Marlee-the-rescued-dog is living the high life here, with plenty of food and clean water, warmth, shelter, safety, TLC (all of which she apparently didn't enjoy in her previous life), PLUS perks such as hand-sewn beaded monogrammed capes to wear on cool mornings. For a deaf, geriatric, half-starved dog, it doesn't get much better than this!
Marlee is still very weak. The vet noticed that she has very poor muscle tone. Our hard floors are quite slippery for her, and often she is unable to stand up or walk on her own. Sometimes when she tries to get up and walk out of her kennel, as soon as she gets on the hard floor her legs splay out in four directions and she collapses. P-i-t-f-u-l, I'm telling you! The poor, poor thing. She is just so bad off in so many ways. She sometimes eats and drinks while laying in her splayed-out position, and we usually need to help her get up and walk out of the house when it's time to go out. She isn't strong enough to go down the deck stairs, so we have to carry her down those too. She can walk alright once she gets on the grass, and is learning to use just one corner of our yard for the bathroom.
She does so few "normal dog" behaviors that it is a news item around the house when she does. "Marlee ate a piece of food off the floor!" "Marlee licked her own paw!" She's really just the most unusual dog I've ever met. It sure makes us wonder what on earth she has been through in her life to be in such a condition.
Last night she was kind enough to bark to be let out a mere FOUR times after 12:30AM. Thankfully my husband was here to take care of that. (and the accident that happened when he didn't get to her fast enough) We are trying to get her digestion settled into a more predictable, non-nocturnal routine, but since she came to us starving, it's not completely straightforward yet.
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