The Origins of Sophie

Last summer I was volunteering in the vet clinic at the Winnipeg Humane Society.  http://www.winnipeghumanesociety.ca/  I was to required volunteer 80 hours as part of my application process for the Animal Health Technology program I will be starting this fall.  I had already decided I wanted to adopt a dog, but needed to find the right now for me.  I was very interesting in getting a boxer, as I had recently fallen in love with this breed.  In fact I nearly adopted one, but someone else got him first.  So near the very end of my required time in mid-August 2009 (I ended up doing about 108 hours) a sickly white boxer pup was surrendered.  I saw her the day after, as she was getting prepped to be spayed.  After her surgery she was still groggy, but licked my hand.  It was instant love!  I immediately put my name down to adopt her. 

Her original owners had bought her as a puppy from a Petland store for $1000, which leaves me to believe she came from a puppymill.  Will people never learn?  Do NOT buy puppies from pet stores!  Based on her age, I think she must have been born late October or early November 2008, making her the perfect age to adopt...right before Christmas.  Again...NEVER buy a pet as a gift!  After only 7 months her owners surrender her, because she was too needy, barked/whined when alone, and wasn't trained.  She wasn't even house trained!  Research the breed to know what you're getting into. and take the time to properly train your dog!!!  All mistakes that happen all too often resulting in poor animals being surrender to humane societies or city pounds.

Also, I should note that her original name was Muggs.  That's right, Muggs.  Upon first laying eyes on this beautiful girl, I knew she was not a Muggs and changed it to Sophie.  It took her 2 days to forget her old moniker.

At 8 months, she was only 30lbs, a good 10lb underweight.  I could see every vertebrae down her spin and every rib poked out like she was starved.  I jokingly called her Skeletor!  Other than her sickly appearance, she had the most beautiful gold-coloured eyes and legs that looked too long for her.  And those loose jowls are sooo cute!

A few days later, the day before I was supposed to officially pick her up, I got a call.  She couldn't be adopted out yet, because she was heart worm positive, but I could foster her until she had a clean bill of health.  Of course I said yes, and took her home the next day.

For those who may not know, heart worm is a serious and potentially deadly disease in dogs.  Heart worm is a parasitic roundworm that is spread from host to host through the bites of mosquitoes. The heart worm is a type of filaria, a small thread-like worm, that when reached adulthood (about 6-7 months) will migrate through the blood stream and reside in the pulmonary artery of the heart.  These parasites will continue to grow and breed, eventually killing the affected dog from a heart aneurysm.  It's a long and painful death. 

Prevention is so easy and treatment is long, painful and not always successful.  Sophie's treatment was 2 inter-muscular injections of an arsenic-based compound, 24 hours apart.  This slowly kills the heart worms.  Then for the next month I had to keep Sophie VERY quiet.  I wasn't even allowed to walk her, for if her heartbeat got to fast, the dead heart worms could go through her bloodstream and cause a clot.  This was a long month, but since she was already so sick, she didn't even want to do much.  Very uncharacteristic of a boxer pup!  Finally after just over a month, her primary test result came back negative and I officially adopted her on Oct 2, 2009

I can say that Sophie is now a very health and very energetic pup of 1.5 year old.  Within a few months of adoption, she gained 12lbs.  Although still on the slender/small side (based on her breed specifications), she is looking great!