One Dollar Doggie Adoption

Goodbye, Marlee

2009-12-18T11:21:00.003-05:00

December 18, 2009

Marlee has been on a steady decline for a couple weeks, with the worst being the past 9 days since she stopped being willing to eat and would barely drink. In those nine days she transitioned from peaceful and sleeping a lot, to last night seeming scared and in pain. It was a rough night. My daughter and I sat up with her for most of the night. It was heartbreaking to see how hard she was struggling. We had hoped to support her through to a natural death, but once things got so bad for her I realized that this is not like hospice care for people where you have pain relief and anxiety relief to offer to someone. She seemed desperate for our company, and we gave that to her, but it wasn't enough. This morning we made the decision to take her to the vet to have her put to sleep. It seemed the most compassionate option for her. She deserved such a much better life than she got before she came to us, and she deserved peace and rest at the end. Now she is out of her pain and resting, snuggled up in one of my children's cozy red blankets. We buried her under one of our apple trees, right near the play fort. Marlee was always happy when the kids would come out to play, even though she was limited in how much playing she was able to do with them. She now has a beautiful, shady resting spot where we will think of her often.

Having Marlee in my life has been a challenge, but it was one that I was clear on when I accepted it. She needed us. We said yes. And we loved and cared for her as best we could, all the way to the end of her life.

Marlee gave us many opportunities to choose to give when we might rather have not. Her needs reminded us to stretch and continue to love and care, simply because it helped us do what we wanted to do for her, and be more of the people we want to be. Her patient acceptance of her limitations, and her joy at the parts of life she could experience were admirable. Her kitty cat friends will miss her, I know. They would always come right over to snuggle with her when she was outside.

Thanks to all of you that helped us out when finances were so tight that we did not know how we were going to be able to care for her properly. Thank you for getting involved. Thank you for investing in this sweet doggie. She was worth all of it.

We Need Your Help

2009-12-17T17:13:00.000-05:00

I started this site back in the fall of 2008 after adopting Marlee, a rescue dog that came stumbling down our road that August. Since then we have been so pleased to share our home and life with Marlee. She is a sweet soul who has had a hard life, and it has been an honor to see her enjoying a safe, comfortable life here. She still has a lot of struggles, but is living her life in her own way, with acceptance and love just as she is.

It was a real stretch for me to put up this blog, because I am normally very independent and do not expect others to financially support my family or the decisions I have made. When I took the risk to reach out to others, it was an amazing process, because I was blessed to meet some of the most wonderful people in the world who continue to have a positive impact on me and my family every day. I now see that by being willing to share our story and our need, we have opened up a pathway for love and blessing between people that would otherwise be strangers. What a cool thing!

Tonite (Oct. 2009) I have updated the costs and issues related to Marlee's needs. Thankfully, expensive monthly lab work stopped late last year, so the monthly costs are reduced.

I am a work-at-home mom of six children, ages 6-17. I run several internet-based businesses, plus homeschool my children. My amazing and hard-working husband is a professional firefighter, and also works on about half of his "days off" as an EMT.

Despite living modestly, working hard, being pretty good at thrift, and fairly resourceful, times are tough for us just like they are for everybody else. Adding a dog to the family was not in our plan or our budget. We do not have extra money to spend on dog food and vet bills. We're doing well just to keep all of the needs met here for the 8 humans in our family. But then one day Marlee walked down our road and we felt like we had to help her.

The extent of Marlee's health problems include:

hypothyroidism (requires monthly medication)
kidney and liver disease (requires monthly medication)
muscle wasting disease (probably because of how long she was malnourished)
pancreas disease
cataracts
and she is deaf.
She is also an older dog, or is at least prematurely aged because of the way she has suffered in her life. She has been neglected severely and has a lot of additional needs for her health.

When we found out how many problems she has, some people suggested that we have her put to sleep. I know that a lot of people would do that. To me, even though I am not a super duper die-hard animal rescue person, it seems wrong to me to end her life just because she is not in perfect health. The medications that she has been taking have clearly made her feel better. She is a much happier dog now, which is so nice to see.

