Tyndall Doggy Drama

Again, it's been quite a while since I've written a blog. This year has been consumed with homeschooling, every kind of ball practice you can imagine, therapy for Ben, post-surgery checkups for Will, and dog drama. Yes, after having our golden retreiver, Kobe, for about a year, we decided to "re-home" him. This was after about a month of dilligent dog training that he didn't seem to get at all. He was a great dog, just not the right fit for us. He was 85 pounds and thought he was a 4 lb. yorkie...he didn't know how big (or how strong) he was....not a good combo with toddlers running around. SO, we found a good home for him and went searching for the "perfect" fit for us. (Keep in mind, we thought Kobe was the "perfect" fit....oh well...back to square one). I had been looking into Bassett Hounds for a while. I had heard that Bassetts are great with kids and are just lazy and great family dogs. So, there was an ad on Craigslist (what did we ever do without "Craigslist") for pure-bred Bassett puppies in Lincolnton. Well, we loaded up the fam (with Isaac driving, bless his heart, he doesn't like dogs, but he loves me :)) and headed to Lincolnton. This family was very nice and she had all these Bassett babies in a rubbermaid box (? I thought that was odd too) and she put them out in her front yard and they were the cutest little things I had ever seen. I had in my mind what markings I wanted her (yes "her", I am completely outnumbered) to have and I found one exactly like the one I wanted...she was a "tri-color" one (black, brown and white). We paid the nice people and took her home...we named her "Dixie" because she just looks like a good ol' Southern dog that you would see passed out on a front porch of a farmhouse :) Brought her home...the first week...everything was fine...and then came the following Monday. I took her in to get her shots and deworming on a Monday morning...everything was fine. That night she started vomiting and had horrible loose bloody stools. I thought that it could be a reaction to the shots or dewormer, but the worst case scenario kept running through my head....parvo. So, early the next AM, I took her to the vet. She was lethargic...definitely not herself. They ran all sorts of tests...including a parvo test. Sure enough, the parvo test came back positive. The vet gave me a list of options....either take her home and treat her ourselves with meds, (not very successful, but cheaper) or let her stay there in the "hospital" and receive IV's for a few days....keep in mind, 80 percent of puppies diagnosed with parvo die within 3 days of the diagnosis; a sobering statistic that stuck in my head. SO, we decided on her staying at the vet. After 2 days, she showed improvement and we brought her home. Keep in mind for about a week after that, my mission was to keep Dixie alive, with round the clock meds, syringes of Pedialyte, etc. Now, she is a healthy little pup that we are trying to housetrain...which is a whole different story:) But thank God she is still with us. Throughout these "doggy woes" Isaac said a few times...."other people can go out and get 1 dog and have it work out"...true, but we have never been "other people" :) Now, whenever we go through a trial (however big or small) I ask God what he's trying to teach me through it....so next time you are going through one of life's issues, just ask God, "Ok Lord, what are you trying to teach me?"....I think through this we endeared ourselves to this dog and we have become commited to making this work...even though this was an expensive price for endearment....oh well, such is our crazy life :)