Month: August 2019

Yesterday, BHRR’s Giselle and also Puppy Pile BHRR’s Granite had their own special dates!

I want to thank Sean so much in making sure the dogs were dropped off plus picked up as I had a prior commitment.

He may have forgot to bring the picnic snacks yet, I remain completely thankful for his time and effort to ensure that both dogs ended up where they were suppose to go! 

Here is a sweet pic taken by Heather – BHRR’s Giselle’s date and her words:

“Thanks again for bringing Giselle over yesterday. She is an absolute love, and we had a great time finding all the best spots to hang out and snuggle in the backyard.

Here is a selfie we took together- I miss her leans already!”

We have three more dates plus one more private experience to host before October 10th and then we are finished for 2019!

Miss Penelope!

I cannot express in words just how much I love this photo! 

Miss Penelope also had her latest recheck at EVC tonight. She now weighs 47.8kgs(105.1 pounds) and huge thanks to be expressed to her wonderful temp foster home for taking such excellent care of her!

She was deemed healthy to have her boosters!

In about two weeks time, we shall ensure that the professional groom session we had originally planned and then had to cancel due to her poor health upon arrival; will happen – her foster mama has done a truly marvelous job in grooming her in the mean-time!

From there, we shall be working to get her professional photo’s done by the fabu Liz and shortly after that she will have her own special announcement to make.  

Her temp foster home has been exceptional and we truly are filled with total gratitude to them for all that they have been doing for her! 

I also wish to extend enormous thanks to Lucy, Dr. Libby and Jane for ALL of their assistance in helping me to get her vetted prior to her transport, helping to get her transported to come to us safely. I want to also thank ALL of the transport angels that helped her on her journey to BHRR! I remain deeply inspired by the kindness of others, many of us complete strangers, coming together time and again to help the animals in need. 

I must ALSO thank each and every person that made a donation to her immense vet bills as we worked to save her. 

We are a long way off from having them paid off yet, we are taking it one pay check at a time and remain deeply indebted to all that may continue to consider her cause and make a donation to her close to $3,500 bills. 

Donations can be made direct to Eagleson Veterinary Clinic
613-383-8381 

OR via PayPal to gwen@birchhaven.org

OR via email transfer to contactbhrr@gmail.com

Our doors remain closed at this time as we continue to pay off the unexpected large Vet bills that have come our way….. 

BHRR’s Sawyer (Saint/Pyr) is moving under a PENDING ADOPTION!

We shall update as we can…..

BHRR’s Silly Tilly!
~15 months
 
She has told me that she is finally ready….maybe, a tiny bit nervous yet also excited!
 
AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION!
 
She can go to a home that works ft, pt, from home or is semi-retired or is retired. Another versatile BHRR dog!
 
She is a dream to do nails, to wash and is housebroken plus crate trained. She has been crate free in our home for some time now and she has been amazing!
 
As always, never give any new addition too much freedom to start and work to set them up for success.
 
She travels wonderfully in a car and has made incredible progress with her nervousness. She so badly wants to love, be loved and really has a goofy, silly big fun and wonderful personality!
 
She warms up super fast and is uber sweet. Truly precious and has been a real delight having her with us!
 
She has put on almost 25 pounds of muscle mass plus weight and is hanging around 110 pounds and is nice and lean and looks fabu!
 
She has proven great with all dogs she has met to date, is playful and we would love to see her in a home with at least one right matched personality fit dog. This is NOT a deal breaker should said right matched personality fit home not have a dog. As long as that right home has a strong network in place for her to have her doggie friends and be social, that is what is most important. 🙂
 
She has proven equally wonderful with the cats she has met to date yet, as always integration is key!
 
We will consider homes that have children as young as age 8 and as long as there are no more than 2 children in the home.
 
Her leash manners, while not 100% are a HECK of a lot better than when she first arrived. She knows her basics, she just needs patience and understanding and consistency plus praise to keep reinforcing said good manners.
 
Considering where she came from to now, is night and day and as with all of the dogs that come to us in need, I am very proud of her!
 
She is happy, healthy, loves our couch 😉 and I love that she is mischievous enough to go on to the couch when she knows the rules! 😀
 
She lives in comfort and style and needs a forever loving adoptive home to keep building upon the strong foundation put into place here.
 
We would love to see her in a quietly social home. A home that is going to keep showing her how truly special and beautiful and awesome this world can be!
 
Miss Silly Tilly! You got this and yup, I shall be honest, I will shed some tears of incredible joy plus some sadness when that home meant for you comes along and finds you! 
 