It is clear that this dog has suffered a lot in her life. The humans in her life failed her. I think she deserves to live out the rest of her life safe, cared for, and loved. We have an opportunity to show compassion and love to this creature even though she does not have much to "give back" to us. She is not a fun, cute, playful puppy. She does not go fetch or thrill my kids with funny tricks. What she is, though, is an animal that deserves love and care, and an opportunity for us to live out unconditional love, and kindhearted service. This is a great lesson for our entire family, and I want to see it through.

Here's the problem: This is more expensive than we can handle all by ourselves.

In the first couple months we spent well over $500 on vet bills, her kennel crate, and dog food. I cringe just to type that. (this is the first time I added up how much this is costing us) No wonder we're having trouble paying our own regular bills!

In a month Marlee needs approximately $65 of medication, plus food (around $40 a month, I think). She also still needs some other things from the vet, such as dental care, medical tests, etc.

I have heard of people doing fund raisers for adopting children where they try to get people to donate just $1 each. So today I thought, "why not see if there are people that would be willing to donate a dollar to help us take care of Marlee?" Surely there are enough people that would share a dollar with us to help us keep on giving Marlee a life worth living. Right?

We are regular people, just like you. I don't plan to make money off of this. I won't be buying canopy beds or monogrammed cashmere doggie sweaters with this money. What I will be using the money for is for:

Marlee's medication ($65 per month)
dog food (approx. $40 per month)
ongoing vet bills for regular checkups, lab work, etc.
things Marlee may need (like right now she needs some no-slip doggie shoes, because her muscles are so weak that it is really hard for her to walk on our hard floors)

(**donation information has been removed now that Marlee has died)

Rough Day

2009-11-09T13:35:00.002-05:00

Poor Marlee has had a rough day. She was clearly in a lot of pain this morning and could not stand up even when we helped her get on her feet. (she crumbled like a rag doll if we let go)

She has definitely been on a decline in recent weeks. She has less and less ability to get up from the ground or floor, and she sleeps probably 85% of every day. We bought her some doggie boots to help give her better traction on the floor, and that helped some, but her muscles have seemed very weak.

So, by today we were really wondering if we were going to find out that putting her to sleep was the best remaining solution. Which was very hard to face.

My husband and two of our children took Marlee to the vet. He gave a lot of validity to the idea of it being very reasonable to put her to sleep, but also offered a couple medication options as possibilities that it might help her feel better. From his standpoint, her arthritis is getting worse so she just has a lot of pain. Also, she had a mouth infection (we had no idea!) and now she had an antibiotic for that, but the vet wants her to come in for extensive cleaning, radiographs, etc. which I was shocked to find out would cost quite possibly over $500. I almost fell over when they told me that.

So. She has her new meds. It is a nice day so she is enjoying the sunshine and breeze outside, where she prefers to be. We will likely face some challenges related to her new meds (increased incontinence being one of them, her needing to stay in the house more--which she resists--is another one).

Other than waiting to see what happens, I don't know how to make these decisions. If the meds help her pain, that's great, but she still has a lot of problems that make her life less of how she seems to like it. We could do the dental work if we had the money, but that will require her to be under anesthesia for awhile which I am concerned about just because of her overall health. I have some very sad kids right now, because they are concerned about Marlee dying. I don't think it is fair to have her continue on with pain in order to lessen ours, but I also don't want to make a hasty decision that is not right.

From the start we said that we felt Marlee deserved a life with love and care, for whatever amount of time she had left. I guess I was hoping that the decision might be made by Marlee and fate, rather than by us.

Thanks, Sue!

