The Puppy Hope

Welcome to The Puppy Hope's Blog

Here you will find the continuously updated information on Hope, the abused ACD puppy on her long and painful road to recovery.  We will do our best to chronicle her health updates and provide information on her care.  WARNING:  Some of the images on here will be graphic.The abuse and neglect of animals is a terrible thing and most of us never get to see what it looks like first hand.  Let me tell you, it is heartbreaking.  Look at these pictures, share them with your friends, family, and colleagues.  Then make a difference in the lives of our companions here on Earth.  Feel free to donate your time and funds to your local shelters.  Rescue a dog yourself,  your life will never be the same.  Or, if you want to help cover the costs of Hope's surgeries and medicines, feel free to donate  through Paypal or Gunpal using the buttons on the right.  Or,we can email you the address of the veterinarian who is helping us out with the surgery and send your assistance there.  She is a trusted friend, a gifted doctor, and a wonderful human being.  We can be reached at thepuppyhope AT gmail.com. 

READ HOPE'S STORY IN THE "HOPE INFO" SECTION OR CLICK HERE

Hope Video

Here is Hope from Christmas Eve 2009.  She'd been with us for 4-5 days I believe and here she is with her first toy. 

Hope at the Park

Hope is really loving the park since it got warmer.  She's slowly getting used to all the sights and sounds there and navigating a leash.  Her right front shoulder is not as mobile as we had hoped it would turn out to be.  She doesn't appear that it is painful, but we are getting a PT evaluation soon.  I hope it isn't permanent, but she appears not to notice.  More adventures to come!

Hope Update!

Hope is doing extremely well and I know that she appreciates all of your support.  She is doing wonderfully and has almost completely recovered.  She is happy, active and learning all about the world.

 

Here she is at the park.  As you can see, her tail is always wagging.

Sometimes she is hard to shoot because she is so fast!

And here is where Hope realized that there were a ton of ducks and geese.  They got her attention.

She has adjust remarkably well given her early trauma.  She is still a little scared of strange dogs, bikes, and rollerbladers, but she is getting better.  She always does better when she has her buddy Kingsley with her.  There is something about a dog 10  times her size that makes her feel a lot safer.

Kingsley and Hope share his giant bone from the commissary.

So far, so good!  More updates to come!

Hope was spayed today. She came through with no problems, although she's still a little lethargic tonight and has vomited a few times. We're keeping a close eye on her and betting she'll feel better tomorrow.
Here are some photos of Hopes previous surgery sites that were taken today by Joanna, while she was in the clinic. As you can see, she's made a remarkable recovery in a very short period of time! She still has a funny gait and doesn't like to be on her feet for very long, but in 10 days, when her sutures are removed, she'll be free to start Physical Therapy.

 

Photos of Hope's last wound sutures and their removal:

And Hope being ticklish!

Hope's spay surgery is tomorrow (Thursday) so, wish her luck.  And hopefully this will be the last surgery she'll ever need!!!   
 

Hope is suture free!!! (Temporarily, because she will be spayed this week)
But she's very happy to not have those itchy stitches in right now. The one area that had opened when a couple sutures pulled out is healing beautifully and I doubt it will need any further sutures as we had originally planned.

 

Hope is doing wonderfully!!!!
Her sutures will be removed tomorrow, and the surgery site looks great. There is the one area by her elbow that had opened up slightly when at least one suture pulled out, but I think it will heal just fine by itself. Hope will be spayed in a few weeks, so Joanna can take a look at that area then and see if it should also be repaired at that time. Either way it is healing in well.
Here is Hope, in her custom made Jammies:

 

These Jammies are wonderful!  They were made by Elise Bonder just for Hope.  Here is Elise's website with more info:  http://www.dogjammies.webs.com/  Hope has to wear something over the sutures 24 hours a day so she will not scratch or chew the suture site.  So these Jammies have been a blessing. Elise sent us three pair of Jammies.  Two pair are knit, one with back legs, and the other without.  The Knit is very breathable which aids in healing as the sutures can get air to them more easily.  The third pair is fleece with adorable little lizards on it :-)  I had made Hope a fleece pair several weeks ago, but she quickly outgrew them and they aren't nearly as nice as the Jammies Elise made for her.  Thank you Elise.

  
  

Hope is doing great today. She got some extra time with me (or I should say, I got some extra time with her :-) since I haven't been feeling well this week. Most of my friends already know that Ben and I found out last week that we are expecting another little baby in September. Although this one probably will not be as cute, sweet, or well behaved as Hope is! So, Hope is my constant companion and gives me hugs and kisses when I'm not feeling well. I actually woke up this morning to find Hope using Ben's pillow as her own and staring right back at me, wide awake and watching me,... I'm not really sure why, but it was a little unnerving :-) So, I apologize for the lack of regular updates, I really did intend to update her blog every day, but it's gotten away from me a little bit. Rest assured that Hope continues to do well and is growing and healing nicely!

I know I've been a bad blogger :-) I'm currently having some technical difficulties with my photos, and I do want to show everyone Hope's wonderful Jammies. So, hopefully, I'll have all that worked out within the next 24-48 hours.
Hope is doing well, we have had a little more difficulty with this last surgery site, a small area opened above her elbow in a very high stress/pulling area of her skin. There was quite a bit of drainage for a few days, so she had to go back to wearing her gauze and VetWrap dressings for a while, but those are off again today. She has to wear Jammies 24 hours a day to keep her from scratching or chewing at the sutures but she seems to really like the Jammies and has no problem wearing them!
And she's had to stay on more crate rest this week so she would not pull at the sutures as she walks or tries to run around the house.
Hope was supposed to have her first Physical Therapy appointment today, but we pushed that back since we're still having some difficulty with the sutures, we didn't want to put any stress on them right now.
So more info to come about both her Jammies and her rehab (hopefully with photos soon as well!)

Hope - Post Op Day #1 Doing Well

Hope is doing very well post-operatively.  She feels so well, in fact, that it is difficult to keep her from going full-on puppy around the house.  Fortunately, she gets sleepy pretty fast.