You will always have an incredible piece of my heart…..thank you to Karen, Samantha and Jane for all that they did to bring you to us safely and for us to help you on the path to living to your full incredible potential!
 

BHRR’s Silly Tilly
August 19th, 2019
*NOT YET AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION*

I love this GOOFY pose of hers!

She so badly wants to love and be loved and though, she was nervous of Sean’s camera tonight, she took treats and learned that there was nothing to be worried about!

She is such a loving, affectionate, silly, delightful wonderful personality filled girl that has rehabbed so well with us!

She is now close to 110 pounds and we would not like to see any further weight on her. She has put on almost 25 pounds of much needed muscle mass plus weight and looks STUNNING now! 

Sean and I ADORE this Dane…..

She has told me that she thinks tomorrow night shall be when she is ready to make her special announcement and thanks everyone for their patience!

We know that she is popular yet, she can only be adopted to that right matched personality fit home meant for her. 

One that shall keep showing her how amazing and wonderful the world is and that she shall never be part of a hoarding situation kept outside in mud/feces in a pen with improper shelter ever again.

She has dog beds and blankets with toys galore and can often be found snoozing on one of our couches when she thinks we are not looking! 

STAY Tuned!

Miss Silly Tilly says she has an exciting announcement coming up shortly! 

BHRR’s Sawyer!
(Saint/Pyr)

His foster home calls him Mr. Magoo! 

They also have said the following:

“He’s very sweet and kookie, very mischievous eyes”

I want to thank his temp foster home immensely for temp fostering him!

He remains AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION to that right matched forever loving home and several members of the BHRR BOD have begun to discuss moving him to our Haven Program.

Yet, for the time being, he remains up for adoption……

An update on BHRR’s Sawyer from his temp foster home!

“Things are going well! Sawyer is a very good boy. He’s had a few jealous moments with the chocolate we’re babysitting but that cleared up once we started banning the chocolate from getting on the couch. 

He has become a barker. He barks at noises outside, he barks at his reflection on the patio door at night. But maybe he’s still getting used to suburban life. 

We are working on his walking on leash manners. He’s  pretty respectful but likes to stop and smell EVERYTHING and will pull if he wants to go somewhere. But for the most part he will come back to you when you pull him back. 

We are now allowing him out of the crate when we go out and he has been a super star!! No incidents or accidents or getting into things. Today was the longest at ~5 hours and no problems. 

He and Neo have their routine of rambunctious play while Bob walks Holden in the morning, then we take him and Neo out for their morning walk after that. He and Neo play very well together!

We’ve had a few people over and my mom and her boyfriend stayed over one night…. Sawyer is still quite unsure at first and does a lot of barking but we tell them to ignore him and in about 15 minutes he’s right beside them getting pets and snuggles. Just takes a little bit for him to make sure the humans are fine. 

He’s amazing with other dogs and wants to meet them and make friends. It’s their owners he’s not quite sure about. 

All is VERY good!  He is such a sweetheart!!”

 

Pathologist Report:

 

PRIORITY BIOPSY W/ DESC 2

  Test Result
BIOPSY SOURCE
Ovary
CLINICAL HISTORY
Two ovaries and uterus from an in heat dog.Breeder dog, no history available.
BIOPSY SOURCE 2
Ovary
CLINICAL HISTORY 2
See history site 1.
BIOPSY SOURCE 3
Uterus
CLINICAL HISTORY 3
See history site 1.

MICROSCOPIC DESCRIPTION:
1 ovary is exhibiting normal architecture, with occasional formation of empty or fluid-filled cysts. No corpora lutea appear to be present.
Second ovary: This ovary exhibits several small corpora lutea and underdeveloped follicles in several stages.
Uterus: Mild endometrial hyperplasia is evident accompanied by a mild to focally moderate plasmacytic lymphocytic infiltrate.

MICROSCOPIC INTERPRETATION:
Normal ovarian tissue, bilateral, with focal ovarian cyst formation
Mild generalized endometrial hyperplasia with mild plasmacytic lymphocytic neutrophilic endometritis
No bacteria are seen

COMMENTS:
Low grade endometritis is identified but morphology does not support pyometra or active a bacterial infection. Some mucosal hyperplasia is evident as well, considered to be incidental. The ovaries were normal, possibly a bit atrophic, but appear to be functional, 1 or 2 corpora lutea are identified on one side. The ovary on the contralateral side did not show any corpora lutea or any tertiary or well-developed follicles.

PATHOLOGIST:
Steven G. Smith, DVM
Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Pathologists

Miss Penelope Update!
*she is snoozing outside, soaking up some much needed vitamins!*

That first week of her arrival was a whirlwind of no less than 3 Vet Visits, stress, worry, strain and mounting Vet Bills. 

