Dixie came to live with us on March 9th, 1998.
We rescued her from our local pound. Dixie is a chow mix with a very sweet
disposition.
The day we got Dixie started with my husband seeing a dog in the Dallas Morning
News that needed a home. The dog was at the Dallas SPCA.
I called to ask them if the dog was still available and was told that the
dog had been adopted. Her name was Tootsie, we kept the article about her
in our scrap book.
My husband had this overwhelming need to rescue a dog and so we went to our
local pound.
Tim stayed in the car. He knew he would want to rescue them all, so I went
in alone.
There were only four pens and in one pen were four little puppies, a very
sick female dog and a little rat terrier.
Dixie was the shy one. In fact she ignored me and stayed close to the female
that was so sick. So, I picked her.
The caretaker sealed it when she asked why I would want her? The other puppies
are friendlier she said.
I'm convinced that if I hadn't picked Dixie that day......she would have
died right there in that pen or been put to sleep.
You see we only had Dixie for two days when she started throwing up and had
diarrhea.
I was in a panic. I had already fallen in love with this dear little rescue
and I couldn't bare to think of losing her.
The next day our worst fears were confirmed. She had Parvo. I still have
what I wrote during this time, so I'll include it here.
Written in March 1998
On Mar.13,1998 we are battling the deadly disease parvo.
Tim and I rescued a 10 week old puppy from our local pound Monday. She is a chow mix, a sable color. She is so sweet and smart. She already knows her name, which is Dixie, and comes running to us when we call her.
I was using the kennel technique to housebreak her and in 4 days she had only pottied twice in the house. She is so loving and good natured and tonight she is in a veterinary hospital fighting the battle of her life.
I brought her 200 miles to a hospital in the Dallas/Ft.Worth metroplex. I choose them because they have 24 hour care and a vet at the clinic 24 hours a day.
They are very aggressive in their treatment and boast a 70%-80% success rate. I gladly gave them the $500.00 retainer they asked for and now I sit here telling you my story.
The story of a little girl's life that may be cut short like so many before her by a deadly virus. A sweet little thing that I may never get to know and share my life with. We got her into treatment early so hopefully all will be well. I'm crying too hard to continue right now, but I'll update you and let you know if Dixie lives and if any of my 3 other house dogs get sick. They are vaccinated so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.
Mar.20,1998 and Dixie beat parvo. And none of my other dogs have gotten sick. Unfortunately, Dixie had to battle a secondary infection. Her doctor thought she may have the early stages of pneumonia or possibly distemper. It was an upper respiratory infection. The upper respiratory infection was almost worst than the parvo. Poor Dixie couldn't breath through her nose and would gasp for breath with her little tongue hanging out. We were terrified. She did finally conquer this, too.
On Mar.25,1998 Dixie has made a complete recovery. And can finally start being a puppy.
PLEASE PEOPLE....vaccinate your dogs and lets make parvo a thing of the past.
Dixie really didn't have anyone to play with until she was 10 months old.
Our other house dogs at the time were Hillary and Okie. Hillary is an 80lb Collie mix and we had Hillary for almost 3 years before we got Okie. Hillary didn't consider Okie as any competition for our affections.
But, when we got Dixie, Hillary was almost 5 and Hillary did not care for a new puppy coming to live with us. So, Hillary ignored Dixie and growled at her a lot. She even attacked her a couple of times.
And Okie is a 5lb. Chihuahua who tried to play with Dixie until Dixie got too big. So, Dixie had a lonely period of her life.
Then we got Diamond and Shammy. Diamond and Shammy are the same size as Dixie and they are the three musketeers. They are constantly playing and get a long very well.
We also got a new puppy back in June 1999. We are the proud parents of a female Jack Russell Terrier named Tatum.
At first Dixie didn't care for the new puppy and I couldn't help but think about Dixie knowing how Hills felt when we brought her home.
But, it only took a couple of days and Dixie was accepting the puppy and playing with the puppy. She plays with her very gently, too.
I have to tell you, I am so proud of Dixie. She is really sweet and smart and is a spot of sunshine in our lives.
She's all grown up and loves the Texas Longhorns.
You can see where her legs were shaven for the IV's.
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