It's been a little over four years since we adopted Lucky. He's an old man now, getting a little grey and slower, is a little bit of a tubba-wubba, but he's still the sweetest guy around. Even sweeter now, if possible, as he shares his snuggles with everyone, not just me. He's grown to trust people and loves attention. He sleeps most of the time, snoring like a freight train, but still gets very happy and dances like a pup at the sign language for "treat". Deafness hasn't seemed to bother him at all. He watches Aggie like a hawk. If she moves, he moves, so he doesn't miss out on a thing. We're guessing he's about 11 now and that makes me sad, but we'll enjoy him while we can and hopefully we have a few more good years to spoil him and make up for what the monster at the Mill did to him for all those years....
I took advantage of our spring-like day here in Central Texas and took these pictures of him this morning. Handsome old man, isn't he?
2/11 - Long overdue update.... I rescued Blue (Texas Blue Lacy) from the pound here in our town. He stayed with us for a week and then flew off to his new home in Washington State. Blue has been happily romping on two acres on a lake in since his week long stay with us over a year ago. I still get picture of him and emails from his new family every now and then. They love him very much.
It was a year ago Sunday that I took the long drive to Indiana to pick Lucky up. What a year it's been. He's the sweetest, best behaved dog I've ever owned. And he loves me. He doesn't let me out of his sight and when I sit on the sofa he's right there for a cuddle.
We are having some blustery weather here today. Just up the river there is snow in the forcast, if you can believe it! Lucky doesn't like blustery weather, so I tried taking pictures inside. Here's how our photo shoot went this morning:
Too dark inside even with all the lights on. I hate flash so I picked Lucky up with promises of just a few shots and hauled him out to the backyard. I figured if I put him up on the bench he'd stay there. Nope. In between each of the shots he made a run for the door and I'd stop him and put him back on the bench.
You can see how at ease his is. Not.
This is his very nervous, bugged out eye look:
This is as good as it gets, Sister. Just let me go back in the house!
I didn't get the shot I was looking for and I gave up because in between taking the pictures and trying to get Mr. Stubborn to stay I broke my favorite lens for close-ups. Thank God it's cheap and I love him as much as I do. It was all for not because the best picture is one of the ones I took inside. I should have left well enough alone. 
It's a great day so I grabbed the opportunity to take a few shots of Lucky in all his glory:
My 14-year old son, Daniel and I took a nine-hour drive to OSU in Columbus, Ohio this week with Lucky. We were very hopeful that the cause of Lucky's deafness was PSOM (pronounced: pEsom).
Lucky's ears were full of wax so it made things more difficult but Dr. Cole was great about it and moved on. After all of that, the CT scan proved that Lucky does not have PSOM and will remain deaf. He flat-lined his BAER test.
All was not lost though. My oldest son, who's attending Ball State in Indiana, came and spent the time with us and Lucky was able to see Dr. Cole again and even her husband stopped by to see him. Lucky spent a week with them early last October when he was still in the care of Lucky Star Cavalier Rescue. Dr. Cole had just begun the study on PSOM at that time and diagnosed Lucky's deafness. As she's gotten further in the study she thought maybe her original findings were wrong. It was worth the drive to find out for sure but she was spot on the first time. Bummer. Thank you so much for trying, Dr. Cole!!
Dr. Cole with Lucky and her dogs on October 6, 2007 (about seven weeks after he was rescued):
Dr. Cole with Lucky this past Tuesday afternoon (he was still coming out of anesthesia):
Ten more days until the one-year anniversary of when he was rescued from the mill. I'd say it's been a good year for him.
It was five months ago this morning that I picked up Lucky from his foster mom, Cathy, in Southern Indiana. During the 12-hour trip through pouring rain most of the way I thought to myself, "I'm flippin' nuts! WHAT am I doing?" As soon as I saw him the next morning I *knew* I'd followed my heart to the right place. Cathy took this picture that morning. Lucky might not have been so sure but I was!:
I remember glancing at him constantly during the drive and wondering, "who could do this to a dog?!" I cried on and off the whole way home and probably for the first two weeks that he was with us. I didn't know if he was ever going to be really okay. The first couple of months was one infection and medical problem after another but it's been smooth sailing since his dental in January. Knock on wood.
Let's line up the pictures so you can see the difference in him. Remember that he'd already been in the loving care of a Vet and Lucky Star Rescue for a total of about six weeks before we adopted him. The pictures taken at the vet on the day he was rescued can be seen by clicking on the thumbnails in the right sidebar. It still makes me cringe when I see them. They didn't think he was going to live through it. But he did... oh... he did!
Let's take a little trip down memory lane....
From this (after one week with us):
To this (that's what ten pounds more looks like on a little dog):
From this:
to this (and remember, he was just groomed a couple of weeks ago. They took quite a bit off his ears and tail):
From this:
To this (you can actually *see* the confidence he's built up) :
I really wish I'd taken a picture of his tail when I first brought him home. It was like a rat tail and the butt of much joking by Dan and I (no pun intended). There was very little fur on it and none on the tip. We really didn't think it was ever going to grow in on the very tip. I started taking pictures after he'd been with us for about three weeks:
To this:
Thanks for looking back with me. Here are a few more pictures I took this morning:
I entered Lucky in the contest at Bissell. Please take a moment and give him your vote. You can only vote once so please help me spread the word. The winner gets to choose a rescue group of their choice to receive 10K! Lucky obviously chooses Lucky Star Cavalier Rescue. Here's the link to Lucky: http://tinyurl.com/2hnprp
I can't believe it but Lucky actually went to the Groomer last week! They evened out all the long hairs that were leftover from the mange and gave him a pedicure. He cleans up good, doesn't he?
