Thursday, May 3, 2012

Taking On the Universe....And Winning!

Part One:   Destiny
                                                                                     
Please just take a minute to let this sink in.
This beautiful Great Dane is the reason for this story.

Destiny, prepped for surgery


On March 5th, Destiny underwent emergency surgery to save her life.  A few days prior to this picture, her owner, that was to be her protector, caregiver and family, hit her with his car.  We do not know the circumstances with the accident.  We do know that she was left suffering for days without veterinary care.   On March 5th, she was dumped at the shelter to die alone.  Quickly, the shelter team reached out to Where Hope Lives Humane Society.   She was sent to a local vet for emergency surgery.   The above picture is Destiny moments before she could fight no longer and lost her life.   To the surgical teams surprise, they discovered that she was pregnant!  The team quickly performed an emergency C-Section to find 6 premature orphaned pups, now, fighting for their lives.   




Part Two:  Against All Odds

Six Premature Orphaned Pups.  With no mother, no milk, and little chance of survival,  sadness and shock overwhelmed all of the people involved.  They acted quickly.  A temporary local foster was used to care for them for a few days until they found a rescue to take the pups.  For a rescue, this is a VERY risky undertaking.   Emotions, transporting infant pups, premature lungs and development, deadly infections, expensive medical care, socialization of pups without a mom.... so many things stacked against any rescue who takes them on.  Well....


Bottle feeding the pups on the drive North to VA.




A few days after their birth, two volunteers from Dogs XL Rescue, Michelle Friedman and Anne Wuhrer, got up at the crack of dawn to do the round trip to get the puppies from SC. After a lot of caffeine, baby bottles, exposure to a Cracker Barrel, a reckless driving ticket later, 4 puppies  (all 1 lb of them) were safely with them.   Two pups were adopted locally despite our efforts to keep them together as a litter.  Bottle feeding the entire way with the pups in a little crate, they made the trek (driving slower, of course) back home.  

The first of the pups, earned her nickname on the way home.     Beyonce, was given her honorary name with good reason as you can see here in this video.   The radio was no longer needed.                 
   

Determined, but cautious, the pups went to Anne's house for a two week stint with the goal of survival.   Vets were not optimistic for these little babies given the circumstances.  Bottle feeding every 2-3 hours around the clock was exhausting, the bathroom became a neonatal ward at 90 degrees!   Thanks to Big Bad Woof and Stella and Chewy's, a generous supply of raw goats milk (and later food) was donated for the 10-12 feedings a day.


Baby Scrappy
After one week, one of the pups became very ill.  An ER visit resulted in pessimistic news about his survival.  There was no treatment to help at the vets office.  The next two days, Scrappy spent endless hours on home IV's, being force fed and being held 23 hours a day to keep him warm and breathing.   This is when we knew someone/thing bigger than Dogs XL was looking after these babies!  Scrappy (aka Yoda) earned his name those two days when he fought for his little life and pulled through miraculously.


Part Three:   Getting Excited and Hopeful!

Too much milk... burb!
With weights increasing and health improving, the pups (now a whopping 3 lbs each!) were moved to another foster to transition to food, learning to walk and eventually reek havoc. Jennifer Fruhling took on the world when she took in these guys.  Imagine puppies growing at about a half pound a day!  That's a lot of Puppy!   (and a lot of poop)  Working on manners and socialization and, oh yea, eventually, figuring out escape tactics, these pups have been a delightful, HUGE amount of work.   Over time, each one has developed his or her own personality and are just little (soon to be very big) love bugs.   Recently, they have learned how to escape their pen and make a break for the doggy door.




Part Four:   Preparation for Loving, Forever Homes

These wonderful pups, deserve the best homes that Dogs XL Rescue can find for them.  They will need people that love big...  I mean, BIG dogs.   This is the best place to point out...well, we don't know who the baby's daddy is!   Today, they are about 8 1/2 weeks and weighing in at about 16 lbs each!   If you are interested in adopting, please go to www.dogsxlrescue.org/adopt
  
So without further adu, Dogs XL Rescue is extremely proud to introduce the most resilient, life-loving, delicious pups in the world! 



The Great Dane Star Wars Pups.
(just cuz they took on the universe and won!)

  


Princess Leia

Leia is friendly and not scared to get the attention she rightly deserves.   Kinda the leader of the pack, she is smart and intuitive.  She will do great with training and consistency…  and lots of love of course!
Leia is a very friendly, outgoing puppy who can be a little bossy at times, but who doesn't have a sibling like that?   She is not afraid of anything, which is awesome.  She would thrive in a home that has a confident dog to show her the ropes as well and help her with training courses (as will all of the puppies) so she is a happy and confident leader.


"Scrappy" Yoda

Scrappy has worked hard earning his nick-name.   He fought for his life and won.  He is now one of the biggest and heartiest of this motley crew.   He is a very outgoing puppy with a love for life always exploring his world.   He plays nicely with dogs big and small, old and young.  A bit of a character, in deed! He has fun,  fun,  fun and may be trying to make up for lost time!


R2D2
Well (sigh with a smile), this sweet pup is a special boy.   R2D2 is very quiet with a gentle soul.  LOVES to be held.   R2 is sometimes the “follower” in the group.   He likes to hang back, check the situation out before he dives in.   He plays it safe typically and isn’t a real attention hog.  R2 has a thing for the quiet, calmer life…minimal adventure right now.   A great owner for R2D2 would be one who has patience and a quiet home, but will spend the time allowing him to get used to new things in a positive manner.    Such a sweetheart!


Queen Padme 
(aka beyonce)
Honestly, she knows herself only as Beyonce or just "B" for short.  She is quite the rockstar these days.  Beyonce/Padme is easy going and full of love.  She is tolerant of everyone and has a great personality.   Unlike the other pups, she's a wee bit "blacker" and has a little fluff to her coat.   This past weekend she underwent a little test to confirm that she has a minor digestive issue that the vets are optimistic she will outgrow.   She needs a little extra help eating, but loves the individual attention. Spoiled much!?




Video from their Preemie/Infant Weeks.




Video from their Toddler Weeks!

Please help us welcome these beautiful pups and thank everyone that helped Dogs XL Rescue pull this miraculous rescue off with (barely any) flaws.   To donate to their rescue and prolonged care and preemie medical needs please here.   

www.dogsxlrescue.org/donate





A special thank you to all the volunteers that helped save these lives:
We CAN NOT do the GREAT WORK that we are
 trying to accomplish without fosters!

Please go to www.dogsxlrescue.org/foster for more information.


For Questions about these Delicious Puppies, please email Anne at Anne@dogsxlrescue.org

















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