| Wrigley was a prime example of doing your research before
you purchase a dog!!!
This dog taught me
so much. I got Wrigley somewhat on impulse. She was extremely misrepresented
to me. When I got her at 5 months of age, she arrived with demodectic mange, an
umbilical hernia, bilateral ear infections, and she was pretty aggressive.
I was determined to work
with the aggression and the medical stuff wasn't that big of a deal... it could all be
"fixed." Within 1 month of having Wrigley, she started limping. She
was found her have bilateral OCD of the shoulders, elbow dysplasia with DJD already
present in one of the elbows, and bilateral hip dysplasia. Her breeder was
immediately notified. After a lot of emails exchanged, her final offer at rectifying
the situation was that I could send Wrigley back at my expense, she'd keep the money I had
already paid for her, and she'd be euthanized as soon as she got off of the plane.
That wasn't an option for me! I cut my losses and kept Wrigley.
After months of work,
Wrigley's temperament chilled out and she was a "normal" dog. I did
attempt to have her OCD surgically corrected and her breeder called my surgeon and
threatened a law suit stating she wasn't legally mine (which was true at the time, the
paperwork hadn't been completed). At 15 months of age, Wrigley blew out both ACL's
and had surgery to repair them. Despite Wrigley's problems, she
was a great dog and I
just loved her dearly! She was a true character and she kept the other dogs in line.
Wrigley was diagnosed with
osteosarcoma in early February 2008. We chose to amputate her leg one week
later. It didn't slow her down at all! She is pictured below in the
yard a few weeks after amputation with our foster dog, Goliath.
In early
July 2008, Wrigley showed a mild decrease in appetite for a couple
of days and then she developed a subtle cough and was acting
uncomfortable. Just as I had feared, her cancer had come back
and spread, and there was nothing more that could be done for her.
I decided to let her spend one more night at home and then sent her
to the Rainbow Bridge on July 10, 2008.
The
Wriggles was a wonderful dog, and I will miss her forever!
|