He is every bit as sweet as he looks. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I have never met a sweeter, gentler dog than my little guy. It almost brings me to tears to see how great he looks now.
Emotionally, he's still a little timid around Joe (unless he's getting a treat) and he's still takes his time going to strangers but he does go to them eventually and it's taking a shorter and shorter amount of time. It's obvious now that he's older than we originally thought which really saddens me. It means we have a shorter amount of time with him.
Can you believe this guy?
Gorgeous and (knock on wood) he's completely healthy! Yeah! He weighs... are you ready.... 20.5 lbs. That's 6 1/2 more than when he came to live with us almost four months ago. That's a lot of weight on a little dog!
He loved watching the Westminster dog show with us. He'd get all interested when they showed the dogs going around the ring. He also likes to watch the Cavalier trials video. So funny to see him interested in something.
He continues to get braver and braver. The after-school routine around here is for the boys to give the dogs a treat when they get home. The dogs don't know the "treats" are actually the Royal Canin dental food the vet prescribed. Both dogs get very excited as soon as Daniel gets home. They are right on his heels while he puts his book bag down and gets his jacket on. Then they do it again a half hour later when Joe gets home. The minute he gets his treat though, Lucky's gone and won't have anything to do with Joseph. Sometimes he'll play a little with Joe but he always keeps his distance.
When we go for walks now he doesn't freak out when you walk behind him. He's learned to trust that we aren't going to step on him.
His hearing is still bad. The only thing he seems to hear is Aggie's bark or loud thumping noises or yells. Oh. And hands clapping together. That's what we do when we need to get his attention quick. Like when he's doing something he's not supposed to.
He hasn't had an accident in the house in I don't know how long.
I'll post again in about a month. You'll be shocked at how his tail looks.
It's been five months and two days since Lucky was rescued from the puppy mill in Missouri. I often look at him and try to imagine what he must be thinking. He had no way of knowing that his life at the mill wasn't the way it was supposed to be. For a dog that lived in a cage outside or in a barn he's taken to indoor living pretty well. Don't you agree:
I posted about him on my knitting blog the other day. I'll repeat it here:
Jan 17, 2008Lucky has yet another nickname. Lucky, I now knight you Sir Cha Ching. No. That's not Oriental. It's in reference to the money this sweet, sweet little guy has cost us thus far. After the initial adoption fee and the gas to drive to Indiana to pick him up he's had a few medical issues. A few weeks ago he had a skin infection. While at the vet it was discovered that his teeth are rotting right out of his head due to the lack of nutrition all those years at the mill. We took care of the skin infection and he had his dental appointment today. Holy Shnikies. You know it's bad when you walk in to pick up your dog and the vet says, "I'm warning you... it's not pretty. The boy is adorable but he's a train wreck. We had to pull seven teeth instead of three, he has a ear infection and an anal gland infection." then she turned the bill so I could see it. Let's just say it was over $900 and less than a grand. Did I say Holy Shnikies already? My first thought was that Dan was going to have my head. My husband is the sweetest guy there is but he grew up on a ranch. He loves the dogs but he sees them as dogs. I see them as kids. I decided to take the bull by the horns and call him from the vet to let him know. He said a couple of things and then said, "Well... it had to be done. Hopefully he'll be okay from now on." He loves our dogs more than he'll admit. You only have to see him with them when he thinks no one is looking.
Priceless. He's worth every cent and we'd do it all over again. Just know that if you take in a rescue you better be ready for vet bills. Lucky was worse off than a lot of rescues are but just take it into consideration....
Haiku for Sandy:
Sweetest little dog
He's learning to enjoy life
One day at a time
Jan 19, 2008Thanks for all the kind words about Lucky aka Sir Cha Ching. He was pretty out of it all day yesterday. Aggie was very gentle with him and sort of hovered over him all day like she knew. She's usually jumping on him and tugging him around by an ear or a lip or whatever she can grab with her teeth. Not yesterday. She sniffed all the parts that hurt and stayed by his side. It was so sweet.
He had a long list of serious ailments: mange, malnutrition, ear mites that caused deafness, and periodontal disease. Because of the severity of his mange, he was quarantined for a couple of weeks, but it would take a long time to cure his other health problems. He had a lack of muscle tone due to living in confined quarters for years and two of his vertebrae in his back are fused together. He’ll be on pain meds for life. He was also timid. Sweet, but timid. Can you blame him? It took years to get him to trust.
Here's Lucky a couple of months after veterinary care and love from volunteers with Lucky Star Cavalier Rescue. His mange is cured here and hair just starting to come back in, but still very underweight. It took several months to get his weight up to normal. 9/17/07: 
This blog is dedicated to all the kind souls that make up the animal rescue community. Since adopting Lucky, I've learned a great deal about how much they give. I'm keeping this blog to encourage adoption of rescue dogs and to keep the rescue workers’ hopes up. If you are able, please consider giving a shelter or rescue dog a home. If you want a puppy, then please do your research and go to a reputable breeder and not a pet store. You can start on the websites for the Humane Society and American Kennel Club
