Pauly was it – that once-in-a-lifetime dog you’ll always tell stories about. This is the funniest “Pauly” story of all.  I’ll tell it my best, but there is just no substitute for having been there when it happened. It was a million-dollar moment, sadly before the days of cell phone cameras.

I’ll Always Remember The First Time I Saw Him.

Pauly was a pathetic, sad-looking little dude. The Humane Society called me one day and asked me to come get this poor little mess that had been picked up as a stray. They called me because Pauly was a senior and that’s what I do – I rescue seniors (www.milagropets.org). So I hiked on over to the AHS, and the folks there walked me to the back room where all the strays are held. And there he sat, this nasty-looking little disaster that used to be a red Pomeranian, lounging in an eye-level kennel and looking out at me like he already knew I was coming and why was I so slow about it. Good Lord! He was a big spit wad of steel wool, with a ratty tail and a really cute face. And I swear – he gave me a wink and this “whadda you lookin’ at, Sugar” kind of attitude. Really? This scroungy little thing thought he was God’s cutest gift. And I already believed him.

Pauly also had a collapsed trachea, so he yacked all the time … ALL the time. Loud. All day long … all night long. I said loud, right? You know how when a teenage girl gets a used Mustang with standard-shift for her 16th birthday and she keeps stripping gears between first and second because she has no clue what she’s doing? Loud like that. God bless his heart. Poor little guy had to be miserable and exhausted for all the wretched coughing, but Pauly just had a great attitude about things.

There is a surgical fix for collapsed tracheas where a stint is installed to keep the bronchial way open, but the veterinarian wouldn’t do it for Pauly because its rate of success was pretty low. She didn’t want to put Pauly, as a delicate senior, through the trauma of surgery knowing it very likely might not work for him. So she put him on a few medications instead — they didn’t work.

Uncommon Strategist.

Pauly quickly became my sidekick. He had a natural instinct for making me laugh. How he knew was amazing. His timing was spot-on like any great comedian on TV – he could actually orchestrate moments of hilarity. Truly this little dog was gifted. Not only did he have the instinct, but it was important to him to make me laugh, as if he assigned himself the job of being jester in the queen’s court. The whole house was just happier with Pauly in it. I LOVED him for that.

So I’m Sitting There One Day …

Talking with my close friend Marilin. I was plopped on the kitchen floor, and Marilin was perched up on a dining room chair facing me, about four maybe five feet between us. It was a typical, gorgeous winter day here in Phoenix, mid-70s, the grass is green, and you can have all the doors and windows open. I had the sliding patio door wide open and the seniors were wandering in and out and in and out … because they could. They were completely entertained walking out the door, then in the door, then out the door. It tickled them like Christmas day. Their traffic path moved right between Marilin and I, so we had front-row seats to the show. We chatted and drank coffee and watched the seniors enjoy the sun on their faces and the breeze in their fur, and it was just an easy, great day.

Along Came Pauly.

When all the other seniors had settled outside to sunbathe in the winter grass, Pauly came strolling through the kitchen as if headed outside himself. But then he stopped dead between us, right in our line of vision, and stood staring out the door. Marilin and I chatted on for another minute, not realizing yet that Pauly was waiting on us to notice him. But then we picked up on his very deliberate, patient pose. So we got quiet and focused on him, wondering what he was up to.

Confident that he had our attention now, Pauly turned his head to the left and looked up at Marilin. They locked eyes, and Marilin pulled her chin back and got this really confused look on her face, like what the?? Pauly looked at Marilin a few more seconds, apparently to be sure she was under his spell, or at least paying close attention. She was. Then he turned his head meaningfully all the way to his right and locked his eyes on me. He held his gaze on me until I was fixated, too, almost as if he intended to hypnotize us. His head was cocked as he looked at me, and then over at Marilin again, and then back to me, as if to say “do I have your attention now?” Yes, for certain he had our undivided attention now.

