Sally
Sally was our first black in years. Kristi of Laeview wanted us to show her for her, so she came to live with us at 7 weeks
She was a beautiful fat rolly polly pup with good bone and a great head when she arrived. A bit stuborn and an Alpha pup through and through, but showed great Promise for both our kennels
What we did not know and were not aware of was this little girl carried a secret when she got to us. Though seemed just fine for about a week
But she had a nearly deadly reaction at
about 8 weeks old to her boosters that Kristi gave her before shipping. And we would have a hard road to
hoe over the next month trying to keep a puppy covered in
ulcerated open sores and battling for her life, alive! Many pictures
were taken to document for Kristi and others the process. But I do not wish to share them with you. She used to lay in
her water pan for relief and lived on antibiotics and pain meds she was a
sleepy puppy for a long time and that fat rolly polly girl well she was
not fat and or rolly polly when it was over BUT SHE WAS ALIVE! Her near
death caused me to spoil her and let her get away with more than any of
the other pups we were so grateful she was a live.
That decision would come back to haunt me as she grew up and got more head strong. But when she managed to beat that poisoning and the resulting open wounds of her bodies reaction. I would have given her the world. As we and she had worked so hard and endured so much to get to that point.
The two below are Sally about well no more open wounds but still a sick pup,see the turned in flanks?
This is Sally after all clear from the vet she actually lost the hair around her eyes but because the skin was so black, as she was one of those blue black, blacks- you had to look close to see it and it did not stop her show career- more on that later
As Sally grew she put on more weight and soon was the rolly polly good head and bone girl she had started out being she was missing hair and had some scars but over all it really did not show and her personality won the day and she took Puppy Class at 4 months at my Club's match. Course could have been some bias as everyone knew the ordeal she had come through and that it was her first show :)
Then the world changed and I had to close my kennel and send the dogs off with Co/ Owners. Sally was no exception she went back to Kristi in Jan 2001.
Sally was a character in the months we had her she would turn into a sack of potatoes and be butt heavy when you tried to move her and she did not want to be picked up.
She hated when out in the yard at night to be made to come back in and would stand completely still outside and with her eyes closed cuse she knew if she did this you could not see her from the house.
Now Sally was a stubborn
gal and we had more then one run in as she grew up, but she also so liked to
win, so if you just waited her out just stood there quiet after calling her she
would, not eventually move- she is way too clever for that hehehe!
But she would open her eyes to see if you were still there and then you could see her. She hated when she was spotted and knew when she blew it by the eye contact she would make with me and you could feel her thought process about pretending she had not just looked right at me you could see it on her face- Then she would show a look of ah well and she would break in a glorious butt-tuck around the yard at hyper speed a couple of times and without missing a beat coming out of her last turn would beeline for the door and zip past me into the house and skidding to a stop on her belly and look at me with this look of total innocence about what she had just put me through. She was my clown and so intelligent.
When I sent her back to Kristi we hoped her show career would continue there and it did,
But sadly she she had a poor hip score at 2 years old and though pointed in the breed ring towards her championship she was pulled with the bad OFAs spayed and sent to a pet home, As her poor hips score of mild HD (Hip Dysplasia a joint disorder) would not affect her life only made her not suitable to breed from.
Sadly sometimes even with the best intentions and preparations HD and other diseases and conditions do show up in our lines. And if you breed long enough you will see problems. All you can do is keep that dog from breeding.
And that is why we show them the breed ring is a proving ground of brood stock and so there was no reason to finish her. Better to put the time and money into a better candidate for breeding and get her settled in a forever home.
Silly Sally Sue is very happy with the family Kristi sent her to.
Sally in 2003
I have not heard from her people since then, but I am sure she has a wonderful life, Sally would accpt no less :)
