Black, Dog n.7 - Full story

When we first met him (1 week before
we actually got him)

Today, I will introduce you to a Black !
Black is a:

• (my best guess is about) 2-3 year old
• 28 kg heavy
• Black Labrador

I picked him up on September 11, 2012 and got a ride back by one of the employees at the humane society cause Black is not supposed to walk stairs. Now to Black's history... There's not too much I can tell you really as I've heard all different stories from different people. 

One was that there was a lot of media and social pressure on this black lab that had a broken leg and needed help, then the humane society took him. 

The other story is that he was part of a circus and broke his leg jumping out a window or a moving vehicle... 

No idea which one (if either) is true, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that he broke his leg, so they put in a plate. Plates are supposed to help mend the bone, but he was so jumpy he broke that plate too (something that has apparently never happened at the humane society). So now they needed something new to do and they contacted specialists. Black now has rods that go into his bone and that are stabilized on the outside. Kinda hard to imagine, huh... Well it's not all that pretty either.

How did we get him:

Well on labour day weekend I got an email about a dog that needed a foster home cause without a foster home they couldn't do the stabilization and they would have to amputate the leg. Of course we didn't hesitate to take him. We were supposed to get him at the end of September however miscommunications happened and the surgery was done 2 weeks earlier. We got an email again asking if there was any way we could take him earlier, well what were we going to do ?
Say no ?!
I picked him up, got a ride back and for the first 2 days he was just in the bedroom. Just on Sept. 13th I re-arranged the living room a bit so that he is in here with us (in a confined space) so that we can take the cone off him. The only way Sam and I get out is by climbing over our couch. Lovely - that's my exercise for the day !!

Yup, there it is ! That's what it looks like.

The daily life:

Black isn't supposed to walk, jump, play... So our daily life consists of 4-6 trips outside just so he can do his business. No walking around the block and no playing with other dogs. 

In the morning when we get up we have to calm him down so that he doesn't jump around too much and at night we have to clean his wounds and apply a gel to his stomach, this is impossible to do alone, yay for teamwork ! 

He gets a lot of medication but all that goes into his food. A few times he didn't eat the pills, but he is very easily medicated. Pop pill in mouth, hold mouth closed til he swallows, not as horrible Polly was. He also absolutely loves his food so we barely have any problems.

The living room transferred into a dog/work room.

The dog:

Black is the most excitable dog. When he sees people he gets so crazy and just wants to play... That's why we put him in the living room with us, if he sees us all day long, he just lies down and sleeps but when he's in another room he jumps up every time he hears or sees us. 

He is quite food aggressive though so we just let him eat alone (reach into his bowl and I think you might end up missing a few fingers). But we will try to work on that.

It's just been 3 days and he's already really protective. He likes some strangers and not others and will bark and growl at the ones he doesn't like. 

We got him a few treats and among them was a big bone. Now every time we take the leash he runs for his bone, brings it and is basically like "hey, hey, can I bring this ?!", funnily enough he's not aggressive about his treats !

Now for our tick of giving dogs 2 middle names. My first choice is Stinky cause oh boy, be glad you're not here ! The occasional fart this one lets rip is a whole world in itself... The other one is Jump cause even tho though this creature has a freaking broken leg and must be in pain, he jumps around... It's crazy and hurts me just to watch him. So yes Black Stinky Jump. 

Update 1:
It is October 18th, and I have a few updates for you !

• The rods and stabilization plate have come off and now he "just" has a cast on ! Doesn't sound like much, but it's absolutely awesome. He's had a few trips to the vet and specialist (thank you Jason for being Black's personal driver, without you we would not be able to keep him) and they say everything looks really good. Phew !
• Walks are still non-existant, but just wait til the rehabilitation time starts - we'll be doing very slow, 1-3 hour walks in no time !
• With us, Black is no longer food aggressive ! Sam and I took the time to use different methods to deal with his food aggressiveness. A very good trick is to give the dog some food, and as he is eating, add in more food with your hand. Also hand-feeding a dog a few times deals with food aggressiveness quite nicely and fast. That basically did the trick. Within less than a week he didn't care any more if we touched his bowl or even took it away for a second. AWESOME ! However I have no clue what it is like with strangers - that would definitely be interesting to know.
• He is SO protective over us. Barks whenever he hears someone in the hallway - after all, the whole hallway belongs to us, RIGHT ? Well, no... Not really. But thank god we have not had any complaints.

I am very much enjoying my time with this crazy shedder. Yea, he sheds like crazy. Clean on Sunday morning and by noon there's hair EVERYWHERE again ! Even in our freaking tupperware - HOW DOES IT GET THERE ?! He should be called Harry...

Update 2: 
I received a call on November 13th, 2012 that they ended up having to take off his leg after all. After he ate the cast and so on, it turned out the cast wasn't working as it was supposed to. They took off his cast and decided it was best to take the leg off too. Poor little guy, but I have also been told that he is happy as ever. Sam and I will try to go see him on the weekend, I'll see that I take some pictures. He is now also going out for adoption !!! Yay for Black. Best of luck buddy !!

The end: 
Well, our time with Black ended quite abruptly. After he got his cast, he started doing everything he could to chew it off... Of course, that's not good. On the 21st of October he got picked up so that they can watch over him at the humane society - even with his cone on he would chew on his freaking cast... I just didn't know what to do any more because I was scared of what would happen if he ate it... Jason picked him up and when we went to pick up our new dog (story to follow soon), I was told that Black actually DID eat the cast. He had to be brought to the specialist for emergency surgery to get the cast out of his stomach... What a crazy dog !!! Now I am not sure yet, but we might get him back when it is rehab time, only time will tell. 

And now for some closure:

Oh Black, what a freaking CRAZY dog you are !!! I had an awesome time with you, attacking people on the street and in the elevator, barking as soon as you hear something outside without even lifting your head... Maybe I will get you back, I will definitely visit you every time when I am at the Society for as long as you are there. You'll find an awesome home fast, I am sure. You are a great dog, just tune down the barking a bit. Love you, my crazy black lab.