes of preventing further infection at THAT site.
Two days later, I picked up my little man and we’ve been struggling ever since. He’s wearing his cone of shame, but is so tentative trying to move around. He’s depressed and scared. Every time he moves, he runs into something or falls off of something. I’ve started sleeping on the floor on a mat next to him. Our huge backyard that was once his kingdom is now a place he’s terrified to enter. I wish I could put into words the disheartening change in my little man.
Obviously, he’s still got a long road of adjustment and healing in front of him. Within my circle, we’ve been discussing all sorts of options, and it was his Uncle Chris that found your site. It is amazing what you’ve done, what you’ve created for these special little ones. We will be saving up to purchase one of your Halos, as part of my commitment to giving EACH of my dogs the best golden retirement possible. But with the care and maintenance of the rest of the pack, and with Maxwell‘s treatment/surgery depleting the coffers, it will be a while before we can do it. When I saw your offer, it gave me hope that maybe I could help Maxwell a bit sooner.
As a direct result of Maxwell opening MY eyes about smaller dogs, we’ve saved and placed 40+ small breed dogs as well as 19 large dogs over the past two years. Currently, I have 5 bigs and 13 littles in my home. These little dogs would not have even had a chance with me without the special love and personality introduced to me by my Maxwell man. I promise that, should we be chosen as the recipient of the second hand halo, it would not only be put to good use, but it would go towards improving the quality of life for a very special, very deserving little dog.
Thank you for your time in reading our incredibly long story.
Best,
Cassie S & The Pack
