Wheels, Dog n. 10 - Full Story

Everybody, meet Wheels !
No, she doesn't have a wheel, that's her name !
Wheels is a

• 10 year old
• 6 kg heavy
• Jack Russel Terrier Mix

We picked her up from the Humane Society on April 5th, 2013. I think I have been annoying the THS staff for so long (about getting another foster, no matter what animal) that one of them emailed me about this sad little girl. 

How did we get the dog:

Ever since the guinea pigs were gone a few dogs showed up on the THS website as foster dogs, and with every dog I emailed them asking "can we foster, can we foster, are there any dogs good with other dogs..." Just yesterday I got an email about this little girl. A Jack Russel Terrier that only has 3 legs, mammary cancer and will need a palliative foster home. Duration - unknown. Until her quality of life is so far declined that she will be euthanized. Sad story, ask me how I am doing, emotionally, in a few weeks, the answer will probably be "not good". The reason why Sam and I decided to take her was that even though she is a palliative foster dog, we get the chance to give her a nice few weeks or months before she gets put down, and we wanted to do that for her. She is probably going to be our last foster dog in Toronto, so it is nice to know we are fostering a dog, that, through us, gets to live the last few weeks/months of her life in a good place. 

The daily life: 

Well, so far I cannot tell you too much yet as we just got home with her an hour ago. She appears to be a quiet dog, which is good, because Odette has been barking a bit recently. We did a bit of a meet and greet between Odette and Wheels at the THS. Seems that as long as Odette doesn't annoy her, they are fine together. Now in the apartment they are even better than before. Wheels keeps hopping after Odette to sniff her bum and if Odette gets too close she starts growling, she keeps the puppy in her place and Odette is respectful enough to stay away, so I think we have a pretty good mix here. In a week we are also getting Darcy, Sam's parents dog, so we'll have 2 humans and 3 dogs ! 

However we might have a problem, because it appears that Odette is "jealous" - of course this is just a human term to an animal behaviour  but after walking inside, Odette immediately peed inside (we haven't had any accidents for over a month now). Odette also keeps taking over Wheels' bed as soon as Wheels gets up, which is mean because Wheels wont lie in Odette's bed. That was easily fixed as I just put Odette's bed right next to my table as well, now both are next to me and happy. It can be quite a battle with a puppy that is displaying jealous behaviour  but we'll deal with it - and it's a good learning tool, because who knows, with kids we might see the same... This will probably also inspire a great post of dealing with jealous behaviour in my "thinking of getting a dog" journal posts.

The dog:

Wheels is quite the gentle dog. At the THS she just seemed scared and same in the cab ride home. Once home she just started moving about, "running" through the apartment, watching me play with Odette. She doesn't touch Odette's stuff, nor does she touch her bones (even though I know she likes them). She has her own water bowl and her own food bowl close to her bed. She is a very sweet dog, now that we've had her for a bit. Too bad I don't know more about her history (or maybe that's actually good because I might just get pissed off again).

The end:
We brought Wheels back on April 13th because we started seeing things that we were told to look out for. Breathing issues, wheezing, coughing, more issues walking and a very strong change in demeanour as she started being more aggressive towards Odette but also towards us (she snapped at me when I tried to give her the medication,...). We brought her back, they did some tests, upped her medication and she is now waiting for another foster home, possibly a home with a garden as she loves the outside.
  

And now for some closure:

Oh Wheels, I'm sorry Sam kept making bad jokes about the fact that you only had three legs. Knowing that you might die soon really makes me sad. I hope you had a good life, but I know I gave you at least a good week. I hope you find a good home for the rest of your life, I know you love outside so maybe you can get a nice spot in a garden. It always made my day when you came up to me, ran around the hallway with Odette and the few times I saw you wag your tail. Hope you're okay sweetheart.