Mr. Buddy Rose - American Staffordshire Terrier Part XX

(Parts I-XIX of Buddy's story are posted below. If you would like to read them in chronological order, please scroll down. You may need to click "Older Posts" at the bottom of this page. Thanks for reading the story of the remarkable Mr. Buddy Rose.)

Thursday, October 21, 2010
Mr. Buddy Rose is healthy, happy and remains up and walking on all four paws. He is better than he was 26 days ago. He is still not quite as healthy as he has been at his best. After a little more than three weeks back on the steroid Prednisone, we are slowly weaning him back off it. He will have a low dosage of Prednisone every other day for the next 30 days and then we will re-evaluate with his vet. Our hope is that he will be able to live without it. The reality of his situation may be that he has to remain on some small dosage for the remainder of his life.

Before this recent set-back, Buddy had been off Prednisone for more than 60 days. After all of the original tests and vet consultations, we believe Buddy has a back injury. A couple of the vets and specialists have suggested he may have two back injuries, one in his neck and the other in his lower back. A week after we removed him from that filthy yard, when he could only crawl around, we were told someone "may" have hit him with a tire iron. In the deepest, darkest recesses of my brain, I cannot imagine someone hitting any dog with a tire iron, much less, using terms such as "may," "might," "could" or "maybe" when stating the possibilities of what this beautiful dog went through at the hands of an abuser. If I saw anyone hit a dog with anything, there would be no "may," "might," "could" or "maybe" to it. I regress, back to Buddy and his walking issues.

Four weeks ago this past Tuesday, we took Mr. Rose for his first "doggie play day" at one of the local kennels. He plays with little dogs all the time, we really wanted to give him the opportunity to play and run with big dogs. Placing no blame, something happened to him that day. Whether he jumped, was jumped on, rolled around or wrestled around. We're pretty sure something happened to him which caused re-injury to his already fragile spine. In hind-sight, we did not realize how fragile his spine really was. The day after he attended his doggie play day, his walking was slow. We attributed this to his being tired from the day before. By the next day, he was much slower and his legs were trembling when he stood for any length of time. The third day we were at the vet and Buddy was back on Prednisone.

We wonder if he will ever be able to run and play with big dogs or if he will continue to re-injure himself and be resigned to always being the "Bullie" in a world full of small dogs. Yesterday, the Colonel tossed Buddy's "ball on a rope" into his little kiddie pool. He gave a big chase and a huge jump, only to splay himself out in the middle of the pool with a massive splash. It was funny to see, but it's incredibly hard to worry about him with every jump, fall or tumble. So, today, like every day after something big, we are once again watching him for any sign of weakness in his legs. He seems fine and fit, but the worrying about him seems to never end.

What if Mr. Rose is a "special needs" dog? I have thought about this a lot. The reality is, like all dogs, he is a "special needs" dog. He has the "special need" to be loved and cared for, the same love and care all of our dogs need and deserve. After all, it's a small price to pay for our special need of getting their unconditional love and loyalty.

Mr. Buddy Rose - American Staffordshire Terrier Part XIX

(Parts I - XVIII of this story are posted below. If you would like to start at Part I, please scroll down. You may need to click "Older Posts" at the bottom of this page. Thank you for reading the story of a remarkable dog, Mr. Buddy Rose.)

Saturday, October 16, 2010
There is simply no doubt about it. We can learn many lessons from our dogs. Some lessons are easier than others. Sometimes our dogs are like sandpaper and rub off our rough edges. Every now and then they teach us something about ourselves we really need to know.

In the business world, perception really is everything. Perceptions made by first impressions can actually make or destroy your career. Because of perception, those wielding power can make or break your career. For most of my life, I have been worried about how others "perceived" me. How do they see my actions? What does it look like from their point of view? One of the downfalls of this way of thinking, especially in business, with perception, you really can fake it until you make it. This is not true with dogs. There is no perception, or faking it until you make it with dogs.

Before Mr. Buddy Rose came into my life, I walked Mollie the Mini-Schnauzer daily. As this little dog pulled me around the neighborhood, I worried about how the neighbors saw me. Mollie is cute. She makes 2-legged and 4-legged friends easily. On a leash, as with most things in her life, she was in control.

