Monday, March 14, 2005

In The Beginning


Tinker's Tale - I wanted to find a good place to document the injury and recovery of one of our dogs, Tinker, and figured this was as good a place as any. First, a little background. We adopted Tinker on April 29, 2004 from BREW Beagle Rescue We were looking for a high-spirited dog as a pal for our first beagle, Virginia. She was adopted from SOS Beagle Rescue on April 20, 2000. I guess we have a thing about April and beagles. Virginia suffers from separation anxiety. Being pack-oriented, it's not an uncommon malady for beagles. So we wanted a pal to inspire Virginia to play and also to keep her anxieties at bay while my wife and I were at work.

Things couldn't have worked out better. Although Virginia still had her barking moments, things were working out great. Tinker absolutely loved his big sister and she did him a favor and tolerated him. They played, they romped, they wolfed down their food.

Both dogs are also high jumpers. The day we met Virginia at the home of SOS founder/head Linda Forrest, we were amazed at how fast she ran and how high she could jump. It's not common for Beagles to jump quite like that. Tinker impressed us with his speed as well when we met him. We didn't know at that time just how high this Beagle/Jack Russell Terrier could jump.

Word to the wise: don't let your dogs jump like that. Beagles are predisposed to back problems. Once we realized the seriousness of it, we started discouraging Virginia from jumping. It was not so easy with Tinker who is more of a "wild child".

As I said, things were going swimmingly- that was until Friday night, February 18, 2005.

3 comments:

  1. My Maggie Mae had a ruptured disc at about age 6; I finally found a doggie neurosurgeon who would treat her at Texas A & M vet school in Bryan, Texas (we didn't tell them we were Longhorns). It took the doctors in Dallas 3 weeks and finally a CAT Scan, then MRI to diagnose her.

    Everyone at A&M Vet School were very loving and restored my baby girl to good health through surgery. I felt like God let me save her life so she could save mine. Within months of her surgery, she kept me from stepping on a total of 4 water mocassin snakes that found their way on our patio on 4 different days.

    She is also epileptic (developed that about 4.5 years of age) and now at 14+ she has a thyroid condition. She is pure beagle. Never stops thinking about eating.

    We switched to a harness 'collar' which the vets recommend for dogs who pull like beagles.

    Good luck with Tinker...I understand your love for him. They are amazing!
    ~alva

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  2. I had a beagle as a child who slipped her disc at age 7 and lived to be 20 (after surgery, of course). I just lost my 11 yr. old last June to Cushings Disease. I'm left with my 4 1/2 yr old barker, who has more energey than a barrel of monkeys!My prayers are with you.

    --Patty's Mom

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  3. I am a proud owner of two beagles. One five years of age and one almost three. Although my two little ones have not experienced anything like this, my oldest got hit by a car which broke his leg and his tail later had to be amputated. I cannot imagine life without him (Max) or my little girl (Abby). I wish you all the best in caring for your precious companion. beagles truley are mans best friend!

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