Puppy Available To A Loving Home – Free!

[beaner]

Puppy Available to a Loving Home – FREE!

Specifics:

· Name: Dia (Spanish for “day”)

· Female

· Approximately 5 months old

· 4.5 kilograms, not likely to grow much bigger

· Mixed-breed with dominant Terrier features

· Brown eyes

· Brown and black hair, short in length

· House-broken

FREE upcoming scheduled medical treatments:

· First Rabies shot given (2^nd due on 09/30/08)

· Spaying (sterilization) scheduled for 09/30/08)

Read below for her full story…

I adopted Dia from a shelter as she was sick for some time and just not getting any better. I was convinced that with a little personal attention, love and medical care that her health would improve more rapidly if I took her out of the shelter… it did!

She’s just a lovely little thing with loads of personality that has come out since recovering from her illnesses. She’s still pretty skittish and shy but that will subside once she has gained trust in her new family. Although she’s not much to look at now I know that she’ll grow into a lovely looking dog. (see my profile pic for an image of her)

When she arrived at the shelter (not even one month old) she was covered with Ringworm (a parasitic fungus that grows on the skin and affects hair growth) and she was completely bald! The veterinarians at the shelter took good care of her, treated the Ringworm and now her hair is growing back. Unfortunately she also developed a bad case of Kennel Cough while at the shelter. The vets treated her for this as well, but after visiting her for about six weeks I didn’t see the condition abating. In addition, I discovered that she was infested with Ticks so I proceeded to pick each and every single one off of her… total number of ticks = 193! I’m surprised that the ticks hadn’t sucked all of the blood out of her. After picking all the ticks off I put her back in her dog run for the night. Sadly she was in a run all on her own as Kennel Cough is highly contagious - the five or six other puppies were all in another run together. Very sad.

That night I went home but I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She just looked so broken and beaten down when I left her. I asked the people who own my guest house if I could bring her back with me and they said “yes” so the very next day I rushed to the shelter to get her. She was so very excited to see me – and I her!

The following day I took her to an excellent veterinarian to have her checked out and get a second opinion. (God bless the vets at the shelter, but they are just so overwhelmed with the number of dogs they have to care for and so many of them are in more desperate and urgent situations than this little one.) The doctor gave her a thorough examination and pronounced that the Ringworm was all clear but that yes, she did in fact have a bad case of Kennel Cough. Further blood results the next day showed that she was also suffering from a blood parasite (likely contracted from the ticks) and the vet asked us to bring her back in right away when those results showed up. She was immediately put on medicine to combat the parasites, in addition to several vitamins (she was anemic) and the cough suppressants that the shelter had prescribed for her. The poor thing was popping 10 pills per day!

After almost two weeks she has now just about recovered. As I said, her personality is really coming out – she’s quite funny when she wants to be, and her health is improving daily. I’m feeding her puppy food mixed with adult food and adding in some chicken, rice, fried egg and other high-protein high-calorie foods suitable for her. I expect that within a month or so she’ll be every bit the beautiful companion dog that I can see her becoming.

She doesn’t walk too well on a lead but I’m working on it! I’ve got a harness for her and we practice once a day so she should be a professional walker soon! She’s just about house-broken – in two weeks she’s only had two pee accidents. Accidents can be avoided by ensuring that she gets outside every once-in-a while, plus I now put some newspaper down at the door when I’m out so that if she does have to go, she’ll pee on that. She’s quite fine being left on her own, although occasionally she will cry out for a minute or so after you leave. This quickly subsides however and she is very comfortable to be left with a bowl of water and a comfy cushion to lie on. She knows the commands “come” (although she doesn’t *always* obey it) and “on your bed” (same same) and she’ll quickly hop to it when they’re given with lots of encouragement. She doesn’t beg at the table, although I’m sure she’d love us to feed her off our plates. But I don’t allow that. Lastly, she’s very comfortable riding at your feet on a motorbike. All you have to do is say “Dia, come” and point to the spot where she sits and on she’ll jump.

She is quite skittish, as I mentioned, but who wouldn’t be after what she’s gone through over her short life. She very timid around men and I suspect that she’s has a run-in with one or two. This should subside with time and a lot of patience on the part of the men she comes in contact with. She is quite fine with my boyfriend the majority of time (I encourage him to pick her up, feed her, take her on his motorbike to get her used to him and men in general) but she does revert back to being skittish every once-in-a-while.

So why am I putting her out for adoption? Although I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep her (I’m returning to Canada in 3 weeks as all of my Thai “tourist stamps” have been used up) I wanted to give her a fighting chance. I do have contingency plans in place for her care should I not find a suitable family to adopt her by the time I’m due to leave Thailand. And rest assured that I’m going to very picky when choosing who she goes with. If it comes down to it I will take her back to Canada with me but it would be best if she could find a loving and secure family in Phuket.

Thanks for reading her story.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions. I can be reached by PM, email or mobile phone at 080.146.2673.

Jenni

[elfe]

thank you very much for taking so good care of 'dia'!!! i wish more people had a heart like you. even you were just visiting here and your departure was soon. there is always a way!!!!

i wish good luck for finding a nice new owner for dia, if not, i hope you really stick to your words and take her to canada... you will never regret it!

[steelepulse]

Did this get posted in the phuket forum also?  

[beaner]

A quick update for everyone...

Dia has been adopted and is going to be a "California Girl"!

I'm so excited for her as the fellow she is going to is gonna give her sooo much love.

He volunteers at Soi Dog every summer for a couple of weeks (walking dogs and bathing them) and he fell in love with Dia (as did I). He returned to Calfiornia without her, however, as he wasn't sure that his partner would want a small dog like Dia.

I guess they discussed it and decided to adopt her, but he was apparently heartbroken when he heard that she was adopted out to me.

The director of Soi Dogs called and asked if I was still willing to give her up for adoption, and since I knew this guy from Cali was as crazy about her as I am, of course I said yes!

She's getting much better - had her to the vet yesterday and she's put on half a kilo since I adopted her. Her cough is still hanging around a little, although it's much much better, but she seems to have allergies, perhaps to the shampoo I was bathing her with, so we've got a new antibacterial shampoo that she gets "treated" to twice a week, along with antihistamines for now.

If you're looking for a dog, PLEASE check out the Soi Dog Foundation - they adopt out dogs from Phuket to all over the world and are very well versed in the export and import laws of most countries.

Jenni