Wait For It, Wait For It.

It may have been only seconds, but it felt like the lonnngest pause. Marilin and I were still as we could be. Seems we had gotten the same message. We had no idea what was coming, but neither of us planned to miss any of it.

Pauly gave one more back-and-forth check from me to Marilin and back to me again. Then he looked straight ahead out the door, closed his little chocolate-brown eyes really really tight, pulled up his shoulders, and bore down hard … and FARTED … real long and real loud. It was high-powered and rumbled like an old Harley, and he kept bearing down hard to keep it going for as long as he could. I admit to being quite impressed. For a moment, Marilin and I were frozen in disbelief that a little old dog could produce something so majestic, and moreso that he staged the whole event. Who knew dogs could do that?! And as we sat watching him, stunned, Pauly lifted his head, opened his eyes, and looked again at Marilin and back to me, clearly proud of himself, and fully expecting praise for his most excellent accomplishment, knowing he had achieved greatness.

But It’s Not Over!

Once it hit us what we had just witnessed, we fell into raucous laughter, and Marilin fell right off the dining room chair onto the floor, which put me totally over the top laughing and I wet my pants. My face hurt, my neck hurt, my ribs hurt, and I felt bruised for days from laughing so hard. My neighbors hollered over the fence asking if we were okay. For a minute, I was not even sure.

As soon as the laughter began, it was like Pauly knew he had us. He straightened himself up all high and mighty, gave a quick chin-up to his audience, and rolled slowly on outside to bathe in the sun. He was walking his red carpet, telling us all “Yeh that’s right, I’m bad” and glowing in his success. What I wouldn’t give to have captured it all on video.

For months after that, whenever Marilin and I would call each other or see each other, we would launch again into tearful laughter before we could even begin a normal conversation. Only she and I knew why – people thought we were nuts. In my life, that is one of the funniest moments, and I’ve had some doozies. That was our million-dollar moment with Pauly – my little comedian. My heart. My laughter. Your legacy lives on, little man. Bravo!

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

God Bless and Happy Pet Parenting!

With love and good wishes,
jeannie.   ?

About jeannie:  I’ve been pro-actively involved in pet rescue all of my life. I founded Milagro Senior Pet Refuge© (Phoenix) in 1998, and BareFootPets (TM) in 2008. Animal welfare has always been and will always be my heart’s work. If my only legacy is that I save a handful of precious souls that would not survive otherwise, I’m good with that.

The post Pauly, My Little Comedian. appeared first on BareFootPets.

May not sound like a big deal, right, but this is an important one. The collar should be used only for the pet’s id tags, and a harness for attaching leads. Did you know that, by using a collar and leash to walk your pooch, especially small dogs, that you’re putting dangerous pressure on his delicate trachea and could cause it to actually collapse? A collapsed trachea means your pet will struggle forever now just to breathe, and will become old before his time. Medications can help a bit, but come with side effects. The only “fix” for a collapsed trachea is to surgically implant a stint. For most folks, this surgery is hardly affordable. Plus, it isn’t guaranteed and rarely works for the longterm – not to mention, it’s dangerous to put your pet through such a surgery. Please consider the argument for harnesses instead.

Is A Collapsed Trachea That Big A Deal?

A collapsed trachea is very painful for your pet and seriously diminishes his quality of life. It interferes with his breathing, causes him to cough endlessly every waking hour as if his insides are going to come out, and takes away his overall strength and energy. This wretching coughing drives everyone in the house nuts, the pet is miserable, the owners feel helpless to do anything because the surgery’s too expensive and, in the end, out of frustration, the pet gets surrendered to a shelter or sometimes even taken to the vet to be put down. This horribly sad outcome can be totally avoided by just using a harness instead of a collar. Attaching the lead to his harness will distribute the pressure evenly across the pet’s chest and eliminate any pressure to his trachea. Now that you’re aware of the hazard of attaching leads to collars, this is a totally simple change you can make to protect your pet’s health, your sanity, and your pocketbook. Make the switch now, prevent the damage, and protect his future. When shopping for harnesses, you’ll notice that some appear more like vests, covering a larger area of the chest. These are ideal if your dog is a real “puller,” because they best distribute the pressure overall to prevent any pain or injury to your pet.