2009-10-22T19:21:00.002-04:00

Quite awhile ago a dear angel Sue sent us a bunch of goodies for Marlee, including a doggie treat mix. I meant to make it right away, hence the spot where I kept it, handy on the counter top. And that sweet bagged mix has been sitting there ever since. Oy! The other day I decided enough was enough--it was time to make the doggie treats. I got two of my kiddos involved, and now Marlee and her feline buddies have homemade treats. :) (Yes, the cats like 'em too!) Thanks Sue! They smelled great. If I were a cat or dog, I'm sure I would have enjoyed them very much. :)

I Guess We're Attracting Animals...

2009-10-22T18:13:00.006-04:00

Though I would not consider myself to be fully convinced about the whole Law of Attraction thing, this past year has certainly caused me to wonder what we are doing to cause animals to come to us. Unlike any time in my life, animals are coming to us as if there is some sort of dog-and-cat-Star-of-Bethlehem hanging over our house.

First our next door neighbors got two kittens, who promptly decided that they would rather live on our deck rather than at their own house.

Next, Marlee came stumbling down the road and into our hearts.

Then Toby (now upgraded to King Toby :) ) the cat showed up in the winter. I will admit that his excellent personality and talent for catching mice caused us to decide to entice him to stay with food and snuggles and a warm spot in the house on the coldest nights.

Next the two kitten grew up and became parents. Momma cat Oreo gave birth to her litter of kits under the deck (of course), and we were only able to find a home for one out of the three. $300 in vet bills later for respiratory illness, ear mites, etc. we now have four healthy cats living on our deck.

And today my oldest son found a starving little kitten in front of a well-known drug house. And he brought it home.

Here's my thing about animals. I kind of dread getting them, because I take their care seriously. And with six kids and a growing group of pets, I feel stretched thin, mostly financially, in my ability to properly care for them.

We cannot have cats in our home. We have a son with asthma, and two nearby family members that are very allergic to cats. Having full-time indoor cats just isn't going to work for us. We have an outbuilding that is fixed up for kitty comfort in the cold months, but I still feel sorry for them. :( When we took the sick kittens to the vet I found out about their ear mites, which looks like a horrible situation for any creature to endure.... I went in there thinking I would get some inexpensive antibiotics, and walked out with a bill for $300 that took us nearly 2 months to pay off (and causing us to be unable to pay other stuff).

I hate to see anybody--human or animal--suffering and in need of love. But I recognize that it just isn't realistic for me to take it all on myself. We are putting the word out on facebook to try to find a home for this little kitty. If not there, we will probably take him to the local humane society tomorrow.

What do you think? How do other people with compassion for animals draw the line?

Just a little video of Marlee

2009-10-18T20:28:00.000-04:00

Current Photos of Marlee

2009-03-24T18:52:00.002-04:00

I know that some of you have asked for new photos of Marlee. My camera software was giving me fits for awhile there, so we didn't have too many photos making it to the internet, but today I finally have some new ones to share. :)

Marlee is doing pretty well. We got through the winter without any problems, and she seems to be enjoying the spring weather now. Her friends the cats are still around, and they hang out together all the time.

Her health has been pretty good. Now that her thyroid medication is regulated we don't have the additional expense of monthly lab work, so that has been a relief. She still isn't able to get herself up off the hard floor, but we added an area rug by the back door where she goes in and out, and that helps a lot since often she will choose to lay there, and then she can get up on her own.

She is loving it that the kids are outside more. When they come out, her tail goes right up and she runs right along with them. She has a funny way of running, sort of a front legs-back legs thing, instead of one front and the opposite back going at the same time. I don't know if it is because of her joints/hips/muscles that she does this or what, but it is distinctively Marlee, and very cute. :)

We do have some 6-month testing that is coming up soon (around $150 or so) to see how her organs are going, etc., and she should have a dental cleaning soon too.

We're enjoying this sweet soul and are thankful to those of you that have so generously helped her out!

Meet Toby

2009-03-12T09:45:00.002-04:00

This is Toby, the stray cat that has adopted us. :) He has an unusually beautiful stripe pattern and a wonderful personality. Just wanted to share a photo of him with you all. :)

Everybody Needs Friends

2009-01-21T12:12:00.002-05:00

Our next door neighbors got two kittens last year, and since then they seem to live in our back yard more than at their own house. Since Marlee arrived they are here pretty much full time.