Her Vet believes that she had an uterine stump infection. She was lethargic, was not eating and even her spay incision became infected.

Her Eosinophils were elevated and cancer was one of the big concerns for her for when she was spayed, the surgeon felt that her ovaries did not look normal and asked if we wanted them to be sent for biopsy.

The results were to be back within 5-7 days yet, then they needed more time as they needed to do a fixation and all of waited with such anxiety.

Her biopsy results from her ovaries and uterus have now come in and they will be posted in depth on her individual blog and I will put it in the comments below too.

BHRR’s Penelope was placed on Baytril and remained on Deramaxx and I became a frequent flyer to the foster home dropping off various canned food and more medications.

AND at one point, I almost took her into my own home for round the clock monitoring and also to and from work at the Hospital.

We looked at xrays and u/s and the nightmare was very real for fear of what the future was for sweet Miss Penelope.

Well, the big gun antibiotics began to work their magic, I found the canned food that she would eat and the Deramaxx continued to ensure that any fever was kept down plus made her more comfortable.

We had to cancel her professional groom session scheduled with Melissa at Groomingdale’s on August 2nd as she was so unwell. I did send Melissa money as this was a lost service to her own business. She assured me that she would be able to fill the spot without any issues yet, I felt it was the right thing to do.

At her most recent Vet visit, her weight was 46.8 kgs(102.96) so we have weight gain! YES! YES! YES!

Her sutures were removed and we are going from slow uphill progress to just motoring along now! YES! YES! YES!

Thank you to all that stepped up to make a donation to her mounting Vet bills and though, she is not done with her Vet Care, we are sincerely hoping that everything critical has been addressed for her….

As always, should anyone wish to consider her cause to support and enable us to keep helping dogs like her and allow us to re-open our doors, donations can be made direct to Eagleson Veterinary Clinic 613-383-8381

OR via PayPal to gwen@birchhaven.org

OR via email transfer to contactbhrr@gmail.com

We are also incredibly touched by the donation of EMPTIES that her foster mama(from a friend of hers) put directly on to her bill on Monday. $42.90 

From our home to all of our friends, family and supporters, the most humble of thanks and warmest of good night wishes are being sent….. 

We have made the decision to move BHRR’s Hollywood to our Haven program and she is going to be perma-fostered by an amazing home! 

Picture Post #8 Miss Lily 
*Deaf/Minor Visual Impairment

My final picture of her day at the Vet!

She wants to be friends with the dog in the picture on the wall! 

I think she believes that by standing on the stair will get her closer to the dog in the picture and said dog could then see her and be her friend! LOL

She is so proud of herself and I am so proud of her and if you have followed her picture journey today at the Vet and would like to see us re-open our doors to keep helping dogs like Miss Lily, we ask you to please do consider making a donation to our cause.

If you believe that we are making a positive difference to dogs like Miss Lily, please do consider supporting us…..

We are handling some big unexpected bills with dogs like The Bakers Dozen of BHRR’s Fletcher and with everything Miss Penelope the Newf has been going through – we are still awaiting the biopsy results on her ovaries.

We continue to also handle enormous Vet Bills for dogs like BHRR’s Volt and BHRR’s Rion.

Donations can be made via PayPal to gwen@birchhaven.org

OR via email transfer to contactbhrr@gmail.com

OR you can made donations direct to Eagleson Veterinary Clinic 613-383-8381

On behalf of Miss Lily and our home, we wish all of our friends, family and supporters a wonderful night! Thank you for following her picture journey at the Vet today! 

Picture #7

This is Miss Lily when the Vet visit was over and she notes a large pic of a dog on the wall! 

Her picture journey of her day at the Vet continues!

Picture #6

Miss Lily – sitting in the chair!

Successful Vet visit had thanks to understanding, patience, time – we were there over an hour between arrival and leaving – consistency, tough love and acceptance! 

This was a fabu training and awesome rehab day for her…..

Yes, she has one blue eye and one brown eye.

She is such a ham! You just have to allow her to get to know you…..for when she decides you are ‘ok’, she will truly want to be your bff!

Picture #5 While we still wait to be seen by the Vet, Miss Lily decides it is ok to lay on her side….keeping those gorgeous peepers on me at all times!

All I am doing is just being there for her, in her sight, quiet, comfortable and having confidence demonstrating in my body language that all will be ok.

When the Vet came in, she was in my lap again and when he crouched down and put his body sideways, she came up for some sniffs and some pats.

