Gizmo has personality! That’s what my wife (Taffy) has been telling me for the past 13 yrs since Gizmo came to us as a puppy. An 18 pound cream colored male ShiZu he’s my little friend and companion who brings me a great deal of joy. His cute expressions brighten my day with his quizzical looks as he cocks his head in wonderment or his happy/joyful excited looks at mealtime, playtime and walk time. He loves his little walks and likes to go on the leash. When he was younger occasionally his collar would slip off on a walk. He would always quickly run to me and express his displeasure at me for allowing his collar to slip off while I put it back on him. Today he’s reluctant to go outside of our fenced area without his leash on except when he really needs a potty break then he might sneak out the front door as we’re coming in or going out. We just get his leash and he’ll run to us to hook him up and take him to find a good spot for his business.

At bed time he’ll sit in the hallway toward our bedroom and look back and forth at us and the bedroom reminding us that it is time to go to bed. Staying up late is not his thing. He sleeps next to our bed in one of his three beds in the house curled up like a little fuzz ball or flat on his back snoring. (more…)

Mark,
I wanted to share my story about my Lab Niko. Niko came to us almost five years ago as a pup. He was my gift to my now fiancee Jackie, but when he gets into trouble, he is my dog. Briefly I will explain Niko’s sense of humor and personality. Niko is one of a kind, like all dogs are. He loves to take up most of the bed when we sleep and knocks me over when we say “car ride!”. Niko is the type who will pout, give sad eyes, and most of all, talk back if he does not get his way. Needless to say, Niko is spoiled. Three years ago Niko had a grand mal seizure. As parents, we were at a loss of what to do for him. We rushed him to the vet and after a two day visit he came home and was not himself due to the meds that was given to him. He did well for a couple of months, but then he started to have more seizures and eventually the seizures turned into clusters. He is on two different medicines twice a day now. We have tried everything to figure out why he has seizures. From diet, household chemicals, home temp, allergies, or any other trigger we can think of that may be the cause of his seizures and have came up clueless. The vet has determined that Niko has Epilepsy and helps us in advising us on how to manage his disease. A few months ago, Niko had several clusters that hit in one week. The seizures were so severe that we thought we were going to lose him. We debated on whether we should end his suffering, or to keep trying in hopes that the seizures would become less with added medication or with other forms of therapy. We cried, and I am not joking when I say we cried for days in trying to make this unwanted decision. After Niko’s last visit, we decided to wait two months. By the end of the two months, if Niko was not doing any better we would have to make that dreadful choice. Well, it has been almost four months now and Niko has been seizure free!! We could not be more thankful! We have changed his diet again, and stopped using a certain flea treatment. Not sure if either was the cause, but we are just happy that the seizures have ceased. Looking back on when we first got Niko and if we knew he was going to be Epileptic, we would not give him up for anything. He is a true blessing and is part of our family. I hope that others will see the unconditional love we have for him and the love he has for us, and maybe help with research and rescue for dogs with Canine Epilepsy. We enclosed a photo of NIko sending you a big thank you kiss and lots of love! Thank you for all you do for dogs and the U.S.A. God Bless you Mark.

Marc from IN

We found Jo wandering the streets of StL with no collar, and no microchip.  Our efforts to find the owner were unsuccessful.  We already had two dogs but we made room for number 3.

Jim from MO

Please accept this post as a replacement for the blurb about our amazing dog Scotty which I submitted yesterday after having had to put him down.

It was late summer of 1998, my wife Sheila and I were attending a party in my hometown. While at this party we noticed a lab puppy wandering around and assumed it belonged to the host. The puppy was obviously a Labrador but rather than being yellow or chocolate or black this dog was almost pure white.

As the evening progressed we came to find out that the dog didn’t belong to the host but was a stray that had just shown up in the host’s yard. Sadly, someone started giving the dog beer to drink and he drank enough that he passed out. This made us both angry but seeing the puppy lying there with an uncertain future tugged on our hearts and we ended up taking the dog home with us.

We convinced my parents to keep the dog for us as we were living in an apartment at the time though we had just purchased a house into which we would be moving in the fall. We named him Scotty, after Scotty Bowman, who was at that time the coach of the Detroit Red Wings.

During the time my parents had him he got lost and we were heartbroken, thinking our puppy was gone for good. My dad happened to see a cardboard sign on the side of the road with Found Yellow Lab Pup scrawled on it. He called the number and went to pick up Scotty who had found a nice log home with another yellow lab in residence. Shortly thereafter we moved into our home and Scotty joined us, the three of us embarking on an amazing journey. (more…)