This is Slash:

And this is Oreo:

And this is the little photographer that took my camera for a stroll and got these pictures. He loves cats:

These pictures were taken back in late fall. Since that time a young male cat started coming around. Unlike Slash and Oreo, he doesn't seem to have a home nearby. On cold nights the other two would run home, but the new guy was hunkering down in Marlee's cozy hut on the deck.

Last week when it was threatening to get bitterly cold I decided that I had to have mercy on the sweet kitty, and went out and got a litter box and brought him in. We set him up in Marlee's crate that she hates to use. He was a perfect gentleman, and now is a part time resident in our home, and Marlee's new buddy.

Some people say that pets pick their owners. I have to wonder now if that is true.

Earlier this morning I heard some of my little boys singing a little song they made up about their new cat and how much they love him.

My children (all of us, really) have really grown so much from having Marlee in our family, and it is interesting to see how this is expanding.

What do you think? Do our pets pick us? I'd love to hear your stories.

"Angels Find Each Other"

2008-12-04T11:30:00.002-05:00

That was the first line in an email I received awhile back from a woman that wanted to help us with Marlee's needs. Since our first email exchange, this woman has been extremely generous with us in so many ways, and has definitely proven to be an angel to us. The other day we had the surprise of opening a package from her that included doggie jackets, Standard Process Veterinary supplements, some Eukanuba dog food that Marlee LOVED, and a kit to make our own doggie treats. (You'll get pictures of that when we make 'em!)

Here is a picture of Marlee in her new jacket:

While some dogs don't care for outwear, Marlee loves hers. Her tail was up right away, and she seemed to have a new spring in her step when she went outside. :)

Thank you, Sue, for your wonderful heart! I have no doubt that the love and generosity you share with others will come back to bless you in many ways. :)

2008-12-02T00:09:00.003-05:00

We've been blessed with several new donations over the past couple of days. Here is what one of these sweet people had to say:

Thank you for having the compassion to take in this sweet dog. May she become strong and healthy and return the unconditional love you and your family have shown her. It touched my heart and i wish you well! I have an animal family of my own and I am very fortunate that they are all healthy. I have had expensive vet bills in the past and i know how challenging and stressful that can be.

Happy Holidays to you and your family!

This experience has made me believe that animal lovers may be some of the kindest, most caring people on the planet. Thank you all so much!!

Great comment from a donor today

2008-11-21T19:03:00.002-05:00

Today we were blessed with a generous donation from someone today that shared this:

Happy Holidays! I'm a friend of S's, and when I heard about Marlee and read your lovely blog about finding and rescuing her, I knew I had to make a donation. I commend you on your determination to help a pet that hasn't been so fortunate in the past, and I am happy to be able to help in some small way. I have three kids, now teens, and when we finally got a house of our own, we got a rescue dog. She's a Jack Russell named Gracie, and we can't remember what life was like before she was part of our family. Sometimes the best things happen when you open your heart to the possibilities.

Blessings to you and your entire family, including Marlee.

I really love what she said about the best things happening when we open our heart to possibilities. When we decided to keep Marlee we could see she was going to need a lot of TLC, but we had no idea how much trouble she was in with her health or how expensive caring for her would get. Even after learning the deeper issues for her, we felt like Marlee is a valuable soul, and we wanted to commit to her for life. As the financial side of that decision got increasingly difficult, it was sort of an epiphany to me when I thought, "Hey...I could ask for help."

I tend to be a very do-it-yourself kind of person. Asking for and receiving help isn't my first instinct. I'd much rather be helping you than asking you to help me! 9 years ago I was on bed rest with a high-risk pregnancy and had to have friends and loved ones helping with meals, childcare, cleaning the bathrooms, and laundry. It was a really humbling experience, but a good one, because it forced me to learn how to let people know that I needed help, and to humbly receive it. As you probably know, if you've ever been able to help someone else, it is also a blessing to be able to do something for someone else. So many people who came to help at that time in my life said, "Hey---lots of people have helped me out along the way, and it's a joy to be able to pay it forward."