After Mr. Buddy Rose finally started walking, I began walking Mollie and Buddy together. In the beginning, Buddy could not walk well, so we walked slowly and had lots of rest stops. Mollie still pulled, but lucky for me she was small enough to control.

As Buddy got stronger, walking the two dogs together was a struggle. It was a physical struggle, but more than this, it was an emotional struggle. What are my neighbors going to think when they see me with these two out of control dogs? It was downright embarrassing to me. There were brief periods when both dogs were angels on leashes. I prayed my neighbors saw me during these times. I did my research. I read all the books, watched all the television shows and endlessly searched the Internet for solutions to my dog-walking issues. I've tried just about every solution I found. It's taken four months for the somewhat dim light bulb in my brain to tell me the problem with walking these dogs is not the dogs, it's me.

It's not about how others see me walking my dogs. It is all about how my dogs see me. And, it's not just when I am walking them, but how they see me all the time. We are the walkers, feeders, pooper scoopers, treaters, scratchers, caressers, playmates, ball-throwers and disciplinarians of our dogs. But, what do they think about us? Are we "pack" members? Are we "pack" leaders? Are we merely humans, here to insure all of their needs and wants are met?

I don't have the answers, but I am committed to allowing these dogs to be the best, happiest dogs they can be. I will no longer worry about what others think about my dog-walking skills. I will be looking to the dogs making sure they are watching me for direction. I've had several really good days of walking both dogs together. This sense of accomplishment is far more satisfying than any business goal I ever achieved.

Mr. Buddy Rose - American Staffordshire Terrier Part XVIII

(Parts I-XVII of Buddy's story are posted below. If you would like to read them in chronological order, start at Part I. You may need to click "Older Posts" at the bottom of this page. Thanks for continuing to follow the story of the remarkable Mr. Buddy Rose.)

Friday, October 8, 2010
Did you see the movie Ground Hog Day? That's sort of how I feel as we are going through many of the same things we experienced in late June and early July.

Mr. Buddy Rose has had a great week. He has started to play again and is sleeping less. Sunday, we will once again lower his dosage of Prednisone to half. He will get a 10mg. dose every other day for a week and then we talk to the vet again. We may need to take him back to the vet and have his reflexes re-checked. Watching Buddy's reflex response test makes me feel bi-polar. We've seen this test so many times. His response can either break my heart or make me extremely happy.

His walking is still improving. He is still having some trouble with his front legs. One of them is worse than the other and seems to turn under when he stands, until he corrects it. This same leg may be causing him to stumble occasionally, although the stumbling seems rare. When Buddy first started walking, from crawling, the pads on all four feet became raw because they hadn't been walked on in so long. Now, he is trying to compensate for whatever is going on with his walking. He has developed two raw spots on the inside of his pads on both front feet. I can only equate it to how our shoe soles wear, based on how we walk. He is walking differently because he is wearing his pads differently. They will toughen up, like they did before, but I really would like to know why his walking has changed. Could pain be causing him to walk differently?

I, once again, being scared to let him lose momentum when he is walking, have allowed him to become a total leash maniac. He is stronger and is again pulling me around all over the neighborhood. He had come so far with his leash training. I really hate that we have lost that ground. Yesterday, I told him to "heel." He must have misunderstood me because he immediately dragged me 15-feet to the closest tree so he could urinate on it. Maybe he won't forget everything he had previously learned. It is time I start taking control of him again. The general public is scared enough of Pit Bulls. They get even more scared when the Pittie is dragging the human walker behind them. If they were already thinking "out of control" Pit Bull, seeing him walk me surely supports their theory!

In a little over a week, Mr. Buddy Rose has 58 "likes" on FaceBook. I am familiar with about 25 of Buddy's fans. Several friends suggested his page to their friends, others have just found him through other venues. Most of his fans are from the United States but he does have fans in Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Taiwan and Turkey. He is becoming quite the popular guy in his own virtual reality.

He surely is THE popular guy in real-life!