<p>We had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel for 13 1/2 years. Lost him to valvular heart disease a year ago. We never had trouble with him urinating in the house AFTER he was trained, but it took FOREVER to train him. He slept in a crate on my D’s bed until he was trained, and I tell you, he was wet every morning for probably the first four months we had him. Everyday I had to take him outside in the morning, bring him in and bathe his ‘undercarriage’, then complete cleanse the crate. But, after he was trained, not one accident inside. </p>
<p>When he died, he had valvular heart disease, congestive heart failure, he was deaf, had colitis, had some back issues, had dislocated a leg years earlier, and had vesticular disease which made him walk a little crooked. Even with all of that, his bad days were few and he lived his life with such joy. His nickname was “Mr. Love” because that is what he was, pure love! We still can’t talk about him without tearing up! We think about getting another dog, but still aren’t ready. We also have an old cat who would probably have the vapors if we did! </p>
<p>So right now, I send in the form of a donation, what I would be spending on the care of our own dog to a wonderful organization called Jade’s Mission, a group of people who go up and down the inner city streets of Kansas City helping neglected and abused dogs. They put straw in doghouses when the poor dogs have a house, give dogs who don’t have them houses, and try to talk owners into letting them put on a lightweight wire tieout instead of the heavy chains so many owners seem to want to use. They demand owners relinquish dogs to them who are underweight or in need of medical attention. The volunteers of Jade’s Mission and people like them are angels on earth!</p>
<p>Yalemom15 It has been a struggle because 18 month ago it took me 1 hour to walk just over a mile then an hour in the tub to soak my back but now I walk a 15 minute mile with him and we get home and he is just as tired as I am.</p>
<p>I was so lucky to not have to house train our dog as he was trained by his mother when we picked him up from a local farm at 8 weeks old. Came home put him outside and that was it, never had one accident in the house.</p>
<p>I love the stories of people trying to help the discarded and abused dogs (animals in general), I wish I could do that!!!</p>
<p>“Purebred” in that context can have somewhat limited meaning. Puppies produced by careful breeders will virtually never be available for adoption from a shelter, since they are micro-chipped and the sales contract states that the dog should be returned to them for rehoming if the purchaser can’t keep it. The breed representatives in shelters will be highly unlikely to conform closely to the breed standard. If you are interested in a specific breed, don’t forget breed rescue groups. They not only accept surrenders directly, but often have agreements with shelters and take identifiable dogs out for fostering and rehoming.</p>
<p>We had a corgi who sadly passed last March that came to us because his original owner returned him for something strictly cosmetic.</p>
<p>Also , if you live in an area where certain breeds are hard to find as rescues , you can contact breeders to see if they have an older dog looking for a home. I did this twice and then got brave and got a puppy. All experiences were great for us. I was nervous about getting a puppy because I was afraid of housetraining issues and destruction , but other than a few accidents on our laminate or tiles floors , we had an easy transition with the pup. He was 3/4 of the way there when we brought him home and also crate trained thank goodness</p>
<p>My neighbor fosters dachshunds for a local rescue group. They often end up in the rescue system because they got too fat…(the fat on a dachshund has nowhere to go!) and my neighbor has to basically put them on doggie food rehab plus exercises them a ton. She’s had 4 or 5 fosters, and the difference in what they look like before they come to her and after is amazing!! They always have families eager to scoop the newly svelte ‘hotdogs’ after she’s put them through her regimen. </p>
<p>If you are smitten with a specific breed, the individual breed rescue organizations are a great option.</p>
<p>I’ve got three rescues - a 12 yr. old Belgium Shepard who is sweet and very smart but slowing down a lot, a 6 yr. old Pekechin, who has numerous issues including: resource guarding, biting the hand that feeds her, bladder stones which requires special, very expensive food, allergies and compulsive licking of floors and carpet which requires prozac to control - and a 2 year old Japanese Chin who is just the sweetest thing. </p>
<p>None of them like to go out when it’s raining but they all love the cold. I thought the baby would need a coat and booties to handle single digit temps so I was pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>Bless you emilybee! People who rescue and accept a dog with whatever issues they come with have a special place in the hereafter in my book!</p>
<p>I have a cat on the ‘bladder food’ after a freak kidney stone (that NEVER occur in female cats) caused her to go into acute renal failure 2 years ago. 5 days in the ‘cat ICU’ in the “big city” and a vet bill that could have purchased a decent used car, she survives and thrives! And no, we didn’t have cat insurance (wish we would have!).</p>
<p>My current feline (down from three) came with just about every ailment known to cats-- worms, earmites, bladder problems and FIV+. But he is the best cat I’ve ever known, in fact, he really seems more like a dog.</p>
<p>I got my first Papillon when I was 13, and I am now on my third. DH was brought up with St. Bernards and was skeptical about my toy dog, but now he can’t imagine why anyone would have a big dog.</p>
<p>Papillon #2 was demoted from “surrogate child” to “dog” status when DS was born and never liked DS. When DS was 4 he said “Mommy, when Buca dies, can we get a NICE dog?” So when the time came, we did. </p>
<p>Papillon #3 adores DS and is a good mouser. 6 so far (that we know of). She will also eat any bug, or amphibian she can catch. We have to watch her because toads make her sick. Unfortunately she does not realize she only weighs 11 pounds, and has chased deer, skunks, chipmunks, and regularly corners and terrorizes the neighborhood woodchuck. Her major vet crisis came when she got into DS’s dark chocolate. Fortunately she pulled out of it with treatment and time. </p>
<p>We don’t have pet insurance. At $65 per month, we would be out $10,000 by now, and the chocolate incident came in at less than $1,000.</p>
<p>We have loved all our Papillons, but in general they have been far more casual about housebreaking than many people would put up with. #3 is 13 now, and has just gone deaf. It seems to upset her, more than us but I think she will eventually get used to it.</p>
<p>Spend a little time on Petfinder.com and you’ll be able to see lots of pets available. You can put in searches for your area. Specify size of dog, color - lots of things. Warning: it’s often said once you get on Petfinder, there’s no looking back. :)</p>
<p>“Bless you emilybee! People who rescue and accept a dog with whatever issues they come with have a special place in the hereafter in my book!”</p>
<p>Thanks, but if I knew then what I know now! She is an incredibly difficult dog. Needs to be put under ($$$) at the vet because of her biting, to get her nails clipped the groomers have to wear the padded, above the elbow gloves and she can never be groomed. I can bath her but if I try to put her in the tub she will bite me and to take her out of the tub after she bites, so I have to throw a treat in the tub to get her in and one on the floor after and hopes she jumps out. We don’t do any teeth brushing as we are hoping her teeth get so bad they fall out! </p>
<p>Her newest thing, which started last week out of the blue, was her diving into the baby dogs food bowl (she’s a very slow eater) so now I have to gate big dog and baby dog in the laundry room at meal time and feed problem dog in another room. </p>
<p>She has eaten spackle, insulation, a whole head of garlic, chocolate and nothing kills her. Last week she ate two cotton balls that had nail polish remover with nail polish on them.</p>
<p>I was looking around for puppies (please do not tell my old Brittany), and saw that the breeder gives away his mama dogs when they reach age 8. That would be a good option for plenty of people because they live a pretty long time for dogs.</p>
<p>Emilybee, I think my dog is bad, but he does not bite. Hugs to you.</p>
<p>MD Mom, I told our breeder that if a dog were ever surrendered or she had more older dogs than she wanted to keep I would happily provide a home. I think I am too old for another puppy.</p>