In this situation with Marlee, it's uncomfortable to not be able to just pay for all of this ourselves. However, it's good to be reminded that people (and animals!) need each other. It's good to go ahead and admit we have a need, and to see how excited some people are getting when they are able to help us. Regardless of the amount of type of donation, the point is that people are deciding to get involved, and being able to experience the joy of being a blessing. It's been really, really neat to be able to write back to those that have so generously helped us, and to share a cyber hug. Several people have told us about their own rescue pets and how much of a positive impact those pets have had on their family. I know that we are getting some valuable life lessons from sharing our life and home with Marlee. On days when she has accidentally peed in the house or wakes me up at 2am to go out *again* I can sometimes be tempted to feel a little grumpy about it. But then I think of the wonderful people that have come alongside us to love and care for Marlee, and it gives me a boost. I remember that I'm not in this alone.

Thank you!

My Kids Thank Our Generous Donors

2008-11-20T13:31:00.001-05:00

My Husband Talks About Marlee

2008-11-19T23:11:00.001-05:00

An Encouraging Blessing Today

2008-11-19T22:19:00.002-05:00

I was out and about with five of the kids for most of the day. First we did our usual work shift at the local emergency food pantry, and then we went on a trek to meet a family that I know from the internet! :) After a fun day and lots of driving, I got home to a generous donation for Marlee from a sweet woman named Susan. And to top it all off, she wants to knit Marlee a sweater! How cool is that?!

I have met some awesome people thanks to this site. What an encouragement! With this latest increase in Marlee's medication I have been wondering how the money was going to work out. Double or quadruple some meds, plus throw in winter needs for the doggie, and Christmas for six kids, and things start to look rather...interesting!

Thankfully, we created a straw bale dog shelter for Marlee for the times when she is outside. It only cost $15 in straw, plus materials we already had here at home. Marlee really, really hates to go into her crate or any other small places, so I didn't think she would be willing to use a dog house outside. The straw bale house idea was something I came up with, thinking the straw would probably be warmer insulation than a plastic dog igloo or whatever, we could make it bigger than a regular dog house (which might mean she'd be more comfortable going into it since she seems to really fear small spaces), and in the spring we can use the straw in our garden.

We don't leave Marlee out a lot, but since she has some bladder control issues, if we are going to have to be away from the house for a few hours, we usually leave her outside. She needs a place to get out of the rain and wind, and now she's got it. She still prefers not to go into it, but has shown that she is willing to if necessary. Fortunately, we're home almost all of the time, so it isn't much that she has to be out, but now I feel a lot better that she has her straw shelter available. Marlee has two buddies--cats from next door that love her and come hang out with her every day. The cats are very impressed with the straw (I even created a little niche in the back corner so they could stay cozy in there and still get to hang out with Marlee in the winter) and have already been enjoying the new pet hangout.

Our next project will be the ramp. My husband thinks he is just going to make a ramp for all of us to use, since there doesn't seem to be a good way to make a ramp that is just for the dog. She really struggles with going down the three deck stairs, and I'm sure once it gets even slightly slippery she won't be able to safely do it at all. So....my handyman husband will be hard at work figuring out a solution to this! If you have any suggestions, let us know. We're open to ideas. :)

Marlee Update Nov. 13

2008-11-13T08:12:00.004-05:00

This month I took Marlee for some more lab work to see if her thyroid medication is doing the trick. Poor girl--her thyroid levels are still way low, so for this month we are going to double the medication and see if that helps. However, the vet said that for as low as her levels are, he suspects that we will have to quadruple the original dosage. Which means,of course, quadrupling the cost of that particular medication.

Oh..and did I mention that we will have to do lab work again at the end of this month to figure this out?

Sigh....