This girl had been put into a prong, harsh training methods had been used and while she was nervous she equally showed backbone to me that if she was forced she would mouth gently. She correctly beautifully as I respect her.

As told to the Vet, yes, she is nervous yet she equally is pushing back as she just does not want something to happen. We have to find that balance and so, we did not get her temperature yet her heart was listened to.

We did not do bloodwork yet I do know that we could have done this yet stated I was happy to wait and she had her vaccines. A partial mouth exam was done and the big success was that she knew at the end of it that she survived!

To not have done anything at this Visit, she would have not learned anything and while we did not get all done that she needs, we got some truly important things done and she saw that at the end of it that she not just survived yet thrived!

To me that was a great Vet visit!! 

As more time passes, she shifts to her side to be more comfortable and though she is still posed to jump if I make the slightest movement, she is relaxing a bit more….

She then decides it is ok to lay down…not 100% comfortable yet this is huge going from literally in my lap to being near me….

She is still not going to let me out of her eyesight though…

Picture post #4

Miss Lily then moves away from me to do some de-stressing self-comforting stretches.

The huge thumbs up is seeing her working to provide some reassurance to herself now after I did so…..

She would keep come back to me yet, she is also realising that she, too can help herself.

She is not taking her eyes off me though and that is 100% fine.

We have also been working on her ‘check in’ and she is doing extremely well!

You can see how skinny she is by noting not 1, not 2, not 3 yet four ribs on that one side poking out.

Yet, we will get there!

She still is not sure…..yet, I am and passed along my comfortable calm vibrations through my words as she rested on my Chest.

For those who do not know….she is deaf and visually impaired and the vibrations of my calm voice can be felt by her as she rests her head on my chest for reassurance…

I promised her it would be ok….

Her face tells a thousand things…and my purpose is to give her the best experience possible today to make the second visit even easier on her.

Picture #3

This is Miss Lily coming over for some reassurance and she received some calming touches and a smooch. This is before the Vet even came in……

Her face is very expressive….

You can also see the raw healing wounds from the prong use that had gone on in her previous home.

She now sports a stunning Wiggle Bumz Collar that I bought. 

So, as people can see in the first picture thread post, how Miss Lily was with the people she met today – other than the one tall man and her Vet.

This is Picture #2 – in the exam room. We went into the exam room about half an hour after we arrived.

She had been overall content in the waiting area and other than backing into me and clearly showing some cautious worried body language when the one tall man walked by, she was curious, sitting in my lap, sitting in the chairs and sitting on other people’s laps.

Breaks your heart to then see this.

This is where I then passively ignore and did not make a big deal out of us being there. Calming touch when she sought me out, I sat down and acted like being at the Vet is a perfectly great and ok place to be….answered emails and treated the world as normal.

This body language of hers is not the same as what it was when we first arrived….

So, this shall be a picture story of Miss Lily at Eagleson Veterinary Clinic today.

Picture #1 – Making friends in the waiting room! Not much personal space given by this girl if she decides you are going to be her friend! No matter if you have space issues, she does not care yet, to all the met her today, they had zero issues with her being in their bubble! 

We arrived about 15 minutes early and were there for about 1 hour. I wanted to give her plenty of time to settle in.

On our drive in she does OCD chase the occasional vehicle that passed us. As of yet no pattern found yet documenting it all so I can best assist her moving forward. She was always fine when I passed vehicles and occasionally had an issue with a vehicle that would pass us be it on the highway or local roads.

She weighed a thin 39.2 Kgs(86.24 pounds) and ideally I would like to see her closer to 100 pounds. We shall get there!

The thing that made her most nervous was the one tall man that walked by which in turn the other tall man that she saw today was her Vet.

These photo’s I shall post in separate posts are the different faces of BHRR’s Miss Lily @ the Vet.

Miss Lily!

‘Where are we going now Mama Gwennie?!’

Curious and though a bit cautious at first, once she knows all is ok, she is all in with the body leans and happy tail and loving! 

Good thing she is so adorable for she is in a head lock with me re: crate training! She has worn down her previous home so many times that she is determined to do it with me too.

She does not know me very well….yet…. 

We are also making wonderful progress on the house breaking and her general anxiety.

We are making excellent progress with her car anxiety too. She is learning that there are amazing experiences and caring hands with lots of praise plus treats associated with the car and this girl wants to trust people badly.

Her obedience manners are overall ok and once her puppy brain settles and she is not so overwhelmed with distractions plus stimulation, she is going to rock!

We are getting better with the ‘check in’ looks and she is quite proud of herself when she realises she has done it! The more clear open communication she has the more she relaxes as she learns to become a dog and is not confused about the expectations asked of her.

