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| Name: |
Shanie
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Age: |
Fifteen years old
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| Gender: |
Female |
Breed: |
Rottweiler, German, Beagle
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| Home: |
Wasilla, Alaska, USA |
Shanie
has been with our family for over fourteen years. She is going to be turning
sixteen years old in October 2015. She was a Pound Puppy who I brought home on the
day she was scheduled to be euthanized. Shanie's mother was a
Rottweiler/German Shepherd mix, who was bred to a husky, but who secretly
bred to the neighbor's beagle as well. The pups were purchased by a musher,
and Shanie, along with two of her brothers, were dumped at the pound when the
musher learned they didn't have any Husky in them, and had absolutely no
desire to pull. Shanie was less than a year old at the time, and was already
pregnant with her first litter. She gave birth at the pound, and all seven of her
pups were adopted out to loving homes, leaving her alone, and unwanted.
When I saw her, she was cowering in the corner of her concrete cell, shaking
in fear, scared, dirty, thin, and sick. I talked to the lady at the front
desk, and she informed me that she was scheduled to be put down that day, so
I decided to bring her home. At first she was scared of everything. Her belly
was still saggy from nursing her pups, and she was very ill, and vomited everywhere.
After visiting our Vet, we were told she was never going to make it through
her spay surgery the way she was, and I was given a "note" from the Vet to
take to the pound to give her more time. They originally give you ten days to
spay/neuter. Our girl needed at least three months to get better. Our Vet did
some blood work, and discovered she had a severe allergy to ham, which is why
she was throwing up everywhere, and that she also had an infection in her
uterus, for which he put her on antibiotics. She weight just 21 pounds (9.5kg) ...
Three months later, she was 47 pounds (21kg), her belly looked normal, her coat
shined, she had energy, and was a healthy, happy dog. So she went in to get spayed!
She proved to be one of the most incredible animals I have ever had the
pleasure of sharing my life with. She saved my young son's life three times since
he was born. All three times happened between the ages of two and three (while I was
pregnant with my daughter). Once, while I was in the restroom, he managed to
open the locks on the front door, and tried to go to a playground across the
street. Shanie stopped him from running across the busy street by grabbing
him by the back of his pants with her teeth, and standing firm, restraining
him, even though he tried everything to get her to let go... She held on,
until I got there and scooped him up!
The second time was when he somehow managed to remove the restraining divider
from our second story balcony sliding door while I was cooking, and tried to
jump down into a small kiddie-pool. She pulled him down off the ledge! And
the last time, he decided to try climbing on a 200-pound (91kg) cage in the middle of
the night, on the bottom level of our home, while everyone else in the house
was sleeping. The cage fell on him, and he was suffocating. She ran into our
bedroom, and bit me hard on the hand to wake me up, and made me follow her to
find him!
Shanie is a Natural mother. She loves anything and everything small and
furry! We fostered a litter of kittens once when she was about seven years old,
and three days after we brought the kittens to our home, Shanie started to
lactate, and was nursing the kittens!
When she was younger, she suffered from severe separation anxiety, and was so
attached to me and my husband, that she had to go everywhere with us,
including work, because if not, she would destroy the entire house! That
stopped when she turned ten years old, and she has been able to be left alone
since. I guess she finally figured out she's not ever going anywhere after all!
Our beloved, sweet baby girl is slowing down in her old age, and we are
dreading the day we will have to say good-bye. There will never be another
dog like her!
See more images of Shanie!
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