This is an expensive undertaking so any help we can get is sure appreciated. However, we're happy to see Marlee all filled out and doing well.

Our next challenge is that we need to build some sort of handicap ramp for Marlee to get off our deck this winter. once the steps get slippery she will be totally unable to get herself into the yard. (it's only 3 steps, but she is really nervous about it and a lot of times we just lift her down to the ground)

We also need to get a dog house of some sort for her. She isn't able to control her bladder very well all the time, so we can't leave her alone in the house for longer periods of time when we have to be gone. So she is going to need a cozy shelter out there. Thankfully, KY winters aren't generally severe, but they are quite rainy. Marlee really hates to go into small spaces. She still resists going into her crate (though we continue to use it and encourage her to get more comfortable with it). I have my doubts that she would even use a dog house if he got her one. I am seriously wondering if it would work better for her if we made a straw bale dog house for her. I'm thinking it would be more cozy, we could change the size of it if we needed to, and in the spring we could use the straw in the garden. Sort of a thrifty, earth-friendly, clutter-free doggie habitat. What do you think?

Lastly, I want to thank Michele, who was kind enough to send me some coupons for free dog food and several dollars off dog food. I am happy to receive coupons for dog products, so if that is a way you want to help out, just let me know! :)

Thanks for your kind support.

Til next time
Erica

Yay!

2008-10-09T19:29:00.001-04:00

What a fabulous first day! Another $20 donation, plus someone contacted me by email to ask about sending some items. You people are wonderful! Thank you for the support.

Notes from our Donors

2008-10-09T09:49:00.000-04:00

I plan to personally thank every person that takes the time to donate to help Marlee. Here are some of the notes I got back:

You are very welcome, I wish I could give more but we are a little
tight ourselves.  We have a rescue dog ourselves, she is a part pit
bull who was abused but you couldn't tell now as she is one of the
friendliest dogs I have ever known and she seems to have forgotten all
about the abuse she had suffered in the past.

I am very glad there are people like you who care enough to try and
help out dogs like Marlee.   Good luck with everything!  Oh by the way
putting your vets number up there was a great idea, that is what
convinced me you probably were not trying to scam me, so hard to know
sometimes and that was a good way of proving it.

Another animal lover,
Bill

Our First Donation!

2008-10-09T08:02:00.001-04:00

Good news. We already have our first donation! I am so excited!

Marlee, October 8

2008-10-08T17:06:00.000-04:00

Today Marlee went back to the vet for a thyroid check and for more meds. The good news was that she is now up to 35 pounds, which is just a pound away from what the vet said he thought would be a healthy weight for her. It is so good to see her healthy.

In the month that she has been taking meds to clear up her bladder infection and to help her thyroid, kidneys, and liver she has gotten happier and more energetic. (although she is still a very low energy dog)

She was handling the blood draw pretty well, and then I had to leave the room for a minute to supervise my two little boys that I took along to the appointment. (they were checking out a 3-legged cat that lives there...very impressive how fast that cat can move!) When I came back into the room Marlee was shaking a lot. I thought she was upset about the blood draw and the tech told me that she only started to shake when we left the room! I guess that she is attached to us, or at least knows that we love her. Poor sweet girl!

The bad news was that this was yet another $81 expense, even with the little discount that our vet gives us. Today is the day that I have decided to reach out and ask for help.

Marlee, September 2

2008-10-08T17:01:00.000-04:00

When I took Marlee to the vet for her checkup (she had gained a few pounds, which was great!) our vet wanted us to get a panel of lab tests done to see what underlying health issues she may be dealing with. Within 24 hours we learned that she has:

hypothyroidism
kidney disease
liver disease
pancreas disease
muscle wasting disease or just significant muscle wasting because of being malnourished
and, finally, a bladder infection.

No wonder the poor girl is none too perky.

So, in addition to the many other expenses that have come with rescuing this dog, we now had another $70 to the vet for three medications, and we can look forward to more of the same as long as she lives. I am not sure how we are going to be able to do this. Expensive, sick, elderly, deaf dogs are way outside the realm of our usual budget.