But I Still Prefer Using A Collar – Can I Do So Safely?

If your preference is still to use a collar and leash, here’s a simple tip to ensure your pet’s protection: bring the collar right up to the back of the dog’s ears, and right up under his chin, as close as possible to the jaw and away from his trachea. And – here’s the most important part ~ NEVER pull backward on the lead. ALWAYS pull straight up, so that the collar and lead are right behind his ears and almost lifting his front feet straight up. That way, you’ll avoid any pressure to the trachea completely.

You also will have more control over your pet, because you’ll be removing his natural urge to pull against the lead. You see, dogs are biologically hard-wired to work and pull, just like an oxen pulling a cart. When they feel the pressure of a leash pulling them back, their basic nature kicks in and they instinctively pull against it. Think about how many times you’ve seen a dog dragging his owner along on a lead. You know it’s got to hurt because he’s pulling and wheezing SO hard and it looks like he’s choking himself. And you wonder why he doesn’t stop. It’s simple – instinct tells him to pull.

So you see – you sabotage any success you’re looking for in leash-training by using the old conventional method and letting your dog pull you on a walk. The harder you pull against him as he pulls against you – you’re actually encouraging a really dangerous habit. A good example is to watch dog shows. Notice how the handler lifts straight up on the lead and how it’s right up under the dog’s chin and touching behind his ears. That’s the correct way to use a lead. For those of you with dogs that pull, trust me when I tell you that getting a bigger, heavier collar and chains, or even those awful chokers with metal teeth on them, is NOT the answer. If you teach yourself the right way and then teach your pooch the right way, you’ll be able to handle the biggest “puller” dog with just your pinky finger. It’s true! Try it! Be patient, tho. If you’ve been walking your dog the old conventional way for very long, it will take awhile for both of you to get the hang of it and program yourselves the new way. But definitely worth it!

Pauly – Too Late To Turn Back Time. The Damage Was Done.

My little Pauly was left at the Humane Society because his owner couldn’t take the coughing. Pauly had a collapsed trachea, the vet said probably from being pulled by his collar. I took him home, and we had an instant love affair. Pauly was my sidekick, and God how I treasured him. But his wretching cough was the worst. There were many many sleepless nights when I thought I would lose my mind because it never stopped. But bless his heart he couldn’t help it, and he was so exhausted. I took him to the vet, then to a specialist, who told me about stint surgery. But the surgery wasn’t guaranteed to work. Stints often slip out of place and cause more problems than they solve. He advised against the surgery because it would be too hard on Pauly, and disappointing if it didn’t work. Instead, he put Pauly on medications to relax his breathing. That didn’t help. Pauly still struggled and coughed and coughed. He was just so worn out, and eventually lost the will to play with his toys … and eventually lost the battle just to breathe. It was beyond heartbreaking to see him get old before his time, especially knowing it could have been prevented so easily. Rest in peace, little guy. You were the best.

Look Down The Road To Help You Make The Best Decision.

So there’s your tip for the day – hook your leads to harnesses instead of collars, especially on delicate, small dogs. You may very well be saving his life.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

God Bless and Happy Pet Parenting!

With love and good wishes,
jeannie.   ?

About jeannie:  I’ve been pro-actively involved in pet rescue all of my life. I founded Milagro Senior Pet Refuge© (Phoenix) in 1998, and BareFootPets (TM) in 2008.  Animal welfare has always been and will always be my heart’s work. If my only legacy is that I save a handful of precious souls that would not survive otherwise, I’m good with that.

The post Woah Nellie! Harness or Collar? appeared first on BareFootPets.