She is starting to show a playful side and has taken a shine to BHRR’s Juniper and BHRR’s Burst. BHRR’s Juniper being half Wolfie is making Miss Lily work for it and BHRR’s Burst takes play to a level that Miss Lily is not quite ready for yet these are the two that she has connected with and with her charm, she is going to win over BHRR’s Juniper! 

Today, we are off to the Vet and will post an update afterwards……

NOT YET AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION

Good Morning from this ray of sunshine!!

Miss Lily!
*Deaf / Minor Vision Impairment
*~15 months old

She is settling in well….crate training is going so much better then expected.

She has proven with us to not be housebroken but we will get there!

She has some anxiety also about going outside and we are working through that.

She is very confused about what being a dog is about yet baby steps.

She is the sweetest and most precious of gems! She is affectionate and expresses her joyous feelings with her whole wiggly body! 

She loves to flip water bowls and then just look at you! What a ham!! It is like ‘now that I have your attention…..’

I am totally loving this girl and getting to know her!

I got her!

BHRR’s Miss Lily (Deaf/Visually Impaired Great Dane) – AND her vision impairment is quite minor.

She is the most adorable small package! Smaller than Miss Tilly and equally gorgeous!

We have some behavioural OCD things to work through plus the typical training from what her owner has imparted my way. Sadly, this amazing well intentioned home hired a ‘trainer’ for $3,000 that believes in prongs plus shock collars and just as we knew would be the answer, the behaviours for this sweet innocent young thing became worse.

She has understandable anxiety too.

*NOTE: This thread is not open to debate as to whether you may think prongs, chokes and e-collars are great training tools.*

This poor girl’s neck is raw now.

She is skinny yet, she is also a growing maturing Dane and the weight will come on.

I am now making my long drive home with a real gem of a Dane – I already know that she is going to be a hoot, so much personality plus love and affection in this girl! Already covered in the Dane leans! 

She will begin her proactive/preventative vetting on Monday – I want to give her some time to settle in. We will begin her de-worming protocol now though. She will also need to be spayed – per her Owner, she has had one heat already and is due to have another one shortly.

It was such a pleasure meeting Miss Lily’s Owner and I said several times over that they can reach out any time, that Miss Lily has her own blog already etc.

AND I am anticipating a night of no sleep for crate training is on the agenda for this girl. Mannerisms 101 coming up with Gwennie’s doggie boot camp! 

AND as we have posted already, our doors are now indefinitely closed until further notice.

We have had so many unexpected Vet Bills with BHRR’s Fletcher & BHRR’s Miss Penelope being the latest.

For anyone who may consider assisting us in keeping out doors open, donations can be made direct to Eagleson Veterinary Clinic 613-383-8381

OR via PayPal to gwen@birchhaven.org

OR via email transfer to contactbhrr@gmail.com

This girl is not yet AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION and as we have answered more than one home to date, we will not consider a home without a properly safely fenced in yard.

Her previous Owner can attest to the importance of a fenced in yard as they lost one of their Doberman’s from being hit by a transport….. 

Thank you also once more to Tanya of Poet’s Vision in putting this home in touch with us.

The Bakers Dozen of BHRR’s Oliver(IW/GD) is settling in extremely well to his foster home.

Has been great with their Dane and two chi’s, the geese, the chickens, horses and even one feisty kitten! 

He is getting lots of wonderful careful slow exposure to even more new things and people and they are managing his anxiety plus shyness beautifully.

They are a quietly well balanced social home so he will never be overwhelmed by huge numbers of people or places.

I am so proud of him. I have worked my butt off with this whole litter trying so hard to set them up for success and took criticisms from more than one person who felt they knew better about what was best for them.

I have been patient and have explained so many times over how genetics and not just environment plays a crucial role in how an animal is who they are.

All puppies are not born naturally bouncy, happy, social creatures.

Furthermore, their breed(s) also play a role in their individual temperaments. Additionally, throw in temperaments bred by puppy mills.

BHRR’s Oliver, your progress along with your litter-mates we kept back has been amazing and you shall continue to keep becoming the best dog you can be, as you are in the hands of a home that ‘gets it!’

I miss you and you did not think you could do this yet, we knew you were ready for this next step and you are MORE than doing it! 

AND since you are now in great hands, I can bring in the special needs (Deaf/Visually Impaired) Dane, Miss Lily into my own home tonight.

AND as we have posted several times, our doors will then be indefinitely closed….we are battling so many unexpected Vet Expenses. 

UPDATE: Miss Penelope still has not eaten anything…..