Marlee, August 15

2008-10-08T17:00:00.000-04:00

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.

Marlee, August 11

2008-10-08T16:56:00.000-04:00

So the doggie that we rescued from the road lived through the night. However, we hadn't realized how chilly it would get. The poor thing is so skinny that she was shivering when my husband went out to see her this morning. She couldn't even stand up.

We got her wrapped up in some blankets and brought her into the house. Here's how she looked around 7am:

Such a sweet face!

Here's a full body shot of her this morning. The picture doesn't show it that well, but her hair is very coarse and full of burrs. When you pet her you realize that she has almost no body fat at all. She's very, very thin.
In this picture you can sort of see the back of her neck and the bad condition of her fur. She looked a lot worse in person.

We called our local vet and were able to get her in there bright and early today. Thankfully, what they learned is that although she is very underweight (only 24 pounds) and somewhat dehydrated, she doesn't seem to have any illnesses except for some worms. (yumm!)

The vet said that he would guesstimate her age to be 5-7 years, so we were way off there. We had thought that she was maybe 6 months old.

And, the big twist is that she seems to be deaf. Which explains some of her behavior when we first found her in the road. Oh, she has cataracts too. So she probably couldn't even see me at first either.

After we got her home my husband gave her a hair cut to get all the nasty crud off of her, and then it was bath time:

She was mighty dirty. Here's what the tub looked like afterwards (and, yes, it was actually a clean tub before she got in there):

The big question at the vet's office was: What is going to happen to this dog now? Did we want to keep her?

What can I say. My compassion for the hungry, sick, and needy of the world extends to animals as well.

So now apparently we have a dog. At least until we get her back to health and see what's what.

The kids are so excited. They are saying things like "This is a dream come true!" and "God sent us the perfect dog!" She doesn't show even the slightest bit of aggression. Very submissive. She seems to have almost no expectations from people, either good or bad. We wonder if she has been around people very much at all. She is very calm. Of course, she doesn't have the strength to be anything but calm. So, things could change as her health improves. The vet thinks that she should gain around 12 pounds to be at a normal weight.

I can see that it will be a challenge to figure out how to train a dog that can't hear. She doesn't react to any finger snapping, clapping, or vocalizations. How on earth do you correct and teach a dog like this? I will be googling "training deaf dogs" right after I'm done writing this.

We brainstormed about possible names for her. The kids were suggesting things like "cocoa puff" and "oatmeal chunk" and "jasmine." As I was watching the dog out the window and thinking about how cute she is, and about her being deaf, I thought of the talented deaf actress Marlee Matlin, and realized that Marlee would be a perfect name for her. Everybody agreed.

So, meet Marlee, my deaf, worm-ridden dog. My guess is that she's here to stay.

How We Found Marlee

2008-10-08T16:38:00.000-04:00

On August 10, 2008 we saw a pitiful dog staggering down the middle of the road. Cars were slowing down, honking, and going around her when she showed no response. We went out to try to call her to come off the road, not quite sure what we were getting into. Her behavior was so odd that we wondered if she had rabies, or had already been hit by a car, or what.

Despite our efforts she just kept walking down the middle of the road for about 10 minutes. Eventually we used some food from the dinner table to coax her to the side. Then we could see that she was emaciated--truly starving, and in quite bad condition. Her fur was filled with burrs, and she was very weak. She ate the food we gave her, but showed no signs of being aggressive toward us nor about protecting her food.

A neighbor was driving by while we were on the side of the road. He stopped to say that he thought he had witnessed a dog being dumped out of a truck farther down our road earlier in the evening.

We had planned to call the dog warden to come take this dog away, but once we saw her weakened condition, we felt that if we turned her over to someone else she would probably be euthanized right away, because she didn't seem to have much going for her. We decided to let her sleep in our fenced in back yard overnight, and take her to the vet in the morning.