All of this dog talk makes me want to share Whispers tale.
Whisper is a Miniature Pinscher au natural she still has her tail and her ears. She was born in the area of Santa Clara, CA. When she was only a month or so old, she was placed in a shelter with her mother, brother, and sister for reasons unknown. A wonderful Min Pin rescue volunteer went to the shelter and picked them all up. Whispers human foster mom, Janice had 7 Min Pins of her own so she was a part of a very large foster family. Janice told me that Whisper was picked on by her foster brothers and sisters and was quite submissive.
I have been owned by two other Min Pins and two Chow Chows. I had put down my oldest Min Pin and my last living dog the week of Thanksgiving 2008. The year before that, I had to put my youngest epileptic Min Pin down because her seizures finally got out of control and her meds were not helping. I had told myself that Id try to live without a pet for awhile. That feeling didn't last even a month. I knew I wanted another Min Pin, so I started looking online at breeders and then found a rescue group and they had a picture of Whisper. I knew the moment I saw her picture that I wanted her, so I set the wheels of adoption in motion. It felt like I was adopting a human because I had to fill out a long application then answer several emails filled with even more questions! After all the paperwork was done and several phone calls with the foster mom, we set up a day for Janice to do a home check and if all was ok, shed leave Whisper with me. Everything was fine and Whisper waved goodbye to her foster family and settled in with me in Dec 2008. Within a few days, she had her routine down and was happy that it was only her and I.
I had a full hysterectomy one month after adopting Whisper and she was my constant companion when I came home from the hospital. She realized even at a young age, that I was hurting. She would lie beside me and watch TV with me. She still wanted to play, but seemed to understand that I couldn't play very long before Id tire out. When I was allowed to start driving again, wed go to the dog park and spend 3-4 hours a day. She would play with the other dogs while I enjoyed being outside and out of the house.
When Whisper was about 7 months old, she started favoring her left side. I thought she had been bowled over at the dog park by one of the bigger dogs. I took her to the vet. They ran blood tests and x-rayed her ribs. All test results came back fine. I took her home and gave her a baby aspirin to help with the pain. During that evening while I was asleep, Whisper pulled off a huge patch of fur on her left side to expose dead skin. I rushed her back to the vet and they took her back to work on her. Some awful thoughts went through my mind that I might lose her. The vet finally came to talk to me and said they started shaving and had to keep shaving until they shaved all of her fur off her entire left side from her front leg to her hind leg. They could only operate on 25% because she didn't have enough skin to close it up if they cut out all of the necrosis.
Then I was bombarded with all sorts of questions from the vet. They asked me about if I burned her, or had a heating pad for her, heating registers on the floor, or if she leaned up against my motorcycle exhaust pipe and such. It got to the point that I was furious and I thought they were thinking I abused my dog. This is the same vet that I used for my epileptic dog and went through years of giving my vet all of the research I could find on canine epilepsy! So, they sent a tissue sample to UC Davis Veterinary School for analysis. It came back inconclusive it was either a burn or possibly an insect bite.
They operated on Whisper and then had to leave over half of her necrosis exposed, left on its own to heal. Whisper had to wear a cone
device to keep her from pulling her stitches out. I found a great collar for her a blowup doughnut type that goes around her neck and keeps her from reaching her wounds. She could get in and out of the dog door and was back to feeling normal. She had fought the cone constantly. I could always hear her coming wearing that doughnut making sounds rumple rumple rumple. She wore it for 4 months until all of her necrosis healed and there were no more scabs. She was a champ through the whole thing and never acted like it bothered her. It was very ugly to look at and my heart sank every time I looked at her.
So, she has a little side racing stripe. I dont really notice it much anymore, but I am asked about it a lot. About 2 years ago, I was at the dog park and a lady was asking me about Whispers scar. She said that she knew what it was from a Wolf Spider bite. The lady had been bit by one on the inside of her thigh and her skin died much the same way as Whispers. Since it was never confirmed what happened to Whisper, I tend to think this might have been the culprit as there are plenty of Wolf Spiders here in California.
Nevertheless, Whisper is fine and healthy today. Shes my constant companion and my best buddy. She rides on the motorcycle with me and makes people smile when they see the little dog wearing doggles on the back of my bike. People are always taking her picture and she hams it up whenever she sees a camera. I know she will never be stolen because of her scar damaged goods in the eyes of a thief. No beauty contests for this little girl, and that matters not for me. She has stolen my heart and that is all that matters.
